ONOFFON

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Today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day comes from another ex-Mp3.com artist - we had a total of 30 tracks on our Mp3.com page, 18 studio cuts from our CDs and 12 live recordings from some of our gigs -ONOFFON - Various tracksReviewed by ACE DIAMOND "First off; Onoffon, what a great name, I love it. The musical efforts were just as good too. There are so many cuts on this page I would be forever trying to review each one in text. Couldn't pick out a fave since I enjoyed them all so much. This artist has his chops together. Very polished in every way. This is some of the best music that I have reviewed to date, and if I was using the old number scale system, it would be waaaay up there. These guys remind me of some top session players I know, and should have what it takes to have a poke at vip status. Go listen, there's something for everyone there. You should be very proud of your musical talent....credit when it's due! Onoffon is truly amazing, and I really think they are going to be very big in the music business."Sure appreciate Ace's kind words - since we have so little money to work with (all of our money goes into the production of our next CD), we cannot effectively tour and build a 'following'. But, in this day and age of the internet, there are many more ways of showing support for what you do. Thanks again, Ace - from your lips to God's ear...

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ONOFFON's SSP of the Day for March 21st - straight from the archives of the Music Street Journal -Music Street Journal OnOffOn - Surrender Now Reviewed by Gary Hill "Track by Track Review - Surrender Now: A '70's funk induced bass line opens the cut, which builds on that sort of theme. The piece features a very solid harmonica solo. The vocals seem Zappaesque at times, although the lyrics (almost a mantra) do not. Rock Garden: Guitar oriented prog; this piece shows elements of things as diverse as Hawkwind and jazz. This unusual and entertaining piece has a catchy chorus. Your Reality: This bluesy hard rocker is quite reminiscent of Robin Trower. Weekend in Montreal: Weekend in Montreal is a quirky traditional jazz number. I Don't Give No: This unusual rock tune shows elements of funk, prog and more Zappa leanings. Inside My Soul: Somewhat progish, this is slow bluesy rocker. Please Baby Please: This funky jazzy number has a texture similar to Rickie Lee Jones' Chuck E.'s In Love. The Gift Must Always Move On: Howeish guitar begins this number. Building slowly and dramatically, the piece sounds a bit like Robin Trower, but reflecting the slower more contemplative side of his work. This pretty, progish piece is a strong instrumental. Letter Received: Including some solid scat singing, this bluesy traditional jazz number is performed quite convincingly. If A Thief Were I: This extended bluesy mellow rocker begins with some Steve Howe influenced guitar work. Remember Only: Seeming to run a gamut of musical styles, this instrumental is quite strong. Starting in progish psychedelic modes, ALA Hawkwind, this piece is quite dramatic at times. Other influences to be heard include, The Doors, The Grateful Dead and Yes. The Yes influence shows up mostly as the piece opens into a wonderful prog landscape." Wow - thanks Gary! Let me get this straight - Zappa, Hawkwind, Robin Trower, Ricki Lee Jones, Steve Howe, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, and Yes influences, all on one CD? Oops - I forgot - A&R people don't like diversity - even if it involves musical virtuosity...

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Another Artist review from the old Mp3.com boards is today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day - ONOFFON - 'Mardi Gras'/Various tracksReviewed by Slackshire"ONOFFON, first of all, thanks for having enough faith that I can review a Latin/Salsa/Jazz project. I'm going to try to just focus on the musical elements of the track. Obviously the purpose of this track is to feature your sax player. Job well done on that part. That backers stay right with it and never become intrusive. The sax manages very well to carry out it's part of the deal. It's got that nice jazzy flow and feel. Even though you're stabbing at a syncopated staccato, it's flowing on a jazzy tip. One thing that I have to give you major props on is the melodic movement. One thing I notice in a lot of the popular jazz artists is that they come up with some huge machinations in the first bout with the theme, but by the time the theme comes around two or three more times you realize you're just watching reruns. You have however managed to not only keep each reiteration of the theme interesting, but the listener hardly notices that you've gone off into the second movement and back into the theme until way after it's happened. So very important. Well, I can't really say this song is lacking much of anything. Produced well. I don't even have to mention how talented the players are as they speak for themselves. Anyway, solid work. Keep it comin'." - Late, SlackshireThanks to Slackshire for such an interesting view of our music...

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For today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day, we return to Sweden for TDE's take on our 'Surrender Now' CD -Through Different Eyeshttp://home.swipnet.se/tde/lb/onoffon/surrender_now.htmlONOFFON - Surrender NowReviewed by Magnus Florin"Okey, what is this? A band with no limits. Influences range from jazz rock just like Al DiMeola to progressive rock just like the craziness of YES. Actaully, the jazz influence is there a lot. I guess they call their music progressive jazzrock or something like that. A very cozy feel all through the album and with great vocals by Don Lake. He's soft but still with an energy in his voice. One cool element in the music is the harmonica, also played by Don Lake, only featured in a few songs though. Yes, these musicians are truly great, Don Lake, Von Babasin and Dave Goode. What I'm missing is maybe the more direct feel and impulse of the songs. Most of them seem to float for a long time, and then drift away. But that is of course exactly what I want in other times. This is indeed a great album, and should at least be investigated by anyone. Fits heavy metal fans as well as jazzrockers."Thank you Magnus for your complimentary views...

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ONOFFON's SSP of the Day features an artist review from a station page built from Mp3.com called You Can Be A Star -ONOFFON - Various tracksReviewed by Al from Poised For The Worm"'Mardi Gras': I love this sound. Well produced, and a great performance. I've always said, it's easy to record good musicians, and you can tell that all of these guys are good musicians. 'Wetlegs': This is very different. A very wet sounding song. Wow I like it when it gets heavy, you don't expect it. Good vocals. I can't even think of a comparison to these guys except maybe Coverdale/Page which I guess would denote a little Zeppelin. Then it kicks into a bit of a Tea Partyish sound. Very BIG FULL sound. Well produced when you consider the amount of stuff going on in this song, it transitions well from the heavy stuff to the quieter stuff. Definitely going on my station. 'ShadowGlass': Another strong tune. Feel good rock with a jazz feel. 'Your Mind': Man you guys are crazy! This stuff rocks! I've never heard scat layered over such heavy beats! It's insanity! Great vocals & harmonies. It's like loose jazz ON STERIODS! It has been added to my station! 'Weekend in Montreal': Yeah I like it! It reminds me of my last trip there. Sitting in Biddles, having the best steak in the city and listening to some live jazz. 'Bebe's Song': COOL! Lounge! You're such a crooner. 'Opus': A very ominous intro compared to the other songs. Great guitar work. Was that a rain stick? I'm now listening to 'Opus live', you guys sound great live. Man I wish that woman in the background would shut the hell up! I'm going to listen to the rest of this later. Looking forward to it. Good stuff."Huge thanks to Al for his assessment of our songs! It's very rewarding to inspire those kinds of reactions to what we do...

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The ONOFFON SSP of the Day is from a wonderful lady that has reviewed our CDs as well as come to see us live -Indie CD Reviews!http://cdreviews.blogspot.com/OnOffOn - Your Mind/Live showsReviewed by Tiffany"If you've been in the California music scene for any length of time you'll probably have run across OnOffOn. They're a prog jazz ensemble based out of Hollywood. The guys put on quite a live show, with all sorts of midi things happening through a set of improvised jams on songs. The bassist of OnOffOn, Von, is himself the son of a very hot Hollywood jazz bassist (more about that here). You'd imagine a group with a pedigree like OnOffOn would be worth listening to, and you'd be right. The band blends their progressive jazz stylings with elements of psychedelic rock and a bit of improvised uncertainty. When it hits, it hits! I'd definitely buy the CD, but see this band live too. They are amazing." - posted by TiffanyThanks to Tiffany - I love that phrase "a bit of improvised uncertainty" - always keep 'em guessing...

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Woah - I just got in from a gig and man am I tired... so, today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day is a fun one I got on New Year's, 2002 -ONOFFON - Surrender Now/Your MindMusicDude from Kahoots"I wanted to let you know that I went to a New Year's Party, and I brought a couple of CD's with me. There came that point when people were trying to decide what to play next. Traffic's "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" was just wrapping up. The mood seemed right so I pulled out "Surrender Now", and "Your Mind". The host slipped them both in, and it was ONOFFON for the next two and a half hours or so. Well, they were huge hits with the crowd. Everybody kept asking..."Who is this?" - "I've never heard this before." - "Where did you find these guy's." It was great, and you ended up being the hit of a party on the island of Martha's Vineyard. How Cool!"The hit of the party on Martha's Vineyard and I've never even been there... thanks for the good time, MusicDude...

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Today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day is another great review from the Gods of Music -Gods of MusicONOFFON - "Shadowglass"Reviewed by Fred Crowder"At the outset, the groove of this song is reminiscent of older Jethro Tull or Traffic. Some of the later tones from the guitar, as well as changes in the progression reinforce this opinion. A nice groove is set up by Von Babasin on the bass, getting a nice fat mellow tone out of his axe. It just seems to roll along, taking you off with it. The nice blend with the guitar added sets up a great foundation for the flute to sing out over the top. Percussionist Dave Goode, playing in the background, lays down some solid work, filling nicely with some catchy cymbal sounds. There is a very sweet, almost trance-like quality to this song, as the flute takes you on its part of the journey. There is some very fine work on the alto flute during its solo, and as it reaches the end of its trip, a nice almost 'fake ending' sets up the guitar to swell in. Here, Don Lake shows his style, letting it sing with its 'progressive rock' tone. The guitar solo is very tastefully performed with a diverse choice of notes played, and as it reaches its destination, a sweet dueling of the guitar and flute creates a really full sound, which brings the song around to its conclusion; a sweet, drifting ending. A great 'mood tune' to kick back and chill out to. These guys can play and have some inspiration coming from somewhere. Well worth the time to try and soak some of it up."Thanks to Fred - another couple of great comparisons - this time, Jethro Tull and Traffic - to me, it's truly inspirational to be mentioned with groups I've loved all my life. If it means nothing more than simply receiving them, that's fine... an artist can only hope to effect people as others have effected them along the way...

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The ONOFFON SSP of the Day is from a gentleman in Germany - an artist that goes by the name Harmonic Obsession -ONOFFON - Various tracksReviewed by Thomas Wolff, GermanyRating: 10.00 "This stuff is UNIQUE! Nice'n direct sounding recording, discriminating performance. This music can hardly be organized to genre-drawers. Listen to "SHADOWGLASS" and...yes the groove/changes come in smooth(-Jazz) always. But the music is far away from what most Smooth Jazz listeners rate for. Too intelligent arrangements and composition, too much focus on sound and expression, too big the readiness for risks (Guitar solo), too outstanding the musicians skills. And "YOUR MIND" as Acid Jazz? Imagine a King Crimson merger with Manhattan Transfer, conducted by the eldered Frank Zappa. Don't get me wrong. Here's nothing to criticize. I am happy to be hit by pure excitement!"Thanks to Thomas for this amazing review - I've always loved the phrase, "King Crimson merger with Manhattan Transfer, conducted by the eldered Frank Zappa" - what an honorable analogy...

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Great Britain brings us today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day - Eleusis Progressive Rock PagesONOFFON - Surrender NowReviewed by Keith Marshall"ONOFFON are essentially a three-piece, bass, drums and guitar, with the guitarist handling the vocals and the bass player doubling up on keyboards, based in California. This CD is an entirely independent release by the band, and has good sound quality as well as showing a diverse range of styles, mostly blues and jazz-influenced, although the overall combination is at least as well suited to the progressive stage as anywhere else. Since each track exhibits a slightly different style from the previous, it's actually quite difficult to review. The overall feel, if there is one, brings to mind a rather unholy combination of Sting and Jeff Healey, with a definite laid-back West Coast feel built in. It's a bit too blues-influenced for me, as a whole - as with Cream I could never quite get to grips with the really deep blues stuff, yet I liked a lot of their material - it's a similar case here. Your Reality is a case in point - it is very definitely a blues song, with overblown blues vocals and a repetitive lyric to match, but it has a darker edge and an unusual arrangement which make it a bit more interesting to me. The title track, however, is much more jazzy and harder to pin down. Inside My Soul is a soft, simple ballad, with the emphasis on an electric piano riff - probably the least progressive track here, but not too much out of place. Please Baby Please wouldn't be too far out of place on a John Lee Hooker album! Letter Received is similarly blues-inspired. The two longer tracks at the end both start off with 4 or 5 minutes before building into proper songs - the former is a quiet guitar ballad which is quite nice, while the latter is more discordant, atmospheric and original, building into something the Ozric Tentacles might have turned out, then becoming more progressive. The tracks I haven't mentioned yet are probably the best - The Gift Must Always Move is a nice instrumental jazz improvisation, very subtle and quiet but always moving forward, building nicely at the end with some very understated lead guitar, again in a Steve Hillage/Ozric Tentacles style. Rock Garden is the one track which melds most of their styles into a progressive whole. In summary, I'm still not quite sure what to make of this album. The musicians are undoubtedly talented, and some of the songs are really good, but I have a very low tolerance for blues I'm afraid, so the Jeff Healey-style vocals really put me off certain tracks. When they get away from that they have a nice, gentle, jazz-inspired progressive style which could really develop into something given time. The Hillage/Ozrics style is yet another string to their bow, which might bear some development."Thanks very much to Keith for taking the time to really get into what we're trying to do. Very interesting viewpoints and more comparisons - Sting, Jeff Healy, Ozric Tentacles - interesting...