With nary a word spoken over the course of its 11 songs, on paper (sans the title), Giraffe’s Towering Inferno With Bongo Drums would seem to be for the jazz or jam-band set: It was recorded in one day after the four players had developed familiarity with each other by performing improv sets in their hometown of L.A. And while the bulk of instruments are ones you would spy in a jazz nightclub—12-string guitar, fretless bass, drums and the like—it’s the other tools that propel Giraffe’s debut record into the far reaches of outer space: electronics, a Clavinet, an electric sitar and samples galore.
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