REVIEWS

NO DEPRESSION
March-April 2007
Reference points for this second release from longtime Lyle Lovett bassist Viktor Krauss are plentiful – Daniel Lanois, Bill Frisell and Ennio Morricone all spring to Mind – But somehow Krauss comes off as more original than derivative.  Employing effects laden guitar and synthesizers as their primary instruments, Krauss and his small ensemble craft jazz-tinged, soundscape-ish arrangements weighted with substance.  Instrumentals comprise half the disc, and that’s where Krauss shines brightest.  The radiant “No Time Like The Past” finds Krauss and fellow guitarist Dean Parks creating the antithesis of the prototypical guitar duel, weaving their six strings instead into a thrilling tapestry.  Likewise, the loopy space-jazz excursion “Pinky Ring” sounds like something from Jeff Beck’s Blow By Blow, had Beck been accompanied by a twin brother. - Russell Hall

 

TIME OUT NEW YORK
February 15–21, 2007
One nice thing about being an in-demand session musician: You’ve got all the right names and numbers in your Rolodex. Viktor Krauss, an Illinois-born bass player who currently resides in Nashville, has recorded and toured with Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Chet Atkins and Jewel. On his own debut album, 2004’s Far from Enough, he enlisted two of his employers, guitarists Bill Frisell and Jerry Douglas; hotshot drummer Steve Jordan completed the band, and little sister Alison Krauss sang a haunting version of a Robert Plant chestnut.
On II, Krauss doesn’t stray so far from what worked before. Guitarist Dean Parks is probably in your collection already, on Michael Jackson’s Thriller, this or that vintage Steely Dan record, and hits by everyone from George Strait to Puffy AmiYumi. Drummer Matt Chamberlain has backed David Bowie, Tori Amos and Morrissey. Frisell pays a visit, and Shawn Colvin sings a cover of “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.”
Even so, Krauss expands on what was a successful model: “Hop” and “Dudeman” conjure a worldly wanderlust informed by Ry Cooder and Bill Laswell, and “Eyes in the Heat” suggests a celluloid cityscape by night. Two more singers have cameos: Ben Taylor’s sandy croon on “When She’s Dancing” is destined for heavy rotation on WFUV-FM, while Lyle Lovett’s delivery in “(I Could Have Been Your) Best Friend” is a textbook example of that singer’s deadpan soul.— Steve Smith

 

BASS PLAYER
February 2007
A follow-up to the bassist/composer's wonderful '04 debut Far From Enough, Krauss's latest, II, is melodic minimalism at its best. Doubling on electric and upright bass, Krauss creates a dreamy mood that evokes wide-open spaces. His slow, throbbing bass lines underpin atmosphereic guitars clearly inspired by his frequent collborator, Bill Frisell. - GO

 

THE BUFFALO NEWS
February 23, 2007
Instrumental rock music is not exactly a booming market. Rock, like all pop music, is primarily about the vocal - which may account for the excessive amount of folks running about with the puffed-out chest and overflowing ego symptomatic of "lead singer disease."
 
Instrumental rock is confined, more often than not, to film soundtracks, and is considered "incidental music" in more ways than one. Unlike jazz musicians, rock guys and gals can't often get away with releasing recordings that are largely sans vocals.
 
Viktor Krauss grew up loving film soundtracks, and writes on his Web site of letting the dreamy unfoldings of these wordless tunes dictate the course of his childhood play activities. Though he has made a name for himself primarily as bassist with Lyle Lovett's incredible band, and session man with players as variegated as Bill Frisell, Jerry Douglas, Elvis Costlello and Chet Atkins, Krauss is in fact an accomplished player on a variety of instruments. He's also an incredibly evocative songwriter, as "II," his aptly titled second solo effort, makes plain.
Krauss is one of those wonderful modern musicians loyal to no one particular camp and eager to draw from whatever musical pool he finds enticing. As a result, "II" is spacious, diverse, and not exactly earmarked for massive commercial success. That's a good thing, because "II" was created to appeal to listeners with minds as open as Krauss,' folks who might listen to, say, Pink Floyd, Ennio Morricone, Daniel Lanois, Jeff Beck and country music, throughout any one given day.
 
Not surprisingly, the music is "filmic," which is a slightly nebulous way of saying that it is groove-based, frugal in terms of harmonic information, and all about pacing, development and tonal color. "Pinky Ring," for example, struts along on a bass ostinato, atop which guitarist Dean Parks builds a two-part distorted guitar figure that is tensely melodic. Opener "Hop" builds ominously over the course of its eight minutes, as Krauss assembles an air-sculpture out of a Fender Rhodes, electric and acoustic basses, celeste and synthesizer, while guitarist Parks and drummer Matt Chamberlain introduce themes that swirl around each other and eventually construct an incongruous mood of soothing dread.
 
When Krauss does employ a singer, he does so with brilliant results, whether relying on the wordless emoting of Indian vocalist Shweta Jhaveri, the accusatory insinuations of Lyle Lovett, or the soothing coo of Shawn Colvin, who is wonderful during an inventive take on Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."
It's all beautifully mood-conjuring stuff, with vocals or without. - Jeff Miers

 

AMERICAN SONGWRITER
March/April 2007
The long-time bassist for Lyle Lovett and session-player for others in prog-country and contemporary Americana has crafted another fine solo effort. Imagine a soundtrack to a rootsy, somewhat shadowy indie flick that hovers between rural wandering and suburban quests for the real, and you'd hire Krauss in an instanet to give you the score. He decks out his simple folkish melodies with intricate guitar parts and keyboard textures that envelop the multiple voices of Dean Parks' session axe and rock backbeats. Shawn Colvin's girlish guest vocals give an innocent dreamy turn to the psychedelia of Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." - Bill Levine

 

MIDWEST RECORD
February 7, 2007
VIKTOR KRAUSS/II: The sideman with the sense of humor checks in with another set that’s hard to classify.  Falling somewhere between industrial folk and a soundtrack for an unproduced David Lynch pic, this is an adventurous date for those that like their instrumental prowess on the money and their listening on the edge.  A very different and left field kind of recording that manages to take you somewhere else than you might have expected.