On 2011’s Kublai, Accordo dei Contrari avoid a minor pitfall of their 2007 debut, Kinesis: peaking too early in the track listing. The jazz-rock quartet kicked off Kinesis with its finest track, “Lester,” and although the album maintained high quality throughout, it still presented a slight letdown overall after such a stellar beginning. While the opening numbers on sophomore outing Kublai aren’t as strong as those of the debut, the listener’s patience is ultimately rewarded. First track “G.B. Evidence” does demand attention -- in fact, it is one of the band’s most slammin’ numbers ever, with a stop-and-start intro and conclusion, odd-metered grooves, and a squiggly unison guitar and synth line with weirdly placed pitch bending that makes one wonder how they thought of it, much less played it. However, the tune’s midsection includes rather undistinguished call-and-response licks between Marco Marzo on guitar and Giovanni Parmeggiani on organ, and the “big finish” climax feels like a blues-rock cliché. The follow-up, “Arabesque,” is indeed an Arabic-flavored outing beginning with Marzo on oud over Parmeggiani’s synth drone; Marzo switches to guitar and the piece moves through various Middle Eastern motifs. There are interesting moments here -- particularly when some disorienting Hatfield and the North-style electric piano interjects a Canterbury flavor -- but at 12 and a half minutes, the piece feels overlong. Third track “Dark Magus” (seemingly not related to Miles) sounds close to something from Kinesis, as guitar and keyboards flow across an oddly accented 9/8 rhythm laid down by bassist Daniele Piccinini and drummer Cristian Franchi -- there is plenty to engage the listener throughout the twists and turns of this piece, despite the brief appearance of more somewhat routine call-and-response licks between Marzo and Parmeggiani rescued by the skewed underlying rhythm.

1		G. B. Evidence
2		Arabesque
3		Dark Magus
4		L'Ombra di un Sogno
5		Più Limpida e Chiara di Ogni Impressione Vissuta, Pt. 1
6		Battery Park