Spirited jamming rock for open minds
Bill Stella | Somerville, NJ USA | 03/26/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Powerful ideas meld with street-level jamming. Big and chaotic, but still coherent and tribal-intimate. In other words, a fine balance of elements. The epic "Freedom" takes awhile to get off the ground before wielding and sustaining that power, but I take that as a metaphor for the title subject.
Seth Faergolzia is in the lead for this band of brothers, musical rainbow warriors lifting the discourse about what is worth fighting for.
All players bring a powerful presense to the noisiness = This is not randomly-made sound. Choices are made as they open up the performances and themselves to exciting possibilities beyond the performers' control. Sometimes what's beyond their control may at first seem to some ears as noise, but they limit -- or control, if you will -- the amount of what is beyond their control.
To sum up "Ball of Design": Universal themes are given unique expression. The album is like a fine home-brewed spirit that is all the more amazing for not having been mellowed for the larger marketplace.
I'd liken Dufus to what Polyphonic Spree would sound like if they were making a bloody, balls-out and ultimately beautiful racket.
Enhancing the musical experience, be prepared to encounter oddly-spelled words among the lyrics provided: If they were just misspelled, I'd be screaming bloody murder, but they're so persistent they provide a side stained window into Seth Faergolzia's mind. More insight at dufus.tv. And something I almost never experience, I fell in love with the inscrutable cartoons peppered in the album graphics."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1