Music IS What Matters posts about 17 Pygmies and CII: Second Son

Background: 17 Pygmies officially began in 1982 when then Savage Republic member Jackson Del Rey (aka Philip Drucker) began jamming in a garage with keyboardist and guitarist Michael Kory (Radwaste) and drummer, soon to be singer, Debbie Spinelli from Food & Shelter and Radwaste. The group's first composition was an odd, kind of surf-a-delic, Emerson Lake & Palmer inspired cover version of the theme music to David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. Since no one was around to say stop, the band quickly devolved into a kind of spooky instrumental and 80's style techno-pop band, and by the time the Pygs, as they were now known to the five people including the band members who knew them, started covering Brazilian sambas (and just before the release of their first EP) Robert Loveless, now a member of Savage Republic, signed on as bass player/keyboardist.

The band are described as  - partly symphonic prog rock, partly experimental, partly sci-fi, partly indie rock, partly space rock, partly electro-acoustic, (you get the picture) the Pygmies utilize the Brian Wilson ?whatever works? aesthetic to get their musical vision(s) across.

On January 1, 2011 "CII: Second Son" was released, part two in a three part series based on the original short story ?Celestina?  The story picks up with our hero, Captain Mora and fellow astronaut and scientist/love interest, Isabel, waking up after traveling through a black hole, only to discover a colony of robots who have changed their chemical ?mix? to cope with a beautiful but mysterious world in which nothing ever changes. While adapting to their new surroundings, they learn some astonishing news from Herod, leader of the robots, and know they have no choice but to find a way to return home. Musically, CII: Second Son is a tribute to all of the unique 1950-60?s era science fiction motion pictures (think The Day The Earth Stood Still), but this time the music is a bit darker, perhaps reminiscent of early Tangerine Dream, with the Pygs using more experimental sounds to reflect the more somber, stark moodiness of the storyline. Heather Lockie (Audio Distructinators) was invited to play viola for this project to add a mysterious and beautiful sound.

2011Candy Says: The mention of prog rock seems to put me on cautious alert these days however 17 Pygmies are far more than just prog rock and even that aspect of them is superb. This is a wonderful album.
Listen: CELESTINA XIII Web: MySpace.