Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Sons Of Ra

Music News

SONS OF RA: Chicago Progressive/Jazz Fusion Trio To Release Debut LP, Standard Deviation, On Free Electric Sound April 11th; ‘Disintegration (Alabama Revisited)’ Video And Preorders Posted

Two decades have passed since SONS OF RA emerged onto Chicago’s scene with their fusion of heavy prog, jazz, math rock, and elements of avant garde music. Initially a line-blurring experiment, the trio’s most recent work has proven the band’s sound to jazz fusion aficionados, math and progressive rock purists alike while holding their own on bills on the Midwestern heavy music scenes. Formed by guitarist Erik Oldman Vecchione (Mare Crisium, Afrofuturistics), drummer Mike Rataj (Arbogast, Mine Collapse), and saxophonist/bassist Keith Wakefield (Jan King And Medicine Ball, Afrofuturistics), SONS OF RA independently released four EPs since 2016, culminating with the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Sons Of Ra – Tropic Of Cancer [EP]

Instrumental. Avant-Jazz. Fusion. Well, there are three words that sound to these Luddite ears like a recipe for disaster. While I’ve become very intrigued of late with the idea that what most would term “background music” can actually make for a worthwhile listen and fill a space, most times it’s just sonic clutter, and I’m going to hard pass on that alone. Add “Avant-Jazz” and “Fusion”, and I’m truly already wondering why I bothered. Maybe it’s that Jazz has (until very recently) always come across as some inside joke played by the performers to stroke their own already-inflated sense of […]