Wayne Krantz, the muscular, funky New York guitarist, might be approximately parcelled into a John Scofield category – except that this exciting artist goes further than Scofield, and loves nothing more than hell-for-leather jams with mates. Krantz’s trio, with bassist Nate Wood and drummer Keith Carlock, display a relish for ferociously loose covers of leftfield pop. Along with long-time bassist Tim Lefebvre and the ethereal, contrasting background singer, Gabriela Anders, they rocket through four themes – including Thom Yorke’s Black Swan and MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This – and then play them all again, totally differently. Anders’s fragile lilt prefaces the splintering chordwork and pounding funk on Black Swan, and Comprachicos swerves and skids on Krantz’s taut, whippy phrasing. U Can’t Touch This, meanwhile, has a vivacious, bouncing groove, fresh and long-lined guitar phrasing, and wacky, Ed Wood flying saucer-like whirrs. It’s all uncompromisingly raw, and maybe something of a guitar buff’s set, but it never stops rocking.
