Blue Cloud, the third proper album from
Davis Redford Triad (not including the live collection
Code Orange), is not all that different from the previous two -- but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Once again, guitarist
Steven Wray Lobdell (Sufi Mind Game, latter-day
Faust, etc.) and friends make a bid for transcendence through mind-melting feedback, thudding rhythms, and searing, compressed squeals and squalls. And in the right frame of mind, it works very well. Save for a relatively brief political spoken-word piece from the Baseball Astrologer (with a miasma of sound surging underneath),
Blue Cloud is all instrumental. Think
Hendrix, Leigh Stevens, and Mokoto Kawabata and you're on the right astral plane. ~ Jason Nickey