The Bakerton Group
El Rojo Weathermaker Music

by Justin Gaines
Staff Writer

Comments: El Rojo is the second full-length album from The Bakerton Group, otherwise known as Clutch. The Bakerton Group allows the members of Clutch to make some very different music than the heavy stoner rock they're so well known for. The Bakerton Group's all instrumental work is hard to pin down. They're very much a jam band, but there are psychedelic, blues, jazz, and of course stoner elements to their sound. Phish meets the Alex Skolnick Trio perhaps?

The band is joined by Opeth's Per Wiberg on El Rojo, and his keyboard and especially organ work fits right into The Bakerton Group's style. Honestly, is there any kind of rock music that doesn't sound better when you add an organ? You have to admire the band's instrumental prowess. This isn't exactly progressive rock, but the musicianship here is pretty impressive. Of course the down side of this free-form jam band stuff is that the songs have no real structure at all. It's hard to tell when one song ends and the next begins, and the whole meandering nature of the album starts to lose it's appeal about halfway through when you start to wonder if this is going anywhere.

El Rojo is obviously a niche album. Clutch fans will want to check it out, even though it sounds almost nothing like that band's work. Other than that, you can see its appeal to stoner rock fans in general, especially when they're, you know, stoned. It's good music to chill out to, and that's something we could all use from time to time.

Online: www.myspace.com/thebakertongroup

Lineup:
Tim Sult: Guitar
Dan Maines: Bass
Jean-Paul Gaster: Drums
Neil Fallon: Guitar
Per Wiberg: Keyboards

Track Listing:
1. Time Horizon
2. Chancellor
3. Peruvian Airspace
4. Bien Clasico
5. Life on Lars
6. M.(F).H.S.
7. The Gigantomakhia
8. Work 'Em
9. Last Orbit
10. Bill Proger's Galaxy

Hardrock Haven rating: 6/10