Matt Fong, Spontaneous Combustion Issue #4 October 2010
Alaniaris "Live at Somewhere There"

Live at Somewhere There is a one hour long, sometimes rocking, sometimes noisy, and always groovy romp through 13 tunes. Some are originals, some are traditional Greek folk songs that Ken Aldcroft, Michael Kaler, and Mark Zurawinski have infused with their quirky blend of surf rock, and jazz. While I have mixed feelings about some of the tracks, there are others that stand out. To name a few, "East of Baghdad" is a rocking, Eastern-flavoured tune that showcases Aldcroft blending surf rock guitar tones with jazz phrasing and sensibilities. "Long Slow One" is, like its name, one of the longer and slower tracks on the record. It has a dark vibe and it gets quite loud and noisy, in a really great way. I liked Kaler's "Dark and Stormy Night," though as soon as the improvising begins, I have a hard time visualizing 'dark' and 'stormy.' It brightens up quite a bit and is arguably the 'jazziest' track on the record, with it's swung waltz groove. My favourite track is the album closer, a traditional song called "O Aetos." The whole band sounds particularly together on this one. After the open intro, they launch into the song, which has a slow, beautiful, melancholic melody which blends seamlessly into the improvising, where Aldcroft makes good use of this melody and plays around with it for the rest of the song.