3RDegree – Narrow-Caster                                               9.4/10

By Greg Jones

I don't know about you, but I'm a huge fan of composition that balances the twin peaks of exploration and anthemic memorability. My favorite music since my youth has been the stuff that surprised me (oh, were the 80's a bleak and boring time for me and my headphones!) almost to the point of ecstatic confusion but all the while nailed itself to the walls of my heart with catchy melodies and riffs. The artists I buy without a thought to hearing first are those tried and true pioneers who more often than not succeed in gifting my life with songs to cheer my heart on a cold and dark day or make savoring the good times that much sweeter.

I now have to add 3RDegree to that pantheon. Their first album in nearly 12 years, Narrow-Caster is the strongest thing I've heard since IZZ's great My River Flows. The whole thing is a roller coaster ride of unique songwriting and gargantuan hooks whose sheer sonic diversity is something I hitherto, never dreamed possible.  Lots of bands write by acting like blenders for their various influences and crossing their fingers for a good result; 3RDegree revel in their mastery of colliding feels and sounds you'd never think to put together and somehow manage to smack it out of the park every time.  Imagine Becker and Fagen writing a song for Rush to play, and having Steve Winwood sit in and evoke his Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys vibe over it. Or try to picture Aimee Mann improving Sting lyrics and melodies while a cold Nordic metal guitarist adds harmonically complex overdriven chords against a robot-generated Ben Folds song with Bruford on the drums, and harmonies The Beatles would drool over. And that's just two tracks, folks - the whole thing is a beatiffic bitch slap to the adage about there being nothing new under the sun.

I must also applaud the production. Somebody with a great set of ears took the time to make sure that every instrument sounded alive, fresh and gloriously different on every song, resulting in maximum exhilaration unhindered by ear fatigue. While I look forward to new albums from most of my favorites in the coming months, I seriously doubt anyone's going to top this. Froot Loops on acid in a cinnamon sky….

Don't miss out on this one.