Bass Box
Bass Box is Your Friend
self-released
Click to hear: “The Austrian Prostitute”
One thing never fails to excite me: when a flavor combination that sounds unappealing ends up being good. Pabst Blue Ribbon and lemonade, for instance, on a hot night when you’re already partially in your cups, can be quite nice. Perhaps more obvious: chocolate-covered potato chips are very tasty. And by now, french fries and mayonnaise is a no-brainer, but the first time you heard of it (Pulp Fiction, right?), it probably sounded pretty weird.
While I try not to be the guy who will eat it for a dollar, the experience of the uncertain first taste resolving into something surprisingly pleasant can lead to something you never knew you liked. Like Bass Box.
This new trio seems like the sort of project that shouldn’t work out. A singer, a bass player, and a guy beatboxing sounds to me like the makings of a fiasco, albeit an interesting one. Against the odds, Bass Box makes it work admirably.
The credit for this feat rests largely on the shoulders of vocalist Mat Zaro. Zaro is completely in control of his instrument. He could sing the list of ingredients on a package of snack cakes and make it sound pretty good. He’s clearly put some study into his voice. On the live EP Bass Box is Your Friend (recorded this past January at Geno’s), Zaro effortlessly glides over some fairly complex melodies, slipping in and out of a guttural, genuine-sounding rock yell, and generally gives a committed and energetic performance.
Backing him up, bassist Stu Mahan mainly stays out of the way and keeps things anchored, while Chas Lester makes an impressive showing on vocal percussion.
Now, I don’t know much about beatboxing (what knowledge I do have is mostly from the Square One episode that featured the Fat Boys), but I’m pretty certain Lester is outrageously good. The brief track “Chas Runs the Voodoo Down” is all him, sounding in turns like a Tuvan throat singer, a TR-808 drum machine, and a glitching arcade game. During the other songs, he keeps it reined in enough to provide an interesting rhythmic layer without stealing the focus.
Of the five tracks recorded here, two are Tom Waits covers (“Big in Japan” and “Dead and Lovely”). This is somewhat problematic. The late-career Waits influence would loom large over Bass Box without the inclusion of two covers. Since they did some work on this live disc after the fact, adding extra vocals and guitars, I’m left wondering why they didn’t cut one of the Waits numbers and add an original.
That said, Bass Box definitely reworks both songs, imparting a lot of their personality into them – quite an accomplishment considering the strength of the persona attached to them.
Happily, Bass Box’s original tunes are better than their covers. “The Austrian Prostitute” is the standout of the set. Zaro’s catchy and unusual melody retains an element of darkness as it bounces over Mahan’s cartoonishly overdriven bass, the syncopated guitar, and Lester’s stompy percussion. The song gathers momentum not by adding new sounds or parts, but by the slow increase in the intensity of Zaro’s performance.
This track reminds me of the underrated and much maligned ’90s band Cake – in the best possible way. Like what was best about Cake, Bass Box takes a slightly odd, minor-key melody and turns it into the sort of tune you can hum while walking around town.
Taken as an album, Bass Box is Your Friend has some gaps. However, as a snapshot of a developing band, it shows a great deal of potential.
— Galen Richmond
For more about Bass Box, see myspace.com/matstuchas.
