Where were you when you first heard HB3? In every generation or so, an artist emerges to wipe the slate clean - from Charlie Parker to Jimi Hendrix to Jaco Pastorius to Nirvana. It’s been a while...however, the mysterious HB3 (the artist declines to divulge is name) has the potential to wake rock as we now know it from its corporate induced doldrums with the mind blowing Luminosity. Now here’s the shocker: discovered by way of California’s Live365’s Radio Enigma program, HB3’s thunderous debut is fueled by the sounds of a piccolo bass (an instrument pitched lower than a guitar yet higher than a traditional bass) run through a myriad of effects such as flange, distortion, delay et al. As a vocalist Mr. 3 can spit out a thought provoking - politically charged rap with the ferocity of Primus’ Les Claypool (“Turkish Delight”) or wax angelic akin to such alt-rock crooners as Chris Martin (“Doggyville”). Musically, Luminosity is all over the map - delving into progressive, acid, Indian, metal, pop, and punk (sometimes all within the same track) with a heavy dose of humor which the artist traces back to Frank Zappa’s infamous quote during the horrific Regan years, “can there be humor in music?” And if that’s not enough to convince you that a musical Armageddon is upon us, dig the funky Stax-like horn intro to “Bundeswehr” which asks the listener to “suck it and see how long it lasts.” Toss in the multi-cultural epic “Another I & II” - which could be Jimi and Ravi jamming on heaven and earth, and Luminosity is a most enlightening experience indeed.
--Tom Semioli
