Hazmat Modine: Bahamut

Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine, Wntr, 2007 by Gary von Tersch

HAZMAT MODINE Bahamut Barbes

New York-based Hazmat Modine engagingly explores a worldwide musical palette of genres, from early jazz, Cuban and pre-war blues to rock and roll, Gypsy and bluegrass with a fascinating range of musical instruments that are rarely played together. The band is led by a pair of diatonic and chromatic harmonica virtuosos (Wade Schuman and Randy Weinstein) along with Joe Daley on tuba, either Scott Veenstra or Rich Huntley on drums, various guitarists including Henry Bogdon on Hawaiian steel guitar, Michael Gomez on lap steel and Pam Fleming on trumpet. Guest musicians add the exotic sounds of the cimbalom, bass marimba, claviola and the contrabass saxophone to the mix on select tracks while Schuman also takes a pair of brief instrumental solos on lute guitar as well as all the gruff yet elastic lead vocals.

He also wrote the majority of the songs, several of which are outstanding the opening, bluesily hypnotic landscape "Yesterday Morning," a swinging, combo-jazz grinder "Steady Roll" (love the sly, winking vocal) and the calypso-flavored title song, with its surreal spoken-word segment, all spring to mind. The four-man Tuvan throat singing group Huun-Huur-Tu accompany proceedings on three tracks. Both an eleven-minute, mesmerizing reworking of the legendary Jaybird Coleman's caustic testimonial "Man Trouble Blues" and the absorbing, tuba bellowing and percussion-heavy (add Tuvan percussionist Alexei Saryglar) are stand-outs.

Also noteworthy are Schuman's diatonic harmonica and vocal solo turn on his haunting "Lost Fox Train," his soulful vocal gymnastics on a go-for-broke version of Ronnie Barron's gem "Broke My Baby's Heart" and the band's energetic, Dixielandtinged romp through the chestnut "Who Walks In When I Walk Out?" Schuman and crew are masters at creative contrast, intrepid explorers of timbre and dynamics, but never at the expense of melody and groove. Highly recommended.