First Time Hearing Animals As Leaders The Brain Dance (Reaction!!) 

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the brian dance

Ah, welcome to Animals as Leaders, 3 of the best musicians doing it these days. Main guy is Tosin Abasi, he's INCREDIBLE as you've seen. Javier Reyes is the other guitar player. Theres no bassist actually, Tobin and Javier both play 8 string guitars, and that top string is LOOOOW.

Tosin is probably one of if not the most influential guitarists for modern metal music. This whole group is peak musicality and some of the furthest these instruments can be pushed to

Although he is still very young, I have Tosin in my top 10 ever. His musical IQ and contributions to music and creating his own guitar line show he is a top tier player.

Killer band. That said, I almost always need to be in a certain mindset to really enjoy their music. It's sometimes just too overwhelmingly complex.

Discovering this song before CAFO is like discovering Sorceress before Blackwater Park (Opeth). Just a slightly different vibe, is all 😂

Never seen this before. Got an overwhelming sense that the classical masters would love this

I just saw them live on the Dreamsonic Tour with Devin Townsend and Dream Theater!! What a freaking show!!

YES! Jazz metal! Check out "Miso" next by them or "The Joy of Motion."

If you like this, I'm sure you will dig "Chon". Both bands have a modern sound of "yes" if you haven't had or heard them yet!

Finally!!!!!!! Tosin is the man!!!

Tobsin is easy one of most talented guitarist, especially today. Brilliant!!! Heavy grooves too

Matt is probably the most influential modern drummer of our time. Ive been a drummer for over 20 years and the level of detail and technical ability this dude has is not normal.

The contraption behind you compliments to chaotic yet organized feel of the music

Welcome to being speechless...as we all are the this incredibly beautiful nonsensical bliss reaches our ears the first time... and many times thereafter

I recommend seeing him live. It's something special.

This is a pinnacle band. "Private Visions of the World" from the same album as this song (The Madness of Many) will blow your mind. Groove hits hard with a nine strong guitar.

Absolutely love animals as leaders and this is one of their songs that also reminds me of Tinariwen, psych, and jazz fusion in addition to the prog(ressing) Metal they're known for - so cool!

Saw them live a few months ago, they're awesome!!!

there are aliens among us!! some musicians are just next level. they have a lot of heavy heavy stuff that has more " groove" to it.

I’ve never heard Tosin before but I have heard Rick Beato discuss him on his YT channel. This was great, I especially liked the metal riffs being provided by the other guitarist or the bass. A great listen. Thanks Polo.

Nice! Love Animals as Leaders. I saw them several years back and they were great live too.

Love that face...when someone first discovers the magic that is Animals As Leaders... it's just begun my friend!

The song "on impulse" by these guys is a wild ride, highly recommend it for a future reaction

Holy shit! Thank you

Wow. They are amazing.

It is thrilling to get to watch you be introduced to and appreciate all of this great music many of us take for granted. I love your channel for this.

The tightness is pure beauty.

Probably the best guitarists and drummers in the world right now. As for the guitarist part, I’d say they’re right there with the likes of Andres Segovia and Christopher Parkening.

Thanks Phillip !!! and thank you POLO

CAFO incoming.

This is another fire group

My husband is obsessed with Tosin Abasi. Seriously has been for almost a decade straight. Learned how to play the guitar largely because of him. Watching him listen to AaL puts a look of unmatched joy on his face and I love it. I finally got to take him to see them live just over a week ago in Florida and they sound just as amazing live as they do on recording. Even I was blown away.

These guys have some wicked cool tracks. This particular track was a unique choice for a first listen. You should check out "Tooth and Claw", "Cafo" and "Monomyth" for starters.

This is what it sounds like to put three virtuosos in a band together

Saw them live almost a year ago. Epic epic show. Thanks for paying to see this Philip please do more aal. Do some drum vids of Matt garstka

Knew you were gonna like these guys when you got to them. Musical poetry.

Tosin is hands down one of the guitar goats. Maybe even THE goat as far as technical prowess goes.

Lol the Brian dance is what you call it when I try to play AAL

on the side you should check out Tosin Abasi. He's a real revolutionary but only gets props in limited circles.

4:00 - So beautiful..

ahhhhh now youre deep in the rabbit hole Polo :D! Great work.. if you enjoyed this, have a look at Matt Gartska (their drummer). He's legit one of the best players on the planet, and he has loads of videos on youtube of his AaL playthroughs. Up close and on some of their heavier stuff.. its almost beyond belief what he can do on a kit lol. If you liked these guys, check out Russian Circles.. another instrumental 3-piece. I saw them years ago supporting Tool and they were incredible, been a fan ever since. Also, a band that never seem to get a mention are ISIS (the band, not the terror group lol). You werent put off by the growls in Opeth, so I think you could handle the vocals in ISIS too. Threshold of Transformation is a particular highlight of theirs for me :D

One of my fave bands. Also one of the best drummers to grace a kit.

Highly recommend Physical Education, what a track that is!

Those simultaneous contrasting parts are perhaps where the title stems from? It's a "Brain Dance" to listen to, or experience

Had to subscribe. I enjoy how intently you listen to the music and take it all in. This is one of my all time favorite bands, if not my favorite. I highly recommend checking out Song Of Solomon, it's an older song but showcases the more fast-paced nature of this band. The thing with AAL is you never really get the same song twice, each song tells its own story through instrumentation alone. You could pick almost anything from any album and get completely different sounds.

I've heard them described as Tool without lyrics, which actually adds to them musicly.

Hahaha 😆 awesome 👌 welcome to my hellven

This band has the best drummer and guitarist in the world right now

POLO !!!!!!!!!!!! GO GO GO With AAL BRO !!! SO Many Awesome Tunes U Can NOT Go Wrong \m/ \m/ \m/ Peace :)

Garsta’s drumming is so musical. It’s easy for people to just play drums really fast and hit a bunch of different notes. Making music is something altogether different.

AAL, Tosin, and Plini are my favourite things going on in music today. I'm old school, always lookin' for, as Tosin says, "sick shit". There ya go.

Oh wow I didn't think you'd get to my request so fast. I was afraid you'd find it like most progressive music to be overly self indulgent wankery. But the musical technical flexing is what I like about it lol. I wanted to suggest something heavier especially since they just released a new single "Red Miso" a few weeks ago off their new album but I felt this would be the most palatable for Polo as I didn't want to throw him into the deep end of Prog Metal. By the way there is no bassist for the band. This power trio consists of two guitarists both playing 8 string guitars and playing the low notes dropping the octaves to simulate a bass guitar. Tosin Abasi is the lead composer of the pieces but Javier Reyes is also an extremely talented and versatile guitarist in his own right who would be the lead guitar player in any other band. Matt Garstka is one of the most versatile modern drummers who can drum just about any style...the dude is human metronome. He can do jazz, hip hop, metal. He does this amazing live drum cover of Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On"

wow! Had heard of these guys but never listened..., DAMN! Reminds me of Mahavishnu Orchestra back in the day. Masters of their instruments for sure!

Great find, keep going with AAL . Lost of great music. Thank you POLO

magic

Back in the days this song got me into AAL music, what a piece of art

If you want to dig in to the drummer a bit more, you should watch his drum playthrough of "Tooth and Claw".

No bass 8 string guitars, Check out the woven web preferably live and the drum can for tooth and claw 🎶🔥🤘

A black dude, a Hispanic dude, and a white dude walk into a studio....and proceed to make some of the most innovative music ever. That's it. That's the punchline.

Ah, yes.

0:36 - Hey... I see you reacting to a song I know/like I hit the LIKE. No matter if you like it or not, your reaction and opinion is worth of the like. :)

i agree, though. we need some concentrated animal feeding operation up in here

Seen AaL a few times. They're local to my area and Tosin is pretty humble too. You've had a lot of psychedelic metal thrown at you, let me recommend the band Beats Antique, Egyptic. Less metal, just psychedelic. Love what you do Polo

Wow. Something new and impressive. Most new music seems talentless. These guys got it going on. Thanks Polo.

Do Physical Education next!!! More heavier guitar oriented and led, but sounds very cohesive for the song, feels pretty natural, with a great resolution that leads back to the beginning of the track. Don't get me wrong, I love The Brain Dance, but I feel this song has a lot of switch-ups, time changes, mixture of different melodies playing at the same time, etc.. While all those are very good and very technical, some can get lost in it and it loses their appeal in sense. Gets too busy/noisy for them, which is totally okay! AAL is definitely an acquired taste, and is definitely meant to be listened to on certain occasions, but always love putting their songs on shuffle at work myself. Physical Education has a solid song foundation/structure, still has its odd time sigs but nothing too crazy, shows amazing chops through the groovy rhythms, the solos and clean guitar breaks, with Tosin's famous thumping technique he does. You should definitely give that song a reaction!

Please look at Winter by Oceans of Slumber! 🙏

speaking of "tool vibe", & whom polo should react to next... there's serious musicality re: prog legends KING CRIMSON. maynard james keenan: "For me, being on stage with King Crimson is like Lenny Kravitz playing with Led Zeppelin, or Britney Spears onstage with Debbie Gibson."" "Now you know who we ripped off. Just don't tell anyone, especially the members of King Crimson"

side note: tosin's guitars are sweeeeeet. and for my own personal damage to my wallet, he's now selling a lefty abasi guitar, oooooooooooooo

if youre into this kind of instrumental progressive guitar centric music I would suggest Syncatto.

Sounds different than the few other songs I have heard by them, those songs were so much harder and more aggressive.

I was wondering where Tool would lead you, Djent or Progressive metal ? Turns out to be Djent, but check Tosin's uncle band, Dream Theater, to even the balance. 2 amazing guitarist and band

Animals As Leaders are so good. If you enjoy instrumental music I’d love for you to check out a personal favorite of mine, Russian Circles, there definitely atmospheric shoe-gaze metal, the drummer hits pockets and grooves like hip hop but still maintains everything that is heavy about the song. The bassist was in Seattle hardcore bands Botch and These Arms Are Snakes in the 90’s and early 2000’s. This is Russian Circles latest single Gnosis of the album of the same name, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PUf9_1jsCyY.html

Those guitars seem to have lots and lots strings bro 😅

It’d be cool to see some Polyphia on the channel someday as well my g!

PHILLIP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! \m/ \m/ \m/

I would love to see you react to sleep token - the summoning. You seem to enjoy Tool, and they’ve got a bit of a Tool vibe to them, along with multiple other genres. Hope to see them in the future!

This is one of my least favorite from Animals as Leaders, but still great... if you like it please check ot more from them

Poly rythm

Try precious metals by !except pool its an agvertisment kinda it a!so a short film by THE claypool n trujilo find i t by official primer on the tube

They're incredible live...that being said, I own their live album, and it almost bores me, because while they're playing the album tracks to a precise "T", the only substantial difference in audio is slightly less rigorous production values. Tldr- live performance dope on stage, underwhelming on record. Not a dig at all though, just a testament to the significance of live-ass music

X

Like African Mars Volta IMO.

This isn't the best introductory song for AAL.

Longest I have seen you go without pausing, but I could tell you were just grooving too much to stop.

Meh.

BLAH

"Reaction" video ... what a waste of space, sigh