Quinn Walker

Editor's info:
QUINN WALKER's a sweetly sinister suburban swami, roaming highways and cul-de-sacs with his oneman neu rave nursery school band.
This fresh baby boy has recorded armfuls of hours long albums packed with meticulous chaos— Quinn's voice stretching from medieval falsetto to autocratic bass. His songs all dwell in the canyon between the childendangering occult and the classic top 40 from the 50's.
Quinn's a wholesome punk rocker. A modern werewolf. A chain-smoking toddler.
Voodoo-EROS is fortunate to release two albums (for the price of one damn album) at one damn time by the first biological male to enter our womb.

LAUGHTER'S AN ASSHOLE
With the safe sterility of Doogie Howser, Quinn clicks on the broken keyboard of a broken computer and brings you into a perilous playground packed with haunted horses murmuring merry-go-round music as they are led down the red carpet by (the original) Mickey Mouse Club chorus.
A single revolutionary guitar howls in wedded bliss with maracas, drums, tambourines, keyboards, and Masonic bells— all of which seem to play themselves as if inspired by screaming pygmy monkeys from a NOVA special they saw on PBS. All this just to conjure a hundred neon-static televisions singing at you all at once.
Laughter's An Asshole is encouraging; eccentric yet non-exclusive. It's like, Come and play with me let's get drunk on the beach, it's Tuesday! Quinn's meditations include the beauty in infinity: fear not the insane, don't block the voices, write down what they are saying, don't be afraid to look in the mirror when you're tripping.

LION LAND
LION LAND is basically an e-card sent to grandma back in Africa from a tribe of lions on their first visit to Disneyworld/Kissimmee St. Cloud, Florida. Damns and whirlpools of itchy frightening frequencies tenderly romance lyrics that orbit the worlds of ecstatic parochial school patriotism and junglebook moral codes. Industrial beats are stocked by hems of cinematic synthesizers suckering you, as a sunset might, into having an emotional moment.
Quinn's feral musicianship flows freely through every anthem and a warm, howling wave of screams and whispers and pounding drums will feel at times like fuzzy hugs, at other times feel like the result of letting a blind lion cub into the kitchen to invent a new recipe for lasagna. ('Lasagna' being used here as a euphemism for 'pop music'.)


Quinn Walker SUPPORTING COCOROSIE MAY 2008 NORTH AMERICA:

Enon

Gazeta Wyborcza - Co Jest Grane
Pierwsze danie odgrzano: wznowiony po siedmiu latach debiut ''Believo!'' dziś jawi się przede wszystkim jako dokument z obalania ostatnich barykad międzygatunkowych. Falset w stylu Bee Gees zderza się z maszynową sekcją rytmiczną i zwietrzałym trip-hopem. Abstrakcyjny kogel-mogel z sampli kontrastuje z błahymi balladowymi melodyjkami. I choć kośćcem pozostaje do szpiku nowojorski rock, ten niby znudzony, ale potrafiący przygnieść ścianą gitarowego hałasu, całość jawi się niczym zgliszcza po eksplozji w sklepie muzycznym. Już po wydaniu ''Believo!'' w zespole zmieniła się obsada basu i perkusji. Stopniowo prostowała się poskręcana muzyka. Z piątej płyty Enona, zapamiętuje się najmocniej niewinny głos basistki Toko Yasudy. Frapujące damsko-męskie duety wokalne na tle rzężącego, melodyjnego post-punku, smutek i melancholia przenikające się z absurdalnym poczuciem humoru - to wszystko odsyła do dokonań ziomków z NYC: Sonic Youth, a zwłaszcza innego tria z Japonką na czele - Blonde Redhead. ''Grass Geysers. . .'' i kopnie, i przytuli.
autor: Jędrzej Słodkowski

Enon

Gazeta Wyborcza - Co Jest Grane
Pierwsze danie odgrzano: wznowiony po siedmiu latach debiut ''Believo!'' dziś jawi się przede wszystkim jako dokument z obalania ostatnich barykad międzygatunkowych. Falset w stylu Bee Gees zderza się z maszynową sekcją rytmiczną i zwietrzałym trip-hopem. Abstrakcyjny kogel-mogel z sampli kontrastuje z błahymi balladowymi melodyjkami. I choć kośćcem pozostaje do szpiku nowojorski rock, ten niby znudzony, ale potrafiący przygnieść ścianą gitarowego hałasu, całość jawi się niczym zgliszcza po eksplozji w sklepie muzycznym. Już po wydaniu ''Believo!'' w zespole zmieniła się obsada basu i perkusji. Stopniowo prostowała się poskręcana muzyka. Z piątej płyty Enona, zapamiętuje się najmocniej niewinny głos basistki Toko Yasudy. Frapujące damsko-męskie duety wokalne na tle rzężącego, melodyjnego post-punku, smutek i melancholia przenikające się z absurdalnym poczuciem humoru - to wszystko odsyła do dokonań ziomków z NYC: Sonic Youth, a zwłaszcza innego tria z Japonką na czele - Blonde Redhead. ''Grass Geysers. . .'' i kopnie, i przytuli.
autor: Jędrzej Słodkowski

Shellac

Opis Wydawcy:
Steve Albini stał się legendą zarówno ze względu na swą niezłomną niezależność i bezkompromisowość, jak i pracę w roli producenta i ex-frontmana ikony undergroundowego rocka, zespołu Big Black. Wierność zasadom i oddanie surowej, intensywnej muzyce Albini'ego odnajdziemy nienaruszone w projekcie Shellac, realizowanym z basistą Bobem Westonem i perkusistą Toddem Trainerem. 'Excellent Italian Greyhound' (2007), piąty album tej formacji i pierwszy od wydanego w 2000 roku albumu '1000 HURTS', to jedna z najlepszych muzycznych odsłon tej formacji.
Mimo że album pozostaje wierny typowemu dla Shellac'a przenikliwemu noise-rockowemu etosowi i hardcore`owym inklinacjom w potędze brzmienia, pojawia się na nim dojrzałość, wynikająca z ciągłości wspólnej historii i podejmowanych wciąż na nowo wyzwań. Skala interakcji i potrzeba odkrywania przypomina czasem zespół jazzowy, podczas gdy naturalna potrzeba dźwiękowych konfrontacji wiąże zespół silnie z punkową i post-punkową przeszłością Albini'ego. Stąd choć na EXCELLENT ITALIAN GREYHOUND nie brak szarpnięć strun i terroryzującego umysł jazgotu, złożoność i sposób ich stosowania dowodzą, ze grupa jest w szczytowej formie.


All Music Guide :
Niezwykłe osiągnięcie w wykonaniu prawdziwie osobliwej grupy.
BBC collective :
'Excellent Italian Greyhound' jest najbardziej dojrzałym dokonaniem Shellac: surowym i ostrym. Brzmienie jest typowe dla wcześniejszych dokonań Shellac: gardłowe, sarkastyczne i przepełnione gniewem. . .
Drowned In Sound :
'Excellent Italian Greyhound' jest dokładnie tym, czego należy oczekiwać od nowego albumu Shellac - doskonale brzmiący, fachowo wykonany i radośnie atonalny jak zwykle, choć faktem jest, że ten 3 częściowy doskonały występ oferuję więcej niż suma jego składowych części.
Dusted Magazine :
Nie ma wątpliwości, że płyta 'Excellent Italian Greyhound' to mistrzowska porcja postrzępionego minimalistycznego rocka w wykonaniu czcigodnych weteranów, dających wyraz swej maestrii w jedyny możliwy sposób.
Playlouder :
Jak przystało tego rodzaju bezkompromisowym, wizjonerskim/niezdarnym draniom (usuń jedno z dwóch jeśli czujesz się urażony) płyta 'Excellent Italian Greyhound' lawiruje miedzy niedorzecznie beznadziejnym 'Genuine Lullabelle' z jego ogłupiającymi deklamowanymi pasażami, a wspaniałym, przekonującym, elektryzującym atakiem utworu 'Be Prepared'.
The Onion (A.V. Club) :
Na 'Excellent Italian Greyhound' panuje pewien luźny, niemalże improwizowany minimalizm, raz fascynujący, innym razem odpychający.
Gazeta Wyborcza; 2007-07-20:
''. . .Z trzech wyrazów w tytule można się zgodzić tylko z jednym - ''excellent''. Pierwszy od siedmiu lat i najlepszy w karierze album Shellaca ma zdecydowanie więcej wspólnego z rottweilerem niż delikatnym charcikiem włoskim. Znajdziemy tu wszystko, co sprawia, że kapeli Steve'a Albiniego (gitara), Boba Westona (bas) i Todda Trainera (perkusja) nie sposób pomylić z jakimkolwiek innym zespołem. To długie minuty zapętlonych figur basowo-perkusyjnych, to brutalne punkowe wybuchy i gwałtowne zwroty akcji, wściekłość i inteligencja. Ale Shellac nie był jeszcze nigdy tak surowy i nie brzmiał tak metalicznie. Czyżby Albini przypomniał sobie czasy, kiedy współtworzył legendarny zespół Big Black ? Kego gitara brzmi chwilami jak drugi bas, czego efektem jest wciskający w fotel patos niwelowany nieco czarnym poczuciem humoru. Podniosłości sprzyja także odejście od klasycznie pojmowanego śpiewu na rzecz deklamacji i krzyku. I jeszcze jedno: Shellac nie grał jeszcze tak przejmująco melodyjnych kompozycji. . .''
[Jędrzej Słodkowski]

Screenagers; 21 lipca 2007, ocena: *******
[. . .] o brzmieniu 'Excellent Italian Greyhound', podobnie jak w przypadku 'At Action Park' czy '1000 Hurts' decyduje też niezwykle żywiołowe i bezkompromisowe bębnienie Todda Trainera, który idealnie operuje nastrojem. Spać nie dają także pochody gitary basowej Boba Westona - również producenta nagrań m.in.. . . Sebadoh i post-rockowców z Rachel's. Jeśli dodać do tego znerwicowany, momentami schizofreniczny wokal i ostre jak brzytwa gitarowe zagrywki Albiniego, to mamy już niemal pełen obraz najnowszego dzieła Amerykanów. Shellac mają swój własny, rozpoznawalny sposób na minimalistyczne granie, mieszczący się gdzieś na mapie matematycznego noise rocka. Nie ma nowych rozwiązań brzmieniowych, prób poszerzania stylistyki, w której się obracają, bo w tym konkretnym przypadku jest to zupełnie zbyteczne. Wychodzi na to, że znowu zostawiają konkurencję w tyle.
Trzeba zwrócić uwagę na fakt, że część kompozycji znana jest już fanom od dawna. Panowie wypełniali głównie obowiązki producentów, tylko od czasu do czasu koncertując. W ramach Peel Session z 2004 roku grupa prezentowała fenomenalne 'The End Of Radio' (na 'Excellent Italian Greyhound' utwór niestety bez zwrotki o słynnej tenisistce Martinie Navratilovej), instrumentalne, narastające 'Paco' oraz punk-rockowe 'Steady As She Goes'. Nie są to na szczęście jedyne kompozycje, które trzymają wysoki poziom. 'Be Prepared' odsłania bardziej melodyjne oblicze Shellac z efektownymi quasi-chórkami, a 'Boycott' urozmaicają drugoplanowe, melancholijne, gitarowe zagrywki. Chciałoby się powiedzieć, że również od strony tekstowej jest tradycyjnie. Dominuje absurdalne poczucie humoru, a za przykład może posłużyć kompozycja otwierająca, gdzie Albini wciela się w rolę ostatniego radiowego DJ-a na świecie: This is my farewell transmission. Can you hear me now? The end of radio!
Tylko na wysokości przydługiego 'Genuine Lulabelle', który czasowo niewiele ustępuje 'Didn't We Deserve A Look At You' z 'Terraform', ewidentnie siada tempo. Otrzymujemy konkretny powiew nudy i stąd ciężko wywindować ocenę o oczko wyżej. Na szczęście to jedyny taki moment, bo 'Excellent Italian Greyhound' jako całość osiąga podobny, równy poziom artystyczny, co bardzo zacne '1000 Hurts'. A 'The End Of Radio' nawet zapuszcza się w niedostępne dla zwykłych śmiertelników rejony 'At Action Park'.
I wreszcie na koniec, nawiązując do słów słynnej recenzji 'Spiderland' autorstwa Steve'a Albiniego, wypada mi tylko dodać:
Siedem gwiazdek.
autor: Piotr Wojdat

Playboy; 2007-10
Obowiązkowa pozycja dla fanów garażowych brzmień, których ostatnio przecież coraz więcej wśród fanów rocka. Shellac to przecież oczko w głowie najważniejszego rockwego producenta ostatniego ćwierćwiecze, Steve Albiniego. Który kreował brzmienie m. in. Pixies, Nirvany, Neurosis, Jona Spencera i P.J. Harvey. W triu Shellac, gdzie jest gitarzystą i wokalistą, daje esencję swej wizji. Stawia na konkret, jest bardzo oszczędnie i bardzo surowo, a zarazem ostro, transowo i monumentalnie. Siląc się na przenośnie, Shellac wypada jak Led Zeppelin w wersji minimal punk. Wbija w glebę.
autor: Rafał Księżyk

Editor's info:
Steve Albini is as legendary for his fiercely independent and uncompromising values as for his work as a producer and ex-frontman for such iconic underground rock bands as Big Black. Albini's integrity and dedication to raw, intense music remains intact with Shellac, his on-again/off-again project with bassist Bob Weston and drummer Todd Trainer. EXCELLENT ITALIAN GREYHOUND (2007), the band's fifth album and first since 2000's 1000 HURTS, is among the band's best work.
Although the disc stays true to Shellac's strident noise-rock ethos and hardcore-influenced thunder, there's a maturity here born of the musicians' distinguished resumes and their history with each other. The interplay and sense of exploration recalls a jazz ensemble at times, even when the commitment to sonic confrontation keeps the band firmly connected to Albini's punk and post-punk past. So while there's no shortage of gut-wrenching, brain-melting squall on EXCELLENT ITALIAN GREYHOUND, the intricacy and art. . . With which it's applied represent a band at the top of their game.

All Music Guide:
A stellar accomplishment from a truly singular band.

BBC collective
Excellent Italian Greyhound is vintage Shellac: stark, razorous and blackly comic, lurching into whatever time signature happens to possess drummer Tod Trainer.

No Ripcord
The sound remains unmistakably Shellac: guttural, sarcastic, and chock-full of anger.


Pitchfork
Even at their silliest, even when they're treading water, no one else sounds quite like Shellac, and anyone who professes to be a serious music fan without having spent quality time with the band's albums should be forced to familiarize themselves. This just wouldn't be the first record I'd force on them.

Drowned In Sound
Excellent Italian Greyhound is everything you'd want from a new Shellac record - terrific-sounding, expertly performed and gleefully atonal as ever, but it's live that this legendary three-piece's performance art really comes to life as more than the sum of its casually-displayed parts.

Dusted Magazine
It's a given that Excellent Italian Greyhound is a masterful offering of jagged minimalist rock from a seasoned and almost ridiculously venerable band, but its mastery is expressed in exclusively expected ways.

Playlouder
Well as befits such a completely uncompromising visionary/awkward pain in the arse (delete one if you can be bothered) it veers between the preposterously awful 'Genuine Lullabelle' with its bewildering spoken word passages and the awesome wire taut assault of 'Be Prepared'.

The Onion (A.V. Club)
Greyhound has a loose, almost improvisational minimalism that straddles the line between engrossing and off-putting.

Tiny Mix Tapes
Greyhound lacks the raw immediacy of their first three albums.

Pinback

Autumn Of The Seraphs
'I think I'll sleep on the roof tonight. When I was a kid, I would bring my guitar, my radio, and a couple of pillows up there and watch packs of coyotes invade the neighbor's backyards chasing rabbits. There is always so much more going on, even right next to people, than they would ever know about. How many times have you been able to say to yourself that there was absolutely no place you'd rather be?' - Rob Crow
Around here, we embrace the mystery of life - coyotes and all. So allow us to present this new record from San Diego's finest, Pinback. Comprised of two core members, the prolific Armistead Burwell Smith IV (Zach) and the inexhaustible Rob Crow, the band began in 1998 when the guys took a break from their various other projects (3 Mile Pilot for Zach and Thingy and Heavy Vegetable for Rob). Autumn of the Seraphs is Pinback's fourth full-length record, and second on Touch and Go.
2004's Summer in Abaddon hit the scene like high tide gliding in, whirling around listeners, full of beautiful intensity. It found its place in the hearts of a crazy amount of people worldwide following the success of the single 'Fortress,' and rightfully so.
Autumn of the Seraphs pushes forward and upward. Its melodies are more dynamic and aggressive, while still gently pulling you back in again and again. While entirely recorded in the band's home studios once again, this record is tighter, the drumming more immediate and crisp. Those duties were shared by Mario Rubalcaba (Rocket from the Crypt) and Chris Prescott (No Knife), and it's a marked difference from Pinback's previous releases. 'Good to Sea' is the jam of Indian summer. 'Walters' saunters its way to a buzzy guitar breakdown while 'Subbing for Eden' works steadily toward each climactic chorus.
Autumn of the Seraphs is for both rabbits and people, for good days and for ones where you should have stayed in bed. It's Pinback's best yet, and it's going to take you over.

Pinback

Autumn Of The Seraphs
'I think I'll sleep on the roof tonight. When I was a kid, I would bring my guitar, my radio, and a couple of pillows up there and watch packs of coyotes invade the neighbor's backyards chasing rabbits. There is always so much more going on, even right next to people, than they would ever know about. How many times have you been able to say to yourself that there was absolutely no place you'd rather be?' - Rob Crow
Around here, we embrace the mystery of life - coyotes and all. So allow us to present this new record from San Diego's finest, Pinback. Comprised of two core members, the prolific Armistead Burwell Smith IV (Zach) and the inexhaustible Rob Crow, the band began in 1998 when the guys took a break from their various other projects (3 Mile Pilot for Zach and Thingy and Heavy Vegetable for Rob). Autumn of the Seraphs is Pinback's fourth full-length record, and second on Touch and Go.
2004's Summer in Abaddon hit the scene like high tide gliding in, whirling around listeners, full of beautiful intensity. It found its place in the hearts of a crazy amount of people worldwide following the success of the single 'Fortress,' and rightfully so.
Autumn of the Seraphs pushes forward and upward. Its melodies are more dynamic and aggressive, while still gently pulling you back in again and again. While entirely recorded in the band's home studios once again, this record is tighter, the drumming more immediate and crisp. Those duties were shared by Mario Rubalcaba (Rocket from the Crypt) and Chris Prescott (No Knife), and it's a marked difference from Pinback's previous releases. 'Good to Sea' is the jam of Indian summer. 'Walters' saunters its way to a buzzy guitar breakdown while 'Subbing for Eden' works steadily toward each climactic chorus.
Autumn of the Seraphs is for both rabbits and people, for good days and for ones where you should have stayed in bed. It's Pinback's best yet, and it's going to take you over.

Man Or Astro-Man?

Man or Astro-Man? are a highly prolific space-age surf band that began in Auburn, Alabama in 1992. Perhaps the label's most well known concept band (in the Devo sense of the word); the real identities of these musicians remains a mystery to this day. MOAM records filter various sci-fi television and film influences through a mostly instrumental 60's surf rock sound. Their live shows also demonstrate their nostalgia for 60's sci-fi pop culture, often incorporating film and video clips into their performances. They have been described as Link Ray meets Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

Polvo

Editor's Info:
Originally released in April 1996, Exploded Drawing was generally received as Polvo's White Album, the moment when the band finally kicked off its shoes, cracked the studio windows, and unleashed a long suite of songs showcasing the band's true range. This double LP gives it all up: paranoid blues rants, Delhi-via-the Ozarks hoedowns, spaghetti western lopers, carnivalesque boogie, a blazing, frustrated finale, and as always, that guitar sound. It's just a little off, twisted, tweaked, coming at us from some pangaeic realm we still haven't located so many years later, and probably never will.

Exploding Star Orchestra

Opis Wydawcy:
Mózgiem całego przedsięwzięcia jest genialny ex trębacz Tortoise i lider Chicago Underground, Robert Mazurek. To on skrzyknął chicagowskich muzyków różnych pokoleń do kolektywnego grania pod szyldem Exploding Star Orchestra już dwa lata temu. Efekt tych spotkań możemy właśnie podziwiać. Już sam skład formacji budzi zachwyt. Oprócz Mazurka są to m.in. Jeb Bishop (znany z Vandermark 5), John Herndon, John McEntire, Jeff Parker (wszyscy Tortoise), Matt Lux (Sea & Cake). Kosmiczne wzloty Sun Ra, post rockowa perkusja, pastelowe gitary, psychodeliczne partie fletu Nicole Mitchell, cudowne melodie pianina i oczywiście rewelacyjna trąbka Mazurka. Wybitne osiągnięcie chicagowskiej sceny, mające za duchowych patronów m.in. Stanisława Lema i Erica Satie!!

Luc Ferrari

Ostatnia sesja nagraniowa z udziałem Luca Ferrari, zarejestrowana miesiąc przed jego śmiercią.

Różni Wykonawcy

Druga część dokumentalnej trylogii poświęconej belgijskiej awangardzie lat 1917-1978. Tutaj surrealiści - grupa zapoczątkowana w Brukseli przez Magritte'a, Nouge'a i Lecomte'a. W książeczce m.in. teksty po francusku i ich angielskie tłumaczenia.

Jenny Hoyston

Opis Wydawcy:

''Isle of jest pierwszym albumem solowym Jenny Hoyston, znanej dotychczas jako wokalistyka i gitarzystka Erase Errata, jak również z zabarwionego muzyką coutry duetu Williamem Elliottem Whitmoreem i projektu Anxious Rats, gdzie obok Kim Gordon udzielała się na perkusji.
Wszystkie oblicza Jenny Hoyston zostały dowiedzione na jej nowym wydawnictwie pod własnym nazwiskiem. Jenny zaczęła pisać piosenki włączając w nie brudną gitarową siarkę i automat perkusyjny - tak oczywiste na wydawnictwach poprzedzających jej Paradise Island wydane w Latitudes. Sesja dla Latitudes pomogła jej odkryć nowe ujścia i kierunki dla swych piosenek, ona sama zaś w międzyczasie rozciągnęła w przestrzeni sesje nagraniowe od Portland (Oregon), przez Detroit aż po San Francisco mając jeszcze na bani rozmaite kolaboracje, była w stanie skoncentrować się nie tylko na swym elektronicznym obliczu, ale również aranżach dla pełnego zespołu.

Album zawiera piosenki brzmiące jakby zagrane przez Joan Jett, gdyby nagrywała dla Simple Machine (Spell D-O-G, Structure), współczesne electro â la Le Tigre lub Tracy + The Plastics (Everyones Alone), lub nowy folk amerykański (Even In This Day And Age). Tak jak jej twórczość, zaszufladkować Jenny to coś nieziszczalnego - i bogu dzięki! Jest asem piosenkarstwa, zdolna do szczerych emocjii jak i filuterii. Tak jak w nagraniach Roberta Pollarda, jej zmysł melodyczny lśni czy jest to senny pop czy rozkręcony punk rock. Czym więc jest ten album? Osobliwą eksploracją chwytliwego electro-popu, sypialnianych eksperymentów nagraniowych, i garażowego rocka? Napewno każdym z osobna, wszystkim naraz i jeszcze czymś zupełnie innym.



Editor's info:
All sides of Jenny Hoyston are evident on her new release under her own name, entitled 'Isle Of'. Jenny started writing songs including just dirty guitar sounds and drum machine - as is evident in previous recordings prior to her Paradise Island Latitudes release. The Latitudes session helped her to discover new outlets and directions for her songs and she has since expanded to recording in Portland (Oregon), Detroit and San Francisco with a variety of collaborators, she was able to not only concentrate on her electronic side but also full-band arrangements.
'Isle Of' includes songs that sound like it could be Joan Jett, if she were on the Simple Machines label (''Spell D-O-G'', ''Structure''), contemporary electro, â la Le Tigre or Tracy + The Plastics (''Everyone's Alone''), or new American folk (''Even In This Day And Age''). Open your hearts to an album full of power and passion that'll seep right down into your soul.

Russian Circles

opis wydawcy:

Russian Circles, trzyosobowa grupa muzyczna pochodzącą z Chicago. Podobnie jak inny zespół z Chicago, Pelican, w swojej muzyce łączą dźwięki zaliczane do metalu z delikatnymi wstawkami. Są także znani z pełnych energii koncertów. Ich muzykę zaliczono do kategorii post-rock, czy nawet post-metal.
Początki grupy sięgają końca 2004 roku, gdy gitarzysta Mike Sullivan, basista Colin DeKuiper (oboje należący do innej instrumentalnej grupy Dakota/Dakota) i Dave Turncrantz, sformowali w St Louis grupę Riddle of Steel, która przekształciła się w obecne Russian Circles.

Brand MagazynNR07

Drugi album chicagowskiego tria dostarcza sporą dawkę progresywnego, instrumentalnego rocka. Ten gatunek bywa nazywany różnie, najczęściej jednak pojawiają się dwie nazwy: post-metal i post-rock. Ten przedrostek 'post' jest tutaj niesłychanie ważny, bowiem Russian Circles starannie omijają czarne dziury, tak charakterystyczne dla metalu i rocka, przyjmujące formę nadętego i żenującego patosu jak też typowej, rockowej sztampy.
Pasja i żar w zderzeniu z chłodną, dźwiękową matematyką z jednej strony odpychają swą nieprzystępnością, z drugiej - fascynują i hipnotyzują, nie przez przypadek bywają porównywani do Neurosis, Tool, The Swans czy Pelican.
autor: Tomasz Konwent


Editor's info:
Formed in the Windy City in 2004, Russian Circles were born and from the beginning it was their concoction of metal trimmings, minimal jazz primers, and cryptic riffs that hit the scene out of nowhere with the pummeling impact of a rouge comet crashing in from the skies. Their music weaves up an intense and cinematic albeit soothing clobbering that cannot be put into words but instead into forms of audible head trips that defies pigeonholing. 'There is so much categorization out there' notes guitarist Mike Sullivan. 'I think our sound is just too broad to be labeled as any sort of sub-genre'.
It wasn't long before their 2006 debut long player, Enter, dropped with a booming impact and saw them sharing the stage with the likes of Tool, Dalek, Daughters and Pelican.
Russian Circles have managed to progress forward with a newfangled approach toward their live performances. Their lumbering layers of chiseled post rock and feathery psychedelic infusions have both revved and enticed the listeners into mental orgasms the world over.
Station, was recorded at Seattle's Studio Litho with producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Minus the Bear and Isis.) When asked about the recording process Sullivan cites Bayles as a driving force behind the album's precise synergy. 'He's intense in the studio but in a good way'. Joining Sullivan and Dave Turncrantz (Drums) on the recording was These Arms are Snakes/ Botch bassist Brian Cook with Morgan Henderson of The Blood Brothers also lending his skills on double bass to the track 'Xavii'.
If one aspect remained a summit that the band had scaled, it was making sure that the sequencing was spot on to give Station an 'album feel' making it suitable for a cohesive listen from beginning to end.
While Russian Circles are picking up where they left off with Enter, Station is guaranteed to be a new passage for a band already known for paving their own unique paths of sonic tundra's that jolt the mind and body and will not only leave it's mark on 2008 but on the future influence of music as a whole

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Page France

Editor's info:
The band's fifth release in four years is the product of many hands, but the work of one heart. Principle songwriter Michael Nau's lyrics call to mind Dylan or Nilsson ghostwriting for Margo Guryan, all well-accompanied by a range of upbeat instrumentation.

Other Men

Editor's info:
Sprung from the fertile musical ground of the early '90s San Diego scene, Heavy Vegetables stood out and apart from their contemporaries with hyperspastic mood-swings mixed with complex melodies and baffling dynamics that made their performances the stuff of legend. After yielding two groundbreaking records and while at the top of their game, they called it quits. Now, 11 years after their last studio album, the band have reformed as Other Men and seem to have picked up directly from where they left off. Instead of treading the sounds of the past, Other Men seem intent on creating new sounds from the depths of a played-out genre.

Little Wings

Editor's info:
After a number of albums on the venerable K Records, Little Wings frontman Kyle Field opted to start his own label, Rad, and issued the band's SOFT POW'R on it in the summer of 2007. Like past Little Wings releases, the aptly titled outing finds the Portland, Oregon-based group playing to its quiet, folky strengths as it presents wistful, laid-back tunes (see the melancholy ''Scuby'') that provide the perfect sonic background for staring out at the Pacific Ocean.



pitchforkmedia.com; Rating: 7.1
There's no shortage of backstory for the man behind Little Wings: Kyle Field has been a surfer, a transient living out of the back of a camper, an artist who'll soon be publishing a book, and a member of a band with M. Ward. He's also collaborated with everyone from unsung lo-fi folkies from Indiana to Jason Lytle of Grandaddy.

Even with Field's long history, you can jump in right here with Soft Pow'r, a completely self-contained and accessible work that is more austere than many of his records but no less affecting. For all his prior collaborative work, this album sounds very isolated. The quiet acoustic opener ''Scuby'' sets the tone for the rest of the brief and understated record, just Field's voice and guitar with subtle additions like the muffled drum loop and few scattered, idle notes of piano.

There's no shortage of precious singer/songwriter records in the world, but Field's voice is distinct and has both tenderness and quiet authority. When he double-tracks his voice, he actually thinks about it, as ''Scuby'' has one deep, sonorous, and flatly-intoned line anchoring another sung in a high register that sounds full of yearning. They meet on a few goose-bump-raising moments before the chorus, together creating a sort of layered resignation. These are the kinds of small shades of quiet longing that typify the record.

It's that quiet authority that saves the more mundane sentiments of tracks like ''Gone Again'', which repeats the simple phrase ''miss you so much'' again and again but never becomes overly precious or maudlin. While the songs that add a bit more piano and drums and reach for a less ephemeral strain of soft-rock, like ''Warming'' or ''Free Bird'', have Field straining his delivery somewhat, it's mostly just impressive how much he does with so little. Even the languid, rhythm-free ''Saturday'' sounds like it could have been made up on the spot, but Field's intonation still arrests the attention.

Given its uniformity, it helps that Soft Pow'r straddles the line between album and EP with just seven tracks. Short albums are nothing to complain about, especially ones as consistent as this. It won't change your life, but it just happens to be a successful change in tone and another worthwhile album in a catalog full of them.
by Jason Crock, October 31, 2007

Mekons

www.pitchforkmedia.com; August 24, 2007, Rating: 7.9
[. . .] The shuffling ''Give Us Wine or Money'' features an agrarian scenario played not as Communist utopia but as cutthroat reality where ''on the earth where blood is spilt/ The few must feed the many.'' The incredible ''Diamonds'', with its trademark collective vocals, likens the potential to do right in the world to unpolished gems, but success is still tempered by death, with salmon lost at sea miraculously finding their way back to fresh water and ''the inevitable slaughter.'' Even the more rollicking country blues of ''Shocking Curse Bird'' features the central metaphor nesting ''in Goya's nightmare.''

On 2002's rousing OOOH! The Mekons were pissed and fighting back. Here the battle is already lost, the band resigned and, all options exercised, waiting for what comes next. The power's out. The lights are off. Natural is the end of the world as cautionary campfire tale, the Mekons akin to T.S. Eliot's dejected hollow men (whose world ended ''not with a bang but with a whimper''), waiting for the sun to rise and wishing the new day will reveal the path forward. [. . .]
by Joshua Klein

Dead Child

Editor's info:
Upon first glance at its gruesome exterior, Dead Child appears to be a new creation. However, its jagged roots extend deep into the past, with a history that holds almost a century of collective experience.
It all began when, as youngsters growing up in Louisville, KY during the 70s and 80s, the evil riffs of the heaviest bands were like voices beckoning them to a darker side. Thus began a long, downward journey into the abyss.
As the members aged, the effects of their constant search for fresh sounds took its toll, both mentally and physically. Some sought counseling. Others turned even further inward and found their maladjustment manifesting in physical ways.
Hopelessly searching to cure bad parts and old limbs, Dead Child made many misguided visits to the Louisville Prosthetics Suppliers.
Met with either anger or apathy, their attempts always ended with another door slammed in their faces.
Being turned away left them feeling hopeless and hollow. The world grew darker. They gradually became more and more disoriented until their surroundings blurred, spinning out of control. Days and nights became a single endless moment. Unbearable pain was the only thread that connected light and dark. Each member, independent of the others, went back to his metal roots in an effort to feel grounded in a doomed world.
Dead Child have birthed a truly supreme metal masterwork. ''Attack,'' grew out of pure frustration - the band was sick of the vulnerable, pompous music of recent years, instead jonesing for the pure and simple chops-oriented music of their formative days. It's all serious. No cookie monster vox, and full of thundering drums and anthemic riffs.
It's epic and it's real.
Neither withered appendages nor mangled muscle could restrain their venomous assault. Embarking on that blackened path many years ago has led to this: Dead Child has created a five-headed Frankenstein that now walks among the living.


www.pitchforkmedia.com; 2008-05, ocena: * * * * / * * * *
''. . .David Pajo's tenure in Slint is pretty unimpeachable. But after the tetchy brilliance of Spiderland, things get spotty. Sure, under various M banners, Pajo dabbles hush of folk to subtle effect. Albums like 2001's Whatever, Mortal were songwriting treats, music worthy of brushing elbows with the imposing stuff of his early days, no problem. But for every Live From a Shark Cage, there's a Mary Star of the Sea-- the catastrophic arena-ready byproduct of being an indie rock icon and cavorting with Billy Corgan. So it's fair to be skeptical of the metal band Pajo has scrounged up in Kentucky-- yes, Dead Child-- a cheesily reverent retread of 1980s-minded thrash, vintage hesher skuzz, yadda, yadda, yadda. And if that M.O. sounds familiar, it's because he already did it once with the initial touring incarnation of Early Man (remember them?). Just sub in an unfocused digest of Reagan-era metal in place of the downtown Matador metal dude's dead-on Metallica, and you're pretty much there.
But while Early Man 100% deserved the down-the-nose ''hipster metal'' tag, Dead Child 100% doesn't. This stuff is bad without being ironic. Bad without being calculated. Bad because it just isn't any good. Yes, there are chops here. But save for a few mighty moments, they never get put to any interesting use. ''Twitch of the Death Nerve'' is all oom-pa drumming, tablature-dumb rock guitars, and high school battle of the bands solos. And the too-long-by-four-minutes ''The Coldest Hands'' forgets itself three or four times during its palm-muted sneeroffs. Jukeboxes do it better.
The real issues, though, have nothing to do with the riffage. Pajo and Michael McMahan (of Slint reunion tour fame) play passably, if not inventively. Rather, it's the vocals and guitar tone that really head off Attack. Lead singer Dahm has a thin, nerve-wearing Geddy vs. Ozzy vs. Bruce tone, and the guitars have that blocky, rusted-out desert-rock tenor that works so well for Queens of the Stone Age but seems a bit lite when attempting to throw weight around like real thrash should. When you consider Slint's girth (Tweez was heavy!) and Pajo's oft-professed love of metal, the sound of this record is a real disappointment.
On occasion, though, that love shines through. ''Rattlesnake Chalice'' works up a nice tension with its hourglass tom rolls and simple guitar figure. And ''Screaming Skull'''s tumble thunder riff is a structural beaut. Still, the fact remains: If it weren't for the famous guy in the band, we'd most likely ignore this record completely, saving space for anyone doing anything remotely creative with the same pedal-to-the-metal toolkit. . .''
[Robbie Mackey]
www.pitchforkmedia.com

Dead Child

Editor's info:
Upon first glance at its gruesome exterior, Dead Child appears to be a new creation. However, its jagged roots extend deep into the past, with a history that holds almost a century of collective experience.
It all began when, as youngsters growing up in Louisville, KY during the 70s and 80s, the evil riffs of the heaviest bands were like voices beckoning them to a darker side. Thus began a long, downward journey into the abyss.
As the members aged, the effects of their constant search for fresh sounds took its toll, both mentally and physically. Some sought counseling. Others turned even further inward and found their maladjustment manifesting in physical ways.
Hopelessly searching to cure bad parts and old limbs, Dead Child made many misguided visits to the Louisville Prosthetics Suppliers.
Met with either anger or apathy, their attempts always ended with another door slammed in their faces.
Being turned away left them feeling hopeless and hollow. The world grew darker. They gradually became more and more disoriented until their surroundings blurred, spinning out of control. Days and nights became a single endless moment. Unbearable pain was the only thread that connected light and dark. Each member, independent of the others, went back to his metal roots in an effort to feel grounded in a doomed world.
Dead Child have birthed a truly supreme metal masterwork. ''Attack,'' grew out of pure frustration - the band was sick of the vulnerable, pompous music of recent years, instead jonesing for the pure and simple chops-oriented music of their formative days. It's all serious. No cookie monster vox, and full of thundering drums and anthemic riffs.
It's epic and it's real.
Neither withered appendages nor mangled muscle could restrain their venomous assault. Embarking on that blackened path many years ago has led to this: Dead Child has created a five-headed Frankenstein that now walks among the living.


www.pitchforkmedia.com; 2008-05, ocena: * * * * / * * * *
''. . .David Pajo's tenure in Slint is pretty unimpeachable. But after the tetchy brilliance of Spiderland, things get spotty. Sure, under various M banners, Pajo dabbles hush of folk to subtle effect. Albums like 2001's Whatever, Mortal were songwriting treats, music worthy of brushing elbows with the imposing stuff of his early days, no problem. But for every Live From a Shark Cage, there's a Mary Star of the Sea-- the catastrophic arena-ready byproduct of being an indie rock icon and cavorting with Billy Corgan. So it's fair to be skeptical of the metal band Pajo has scrounged up in Kentucky-- yes, Dead Child-- a cheesily reverent retread of 1980s-minded thrash, vintage hesher skuzz, yadda, yadda, yadda. And if that M.O. sounds familiar, it's because he already did it once with the initial touring incarnation of Early Man (remember them?). Just sub in an unfocused digest of Reagan-era metal in place of the downtown Matador metal dude's dead-on Metallica, and you're pretty much there.
But while Early Man 100% deserved the down-the-nose ''hipster metal'' tag, Dead Child 100% doesn't. This stuff is bad without being ironic. Bad without being calculated. Bad because it just isn't any good. Yes, there are chops here. But save for a few mighty moments, they never get put to any interesting use. ''Twitch of the Death Nerve'' is all oom-pa drumming, tablature-dumb rock guitars, and high school battle of the bands solos. And the too-long-by-four-minutes ''The Coldest Hands'' forgets itself three or four times during its palm-muted sneeroffs. Jukeboxes do it better.
The real issues, though, have nothing to do with the riffage. Pajo and Michael McMahan (of Slint reunion tour fame) play passably, if not inventively. Rather, it's the vocals and guitar tone that really head off Attack. Lead singer Dahm has a thin, nerve-wearing Geddy vs. Ozzy vs. Bruce tone, and the guitars have that blocky, rusted-out desert-rock tenor that works so well for Queens of the Stone Age but seems a bit lite when attempting to throw weight around like real thrash should. When you consider Slint's girth (Tweez was heavy!) and Pajo's oft-professed love of metal, the sound of this record is a real disappointment.
On occasion, though, that love shines through. ''Rattlesnake Chalice'' works up a nice tension with its hourglass tom rolls and simple guitar figure. And ''Screaming Skull'''s tumble thunder riff is a structural beaut. Still, the fact remains: If it weren't for the famous guy in the band, we'd most likely ignore this record completely, saving space for anyone doing anything remotely creative with the same pedal-to-the-metal toolkit. . .''
[Robbie Mackey]
www.pitchforkmedia.com

Peter Morén

Editor's info:
On April 8, 2008, Quarterstick Records will release the highly anticipated solo album from Peter Morén, the lead singer of Swedish indie megastars Peter Bjorn and John. The Last Tycoon may be Peter's first solo album, but it has been several years in the making. Throughout the hectic years of songwriting, recording and touring with Peter Bjorn and John in support of their infectious breakout album Writer's Block, Peter's pen never rested. Out of that prolific pen emerged an intimate collection of songs that see their writer pondering the difficulties and resolutions of everyday life and the ever-present confusion of approaching late adulthood - according to Peter, 'the usual lyrical psychobabble, but with a direct and honest approach.'
Recorded and mixed over two years in tiny apartments and rehearsal studios in Sweden and the U.S., The Last Tycoon features a decidedly more acoustic, low-key side of Peter than fans of 2007's ubiquitous indie anthem 'Young Folks' are used to hearing. Built around the basic foundation of Peter and his guitar, the album has a distinctly homemade feel that feeds from the folk singer-songwriter tradition but still incorporates strings, synthesizers, vibraphones, percussion, a musical saw, and even a drum machine or two.
After a solo show in New York City, SPIN.com raved, 'Judging by the fervent ovation, fans hope this solo Tycoon takes the stage again very soon.' Luckily for all music fans, Peter will be bringing the charming folk-pop of The Last Tycoon to the South by Southwest Festival in March and a handful of select cities this spring.

Matthew Shipp Trio

Editor's info:
Shipp's music displays his own thought processes, and in trio lays out a physical trail reflecting the way the three players think along with each other. Following those thoughts leads us deep into a new jazz style that has sprung, like Athena from the brow of Zeus, out of the body of jazz preceding it. The new relative in the family looks fine already, and seems likely in the future to astonish us with further mighty feats.
Steve Holtje


The Guardian; Friday July 11, 2008
Pianist Matthew Shipp played London's Vortex earlier this year, and reminded listeners of how inventively he reappraises standard materials through the prism of the post-1960s jazz avant garde and the world of contemporary dancefloor and street music. Shipp's gritty, chord-barging approach was assisted by drummer Whit Dickey and bassist Joe Morris on that occasion, but his partners on this reissued 1997 set are the more radical duo of percussionist Susie Ibarra and long-time bass associate William Parker. Autumn Leaves, C Jam Blues and Take the A Train are there to showcase Shipp's original way with standards he can harry the hell out of, and five largely abstract originals complete the set. This is more purist free-jazz than Shipp often plays now, but the spontaneous invention is formidable - and it sounds as if Hatology may have adjusted the mix to address a criticism of the original that the piano sound was too subdued. Subdued it definitely ain't, in this version.
by John Fordham

David Liebman & Ellery Eskelin

artPapier; 15 lipca 14 (110) / 2008
Dwa pokolenia mistrzów progresywnego saksofonu. Muzyków różni co prawda jedynie 13 lat, ale ich biografie i dorobek dają podstawy do mówienia o różnicy generacyjnej. David Liebman urodził się w 1946 roku, doskonale przyswoił sobie bop oraz jazz lat 60. i 70., zasłynął jako partner Davisa w latach 1973-1974. Ellery Eskelin przyszedł na świat w 1959, w swej twórczości przejawiał zawsze głęboki szacunek dla tradycji, ale jednocześnie zasymilował innowacje nowojorskiej postmoderny, którą sam po części współtworzył. Panowie wcześniej, w 2003 roku firmowali wspólnie płytę 'Different But The Same'. Tu mamy osadzony w jazzowych kanonach, ale podany w nowoczesny sposób, intensywny i ze wszech miar kreatywny jazz najwyższej próby! Nie może być inaczej, skoro duetowi towarzyszą: genialny perkusista Jim Black i mniej znany, ale dotrzymujący mu kroku (czy może raczej groove'u, w dodatku często mocno asymetrycznego) basista Tony Marino.
autor: Łukasz Iwasiński


All About Jazz; 2006-06-20
''. . .Renewal is the brilliant follow-up to Different But The Same (Hatology, 2003), the debut of saxophonists David Liebman and Ellery Eskelin's co-led quartet. Initially perceived as a curious pairing, with Liebman the conservative elder to Eskelin's liberal youth, the two tenors actually share numerous aesthetic similarities, including an affinity for both inside and outside playing. Although separated by a generational divide, they have longstanding ties; Eskelin studied with Liebman in the early eighties.
Liebman's stalwart bassist Tony Marino and Eskelin's frequent collaborator, drummer Jim Black form the reliable rhythm section. The quartet continues to skirt the tenuous divide between free jazz and post-bop, a delicate balancing act they accomplish with vivacious aplomb. A varied set, Renewal features two tunes apiece from the session co-leaders, one each from Black and Marino, a freely improvised ballad and two enthralling takes of Eric Dolphy's classic ''Out There.''
Much as they did on their debut, Liebman and Eskelin continue to confound stylistic preconceptions. A complementary pair with an uncanny flair for spontaneous harmonies, they elicit untapped aspects from each other with a conversational acumen that avoids hackneyed tenor duels and cutting contests.
Liebman's early studies with Lennie Tristano and Charles Lloyd cemented his mastery of chord changes and traditional forms well before his apprenticeship with Miles Davis in the early seventies, yet his predilection for more exploratory avenues has always hovered in the margins. In the company of like-minded peers, he is joyously unrestrained; he even surpasses Eskelin in intensity with his impassioned solo on the ebullient opener, ''Cha.''
A veteran of the nascent Knitting Factory scene, Eskelin is renowned as a wild and wooly free improviser, yet his lyrical and harmonic contributions in the company of Liebman are masterfully sublime as he orbits melodic niches with focused moderation.
A pliant rhythm section, Black and Marino veer from roiling intensity to cool understatement. Their raging coda on Black's infectious ''Cha'' brims with punk rock energy, as Marino's hyperkinetic pizzicato fuels Black's throttling palpitations. The title track is the inverse, an introspective ballad feature for Marino's sinewy bass, tempered with soulful restraint from the horns.
Despite their relatively limited palette, the quartet embraces a wide range of territory. Inspired by a recent trip to Mauritania, Liebman's modal travelogue ''Dimi and the Blue Man'' ebbs with rich North African harmonies and colorful percussive accents. Eskelin's multi-sectional ''The Decider'' ranges from somber introspection to brusque, angular free jazz, while the two tenors' circuitous interaction reaches a fevered pitch on the petulant ''IC.'' Stretching the bounds of tradition, Marino's 10 bar blues ''Palpable Clock'' saunters with a languorous Mingus-like fervor.
As an exploration of the limitless potential found in the two tenor quartet format, Renewal is a stunning example of modern jazz that straddles the line between freedom and form by musicians who transcend expectations. . .''
[Troy Collins]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Pandelis Karayorgis / Nate McBride / Curt Newton

diapazon.pl, 2009-01:
''. . .Nie powiem, że spodziewałem nie wiadomo czego wspaniałego i od razu zastrzegam, że nie jest to płyta wybitna, ale z pewnością warto ją posłuchać.
Zacząć należy jednak od repertuaru tego albumu, bowiem znajdują się na nim perełki takie jak utwory Theloniousa Monka, Sun Ra, Duke'a Ellingtona, Wayne'a Shortera, które przeplecione są własnymi kompozycjami Karayorgisa. Układ płyty jest więc wielce obiecujący.
Karayorgis wyraźnie faworyzuje Monka, bo aż 4 na 12 kompozycji jest autorstwa tego wielkiego pianisty, ale przyznam, że mnie najbardziej podoba się potraktowanie przez trio ''Saturna'' Sun Ra i ''Pinocchia'' Shortera.
Pierwsze skrzypce, a raczej piano Fendera, oczywiście wodzi lider. To jego śmiałe eskapady dominują na tej płycie, ale trzeba przyznać, że McBride i Newton dzielnie mu w tym sekundują. Ciekawostką jest, że tym razem McBride nie gra na elektrycznym basie, a z dużym wyczuciem swinguje na kontrabasie. . .''
[Robert Żurawski]
pełny tekst recenzji na diapazon.pl

Machina; 10/2008:
[. . .] W roli głównej elektryczny fortepian Fender Rhodes. Jeden z najbardziej charaktersytycznych i kultowych instrumentów. Szczególnie w dziejach jazzu. Rozsławiony w zespołach Davisa współtworzył brzmienie fusion lat 70., a dziś doczekał się renesansu popularności na gruncie wszelkiej maści nu jazzowych i postrockowych projektów. Są jednak i tacy twórcy, którzy miast odtwarzać brzmieniowe kanony, postanowili wykrzesać z Fendera nowe możliwości. Jednemu z najciekawszych dziś jazzowych pianistów Karayorgisowi bez wątpienia to się udało. Biorąc na warsztat tematy Monka, Sun Ra, Ellingtona, Mengelberga i własne, Karayorgis zachwyca serią kosmiczno-kwaśnych, kapryśnych abstrakcji. Jedyny prbolem z tą płytą to fakt, iż bębniarz sadzi gęste jazzowe walkingi, a tu przydałby się konkretny funkowy beat. Brzmieniowo kapitlane, groove'owo już mniej. [. . . ]
autor: Rafał Księżyk

All About Jazz; 2008-06-23
''. . .Pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, bassist Nate McBride and drummer Curt Newton debuted as the Mi3 trio in 2005 with We Will Make A Home For You (Clean Feed), a riotous live recording that featured Karayorgis leading the trio on a vintage Fender Rhodes. Their studio follow up, Free Advice (Clean Feed, 2007) found Karayorgis back on home turf, playing acoustic piano. Their most definitive statement yet, Betwixt combines the electronic experimentation of their live debut with the sonic precision of the later studio session.
Dispensing with their ensemble name, the Boston-based, New England Conservatory grads continue down the adventurous path they blazed three years ago. Once again trafficking in a mix of thorny originals and under-sung covers, the trio shines new light on harmonically robust, but underexposed compositions by acknowledged masters, refracting them through a heavily amplified, kaleidoscopic lens.
Drawing from a rich well of classics, pieces by Duke Ellington (''Heaven''), Sun Ra (''Saturn'') and Wayne Shorter (''Pinocchio'') sit alongside obscure, yet striking tunes by Misha Mengelberg (''Hypochrismutreefuzz'') and the trio's spiritual forefather, Hasaan Ibn Ali (''Off My Back Jack''). The inclusion of four covers by Thelonious Monk re-affirms Karayorgis reputation as a foremost interpreter of the master's idiosyncratic aesthetic.
A former student of Paul Bley and adherent of the elliptical approach of Thelonious Monk and Lennie Tristano, Karayorgis uses analog electronics to generate unorthodox alien timbres that transform pitch and tone in the same way his progenitors re-imagined conventional melody and harmony with asymmetrical structures. Karayorgis augments his Fender Rhodes with a Mutron auto-wah pedal, a distortion pedal and a ring modulator, a volatile combination that lends his instrument a mercurial temperament with limitless sonic potential. At his most deconstructive, he pitch bends craggy chromatic tones into other planes of there on Sun Ra's ''Saturn.''
McBride and Newton tackle elastic swing rhythms with an oblique approach, seamlessly incorporating rubato pulses, infectious ostinatos and intuitive call and response sections. They alternate between sublime coloration and spirited brio, allowing space for Karayorgis to unleash cadences that oscillate from gauzy whispers on the plaintive ''Heaven'' to psychedelic squalls of gritty feedback on the careening ''Humph.''
Free Advice was a welcome reminder of Karayorgis' abilities in a traditional acoustic setting. Betwixt reveals him as a sonic architect of the highest order, a visionary improviser whose enthusiasm for the possibilities of sound knows no limit. Together, Karayorgis, McBride and Newton offer a thrilling set guaranteed to turn heads. . .''
[Troy Collins]
www.allaboutjazz.com

John Zorn / George Lewis / Bill Frisell

multikulti.com
Nagrany z puzonistą George'm Lewisem i gitarzystą Billem Frisellem album ''News For Lulu'' zawiera klasyczne kompozycje hardbopowe z lat 60. zagrane z typową dla Zorna wyobraźnią. W 1986 roku dla włoskiej wytwórni Black Saint ukazał się album ''Voodoo'', sygnowany nazwą The Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet (Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Ray Drummond i Bobby Previte). W siedmiu kompozycjach autorstwa legendarnego pianisty Sonny'ego Clarka John Zorn z kolegami jawi się jako spadkobierca hardbopowej tradycji, nieco już zapomnianej. Płyta ''New For Lulu'' nagrana w roku 1987 kontunuuje pomysły muzyczne z płyty ''Voodoo''.
To wyjątkowe trio charyzmatycznych instrumentalistów udowadnia, że klasyczny jazz, jeśli trafia na tej miary improwizatorów posiada atomowy wręcz potencjał.
Kompozycje Kenny Dorhama, Hanka Mobley'a, Freddie Redda i Sonny Clarka w rękach Zorna, Frisella i Lewisa nabierają polifonicznego charakteru (trzy solowe instrumenty-żadnego akompaniamentu!!!) i współczesnej zadziorności, nie tracąc przy tym nic ze szlachetnej urody pierwowzorów.

Materiał muzyczny w 2008 roku poddany został ponownemu masteringowi, co w zauważalny sposób podniosło walory nagrania. Na reedycji znajdziemy także jeden bonus track: kompozycja Freddie Redda 'Mealnie'

Wydawnictwo Hat Hut na 2009 rok zapowiada wznowienie drugiej płyty tria John Zorn / George Lewis / Bill Frisell 'More New For Lulu'


All About Jazz; 2008-06-11
''. . .Fun, fun, brilliant, spirit-raising fun. News For Lulu, recorded in 1987 and here reissued in a new master with a bonus track, features three idiosyncratic post-modern improvisers in a homage to the late 1950s hard bop songbook-not playing the material for laughs, not subjecting it to ''reconstruction,'' but approaching it with joy, respect, truck loads of energy and unfettered, viral abandon.
It's a perfect blast on two levels-as a celebration of some great tunes and as platform for incisive collective improvisation by alto saxophonist John Zorn, trombonist George Lewis and guitarist Bill Frisell.
Avoiding the most obvious stalwarts of the hard bop canon-''The Sidewinder,'' ''Moanin,''' ''Song for My Father'' and their glorious but very familiar like-the set list instead features sixteen other, less frequently covered but still absolutely primo tunes. Four each from trumpeter Kenny Dorham and tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, three from pianist Freddie Redd, and five from pianist Sonny Clark (whose ''Blue Minor'' is included in two takes). Four of the tunes are heard again at the end of the album in a live recording from the Willisau festival in summer 1987, made two days after the original Lucerne studio session.
Most of the tracks are taken at a lick and last three or four minutes-just enough time for theme statements and variations, some to-the-point collective improvisation, and a closing return to the theme-and the trio give as much attention to delivering the material with the vigor and commitment it deserves as they do to improvising on it.
The collective improvisations are no less powerful for their brevity and, like much of the best in the genre, evoke the spirit of New Orleans. Practically throughout, at least one player stays close to the theme, while the others extemporize. The Bourbon Street resonance is strengthened by Lewis' exuberant down-home trombone, whose riffs and fractured bass lines hold down the bottom of the music. At other times, a heated-up (and then some) version of saxophonist Stan Getz and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer's interplay on At the Shrine (Verve, 1954) comes to mind.
Zorn is the chief ''soloist,'' exploring the outer edges of the material with passionate enthusiasm. That he does so on the alto rather than the tenor-the hard bop saxophone-adds a subtle twist. On the hard bop alto scale, Zorn is closer here to Jackie McLean than Cannonball Adderley (Sonny Clark's ''Melody for C'' being one of the notable exceptions). But above all, he's his own riotous self.
Frisell, playing the only chordal instrument, avoids playing the changes, preferring a more illusive approach. He's the most understated and nuanced player here, and he sometimes requires deliberate effort to pick out from amongst the two horns. The effort is always repaid.
A whirlwind of pleasure. . .''
[Chris May]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet / Ken Vandermark

multikulti.com; 2008-06
''. . .Najnowsza płyta Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tenet ukazała się, co prawda, na jubileusz 10-lecia działalności zespołu, ale nie jest to nagranie pokazujące rozwój zespołu czy też swoiste ''the best of''. Jest to zapis kolejnego koncertu zespołu, obrazujący jego ''tu i teraz''.
Przez 10 lat muzyka grupy przeszła olbrzymią ewolucje - początkowo mieliśmy bowiem do czynienia z kompozycjami i (z grubsza) rozpisanymi aranżacjami (trzypłytowy box ''Chicago Octet/ Tentet'', ''Stone/ Water'', ''Broken English'', ''Short Visit to Nowhere'', ''Images'', ''Signes''). Mimo to od początku żywiołem zespołu były formalne eksperymenty - olbrzymie partie utworów były improwizowane, powstawały utwory, w których narracja sterowana była przez Freda Lonberg-Holma za pomocą tajemniczego pudełka, na którym zapalały się kolorowe światełka, lub też wypisywał on kartkach hasła mające kierować zbiorową improwizacją zespołu. Aż, podobno, pewnego dnia, przyszedł Peter Brotzmann i powiedział: ''Słuchajcie, od dzisiaj nie komponujemy''. Zaproponowana formuła wykorzystania w wolnej improwizacji wcześniej skomponowanych tematów (''Be Music, Night'') także z czasem została odrzucona - zastąpiła ją muzyka w pełni improwizowana, w której muzycy wychodząc na scenę nie wiedzą nawet ile setów przyjdzie im zagrać - wszystko tu zależy od muzyki. Takie zresztą obrazowanie - iż to muzyka (jako persona i absolut) decyduje o wszystkim, choć romantyczne i nieprawdziwe, oddaje najpełniej filozofię twórczą kolektywu znanego jako Peter Brotzmann Chciago Tentet. Kolektywu - bowiem każdy z muzyków jest współuprawniony, by kierować poczynaniami zespołu. I z taką muzyką obcować będą słuchacze najnowszej płyty, będącej zapisem koncertu w Molde. Czasami rodzi się ona z ciszy, by po kilka kolejnych bolesnych i hałaśliwych paroksyzmach w ciszy się rozpłynąć. Czasami jest jedną wielką ogłuszającą eksplozją, tłamsząca słuchaczy potokiem rozwibrowanej, równoczesnej improwizacji. Niekiedy bolesnym skurczem gdzie dźwięk i cisza są współuprawnione. Za każdym razem inna, niezwykła, częściej niż kiedyś wykorzystująca elektroniczne preparacje Freda Lonberg-Holm'a; nieszukająca utartych czy choćby widocznych ścieżek, ale wytrwale przedzierająca się przez gąszcz równoczesnych solówek i uniesień. Niepowtarzalna. . .''
[Wawrzyniec Mąkinia]

''. . .Cóż można jeszcze napisać o grze jednego z najważniejszych dużych zespołów free jazzowych ostatnich lat. Zaczynał od warsztatowego grania na bazie pseudo kompozycji lidera, aby w apogeum swojego rozwoju przejść do spontanicznych improwizacji bez jakichkolwiek wskazówek co do kompozycji, rytmu i konstrukcji utworu. Czy takie szaleństwo może się udać? Proszę posłuchać tego koncertu.
Już w recenzji z dwóch płyt ''American Landscapes'' wspominałem o organicznym porozumieniu członków zespołu. Koncert festiwalowy utrzymany jest w tych samych klimatach. Niby tylko trzy utwory, ale każdy z nich niesie takie bogactwo muzyki, że zapiera dech. Zwłaszcza pierwszy utwór jest tak zróżnicowany, że pomysły z niego mogły by obdzielić wiele różnych niezależnych kawałków. Słuchając takich długich improwizacji przypominają mi się najlepsze lata rockowej psychodelii zapisane na koncertowych płytach z Fillmore. Zawsze podziwiałem i zastanawiałem się jak muzycy w takiej skrajnej improwizacji wiedzą, w którym momencie mają przejść do nowego tematu, często kompletnie odmiennego rytmicznie i strukturalnie. To tak jakby obserwowało się wielkie stado szpaków na niebie, które jak za dotknięciem czarodziejskiej różdżki nagle zmienia kierunek lotu. Przypomina to jeden świetnie funkcjonujący superorganizm, w którym panuje pełny automatyzm odruchów i podobnie jak niewiele wiemy o funkcjonowaniu naszej centrali - mózgu, tak trudno jest zrozumieć jak lider przekazuje w ułamku sekundy informację o zmianie. A przecież na pierwszych koncertach tentetu Brötzmann rzeczywiście w sposób czytelny kierował zespołem, rozpisując na kartkach partie utworu i dając znaki, w którym momencie nastąpi zmiana. Teraz wszystko odbywa się automatycznie. Mistrzostwo świata. . .''
[Lech Borowiec]
pełny tekst recenzji dostępny na diapazon.pl

All About Jazz; 2008-04
''. . .Logic might tell you that the more free jazz players you have in one spot, the greater the volume and intensity will be, but At Molde 2007 the Chicago Tentet turned in a textured performance that touches on the language of American jazz and European classical forms through the use of multilayered voices and nuanced interplay. In addition to the mainstays on the frontline (Brotzmann, Ken Vandermark, Gustafsson, Joe McPhee), this edition of the Tentet features electro-cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, who along with bassist Kent Kessler does the work of a symphonic string section. The 40-minute ''Ten by Ten'' would be a satisfying album on its own, but at Molde the band played two more pieces, both nearly as expansive and spacious as the opener. . .''
[Jeff Stockton]
www.allaboutjazz.com

The Arcade Fire

Editor's info:
An intense spectacle even on record, this rather large ensemble hailing from Montreal is on a mission. Prepare to get caught up in it all! 'look out below' indeed. . . The Arcade Fire bring a theatricality, an intensity, an insanity, and a penchant for amazing hooks to their debut full length release, Funeral. You have never heard such energy, such beauty and such emotion from such a young band. Fans of Neutral Milk Hotel, Broken Social Scene, and Roxy Music's first two albums will have a new favorite band, The Arcade Fire!

Tim Daisy / New Fracture Quartet

multikulti.com
Czwarta już płyta Multikulti Project w serii muzyki improwizowanej to zarazem druga płyta prezentująca niezwykle kreatywną młodą scenę chicagowską.
Przypomnijmy, że w 2007 roku ukazała się płyta formacji Dragons 1976 [Aram Shelton / Jason Ajemian / Timothy Daisy] 'Dragons 1976', która spotkała się z dobrym przyjęciem zarówno w Polsce jak i za granicą.
O najnowszym swoim projekcie Tim Daisy tak opowiada:
The New Fracture Quartet jest formacją powstałą na początku 2007 roku. Chciałem założyć zespół, który eksplorował by nowe kompozycje, nad którymi wówczas pracowałem. Skontaktowałem się więc z Natem McBridem, Davem Millerem i Jaimie Branchem, których grę uwielbiam i którzy ku mej ogromnej radości uznali moją propozycję grania razem za świetną.
Muzyka The New Fracture Quartet odzwierciedla moje obecne rozumienie współczesnej formacji, jako grupy integrującej kompozycję i improwizację.
Kompozycje na tej płycie łączą wpływy wielu stylów muzycznych, które wciąż kształcą moją osobowość muzyczną jako kompozytora i perkusjonisty.
Niektóre z nich nawiązują do surowej, potężnej energii undergroundowego rocka, jakiego słucham od lat (Minor Threat, The Jesus Lizard, Naked Raygun), inne do muzyki afrykańskiej, w szczególności angolskiej muzyki folkowej z lat 50' i 60' (Ngola Ritmos, Dimba Diangola, Minguito) oraz malijskiej muzyki gitarowej Ali Farka Toure i Boubacara Traore. By w pełni oddać obraz moich korzeni muzycznych słyszalnych na tej płycie należy oczywiście do wyżej wymienionych dodać liczne nazwiska improwizujących muzyków ze Stanów Zjednoczonych i Europy, którzy mieli ogromny wpływ na mój muzyczny temperament (takich jak Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Milford Graves, Hans Bennink czy Peter Brötzmann, by wymienić choć paru).

Chciałbym ogromnie podziękować wszystkim muzykom The New Fracture Quartet za ich inspirującą grę na tej płycie. Mam nadzieję, że jest to dopiero pierwsza z wielu płyt jakie dane nam będzie jeszcze wspólnie nagrać.

- Tim Daisy, Chicago, Marzec 2008 [liner notes]



diapazon.pl; 2008-05
''. . .Słuchając tej płyty można wpaść w pułapkę. Po pierwsze pułapkę absurdalnych przyzwyczajeń do segregowania i katalogowania. Próba rozszyfrowania zarejestrowanej na płycie muzyki przez przywołanie postaci z panteonu improwizacji utyka w martwym punkcie: brak jednoznacznie kojarzących się nazwisk - wytrychów. Może wiec warto porzucając pseudointelektualne kalambury przyjąć że to muzyka faktycznie nowa. Po drugie niesamowite dźwięki na trąbce gra młoda kobieta - Jaimie Branch, nie za bardzo pasująca do wykreowanego przez generację Milesa Davisa nieco szowinistycznego wizerunku muzyka jazzowego. Rysa na obliczu muzyki granej przez mężczyzn głównie dla mężczyzn robi się nieznośnie wyraźna. Po trzecie czy ''jazz'' to pojemnik dość głęboki by pomieścić spektrum brzmienia tego kwartetu? Opisywanie zarejestrowanej tu muzycznej inwencji słowem, które stało się w międzyczasie popkulturową kliszą i kojarzy się raczej z dyskretnym ambientem spotkań biznesowych, jest co najmniej nadużyciem.
Muzyka New Fracture Quartet jest demokratyczna i otwarta. Asymiluję dźwięki wielkiej aglomeracji z wewnętrznym imperatywem ciszy i refleksji, właściwej każdej myślącej istocie. Przeszywające na wskroś sprzężenia gitary elektrycznej Dave Millera, eteryczna trąbka Jaimie Branch i pulsująca sekcja Nate'a McBride'a - Tim Daisy to cząstki elementarne fabularnego scenariusza autorstwa tego ostatniego, trzymającego w napięciu przez ponad 50 minut. Fenomen kompozycji Tima Daisy ma tu dwa wymiary: po pierwsze zaskakująca sonorystyka, rozpięta między ekstremami noise rocka i letargiem cool jazzu (absolutnie fenomenalne frazy Branch), po drugie całkowity brak dźwięków niepotrzebnych (nie chodzi tu o jakikolwiek minimalizm, bo spektrum dźwięków budujących fabułę kompozycji jest raczej maksymalistyczne, ale o dyscyplinę i konsekwencję w budowaniu ram kompozycyjnych). Brutalna energia i dosłowność rocka nie odbierają tu praw do koegzystencji filigranowej kameralistyce. Raczej doskonale ją uzupełniają. To konsekwentnie realizowana nowa estetyka, której integralną częścią jest improwizacja i percepcja otoczenia. Nate McBride i Tim Daisy są znani choćby z formacji Kena Vandermarka i ich muzyczna reputacja nie podlega dyskusji. Jaimie Branch i Dave Miller to prawdziwe objawienie. Brawurowe dialogi obojga artystów emanują siłą i pełną skupienia wrażliwością. Rozpiętość dźwiękowego terytorium Jaimie Branch wydaje się nie mieć granic - w jej grze można doszukać się zarówno bopowej wirtuozerii Clifforda Browna jak i psychodelicznych pomruków Billa Dixona. Być może indywidualne lekcje ze Stevem Lacy wykształciły w absolwentce Boston's New England Conservatory ekstremalną wrażliwość na detal i potrzebę organicznej asymilacji instrumentu.
Muzyka improwizowana rozwija się dwutorowo. Jeden kierunek prowadzi do odkrywania własnej estetyki poprzez poznawanie możliwości instrumentu. Drugi jest wynikiem twórczej interakcji w środowisku, które jest w stanie inspirować i pobudzać do działania (choćby artystycznego). Chicago jest z tej perspektywy miastem unikalnym, o czym przekonują kolejne projekty firmowane nazwiskami tamtejszych muzyków. Tytułowe ''1,000 Lights'' to być może tysiąc świetlnych punktów, pozwalających pracować nad nowymi projektami mimo bardzo późnej pory. Oby efekty tych wysiłków były tak imponujące jak płyta New Frame Quartet. . .''
[Olaf Piotrowski]


Odra, #08/2008
Tim Daisy, wśród wielu źródeł inspiracji, wymienia również Ornette'a Colemana. Gdybym jednak miał najkrócej scharakteryzować muzykę jego chicagowskiego kwartetu, porównałbym był ją do fusion, a zwłaszcza do tej wersji jazzrockowej stylistyki, którą można usłyszeć na wczesnych koncertach elektrycznego Davisa. I raz jeszcze: nie chodzi o powtórzenie (trębaczka Jaimie Branch bynajmniej nie dąży do naśladowania wspomnianego personalnego arcywzoru), lecz o odnawiające podjęcie tamtego inspirującego doświadczenia. Warto zresztą, dla porządku historycznego, zwrócić uwagę, że występy zelektryfikowanych zespołów Davisa nie były jedynie następstwem albumu Bitches Brew: podobne uwolnienie dźwiękowej energii osiągnął drugi kwintet wielkiego trębacza na rejestracjach z Plugged Nickel. Jak również podobne rozluźnienie muzycznych struktur. Co tym ciekawsze, że Davis raczej pogardzał free.

Muzyka kwartetu Tima Daisy jest więc pełna energii; przy równorzędnym traktowaniu partnerów i ich instrumentów słychać jednak istotną rolę perkusji lidera. Gęste, ekspresyjne przestrzenie są czymś w rodzaju nieustannej kulminacji, różnicowanej za pomocą zmian aranżacyjnych. W Falling Rocks trąbka dołącza do nakręcającego dźwięk tria, kontrastuje zmianą artykulacji, potem pozostawia trio na kolejną mocną fazę. Po przerwie znów wchodzi Jaimie Branch, dość spokojnie, przyspiesza, ale nawet jej zwiększanie tempa staje się celowym składnikiem retardującym. Streetband rozpoczyna się taneczną i trochę po afrykańsku brzmiącą perkusją; w 1,000 Lights wejście gitary jest z kolei parafrazą akordów z ballady rockowej.
autor; Adam Poprawa

Dziennik; 2008-08-22, ocena: * * * * * :
''. . .Jeśli istnieje coś takiego jak nowy jazz, mamy z nim do czynienia na tej płycie. Tim Daisy (obwołany perkusistą przyszłości przez ''Down Beat''), Jaimie Branch (trębaczka, która studiowała ze Steve'em Lacym) oraz basista Nate McBride to ludzie, którzy jazzową tradycję mają w małym palcu. Nie przeszkadza im to jednak zderzać swingu z elektronicznym rockiem. Oto kolejna odważna i różnorodna wypowiedź artystów rodem z Chicago. . .''
[Tymon Tymański]



Oto fragmenty wybranych recenzji poprzedniej płyty z udziałem Tima Daisy, wydaną przez Multikulti Project-'Dragons 1976':


Machina; 2007-01, ocena: * * * *
[. . .] Nadeszła nowa generacja jazzmanów z Chicago. 1976 to rocznik muzyków tworzących wyśmienite trio. Saksofonista Aram Shelton, prekusista Tim Daisy oraz basista Jason Ajemian wywodzą się z kręgu niezliczonych formacji Kena Vandermarka. Powołują się na podobne inspiracje: herosów czarnego jazzu lat 60. - Coltrane'a, Shepp'a, Aylera. O ile jednak nuży już płytowa nadprodukcja Vandermarka, a szczególnie toporne nawiąznia do czarnej awangardy, z grania Dragons wieje świeżością. Uderza kompetencja młodych muzyków, szlachetne, organiczne brzmienie, no i własny klimat, który potrafi wytworzyć trio. Muzyka jest mocna, ale równocześnie pełna lirycznej nostalgii, swobodona, ale zwarta, intryguje przyciemnioną aurą. Niby to biała powtórka z czarnej historii, ale słucha się jej z przyjemnością. [. . .]


diapazon.pl; 2007-07
[. . .] Zaskakuje przede wszystkim brzmienie saksofonu lidera: ciemne i głębokie, ale niezwykle płynne i linearne, zupełnie odmienne od atomowych erupcji i ''transgenicznych'' saksofonowych mutacji, kojarzonych czasem ze środowiskiem skupionym wokół Kena Vandermarka. Siła i kontrola narracji nie koliduje bynajmniej z momentami melancholijnego letargu i frazami tak melodycznymi, że w innym świecie mogłyby być dziecięcymi kołysankami (''She Lay Sleeping''). Oparte o stabilny szkielet perkusji Tima Daisy'ego i wypełnione głębokim kontrabasem Jasona Ajemiana kompozycje zaskakują logiczną strukturą i bogactwem barw, brakiem nachalności i próżnych popisów. Shelton dysponuje wyobraźnią architekta, dokładnie ważącego efekt estetyczny i zdolności konstrukcyjne muzycznych składników. W ''She Lay Sleeping'' precyzyjne frazy saksofonu odbijają się o cienką sieć wibrafonowej pajęczyny Daisy'ego, nie rozrywając jej filigranowej struktury [. . .]


Gazeta Wyborcza; 16/02/2008
[. . .] W graniu tria ożywa tradycja jazzu, także tego spod znaku free. Cechą charakterystyczną brzmienia zespołu są jednak też dość melodyjne frazy, a jednocześnie bijąca z tych nagrań emocjonalność grania. Niezależnie od tempa i dynamiki poszczególnych utworów słyszalna jest w muzykowaniu Dragons prawdziwa pasja.
Daisy i Ajemian krzyżując brzmienia swych instrumentów tworzą intrygujące tło, na którym swe znakomite improwizatorskie umiejętności prezentuje Shelton. Jego saksofon momentami niemal szemrze niską barwą, by po chwili rozpędzić się w szorstkiej, chropowatej solówce. Przyznam, że właśnie te fragmenty płyty, których patronami mogliby być Albert Ayler czy 'późny' John Coltrane, robią na mnie największe wrażenie. [. . .]

Panther

Editor's info:
PANTHER is the two-headed effort of Charlie Salas-Humara (The Planet The) on vocals, cello, guitar, and keys and Joe Kelly (31 Knots) on drums. But even when it was Charlie's solo effort he was never really alone. Whether live or on record there was a sense that PANTHER was being overtaken by something, not an alter-ego, this was something else. Think Ian Curtis' convulsive intensity and James Browns spastic swagger and you still won't have PANTHER, but a sense of what-the-fuckness that all of them seem to call up. The early recordings born in the basements and warehouses of Portland OR around 2001 brought a new brand of broken electro that when coupled with the lunatic immediacy of his modern dance meltdowns defied categorization entirely. ' PANTHER landed on bills as varied as opening slots from PEACHES to WOLF EYES. '' The monstrous throb of the beats matched by Charlie's intensity bring a sense of religious visitation to any room PANTHER humps the floor in. His panic-driven falsetto howling non-sequiturs about paranoid sexuality make his jams hysterical, compelling but most importantly danceable.
After several successful releases on indie labels Kimosciotic and Fryk Beat, the art galleries soon turned to sold out venues when PANTHER caught the attention of headliners like GOSSIP and RATATAT. And while touring in support of 2007's epic and cheerfully damaged SECRET LAWNS Charlie realized he wanted to dance to a new beat. Soon after employing the ferocious drumming of Joe Kelly the HE became a THEY and on the upcoming 14 KT GOD contagious hooks and loops over crushing drums usher PANTHER into new and lucid songwriting territory, even hinting at the political with songs like ''Violence, Diamonds'' and ''Beautiful Condo.'' But just when things seem to be making sense the fever kicks in and everything suddenly unglues and before you know it you're dancing to full blown anthems about sexual obsessiveness and airplane paranoia. Rest assured, PANTHER hasn't calmed down in the slightest, they're just poised and ready to pounce.

Toured with Architecture In Helsinki, Ratatat, Gossip, and Glass Candy
US tour in March including playing SXSW, Europe in May, and Japan in June

Valet

pitchforkmedia.com; Rating: 7.7:
Calling Valet constant Honey Owens a Portland musician is a simplification: Aside from two LPs in two years as the spectral Valet, Owens has contributed to Jackie O-Motherfucker and Dark Yoga. She's a member of broken funk trio Nudge and the touring bassist for Kranky labelmate Atlas Sound. She also co-owns Rad Summer, a hand-me-down and homemade clothing store that sells local music, hangs local art, repurposes used bikes, and, of course, hosts shows. Owens also co-founded and booked Dunes, a music club that the Portland Mercury calls the city's ''hippest dark hallway/dance club,'' and she runs the tiny Yarnlazer label with her longtime boyfriend, White Rainbow's Adam Forkner. Owens, if anything, is a Portland mixed-media outlet and conduit.

Naked Acid, the follow-up to 2007's Valet debut Blood is Clean, functions with the same parts-into-a-whole synergy as its creator. The first five songs work almost exclusively through distended sounds, creeping up through patient drones, manipulated vocals, and echo-in-canyon drums to slow payoffs. The sixth song, ''Fire'', is a lovesick ballad, an elliptical guitar/voice/tape-hiss first-take that Owens admits is about giving up drugs. The final song explodes the sounds of the first five beneath a noisy, throbbing beat, like Neil Campbell's Astral Social Club ripping Valet apart and spinning everything back on the faster reel. On first listen, such a sequence may seem like a ruse or even an apology: After 35 minutes of long-form washes and only slightly comprehensible vocals, ''Fire'', the shortest thing here and the most straightforward Valet song released to date, could be an attempt at relief or a stab at a single (which it was, in 2007, as a 7'' for Burnt Brown Sounds). The same goes for beat-and-synth closer ''Streets'', a track that could give attention-deficient mp3 bloggers a toe-tap inlet into a record they'd otherwise ignore. Or perhaps Owens is offering herself an outlet for how future Valet records may sound.

But keep listening, and it seems that the album-length incorporation of three distinct Valet styles is more a reflection of individual tracks themselves than an attempt to find common ground with a new lot of Kranky converts (see also: Deerhunter/Atlas Sound patrons). The ''ambient'' songs aren't ambient at all. Nothing is played too straight on those first five, their textures teeming with variety: Over a matrix of manipulated chimes and bowls, Owens and Adrian Orange combine for a ghastly duet on opener ''We Went There''. Her acid guitar tone slowly spills over the singing before an enormous electronic wash supplants it, too, sustaining the mood but slowly fading away. ''Kehaar'' sounds like Delta blues choking on lithium pills, a direct beat pulsing behind one chord and Owens' wounded whisper. Over five minutes, sheets of noise appear from beneath, slowly drowning Owens. They're all that matter as the song peaks, as with album highlight ''Fuck It'': In five minutes, it goes from a dramatic poetry reading backed by ragged, glorious guitar into a restrained Magik Markers noize + drumz berating.

Thing is, these layers aren't immediately apparent: Naked Acid is a well-conceived and executed album, all its variety sewn into a single quilt that's strangely comforting and surprisingly sensible. The advance of Naked Acid is substantial if subtle, as with most everything Owens has committed to tape. Owens has finally incorporated her varied musical interests into one record, something she implies with the first five tracks but explains with the last two. After all, she says these songs-- elliptical but elegant, woven from phrases like ''trees susurration, influential lake'' and ''warm kept my future cat''-- were written about specific people and events in Portland. These are things she's seen and lived. Blood is Clean was a fine series of snapshots connected by poetic vagaries, warped tones, and low-lying dynamics. Naked Acid is that, too, but here, Owens' different ideas finally feel like one long thought from one highly engaged person.
by Grayson Currin, February 28, 2008

The Watery Graves of Portland and/et Genevieve

multikulti.com::
Portland to obok NY, Chicago i Seattle najciekawsze miasto jeśli chodzi o rocka w USA. Wystarczy wspomnieć takie nazwy jak The Thermals, Quasi, The Planet, Wet Confetti, Lifesavas, Tom Heinl, Mirah, The Decemberists, The Shins, The Gossip, The Ready czy Sleater-Kinney aby dostrzec jego wyjątkowość.

Formacja The Watery Graves of Portland and/et Genevieve łączy w sobie mroczny songwriting spod znaku Nicka Cave'a i Black Heart Procession, stylistyczną barwność CocoRosie i lunatyczność Francoiz Breut czy też Joanny Newsom. Część piosenek śpiewana jest po francusku co tylko nadaje płycie dodatkowej oryginalności.

White Rainbow

Editor's info:
After years of outer space exploration in Yume Bitsu and Surface of Eceyon, as well as stints as a hired gun for a multitude of artists including Dirty Projectors, Jackie-O Motherfucker and Devendra Banhart, Adam Forkner decided to turn his focus inward and began to record solo material. And focus he did, working at a dizzying pace that culminated in the production of the 5CD/1DVD White Rainbow Box (2006 Marriage Records). The remarkable thing about that album was not that it was 4.5 hours long, but that the overwhelming majority of it was of extraordinary quality and not mere filler.

With the release of . . .Eternal Now, White Rainbow has surpassed typical solo project territory and is now a virtual elemental force. At a somewhat brief 71 minutes, his kranky debut pulses and flows with mantric chants, clattering percussions, sighing sustains and guitar leads unashamed of their scorching transcendence. He breathes new life into archaic sub-genres such as progrock, new age, and hippie folk incantations, while never stooping to the negative aspects of any of them, and at the same time remaining a step ahead of the technologically crippled and virtuosuo-less looper pedal scene. Prism of Eternal Now leaves behind the bounds of gravity for a free floating meditational headtrip of inner space exploration.

Note: the vinyl edition of Prism of Eternal Now is available via Marriage Records


indieworkshop
''The real treasure in Adam Forkner's work is his innate ability to capture the perfect tone of sounds, whether it be a flanged guitar or an ancient drum machine.''

Tinymixtapes
''Warm synths and reverbed-out layers of guitar pave a solid foundation for drum loops, vocal tracks, and various other instruments to weave in and out of at their own pace.''

Tinymixtapes
''Each movement of ambient sound and melodic drone becomes impossible to dissect. It becomes a part of your memories.''

Portland Mercury
''Adam Forkner is arguably the king of the hill when it comes to the Northwest psychedelic music scene.''

The Black Swans

Editor's info:
Following up their acclaimed and uncomfortable Sex Brain EP, The Black Swans remove tongue from cheek and pour forth the reconciliation and reconstruction of spirit. Raw and contrary, Change! is a slow-burner that slips through the fingers, taking a left turn to Twin Peaks. Dark and sweet. . .Appalachian and learned in its sweep.


Pitchfork; rating: 7.9 Out of 10
[. . .] There's something disquieting at the bottom of the Black Swans' songs, something half-shaped and half-seen, like a body in a lake. The surface of the music is usually calm and familiar, but something disturbing appears briefly in the crest of each wave of violin or guitar. . . Change! sounds luminously cinematic. [. . .]


Stylus
[. . .] Change! is an 'A' . . . The quality of color . . . shames both the gimmick artists and those who seek drama in sheer thickness of sound . . . The songs are as conflicted and lovely as only people's graspings for each other are and, if in this sense only, perfect.[. . .]



USA Today
[. . .] Grows on you like kudzu & eventually becomes quite mesmerizing.[. . .]

The Black Swans

Editor's info:
Following up their acclaimed and uncomfortable Sex Brain EP, The Black Swans remove tongue from cheek and pour forth the reconciliation and reconstruction of spirit. Raw and contrary, Change! is a slow-burner that slips through the fingers, taking a left turn to Twin Peaks. Dark and sweet. . .Appalachian and learned in its sweep.


Pitchfork; rating: 7.9 Out of 10
[. . .] There's something disquieting at the bottom of the Black Swans' songs, something half-shaped and half-seen, like a body in a lake. The surface of the music is usually calm and familiar, but something disturbing appears briefly in the crest of each wave of violin or guitar. . . Change! sounds luminously cinematic. [. . .]


Stylus
[. . .] Change! is an 'A' . . . The quality of color . . . shames both the gimmick artists and those who seek drama in sheer thickness of sound . . . The songs are as conflicted and lovely as only people's graspings for each other are and, if in this sense only, perfect.[. . .]



USA Today
[. . .] Grows on you like kudzu & eventually becomes quite mesmerizing.[. . .]

Lewis & Clarke

Editor's info:
Lewis & Clarke takes us on a ''Post-Folk Neo-Baroque'' journey through the intricate mysteries of creation. The experience is one of pure subtlety and mind-altering vision, focusing on ''the path'' rather than obvious hooks, snares and entrapments. Nylon stringed and bowed instruments are set to transcendental verse and laced with future-primitive synth melodies, transporting us from structured chamber folk into meditative passageways. Contributions from members of Man Man and Rachel's. Cover painting by Erika Somogyi.




pitchforkmedia.com
; Rating: 6.8
Lewis and Clarke, fronted by singer-songwriter Lou Rogai and here helped by Eve Miller of Rachel's and Russell Higbee of Man Man, have for several years quietly glorified the sound of strings. This second full-length is a pared-down complement to 2005's blues-inspired Bare Bones and Branches. Blasts of Holy Birth is at times cloying, weepy, and overly familiar, but at others it's a naturalistic vision that creates a hunger for some the simple, rural images conjured by the instruments.

Sometimes words get in the way, as on ''We Think We Have Eyes'', a song thick with a generalized guilt and self-awareness. Greed is a perfectly apt subject from a ruminative musician, but the lyrics here are delicately trampled upon, potentially forgettable and incidental, perhaps because Rogai's voice has all the force of a light breeze. While his tone complements the soothing guitar and occasional cello, it's less successful as the carrier of a message. Still, the song's undulating chorus recalls the rare beauty of Matt Pond PA, who's also a contributor here. Rogai's lyrical dive-off just before this moment is perfectly executed, the words punching out their meaning in time to the strings.

Tara Jane O'Neil has a command of atmosphere similar to Lewis & Clarke, the way she showcases the string family without overindulging how instinctively of the land they are. The wandering slides and sixth chords on the opener ''Secret of the Golden Flower'' are a reminder of this respectful approach, where a very simple grouping of sounds are pushed to their limits with a few effects. The mystical, natural homages in Rogai's vision are conveyed, though our notion of what exactly the ''golden flower'' is remains vague. The following title track is less successful, its sweet sap and lullaby rhythm too predictable, the instruments too obedient to the typical progressions. But at nearly seven minutes, it's not all dross: the quiet moments (plucks) and loudest (shimmying ascents) are fairly interesting.

The runaway road-trip ballad ''Comfort Inn'' is a little too Ray LaMontagne, with vocals turned up and guitar plucks skittering around the song's hollow, empty room. The contrast it makes to ''Black Dove'' and to the final track, ''Be the Air We Breathe'', actually bolsters them all -- to shift from this man-and-guitar stereotype to the gorgeous summit of ''Breathe'' is a worthy journey. ''Breathe'' is where Rogai realizes the most redeemable elements of his other tracks: little alterations of typical chords, locomotive but understated drums, a forceful but controlled rhythm, and several layers of string dialog. ''Black Dove'' works with similar success, with more thunderous guitars evoking an idealized environment that's unplugged, untouched, and unspoiled.
by Liz Colville, May 29, 2007

Panther

Editor's info:
PANTHER is the two-headed effort of Charlie Salas-Humara (The Planet The) on vocals, cello, guitar, and keys and Joe Kelly (31 Knots) on drums. But even when it was Charlie's solo effort he was never really alone. Whether live or on record there was a sense that PANTHER was being overtaken by something, not an alter-ego, this was something else. Think Ian Curtis' convulsive intensity and James Browns spastic swagger and you still won't have PANTHER, but a sense of what-the-fuckness that all of them seem to call up. The early recordings born in the basements and warehouses of Portland OR around 2001 brought a new brand of broken electro that when coupled with the lunatic immediacy of his modern dance meltdowns defied categorization entirely. ' PANTHER landed on bills as varied as opening slots from PEACHES to WOLF EYES. '' The monstrous throb of the beats matched by Charlie's intensity bring a sense of religious visitation to any room PANTHER humps the floor in. His panic-driven falsetto howling non-sequiturs about paranoid sexuality make his jams hysterical, compelling but most importantly danceable.
After several successful releases on indie labels Kimosciotic and Fryk Beat, the art galleries soon turned to sold out venues when PANTHER caught the attention of headliners like GOSSIP and RATATAT. And while touring in support of 2007's epic and cheerfully damaged SECRET LAWNS Charlie realized he wanted to dance to a new beat. Soon after employing the ferocious drumming of Joe Kelly the HE became a THEY and on the upcoming 14 KT GOD contagious hooks and loops over crushing drums usher PANTHER into new and lucid songwriting territory, even hinting at the political with songs like ''Violence, Diamonds'' and ''Beautiful Condo.'' But just when things seem to be making sense the fever kicks in and everything suddenly unglues and before you know it you're dancing to full blown anthems about sexual obsessiveness and airplane paranoia. Rest assured, PANTHER hasn't calmed down in the slightest, they're just poised and ready to pounce.

Toured with Architecture In Helsinki, Ratatat, Gossip, and Glass Candy
US tour in March including playing SXSW, Europe in May, and Japan in June

New Bloods

Editor's info:
The first thing you notice is the violin - more fiddle than violin - but this isn't country or Americana; it's punk - lean, engaging, minimalist punk songs topping out in under three minutes. There's a Raincoats vibe, a little Intima, a touch of ESG and Unwound, but with dub, soul, and afro-beat influences it becomes a whole new animal. These three ladies from Portland, OR have shone a new light that won't be put out.

Xiu Xiu

onet.pl
[. . .] Tytuł nowej płyty Xiu Xiu zaczerpnięty został z powieści noblistki-skandalistki Elfride Jelinek z 1975 roku (w oryginale - ''Die Liebhaberinnen''), a wśród utworów odnajdujemy cover ''Under Pressure'' Davida Bowiego, wykonany z gościnnym udziałem legendy nowojorskiego undergroundu, Michaela Giry (Swans, Angels of Light). Brzmi dziwnie? W przypadku tego zespołu żaden ekscentryzm nie powinien zaskakiwać.

Nie ma prostszej recepty na przebój, niż przeróbka sprawdzonego hitu. Zawarty na ''Wowen as Lovers'' cover ''Under Pressure'' zdaje się być jednak antytezą tej strategii. Xiu Xiu, zamiast wygładzić brzmienie oraz uwypuklić to, co najbardziej chwytliwe i nośne, mocno wykoślawił stadionowy hymn Bowiego & Queen. Rozklekotany aranż, wtręty dzikiego saksofonu, głęboki matowy tembr Giry skontrastowany z przejętym, rozdygotanym wokalem Jamiego Stewarta i błogim głosem Caralee McElroy - wszystko to wywołuje wrażenie niezborności i nadaje utworowi jakieś nerwowości. Podobne dysonanse i napięcie czają się także w pozostałych kawałkach. Tak jak na poprzednich płytach Stawart - mózg zespołu, z elementów nowofalowego rocka, wszelkiej maści psychodelii, folku czy elektroniki (nie stroniące przy tym od iście awangardowych chwytów) lepi poetyckie, a jednocześnie niepokojące i drapieżne dźwiękowe twory.

Każdy, kto zetknął się z twórczością Xiu Xiu wie, że o jej osobliwości w znacznym stopniu decydowała przerysowana (a mimo to nie wypadająca pretensjonalnie) uczuciowość lidera, oscylująca między depresją, a histerią. Na nowym albumie Stewart niezmiennie dekonstruuje konwencje, style i formy, czyniąc z nich wehikuł swych emocji, które - choć wciąż rozchwiane - nie manifestują się już w tak konwulsyjny sposób, jak bywało to wcześniej. Stąd piosenki wypełniające ten wyprodukowanym przez Grega Sauniera z Deerhoof krążek są nieco bardziej spójnie. A płyta jako całość jest najbardziej dopracowaną brzmieniowo i chyba najprzystępniejszą pozycją w dorobku Xiu Xiu. Mimo wszystko, dla nieoswojonych z poetyką grupy, kontakt z nią może być wstrząsem. [. . .]
autor: Łukasz Iwasiński


muzykofilia.com
[. . .] Do płyt Xiu Xiu powinno dodawać się instrukcję, ile razy trzeba owy krążek przesłuchać, zanim zdecyduje się go źle ocenić. Woman As Lovers zmian nie przynosi, nadal panują porozrzucane, chaotyczne dźwięki niewiadomego pochodzenia, które z początku zdają się być bezsensownym łomoto-grzechoceniem. Ale tylko z początku, później narasta zaintrygowanie, i w końcu za tym czwartym-piątym razem orientujemy się, że to jest przeuroczy avant-pop.

Jamie Stewart kontynuuje swoje psychodeliczne jazdy: a to gra na bębęnkach usznych przeraźliwymi jazgotami i krzykami, a to głaszcze po główce lekkimi melodiami i łagodnym wokalem. Tu sztorm przerywany jest sielanką, a wszystko co ładne za chwile może przerodzić się w potwora i na odwrót. Nie zaskoczy to jednak nikogo, kto Amerykanów już kiedyś słuchał. Jamie nadal brzmi jakby śpiewał do słuchawki telefonicznej, rozpieprza głos na wszystkie strony, i wyciąga z niego to, co niewyobrażalne. Dodatkowo wspiera go w tym kuzynka, Caralee McElroy (której jednak niewiele na płycie).

Chwyt ten SzuSzu stosują od dawien dawna, właściwie od samego ich początku - są zespoły, które przez pół kariery szukają swojej drogi, i jest Xiu Xiu, który pędzi swoją scieżką w środku nocy z zawiązanymi oczami. No i tu jest ten wielki pies pogrzebany, bo na tą stagnacje zespołu można patrzeć dwojako: jest brak rozwoju, wtórość, nadgryzanie ogona; ale jest też to kolejne 14 dobrych utworów, charakterystycznie zagranych, przy które twarz mi się uśmiecha, a przypadkowi współsłuchacze domnstracyjnie się krzywią.

Najbardziej szkoda jednak okładki, która jest banalna. Zespół już mnie przyzwyczaił, że swoje albumy zakrywają pod świetnymi, mocnymi i charakterystycznymi grafikami, a tu jakieś tam rozmazane niewiadomo co a'la Loveless.

17 dni roku 2008 minęło, i jest to na razie jedyna płyta z tego roku, którą polubiłem. Tolerancyjność przyswajalności na dobrym poziomie, w środku jak zwykle dosyć smutno (z przerwami) i ponuro. Na pewno nie jest to coś na miarę A Promise, jak to szumnie zapowiadano, ale warto się Woman As Lovers bliżej przyjrzeć [. . .]



screenagers.com
[. . .] Jeśli kiedykolwiek miałaby powstać piosenka o tym, co czuł Luke Skywalker, dowiadując się, że Lord Vader jest jego ojcem, zapewne napisałby ją Jamie Stewart. Gdy ogłosił on, że nowa płyta Xiu Xiu będzie o wiele przystępniejsza niż poprzednie, podeszłam do tego z dystansem (tak samo mówił o 'Fabulous Muscles' - przystępność w jego ustach to pojęcie bardzo względne). Już sam tytuł albumu zwiastował, że tak jak zwykle, będziemy nurzać się w neurotycznym morzu depresji ('Women As Lovers' to przede wszystkim książka Elfridy Jelinek. Tak, tej, która nie odebrała Nobla, bo bała się wyjść z domu. Tak, tej, która w 'Pianistce' opisała swoje dziwne stosunki z matką, która to znowu miała dziwne stosunki ze swoimi uczniami w toaletach). Zresztą warstwa tekstowa utworów Xiu Xiu nigdy nie rozczarowała: śmiałe romanse z poezją metafizyczną, dotykanie tematów zwykle nieporuszonych, plus pokaźna dawka cierpienia budziły kontrowersje, ale nie można im było odmówić oryginalności i ciekawej formy. Dramatyzm od groteski dzieli bardzo cienka linia, jednak Jamie nauczył się balansować na niej wręcz po mistrzowsku.

Oczekując na 'Women As Lovers', bardziej niepokoiłam się jej teksturą brzmieniową. Przecież z 'La Foret' i 'Air Force', pomimo że były płytami jak najbardziej poprawnymi, niestety wiało nudą. Do wszystkiego da się przyzwyczaić, tak więc krzyki, złowieszcze chlupoty i histeryczne zgrzyty przestały robić na mnie najmniejsze wrażenie. Pojawiła się natomiast obawa, że najnowsza propozycja Xiu Xiu potwierdzi bezspornie spadek formy zespołu.

Na szczęście Stewart nie zawiódł, a 'Women As Lovers' okazał się być albumem prawie przełomowym (kładę nacisk na słowo prawie, bo jak wiadomo, to robi dużą różnicę). Większość melodii na krążku da się zanucić, inna sprawa, że może lepiej nie, bo co by powiedziała mama słysząc jak śpiewasz: Why would mother say such things? Why add tongue to a kiss goodnight?

Krążek otwiera oniryczne 'I Do What I Want When I Want', będące jakby przewrotną wariacją na temat improwizacji free-jazzowych. Po takim delikatnym wstępie, w 'In Lust You Can Hear The Axe Fall' Stewart powraca do swojej tradycyjnej paranoiczno-osaczającej estetyki, żeby następnie zaskoczyć nas kolejnym utworem. 'F.T.W.' to akustyczna ballada oparta na delikatnej progresji gitarowej, która niespodziewanie przeradza się w szaloną mieszankę zgrzytów i połamanych dźwięków. 'No Friend Oh' to solidny awangardowy art.-pop, pełen kapryśnych saksofonowych jęków. 'Guantanamo Canto', jako jedyna polityczna piosenka na płycie, wytrąca nas z równowagi natężoną, marszową perkusją.

I tu dochodzę do momentu, który wcale mnie nie przekonuje. Coverowanie kultowych utworów zawsze jest przedsięwzięciem ryzykownym, a 'Under Pressure' w maniakalnym wykonaniu Xiu Xiu, jakoś nie zrobiło na mnie dobrego wrażenia. Przez nie krążek wydaje się być zupełnie niespójny, wkrada się dezorientacja i to nie taka, jakiej chciałby Stewart.

Jednak pomijając tę drobną wpadkę, album wypada całkiem pozytywnie. Oczywiście, nie przewyższa poziomem 'Fabulous Muscles', ale cieszy delikatną zmianą brzmienia. Większość utworów kojarzy się z pokrętnym hołdem złożonym psychodelicznemu i progresywnemu rockowi ('You Are Pregnant You, You Are Dead', 'The Leash'), co 'Women As Lovers' prawdopodobnie zawdzięcza produkcji Grega Sauniera z Deerhoof. Do tego, na żadnym z poprzednich krążków zespołu, nie użyto tylu 'żywych' instrumentów (harmonijki, gongi, perkusja, saksofon, gitara akustyczna), dlatego ma się wrażenie bycia świadkiem fascynującej walki elektroniki z tradycją.

Gdy wychodzi płyta artysty takiego formatu jak Xiu Xiu, wiadomo, oczekiwania są niebotyczne. Mimo że 'Women As Lovers' nie spełniło moich, nie jestem zawiedziona, bo po cichu liczę, że to tylko mały krok w kierunku następnego albumu, który okaże się wielki.
autor: Katarzyna Walas




Editor's info:
Xiu Xiu has long been known among the music bloggers as prolific, bordering on crazed, but with this new 14-song album, each song so different from the next and so fully realized, their creative ferocity is simply astonishing and rapidly taking on new dimensions.
With a heart too sensitive to accept humanity's darker side yet also unable to flinch from it, Xiu Xiu is a way of ''owning your own shadow.'' Jamie Stewart has a novelist's eye for juicy details, and a poet's ability to wring impossible emotions out of the English language, finding black humor where there is usually horror, finding horror where there is usually apathy. And Stewart's history-spanning visions of birth and death have never come across more clearly.
The performances, led by Stewart's one-of-a-kind voice, are intense, virtuosic and painted in a spectrum of acoustic and electronic colors that one would be hard pressed to find equaled on any album. Many of the songs feature what is now officially the live line-up of the group, with Stewart and Caralee McElroy joined by Ches Smith on drums and Devin Hoff on bass. Women As Lovers marries the ancient with the futuristic, each in all their beauty and terror. Traditional gongs collide with a rat's nest of computerized layering.
Make no mistake. No other Xiu Xiu album has ever been more approachable or communicative on a basic human level.
What people sometimes fail to recognize is that Stewart is writing about all of us, not a freak writing about freakish things. He voices what the rest of us have a hard time voicing and the feelings in the music are ones that we can all relate to.
' Sounding as brilliant and maddening as ever, tortured and combative, and with a kind of confrontational intimacy that is inimitable '' - SALON

'extremely imaginative' - THE NEW YORK TIMES
'hauntingly entrancing' - SPIN.com
'a dazzling showcase of an incredible group' - PLAN B


Xiu Xiu won ' Avant Album of the Year ' in the 2007 Plug Awards!
Produced by Greg Saunier of Deerhoof
Two new full time band members, Ches Smith ( Good For Cows, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, and Secret Chiefs 3 ), and Devon Hoff ( Good For Cows, Nels Cline )
US tour in March, European tour in May

Thao

Editor's info:
According to Thao Nguyen, she has two talents: her first (and in her opinion finest) is that she can watch TV for longer than most people could stand it: 'As a kid, I'd watch, like, nine hours a day,' says the 23-year-old Virginiabred songwriter. Thao also admits to a knack for beat-boxing and humming at the same time, which she displays on 'Bag of Hammers,' the first single from her Kill Rock Stars debut, We Brave Bee Stings And All.
Of course when Thao says she has two talents in life she isn't thinking about her unique voice, nor of her natural ability with words and melodies. Thao's songs are richly musical, whether using just an acoustic guitar strummed with a toothbrush or employing keyboards, horns, and a full rhythm section. And while her music feels buoyant, even giddy at times, Thao endows her lyrics with a curious juxtaposition of gripping personal detail and saucy humor. 'My songs reflect my personality as far as shirking the seriousness of things,' says Thao. She also says Lucinda Williams was right when she said the best songs 'sound happy but are so sad' - a powerful insight into Thao's own music.
Thao began writing songs with a simple intention: to accompany the television programs she loved so much. 'I was really into Party of Five. I remember Sarah McLaughlin was playing in the background on one episode. From then on, I kinda always wanted to be on the soundtrack.'
In college she recorded an EP and released a full-length debut, Like the Linen, on a local Virginia label.
After playing shows all over the country she landed a spot on the Kill Rock Stars 2006 singer-songwriter compilation The Sound the Hare Heard. Soon after she began recording in Seattle and then Portland with Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Mudhoney, Jesse Sykes). Taking a break to tour in Europe with Laura Veirs, she spent most of 2007 recording the 11 diverse tracks that constitute We Brave Bee Stings And All, a subtly powerful album concerned with admissions of guilt, life revelations, and failed domesticity (with beat boxing!).
'When acoustic singer-songwriters ''pop'' out their sound, there's always the risk that they've done so at the expense of their original charms. And so when early reports of Thao Nguyen's Kill Rock Stars debut We Brave Bee Stings and All first surfaced and seemed to unanimously stress the record's souped-up production values (with mentions of beat-boxing thrown in for good measure), one couldn't be blamed for fearing the worst: Brilliantly low-key singer-songwriter changes labels, layers sound into oblivion. Fear not! A track off We Brave Bee Stings has surfaced, and while it is a step up in production for Nguyen, it also happens to be absolutely irresistible. ''Beat (Health, Life, and Fire)'' takes (surprise) a tight, deliberate beat, plugs in a backing guitar, and then from there plays it smart - letting Thao run wild with her gorgeous acoustics and typically spunky lyrical style: ''Beat my heart / beat my chest / beat the ones who love me the best / oh, how could they be liars / they assure me health, life and fire.'' Nguyen's pop flourishes here seem much less like the evolution of a sound than they do the fleshingout of a personality that was already there.' - prefixmag.com


Produced by Tucker Martine ( The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Mudhoney and Laura Veirs )
Toured with Laura Veirs and Great Lake Swimmers touring extensively in 2008, including playing SXSW

Numbers

pitchforkmedia.com; Rating: 6.2
[. . .] Numbers have released an album, without much fanfare, almost every year since 2002. In 2005, they abandoned the palsied pop they were known for in the Bay Area, considered and discarded plans to move to New York, and even took a short hiatus. They're re-energized here on Now You Are This, but they seem even further away from their first incarnation than ever-- once a lo-fi garage outfit, they're now a band built on keyboards and repetition.
Past reviewers heard XTC; I hear more recent groups. Right off the bat, it's the Mae Shi (''New Life''), Dan Deacon (''Hey Hey Dream''), and the Rentals (''Kosmos Love''). But those artists alternate their layers of static and sheen in more interesting ways than Numbers seem capable of doing. Numbers' songs are all flat planes; no angles or gentle curves to trace your finger along. They substitute those layers of static and crunch for sophistication, but there's little left once the sounds themselves depart, which is not to say that ''songcraft'' should always underwrite the sonic, but it would be nice to hear something in the way of dynamics or, say, structure.
Still, the band sometimes hits on a simple group of keyboard notes or vocal melody that makes them difficult to dismiss. ''Fly on the Window'', like the rest of Now You Are This, grinds on a fist-full of chords and five-word lyrics. But Dunis inflects dispassionate, Euro cool over the sustained static, and a slow keyboard line becomes almost languid over the course of its four minutes. That same dispassionate tone veers into tunelessness many times, but falls short of the Eleanor Friedberger school of monotonous non-melodies.
A good dance band they're not, though they have been in the past. ''Everything Is Fine'' has a ''You Really Got Me'' riff that could get hips swaying, but not swinging. And though it's more upbeat, the track has the same eternal hum in the background, as if their guitars have been moonlighting as Tuvan throat singers. That sound becomes grating as Numbers play on, but on ''Liela Mila'' the static becomes a sublime tonal meditation before it washes away, leaving behind a gentle hum for Dunis to sing over.
by Jessica Suarez


All Music Guide
[. . .] It can't be easy combining the clean efficiency of the best Krautrock with some of the loudest guitar skronk in indie rock, but the San Francisco trio Numbers don't sound fazed at all by the dichotomy. Eric Landmark wields an array of synthesizers (usually humming or oscillating in discordant Broadcast fashion) while Dave Broekema's guitars scream and yowl, leaving a small amount of space left for the vocals of Indra Dunis. Now You Are This actually begins in (relatively) orderly fashion, with an opener (''New Life'') that starts with restrained contributions from all three members. It soon becomes clear, however, that they're ramping up to something -- namely, a raucous, bashing, somehow cathartic finale to the song with Dunis yelping the title over and over. ''Mind Hole'' and ''Fly on the Window'' are just as bracing, the latter an uplifting epic with chords that gradually rise over Dunis' simplistic vocals and some atonal whistling. It's fair to say that Numbers don't lack for ideas; every track on this record features its own raft of innovative synthesizer lines or guitar work, as well as great interplay between each. The similarities to Stereolab and Broadcast are only accentuated here compared to their previous work, but the intensity of the distortion and the raw playing lift Now You Are This far above the status of mere imitation. [. . .]
by John Bush

Cloak/Dagger

Editor's info:
ThoseOn their debut full length release for Jade Tree, Cloak/Dagger keep it fast and simple.
Produced and recorded at Headbanging Kill Your Mama Music Studios by Chris Owens (Lords), We Are is a bombastic, rough
around the edges approach to minimalist hardcore. Combining the jagged aggression of bands like Swiz and Black Flag with the spastic urgency of Drive Like Jehu, We Are Cloak/Dagger embraces a lyrically raw directness that transcends the false conceptions and misgivings of modern punk, offering up honest commentary on the balance between life both with and without excess. In the end, We Are Cloak/Dagger embraces the long lost art of disposability, steering away from the culture of celebratory fake aggression, into a new era of raw, incendiary punk music.

New Mexican Disaster Squad

Editor's Info:
Witness the new sound of hardcore on Don't Believe, the third album from punkers NEW MEXICAN DISASTER SQUAD - their first for Jade Tree. The band has been hiding in the weeds of their home sweet hellhole of Orlando, FL, just honing their modern melodic anthems and delivering pizza since 1999. Now they're ready to turn their rage loose on the unsuspecting masses. The 14 songs on Don't Believe blaze by in a fury of blue-collar triumph, creating a ferocious new sound still firmly rooted in the school of their 80s hardcore heroes like Dag Nasty, Minor Threat and Black Flag.
Produced by Andy Strickland and New Mexican Disaster Squad

Girls Against Boys

Rolling Stonerating: * * * * *
[. . .] So far, the '00s are shaping up as ''The Antidote Era.'' When the major labels sucked up all the good mid-Nineties bands in the post-Nirvana gold rush, they only bestowed hits upon a few of them -- and GvsB, like Jimmy Eat World and Wilco, weren't one of them. But happily, like those bands in the past year, the twelve-year-old Washington, D.C., quartet has emerged in perfect health on the other side. GvsB's sixth album -- and their first since leaving giant Geffen Records for tiny Jade Tree -- has a rhythmic, revving-motorcycle momentum, like the Pixies without all the shrieking, or Sonic Youth without the frustrating feedback experiments. ''Miami Skyline'' is a New York Dolls update with glam-rock hit potential, and ''BFF'' contains this perfect line: ''It's great to be a rock & roll star, no matter where you are. I'm going to heaven now.'' Or, if not heaven, at least on modern-rock radio play lists where they belong. [. . .]
by STEVE KNOPPER



Alternative PressJune 2002 - 8 out of 10
[. . .] GVSB have returned with. . .their trademark angular bass and guitar anchorage [that] has been stripped straight down to the bone marrow. [. . .]

Magnet; #6-7/02

Song after song hurts in that oh-so-right way. [. . .]

CMJ5/20/02
[. . .] Solid evidence that GVSB still have greatness in them. [. . .]

NME (Magazine) ; 4/13/02 - 6 out of 10
[. . .] GVSB's often melodic noise. . .thanks to emo, exists less in weird isolation. . .and the band seem heading dangerouly close to getting what they deserve. [. . .]

Doveman

Editor's Info:
First of all there is his voice. First you will hear it -- maybe hate it -- but then, eventually, it will begin to transform how you think voices are supposed to sound. A frog in the throat, a kink in the heart, a rasp that doesn't go away. . .

Then, hopefully, you will be overhwhelmed by the music -- an ebbing then swelling, oceanic thing, it comes than goes; tickles your ears then pokes you in the ribs; has unstoppable momentum when it is not finding new ways to climax or standing absolutely stock still.

Doveman is 25-year old Thomas Bartlett and a select group of collaborators. Most often, the band includes banjo player Sam Amidon, a folk singer and old childhood friend; drummer Dougie Bowne, sideman to Iggy Pop, the Lounge Lizards, and Cassandra Wilson; guitarist and conjurer Shahzad Ismaily, who has previously appeared with that magical trifecta -- Marc Ribot, the Master Musicians of Joujouka, and Rage Against the Machine; and trumpeter Peter Ecklund, an expert in genres like swing and dixieland jazz. At various times there are various others. Doveman does not rehearse, but they sure can play.

When listening to this music you should keep in mind artists such as Frederic Chopin, Cat Power, Keith Jarrett, Talk Talk, and Chris Whitley -- unless you don't know any them or are not a fan, in which case you should keep in mind Nick Drake, The National, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, and other, trendier bands whose music has recently appeared in car commercials.

Together Doveman -- the Dovemen? -- make lovely, interesting, heart-rending sounds, like a broken wing flapping and starting to take flight.

Devastations

Opis Wydawcy:
Debiutancki album australijskiego tria Devastations z 2004 r. zdobył uznanie Karen O z grupy Yeah Yeah Yeahs i uznany został za debiut roku przez niemiecką edycję magazynu ''Rolling Stone''. Grupa idzie ostro pod prąd dzisiejszych rockowych mód i trendów, odwołując się w swej wyciszonej, głównie balladowej twórczości do muzyki kojarzącej się z Leonardem Cohenem, dawnym Scottem Walkerem, Burtem Bacharach'em, Nickiem Cave'em, ale chyba przede wszystkim - Tindersticks i ostatnimi dokonaniami Lambchop. Jeśli ''Devastations'' był arcyprzyjemną niespodzianką, drugi album ''Coal'' zasługuje w pełni na miano egzaminu dojrzałości z tej stylistyki.
Album ''Coal'' powstał w czasie, gdy Devastations dawno przestali być kolejną ciekawostką z antypodów i zdążyli zadomowić się w Europie, a konkretnie w Berlinie, który uczynili bazą wypadową do rozlicznych tras koncertowych. Nagrania do ''Coal'' powstały w Pradze, Berlinie i w Melbourne, a w sesjach gościnnie udział wzięli m.in. nowozelandzka pieśniarka Bic Runga (''A Man Of Fortune''), skrzypaczka Padma Newsome z nowojorskiej instrumentalnej formacji Clogs, współpracująca również z grupą The National oraz Genevieve McGuckin, niegdyś występującą z zespołem These Immortal Souls. ''Coal'' to zbiór pięknych ballad, pełnych romantyzmu i magicznej intymności, ale też i przejmującego dramatyzmu (''Take You Home''), wspartych bogatymi, przesyconymi melancholią brzmieniami fortepianu i smyczków.






Editor's Info:
Devastations are from Melbourne, Australia. They are the first band signed to Brassland on the strength of an unsolicited demo, and it won't take long listening to their sophomore album Coal to figure out why we were so enthusiastic about presenting them to you, the listener.

Formed in late 2002, Devastations consciously chose to ignore the strut and bluster that dominated the musical landscape at the time, instead mining a deep well of their own, full of understated emotion, veiled menace, and a distinct flair for creating a romantic mood. It was this music's unique intimacy, its ability to forge a human connection, which caused all those peers to sing their praises. Their self-titled debut brought them invitations to open for artists like Dirty Three, Cat Power, and the Tindersticks -- the latter of whom they've supported extensively in both Australia and Europe.

After an excellent initial reception in Australia, Devastations choose to follow in the footsteps of spiritual ancestors like the Go-Betweens and Birthday Party, and make their way in the larger world. They moved to Berlin in 2003, and played their first European show in September as part of 'Bada Bing', a concert series organized by Einsturzende Neubauten's Alexander Hacke. Devastations toured extensively in their new home, and recorded backing tracks for infamous Berlin duo Cobra Killer's third album '76/77.' More recently, vocalist/bassist Conrad Standish contributed three songs and guested on the Liars new album. (Standish is childhood friends with that band's leader, Angus Andrew.)

Devastations finally came to the attention of Brassland in late 2004 when they crossed paths with labelmates, Clogs, first sharing a stage during a festival in Belgium, then meeting again a few days later in Paris. The Brassland braintrust had already expressed their admiration for Devastations music, and encouraged them to meet Padma Newsome, a fellow Australian who plays violin/viola in both Clogs and The National. Wine was drunk, plans were discussed, plots were hatched, and the group decided to join the extended Brassland family.

What will Devastations do for you?

When Rowland S. Howard heard them he did not wonder about influences. Rather he wrote a rapturous newspaper article about the group and asked them collaborate with him on a single. When Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs heard them, she so fell in love with their music telling MOJO they were ''the best thing I've heard all year.''



PRESS

Mojo by Manish Agarwal
Sharply dressed Aussies who've relocated to Berlin and favour grown-up, vaguely gothic melodrama. The Devastations have enjoyed their share of Bad Seeds comparisons. Still, originality aside, this is a fine set of songs. Conrad Standish's lovelorn croon is more Jarvis Cocker than Nick cave - see Pulpy openeer ''Sex & Mayhem'' - while the music's faded lounge feel often recalls erstwhile tourmates The Tindersticks. ''The Night I Couldn't Stop Crying'' underscores its premise with an electrifying melange of guitar and violin; rollicking single ''Take You Home'' finds a bittersweet humour in barfly lust (''I'm sorry for the things I have not done to you tonight''). The potential hit is ''A Man of Fortune,'' a string-swept duet with Kiwi chanteuse Bic Runga.

Uncut by Chris Roberts
A trio whose 2003 debut was plugged by Karen O as ''best thing all year,'' Devastations fill their second with tales of lonely, dark nights good enough to send fans of the National and Tindersticks reaching gleefully for the bourbon and grandpa's revolver. Although geography and studio links with Einsturzende's Alex Hacke flag up the Cave influence, their own voice - that of lustful, dissatisfied men - colours the string-drenched rock of ''Sex & Mayhem'' and the thunderous ''Take You Home.'' For added melancholy, the National's Padma Newsome brings his violin while Bic Runga furnishes ''A Man of Fortune'' with spectral elan.

Pitchforkmedia.com by Brian Howe (November 15, 2006)
On paper, it's easy to mistake Devastations for an emo band. While their name sidesteps modern emo's penchant for cognominal unwieldiness, it has an aspect of glorious emotional ruin, and song titles like ''The Night I Couldn't Stop Crying'', ''I Don't Want to Lose You Tonight'', and ''What's a Place Like That Doing in a Girl Like You'' do little to ameliorate that impression. But you aren't likely to find these Berlin-based, Australian expats playing the Bamboozle Festival anytime soon.

Before emo locked up emotion in a tender yet unbreakable full-nelson, there was goth - both include eyeliner and melodrama, but they handle the latter with very different emphases. Emo approaches emotional trauma without much regard for subtlety, while goth - at least goth-influenced rock of the Nick Cave/Black Heart Procession variety that Devastations favors - is more concerned with sadness's introverted, resigned qualities, and undercuts its self-pity with a canny cynicism that makes the music more palatable to adults. As such, while Devastations' sophomore album, Coal, is undeniably melancholy, the slow-burning arrangements keep histrionics at bay. Devastations always privilege the song above catharsis, and singer Conrad Standish peppers his lovelorn lyrics with sinister noir: ''Lord send me an angel; I'll send her to you,'' he threatens in a choking falsetto amid the seething piano and nauseously reverbed guitars of ''What's a Place Like This Doing in a Girl Like You''.

Any discussion of Devastations has to start with Standish's voice and his dark charisma. Nick Cave is so iconic that some singers seem to think that aping his tics is a shortcut to good songwriting. While Standish borrows many of Cave's inflections and images (''My mother was a whore,'' he deadpans on the title track's trembling piano ballad), he understands that Cave's theatrics wouldn't have gotten him anywhere without solid songwriting to back them up, and Coal, like Spielerfrau's likeminded The Sad Part from earlier this year, is packed from end to end with striking, capable arrangements. The guitar-driven ''The Night I Couldn't Stop Crying'' builds and breaks in dark, crashing waves; Standish emphasizes the dynamic shifts by dropping his baritone to a terse croak. He duets winningly with Bic Runga on ''Man of Fortune'', singing with a prayerful uplift that belies the music's funeral strings, and he rides the galloping chords of ''Take You Home'' toward a screaming crescendo. Always dark, never a caricature, Coal is consistently engaging, and marks Devastations as the emo-band-for-adults that people have tried to make Death Cab for Cutie out to be.
Rating: 7.5/10

Baby Dayliner

Editor's Info:
Critics Pass Away is Baby Dayliner's sophomore album. Even more successfully than his debut, it fulfilled the promise of Baby Dayliner's kaleidoscopic worldview which equally embraces sounds from pop, rock, dance, and hip-hop music, a sound articulated by Britain's Uncut Magazine as ''a romo romp through a New York ghost world that is neither the drainpipe-and-denim sweatpit of CBGBs nor the mirrorball glitz of Studio 54 but somewhere in between.''

A long-time live favorite for some of NYC's best artists from a dizzying array of different scenes, this album inspired equal praise from icons of independent rock and underground hip-hop. Guest performers include The Giraffes' guitarist Damien Paris and actor/musician Adrian Grenier (Entourage; The Honey Brothers), who drums on the song ''Silent Places,'' and appears in the accompanying video.


KUDOS FROM OTHER MUSICIANS
Aesop Rock, MC: The new Baby Dayliner album is the first LP in a long time that I can listen to front-to-back with no complaints and no fast-forwarding. No, really. This is the kind of record I wanna plagiarize. I have yet to find someone who doesn't love it.

Matt Berninger, singer, The National: Baby Dayliner is a rare fearless original. This brainy record is jammed full of heart and moxie. It's a dance party for sexy intellects.




PRESS

Entertainment Weekly
Strange strains of hip-hop, Broadway, and glam converge on this vibrant song from one-man indie superstar Ethan Marunas, a.k.a. Baby Dayliner. Bellowing like David Bowie doing his best Sinatra, Marunas' croon is a showstopping force that ties together the song's bouncy piano, frolicking horns, and boom-bap beat. It's like modern musical theater with a swinging disco bent.

XLR8R (June/July 2006)
In a just world, Baby Dayliner would be an icon in the new wave of crooner-inspired pop acts, proudly adorning shiny shirts and dreaming of headlining Radio City. As that's clearly not going to happen soon, we'll have to be content with Critics Pass Away, his near-perfect second album. Equal parts Morrissey, Gainsbourg, Adam Ant, and Manilow - for real - BD (a.k.a. Ethan Marunas) invites you to his electro-pop lounge act where piano-tickling and jazz standards are flung out the window, and samplers and drum machines prevail. Upbeat tracks like the opener ''At Least'' delightfully romp on the border of Vegas-style cheese without ever sounding trite or contrived. Baby Dayliner is the white, bequiffed, male vocalist brilliantly repackaged for the iTunes generation, and even when the LP loses a little steam (near the mid-album ''Breezy'') you'll be so busy bopping that you'll hardly notice.

Playboy by Marc Hogan
Baby Dayliner is a crooner-rapper, and everything about his sophomore album, Critics Pass Away, is as unlikely as that combination. Dayliner, or Ethan Marunas as his parents call him, has produced an insanely eclectic batch of danceable electro-pop. It's definitely weird, but when it works, there's nothing quite like its mix of New Order synths, David Bowie baritone, and Magnetic Fields flamboyance. Opening track ''At Least'' rides a laid-back hip-hop beat while Marunas booms about everything from ''homeys'' to religion. The next song, ''Critics Pass Away,'' adds a twangy classic-rock electric guitar to whoa-oh-oh harmonies. Clever come-on ''The Way You Look Tonight'' isn't a new version of the old standard, instead it's an original featuring swooning strings and the word ''erotic.'' Fast-paced ''Go On Baby'' travels from Latin rhythms to Krautrock distortion while name-dropping an Isaac Asimov novel. Finally, ''Small Town Halls'' goes full-out gangsta, minus the deep-throated chorus suited for the Doors. It can be a little overwhelming at times, but the purpose is clear: maniacal, booty-shaking fun. Apparently, Dayliner's live shows consist of only Marunas, his dance moves and a musical suitcase. Until he hits town, Critics Pass Away is worth a short visit.

Okayplayer.com
Baby Dayliner is a very interesting artist for this day and age. Ethan Murunas, the man behind the sexually ambiguous name, wants to be an old fashioned crooner, but makes use of electronic instruments and samplers. So maybe the best place for him to land was in the 80s? This was apparently the most viable option for Murunas, whose vocal tones and melodies sound like they?d fit in well after Devo, the Smiths or some other new wave artist from back then. Not to say he?s a rip-off, though. Baby Dayliner?s music has a sound that only 2006 could properly facilitate, adding a nice depth to Critics Pass Away.

The album starts off with a cool stuttering horn sample, and Murunas' voice trying to smooth it out. Critics Pass Away keeps up this balance for the most part, with quick and high-hat heavy electronic beats, and hip sounding guitars and synths as the background to the crooning. The title track 'Critics Pass Away' sounds especially like a 80s new wave band could have recorded it, with its poppy, and vaguely foreign, 'ooohh ooh ahh-oohh' chorus that Men At Work would be proud of. Also, I need to slow up a second on this song before moving on. Is this some kind of shot at my ilk? ''Critics pass away like bad news,'' is another part of this song's chorus. What are you trying to say, Murunas? Do you really only want one questie?

But I have thick skin and am not taking our beef seriously. Baby Dayliner has put together a very enjoyable album here. The songs are upbeat and create a distinctive mix of ages, styles, and even locales -- close your eyes and imagine Brooklyn had a sunny beach down the street that everyone went to and had a dance party at every weekend, and at night made a bonfire and sang around it. That's where this music would fit in. But because this heaven doesn't exist, go out on your balcony on a sunny day, close your eyes, and turn on the iPod. Critics Pass Away will take your mind to this place, or at least will get you to plan that vacation to Miami.

Clogs

Editor's Info:
Clogs are a sister band to The National featuring Padma Newsome on strings and Bryce Dessner on guitar. Their fourth album is their finest and most varied effort to date as the group augments their unique sonic palette (acoustic guitar, strings, percussion, bassoon) with melodica, ukulele, and mandola - and Dessner goes electric! Especially recommended if you enjoy fellow travelers like Rachel's, The Books, Bell Orchestre, or even Moondog, Erik Satie, and 16th-century lute player Johann Hieronymus Kapsburger.



PRESS

Pitchforkmedia.com
When trying to describe Clogs' music to other folks, it might be better to forgo any genre distinctions and head straight for the thesaurus so you can find fresh and exciting ways to say 'sublime.'

Uncut by Chris Roberts
Clogs, who cluster around guitarist Bryce Dessner and violinist/multi-instrumentalist Padma Newsome, would resent being referred to as The National's artier spin-off project. Having met at Yale School of Music in the late '90s, they predate our Alligator favourites, and have released three previous albums of experimentation and minimalism. Simplistic reference points for their mesmerising use of repetition and polyphony would be Moondog or The Penguin Cafe Orchestra. But the ''contemporary classical'' tag doesn't do justice to their cinematic, intense instrumental narratives: like Mogwai's, they tend to build to within an inch of breaking point. Rating: 4/5

PopMatters.com (Internet) by Dave Heaton
Clogs don't seem to be aiming at one particular audience--neither the indie ''post-rock'' fans or the more ''sophisticated'' classical fans. They seem like an outfit with their own personality, doing as they please. That of course, is always a format for artistic success when you're dealing with musicians as talented as the members of Clogs. By being themselves and avoiding easy categorization, they take listeners through multiple sonic worlds, all pleasing and unique.


The Wire by Mike Barnes
This, the American/Australian quartet's fourth album, differs significantly in mood from its predecessor, Stick Music, which featured a guest percussionist and string players. Here guitarist Bryce Dessner (also of rock group The National) and violinist, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist Padma Newsome welcome back bassoonist Rachel Elliot and percussionist Thomas Kozumplik after their respective sabbaticals.

An exercise in the noises made by wood and string, Stick Music was a pithy, austere collection of instrumentals that were structurally more adventurous, but Lantern feels a lot more intimate. Again, born from improvisation, the group's compositions invite comparisons with similarly uncategorisable neo-chamber groups like Rachel's or the more expansive Threnody Ensemble. At times Clogs evoke the sombre mood of the miniatures that punctuated Henry Cow's album Unrest, but their more lyrical tack on this collection also brings to mind oboist Paul McCandless's semi-forgotten 1970s percussion, guitar, strings, and woodwind ensemble Oregon.

''Voisins'' tears off like a virtuosic version of the Third Ear Band, with agitated bassoon figures played over compound rhythms of clattering hand drums and electric guitar. ''Tides of Washington Bridge'' finds Dessner's simple lute-like guitar lines subtly augmented by Elliot's bassoon figures and, later, Kozumplik's scraped and bowed cymbals. Although the lines are poised and intertwined - and beautifully played throughout - Clogs avoid being too polite. Such an exquisite piece is contrasted by the saltier ''The Song of the Cricket,'' where the musicians operate in overlapping planes of activity, giving the piece a refracted feel until it is resolved in a formal coda.

The main strength of Lantern is that, apart from the subtlety and invention involved in its construction, the musicians have come up with tunes to move all but the most aloof. In this respect, ''2:3:5'' is the standout track. A gorgeous, melancholy figure on the violin and bassoon is augmented by Kozumplik's tuned percussion, and Newsome's ecstatic flourishes are joined by his cascading steel pans at the close.

Clogs

Editor's Info:
Clogs' third album, Stick Music (Brassland, 2004), is a tour-de-force concept album conceived by Newsome and Dessner. Simply put: It is a deep exploration of strings. They are bowed, struck, plucked, and treated as never before. The results are intimate, melodic, gorgeous. One moment they resonate like gentle raindrops, the next they're woven into dizzying eddies of sound. The record includes performances by cello virtuoso Erik Friedlander - a friend and downtown scene veteran (John Zorn's Masada, Laurie Anderson, Dave Douglas) celebrating the success of his recent solo debut, Maldoror (Brassland, 2003).

Stick Music is a bold achievement. It is odd and intense enough to satisfy avant-gardists yet - after adjusting to Clogs' peculiar sound world ? it grows as accessible and comfortable as instrumental classics like John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come, or Brian Eno's early ambient works.

Stick Music may be the masterpiece in Clogs' much beloved discography.

Baby Dayliner

Editor's Info:
Brooklyn's Baby Dayliner is upbeat and joyous, earnest and romantic, all at the same time. ''Right smack in the depth of your soul you'll find a core the purity of which is begging to start you from the front,'' he sings. ''Fun funny, it's funny, a raid on your heart! Fun funny, it's funny a raid on your soul!'' Imagine these lyrics, sung in a melodic monotone and laid over a series of wooshing and plinging synths, trip-the-light-fantastic pianos, and catchy beats. What you'd have is a true 21st century entertainer, a new wave Frank Sinatra: Baby Dayliner.



PRESS

Filter
There's somethin' just indescribably cool about having the keyboard as your most trusty instrument. Twiddle all the electro-fuzz that you want, or go town on the rotating voices effect, trying your darnedest to fuck it all up, and you're still left with a steady strain of open-faced melody. Of course, it also helps when you're blessed with Baby Dayliner's Ian Curtis-meets-Tom-Jones voiceover to keep everything from splattering together and making us think it's electroclash gone awry (again). In fact, to label High Heart and Low Estate as anything at all would be to misrepresent its manifold influences -- the deceptive coyness of Ben Folds in the opener ''Raid!,'' the Belle & Sebastian wistfulness of ''Madeline,'' and the Streets' perverse street wisdom in ''Hoodlums in the Hit Parade.'' He does spread himself a bit thin over 12 tracks with no discernable continuity, but the slicker-than-Rick barbs and surprisingly understated insights tell me that here's a man who has no problem with the piano being mightier than the sword. Because really, what's the use of a sword without rapier wit. Rating: 83/100

Wallpaper Magazine
Imagine if fate had been kinder and Ian Curtis was still with us and recording with Money Mark, producing low-fi paeans to the everyday struggles of life and love writ through with a wry irony. A crooner for our times, Baby Dayliner's monotone voice and cranky instrumentation belies a hopeless romantic who would make Serge Gainsbourg and Leonard Cohen smile.

Uncut profile by Julian Poidevin:
ALL SINGING, ALL DANCING?
What is this, The Kids From Fame?
Funny you should say that. Twenty-seven year-old Ethan Marunas studied at LaGuardia High School, on which Fame was based. Still, our boy didn't spend his days decked out in fluorescent leg-warmers and rainbow braces practising his high kicks. Something of a musical prodigy, he was all set to become a concert violinist before turning his back on the life of a classical musician at 17 to pursue a path that would eventually lead him to his current guise: modern-day crooning sensation Baby Dayliner.

A crooner, eh? Tuxedos, 30-piece orchestras, that sort of things?
Hardly. The Baby Dayliner live experience consists of nothing more than one man laying down his deep, hypnotic voice over the pre-programmed beeps and beats of his ''Dr. Rhythm Section'' synth. Think Leonard Cohen experiencing an epiphany on the floor of the Hacienda in the acid summer of 1988. Or perhaps Morrissey having his heart broken at a Run-DMC show.

Why the entirely solo approach - wouldn't he be better off forming a band?
''Don't we all want to go solo?'' he muses. ''To be the sole auteur? You can probably write far better songs that way.'' That seems to be the case on his splendid debut, High Heart and Low Estate -- a retro romo romp through a New York ghost world that is neither the drainpipe-and-denim sweat pit of CBGBs nor the mirrorball glitz of Studio 54 but somewhere in between.

Tell us more.
''New life is breathed into New York every second of every day. I have 10 stories per inch of every block in Manhattan, and with those stories are 10 different emotions.'' So it goes that Marunas can drop in lyrics as ingeniously poignant as ''the sad songs I love -- they don't love me back'' (on the maudlin ''Can't Believe'') while the perfect pop kiss that is ''Raid!'' intriguingly suggests how Lowlife-era New Order might have sounded if Ian Curtis had lived to front the band.

A performer in the Curtis tradition, then?
''A critic went so far as to say that I try to emulate Curtis's stage persona, which is total bullshit,'' fumes Marunas. ''Curtis's style was spastic, and that's fine, that how he expressed himself, and he rocked it. But gimme a break -- that's one bloke whose dance styles I'll never copy!'' Truly, this man is a one-off.

Eric Friedlander

Opis Wydawcy:
Współpracujący od lat z Johnem Zornem, Laurie Anderson czy też Courtney Love wiolonczelista Erik Friedlander ma na swoim koncie 8 autorskich płyt.
Jego estetyka i pełen dynamizmu styl improwizacji stały się podwaliną nowego stylu gry na wiolonczeli. Grając solo lub z jednym ze swych zespołów, zarówno w projektach klasycznych jak i improwizacyjnych, Erik Friedlander łączy klasyczną maestrię techniczną z nieokiełznaną wyobraźnią improwizatora.
Trudno jednoznacznie zaklasyfikować jego twórczość ocierającą się o jazz, współczesną kameralistykę, muzykę żydowską czy muzykę improwizowaną.
Od samego początku jest jednym z filarów projektów Masada Chamber Ensemble i Masada String Trio.
Wydana w 2003 roku, solowa płyta ''Maldoror'' zawiera wyłącznie własne kompozycje Friedlandera.

Clogs

Editor's Info:
Clogs are four classical musicians hailing from Australia and the United States. The Wire celebrated their first record's ''eerie, looping folk melodies, delicately bowed and struck strings, [and] beautiful 'lost at sea' effect.'' Their second is more rhythmic, ambient, electric, and eclectic. Think stars in a wide-open sky; gnarled NYC attic guitars; desert violins; medieval bassoons; junkyard metal as percussion. Clogs have been compared to artists as diverse as Arvo Part, Sigur Ros, and Godspeed You Black Emperor! The Philadelphia City Paper writes that ''few new CDs in any genre will do as much to challenge the way you listen to music.''

Padma Newsome interviewed by French journalist Richard Robert from Les Inrockuptibles at time of Lullaby for Sue release:
Q: Do you think that your music has to do with a kind of ''new chamber music'' which would not rely to a specific genre? Do you feel like it has a connection with the tradition of classical chamber music? Do you feel part of a lineage, a family? Or do you feel like orphans or hybrids?

A: I'm glad that it is difficult to pigeon-hole. As a writer I am more involved with the process of developing material and its potentials than I am with making decisions about style or genre. I have played traditional and non-traditional ensemble music for many years, and have as great a love for Palestrina and Brahms as I do for the Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, Ligeti, or John Cage, for that matter. I think new music is breathed out of the old and that the old has life breathed into it by the new.

Q: Do you consider that the four of you have common backgrounds? What was your musical ambition when you started to play together? What was your association based on?

A: We have a common place we all inhabited for 2 years - university. Before that we were all doing different things. Bryce was a rock musician from an early age, based in Cincinnati; Thom has played fusion and with large percussion extravaganzas up in Michigan; Rachael did jazz in Vermont as a teenager; and being the old gentleman of the group, I have a cluster of musical lives pre-Clogs: Indian music, symphony orchestras, weird childhood choral extravaganzas, and fringe Adelaide experimental chamber rock.

Q: Most of the pieces are composed by Padma: does it mean that you're the natural leader? How do you work together?

A: A band sometimes works better with a focus member to filter thoughts through, a decisive voice. My main challenge is to keep things moving, and not to get too self-involved. I do write and arrange most of the music, but regardless of the composer of the music, each Clogs member makes music above, beyond, and around the original idea.

Q: How did you come to this original line-up: guitar, violin/viola,bassoon and percussion? Was it consciously planned?

A: In 1999, I had a dream about a band called ''Loose Fitting Clogs,'' a musical shoe with a lot of foot room. I was looking for people with a classical training; that is, the ability to play almost anything you put in front of them, with a classical sense of ensemble playing, BUT who were also improvisers and had rough un-tethered edges.

Q: Your music seems to reflect eclectic and open musical tastes, but it's more than just a blend of various musical influences. Is it a kind of alchemic process? Is it purely subconscious?

A: Idea is waiting, and then smell, and then a quick splash. Writing is that plus the thinking, feeling, and the self-reflective.

Q: Critics who write articles about your music often use the word ''minimalist.'' I'd rather use the word ''maximalist'': you seem to consider music as whole melodies, harmonies, rhythms, duration, sound, silence, spaces.

A: Being a classical head, ''maximalist'' is a derogatory term we sometimes used about the music of Ferneyhough, and his total notational hegemony. You should check out his scores. They are monsters but I think I know what you're getting at. I try and write music that is about itself, each piece part of the whole, and that aspect gets built into a dramatic organicism. At the same time, I love surprise, and dislike bridges, especially ones that are not well-constructed. That means sometimes I will just bloody well go on to the next idea, and not try and artifice the transition.

Recently, I have penned the term ''micro-minimalism'', and that implies for me the kind of musical behaviour which is fascinated with phasing, rhythmical mutation, and pulsing, but without the overindulgence in repetition. Much of minimalists attributes can be found in a blend of African and Balinese rhythms, fused with Ars Nova, 14th century isorhythmical techniques of Machaut and Phillipe de Vitry. There is nothing new under the sun, but the light and shade changes, and sometimes time will stretch a quiet, perfect moment.

Q: What's the part of improvisation in your live performances? What's the purpose of improvisation?

A: Improvisation is the space between the soul and the music, the distance between a bow and a string. It is the heart of music, whether completely notated or improvised. I see no difference between the two.

Q: French musicians who play unclassifiable instrumental music (like Man, Sylvain Chauveaus) come up against strong difficulties, just because the labels, the radio programmers, the promoters, the press and the audience don't know how to categorise them. Do you sometimes have the same kind of problems in the USA and outside of your country?

A: Its my favourite compliment!

Q: People who listen to rock seem to appreciate your music: how do you
explain that? Do you think that the musical areas are less segmented than before?

A: There is rock there in the beat and in the repeated patterns. Both Bryce and I play in a rock band and understand the allure of the honest emotion, but unlike rock we are more likely to change an idea second time around, because of the issue of changing light.

Q: Do you feel like you're isolated in the American musical landscape? Do you have affinities with other artists, in the USA or outside of the USA? Are there other groups which raise the same kind of musical and aesthetic issues?

A: Aloneness or loneliness? I don't mind the former, as long as I can be busy and play with excellent musicians. This is really a Bryce question, since I sit in my room a lot of the time, in isolation, trying to open internal channels. Bryce lives more in the real world, and yes it is difficult, on the one hand we are not rock musicians, neither are we concert-hall, downtown, leather-jacket minimalists. I don't really like smoke or bow ties. Give me a quiet attentive jazz audience any day, even if they don't quite get it.

Q: Kurt Wagner (Lambchop's leader) once told me that the exploration of human intimacy through music may be one of the last big musical adventures of our times: does it make sense to your ears?

A: ''Intimacy,'' as subject matter or as personal musical honesty? Both are close to my heart.

Q: Is it a challenging situation to express feelings without words, to translate them into pure music?

A: No, it is the essence of what I do, the most important notion of why I write.

Q: Some people say that your music has a cinematic quality : I guess it's a compliment, but I often wonder why people needs to refer to ''imaginary soundtracks'' when they listen to instrumental music. What's your opinion about that?

A: I love the way people go into day-dreams and reveries. I do it myself when I listen to music. Our personal musical landscape is a bit more abstract though, and for me, it is about general emotional ideas, or places I remember and love, and many times about someone who I have loved dearly.

Q: Would you like to write film scores? Would it be a very different activity?

A: Yes, I would. Different in the tethering to a time line and underscoring issues, etc. But yes, I would love to do some.

Q: What about working with dance companies? What does it bring to your music?

A: We love working with dancers. They move to a biology that is more instant and in some ways more ephemeral. Dancers and choreographers are very voracious and cavalier about music. Their primary musical activity is to pillage through a pile of CDs to find something that suits their current project. Often, they are not used to developing concurrently with composers, so I have to be very quick in my writing or give them a finished product early on. This is great, though. Dancers either hate the music or love it. There is no middle ground. If I had my dream I would write for dance for many years to come.




PRESS

LA WEEKLY (Los Angeles, CA) by Alan Rich
While we're on the subject of indefinability, consider Clogs, a kind of chamber group that has come to my attention, with one disc out on the Brassland label and another due out next week. Australia's Padma Newsome is the group's founder, chief composer and violinist/violist; guitarist/composer Bryce Dessner, percussionist Thomas Kozumplik and -- if you're ready -- bassoonist Rachael Elliott complete the group. They have a date at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica later this month. Okay, so here is a quartet of excellently proficient, classical-trained musicians who create a repertory not quite like anything already out there. Jazz tints their musical style, yet events like 6:33 of quiet, free-flowing beauty in a rapturous duet for bassoon and viola over the insistent plink of steel drums -- in the title cut of their disc called Thom's Night Out -- don't readily fit into journalistic pigeonholes. (Must they?) The group is on the move; a recent commissioning grant from Chamber Music America puts them in cahoots with Ingram Marshall, another indefinable composer. Anyhow, I love this new disc of theirs, most of all for its still, nicely controlled sensibility -- even if I don't quite know where it goes on my shelves.

LA Weekly (Los Angeles, CA) by John Payne
You say you know all about art, you just don't know what you like? So try a night out to challenge your assumptions, such as this one here: The Aussie/American sort-of chamber quartet Clogs offer densely mellifluous and mesmerizing interweaves of viola and violin, guitar, bassoon and percussion in low-key, often vaguely ethnic-music-derived pieces whose meanderingly ghostly air is blessedly free of mere wispy whimsicality. Their very satisfying record on Brassland/Southern called Thom's Night Out has received deserved raves worldwide, and there's a new one, Lullaby for Sue, soon available.

SFGate.com (San Francisco, CA)
[Padma] Newsome went to a Radiohead concert in Boston recently and was flabbergasted when the huge audience joined in on an extremely complicated tune. ''I'm looking around me, and everybody is singing along with this song that's got this very abstract and rhythmically odd behavior,'' he recalls. ''Everybody's got it down pat. Nobody's like me, going, 'Um, where's the five? What's going on here?'''

Sharing common ground with Radiohead, Dirty Three and Godspeed You . . . doesn't make Clogs a rock band any more than Newsome's teen experience as a virtuoso symphony and chamber-music performer and three master's degrees in composition make him a strictly classical artist, or any more than his lengthy retreat from classical concert halls to an Australian yoga ashram (where he was exposed to kirtan chanting and north Indian classical traditions) turned him into a New Age or Hindustani musician.

''That's not to say rock's not an influence on Clogs,'' Newsome notes. ''It is. But, in a way, that has more to do with making sure that we're a little bit earthed, and if we feel like grooving, then why not groove?''

JazzReview.com (Internet)
It is rare, indeed, to come across a group that creates such a unique language that they completely defy categorization. While there are many labels that could be applied to some of what Clogs do, none fit properly; Lullaby for Sue creates a rich sonic landscape that is so distinctive, that comparisons are pointless.

The National

Editor's Info:
The National are five displaced Ohioans living in New York. They play smart, bracing, and beautiful rock music. Their self-titled debut was hailed throughout the US and Europe by publications ranging from the Village Voice and No Depression to Paris's Liberation. England's Kerrang! called it ''the stuff underground legends are made of.''

Their follow-up is a great leap forward, an omnibus of rock songwriting that is by turns upbeat and downcast, electric and acoustic, raging and atmospheric. Produced by Nick Lloyd, Peter Katis (Interpol), and Paul Heck (No Alternative; Red, Hot, and Riot!), Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers is a bold statement, a song cycle about men and women and all the ways things go wrong and right.

Upon release, critics grasped for superlatives in praising Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. Publications like Uncut and The Chicago Tribune named it an album of the year, while Magnet hailed it as one of the year's ''hidden gems.'' Billboard featured them as a ''Hot Artist,'' CMJ named them a band ''On the Verge.''



PRESS

Magnet
Hidden Gem of 2003

Rolling Stone #934 (Oct 30, 2003) by Greg Kot
When Matt Berninger moans, ''Let her treat you like a criminal, so you can treat her like a priest,'' at the outset of the National's second album, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, you just know these boys got it bad. Girl trouble, that is. Plunging into the desperate erotica of their Leonard Cohen-meets-Joy Division world, this Brooklyn quintet sounds both decadent and deprived when brooding about betrayal, lust, even their snappy new outerwear (''Fashion Coat''). Violins swoon, bells toll, keyboards get shrouded in fog. The band patiently nurtures the tension beneath the surface, but when it pops -- especially in the hurtling coda to ''Available,'' the violent last verse of ''Slipping Husband,'' the screaming-poltergeist guitars that twist their way through ''Murder Me Rachael'' -- the grief turns nasty.

Uncut
A genuine treasure. . . No one has written the uneasy poetry of self-disgust with such brutality since Mark Eitzel at his best. Livid as a bruise, this is brave, desperate and desperately beautiful music.

The London Sunday Times
Intense? Powerful? Let's just say that if Johnny Cash was still with us, this would be a contender for his next album.

Pitchfork.com: 8.4 out of 10 rating
Since The National's excellent self-titled debut in 2001, the Brooklyn-via-Cincinnati quintet has continued developing its hard-knock aesthetic, and lucky for the listener, Berninger's relationships don't appear to be getting any better. . . Each of the dozen laments on Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers balance catchy choruses, exquisite instrumental interludes, and the complex words of a man's grieving. By the time you reach the final punch line of ''Lucky You'' you feel you know Berninger, want to offer him a coat, a smile, and some warmth to make it through another sleepless night. But on second thought, with that added comfort maybe he'd stop singing these beautiful songs: so you hold off, sit back down, and continue listening to this gorgeous train wreck.

Clogs

Editor's Info:
Clogs are a quartet of classical musicians hailing from Australia and the United States. Featuring viola, classical guitar, bassoon, and percussion, they scrawl the folk sounds of India and the Jewish Diaspora atop lessons learned from minimalism, ambient music, and rock. The New Yorker writes that, ''fans of Sigur Ros, the Rachel's, and other post-rock ensembles who know how to listen in respectful silence will have no trouble appreciating the softly evocative compositions.'' Philadelphia City Paper says ''few new CDs in any genre will do as much to challenge the way you listen to music.''




PRESS

Village Voice (New York, NY) by Richard Gehr
. . .in the smart and pretty romantic-minimalist-improv tradition that began somewhere around Erik Satie and extends through the Penguin Cafe Orchestra to the Tin Hat Trio.

The New Yorker (New York, NY)
Clogs The music handily eludes classification, but fans of Sigur Ros, the Rachel's, and other post-rock ensembles who know how to listen in respectful silence to a live performance will have no trouble appreciating the softly evocative compositions.

Philadelphia City Paper (Philadelphia, PA) by Andrew Ervin
''The biggest drawback to Thom's Night Out is that it won't fit logically anywhere in your music collection. A case could be made for including it with your world-music stuff or with your classical discs or even with the rock CDs-somewhere between Camper Van Beethoven and Costello, Elvis. The four-piece ensemble uses Western classical instruments to play pop-structured songs that can sound like klezmer music, traditional Indian melodies or even medieval monody. Padma Newsome plays the violin and viola and also composed most of the tunes. Thomas Kozumplik plays all manner of percussion, including steel drums, and Bryce Dessner plays classical guitar while Rachael Elliott fills out the ensemble on bassoon. Sound like an odd combination? It is, but the honed chops and unique harmonic sensibility somehow hold it all together. Fans of rock's slo-mo movement will feel right at home, and so will their parents. It is overall refreshing in its originality and bravado; few new CDs in any genre will do as much to challenge the way you listen to music.''

Cincinnati City Beat (Cincinnati, OH)
''The Clogs, who recently releases Thom's Night Out on the new artist-operated Brassland label out of New York, are a great Neo-Classical quartet whose crafty arrangements and dynamic style brings to mind a mix of Kronos Quartet, Rachel's and Tortoise.''

Montreal Mirror (Montreal, Quebec, CANADA) by Boss Sambosa
Smooth and thin-sounding strings weep in and out of hollow guitar pops and deep, minimal bassoon-based soundscapes-rich, concise, repetitive and slightly experimental. These guys refresh classical music with their subtle touch, their accessible grooves, and a tiny klezmer edge. . .a phenomenal live experience for those with sensitive ears and quiet tongues. 9 out of 10 rating

SF Weekly (San Francisco, CA)
While his [Padma Newsome's] works for bassoon, saxophone, guitar, percussion, and his own instruments bear the casual, loose-limbed shamble of Western improvisation, they are largely grounded in the classic folk musics of India and the Jewish Diaspora. At once familiar and alien, comical and disquieting, soothing and overwrought, the Clogs' music walks a fine line between radiance and darkness that is rarely achieved outside Hindu culture--and even more rarely in a nightclub setting.

Privy Magazine (New York, NY)
The Clogs, besides being a popular shoe-style, are a quartet of classical musicians that collectively hail from Australia and the U.S. A fan though hardly a connoisseur of classical music, I was pleased to discover that besides being purveyors of serious and exquisite musicianship, the Clogs are also quite aurally accessible to your average indie/modern rock fan. Particularly for those of us going ga-ga over the latest prog-rock experimental eclecticism as heard in the last two Radiohead LPs and Sigur Ros. . . Finally, I found track six, ''Four Blue Poles'', to be my favorite. It is an epic of sound, so much so that I find it difficult to imagine someone listening to it and not mentally conjuring some adventure through the woods of medireview Britain or some such elaborate plotline. I figure music must be pretty bloody if you find yourself creating stories as you listen. rating: 4.5/5

Blue Dog Press (Buffalo, NY)
''Clogs. . .grab form by the cojones and manipulate it to fit their own personal vision of aesthetics, meaning they're real weird, real creative, real esoteric, real good.''

Voir Hour (Montreal, Quebec, CANADA)
''The buzz is swelling around this Aussie-American quartet that captures the basics of conservative avant-instro.''

Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
''Atypical as all get out, this could shape up to be a quietly mesmerizing night.''

Philadelphia City Paper (Philadelphia, PA) by Brian Howard
''Clogs, a loosely configured foursome of classically-trained musicians, compose music in pretty much the same manner everyone who plays instrumental, neo-classical post rock-from Tortoise to Rachel's to Japancakes-says they do. They compose songs, which then evolve through repetition and experimentation. Which isn't to say Clogs aren't better at it. . . The improvisation-touched compositions on their upcoming Thom's Night Out (Brassland) can move, as on ''Mysteries of Life,'' from epic string swells to rhythmic, rock-inflected passages or combine classic structures with ethnic folk devices as on ''Four Blue Poles.'' The tracks are thematic, for sure, but actually feel touched by caprice, unafraid to take a stylistic turn, right or wrong (but mostly spot-on).''

The National

Editor's Info:
The National are five displaced Ohioans living in New York -- two sets of brothers and one best friend. They play smart, naked, and bracing rock music. No Depression said, ''The National has created nearly a dozen picture-perfect Americana bar-soaked gems with its debut album.'' Creative Loafing described it as a ''merciless hybrid of plaintive American folk with the mordant gallows humor of Nick Cave and Jarvis Cocker.'' ''Full of simple songs that convey complex emotions,'' wrote Billboard, ''this dazzling debut should be the portent of good things to come.''


PRESS

PORTLAND MERCURY (Portland, OR) by Julianne Shepherd
I believe that the majority of non-musicians relate to vocals in music, above all other aspects. . . [The National] have one of those singers. Their singer, whose name is Matt Berninger, adds a lot of depth. Indeed, he makes the band. His voice is low and manly, so much that it swaggers; he doesn't even really emphasize his consonants very much. Because of this, I have created a whole persona about Matt Berninger in my mind. I think he is the guy in the band who gets sort of drunk before every show, and he's never sloppy, but it makes him sort of sassy and depressed. Perhaps he is drinking to mask his depression. After all, he sings the line, ''I have nobody left to forget/ I guess that's what assholes get.'' Matt Berninger is awesome.

NO DEPRESSION #36 (Nov/Dec 2001) by Jason MacNeil
Originally from Ohio and now based in New York, The National has created nearly a dozen picture-perfect Americana bar-soaked gems with its debut album. From the opening notes of ''Beautiful Head'', the delicate line between polished roots-oriented pop and alt-country has rarely been walked so deliberately with the payoff so favorable.

Singer Matt Berninger will draw comparisons to Leonard Cohen at times, but Ryan Adams and even Tom Waits come to mind in certain instances. Particularly pretty is ''American Mary'', which veers toward Wilco territory minus the spacey guitar-jangle climax.

Most of the songs revolve around booze, women and the difficulties and joys of both, including ''Bitters & Absolut'' and the twangy ''Watching You Well'', the latter reminiscent of the Rolling Stones circa Let It Bleed. Only on ''Son'' does the idea of filler rear its ugly head.

The highlight by far is ''Theory Of The Crows'', a slowly building waltz through everyday impersonal life and youthful dreams dashed. ''And if I forget you/I'll have nobody left to forget/I guess that's what assholes get,'' Berninger utters over a simple front-porch backbeat. Listening to it, you can imagine him ordering another double.

ARTVOICE (Buffalo, NY) by Brandon Stosuy
Have You Heard the National Guitar? The National is that band who right now makes me feel something. Sure, emotion is suspect in our limpid digital age, a time in which the one-dimensional ho-hum of willful captivity is an ideal-but hey! The National's self-titled record (Brassland Records), a chapbook of souls, or better yet, a discarded Farmer's Almanac blooming with revelatory pencil sketches, causes me to think so much about leaves blowing through half-closed windows in my attic and the boundaries of overgrown orchards covering life in a crisp uneven blanket, that I forget my cynicism, my consistent lack of sleep, and remember, suddently, myself.

When I try to explain The National, my first inclination is to dig up generalizations, to mumble of deep-voiced melancholic male singers a la Nick Cave, the guy from Tindersticks, or Leonard Cohen. Having secured this meager indie-rock shop talk, I tend to place said imaginary singer in front of a Southern-sounding rock band like Lampchop, dipping and sawing and spinning in a lacey backyard below the Mason-Dixon. Sure, but The National aren't from the South; in fact, they come from Brooklyn via Ohio. Like d.a. levy's incantory poems about rust and rivers in Cleveland, they sing through Midwestern ice, teeth, devining rods, shape-shifting emptiness, ghosts, and silence. Thematically, The National are closely linked to lately hyped London trio The Clientele. Yeah: rain and stars. The National, though, are sort of the working class version of The Clientele, I'd say. Not that The Clientele are upperclass or anything?they just seems more removed. They're fans of Surrealism and Marquez, for example (c'mon, you know what I mean). Regardless, in the end, The National have most definitely whittled my favorite rock record of the year. It's a stoic Bildungsroman penned in smoke, an unusually sucessful case of soul-searching.

NEW YORK TIMES (New York, NY) by Jon Pareles
In the National's songs, on the rainy border of folk-rock and mope-rock, fading love lingers just enough to keep the singer tortured by all the things he could have done.

VILLAGE VOICE (New York, NY) by Irene Yadao
The National is yet another Brooklyn gem among gems, but this band's more Americana--and much more somber--than their Williamsburg counterparts. Their self-titled debut unravels itself in poignant, but painful scenes from a movie about a man's emotional decadence: There's lots of booze and women involved. There's also the woman that got away. There's a bit of self-deprecation. And there are fatalistic reflections on life and love. Indulge yourselves.

VILLAGE VOICE (New York, NY)
Their Brooklyn by way of Ohio tilt on Americana nicely balances Wilco with Leonard Cohen, but they eschew the extravagance that sometimes characterizes the former, and instead cushion their somber tales of emotional decadence with less frill.

ALLMUSIC.COM (Internet)
This Ohio-based band strikes a lush, adorable balance between the country-pop of bands such as Jayhawks and Golden Smog and the gloomy, depressing crooning of Tom Waits. Lead singer Matt Berninger manages to transcend leveling the fine background with some reflection and introspection on ''Cold Girl Fever'' and ''Watching You Well.'' The country hues touched on in ''American Mary'' are only surpassed by the album's perfect song ''Theory of the Crows,'' a morbid waltz through loneliness and loss. Throughout it all, the band manages not only to exceed their pigeonholed genres but gives a fresh perspective with brilliantly crafted numbers. Starting up where Wilco left off with their Summerteeth album, the group delivers a generous heaping of Americana and alt-country. Brilliant. 4/5 stars.

BOSTON PHOENIX (Boston, MA) by Jonathan Perry
. . .a self-assured, well-written debut from a band who get just about everything right. The National understand that the best rock is built on tension carved from contradictory impulses: simplicity and sophistication; decadence and decorum; primal urge and cerebral reflection.

CITYBEAT (Cincinnati, OH)
The National are a Brooklyn-based band of former area musicians, whose self-titled debut is a intriguing collection of smart, brooding Indie Rock.

CITYBEAT (Cincinnati, OH) by Mike Breen
''Really, I think our sound is placeless, suburban,'' says drummer Bryan Devendorf, ''Picture a keg party on a deck overlooking a stand of buckeyes, oaks and maples. The beer flows, cigarette butts are jammed in the spaces between the planks of the deck. Over the white noise of voices, keg sounds, lighters igniting, music peals from a ghetto blaster. That's the music we hear.''

''I love the first album, but the next one will have more firepower for us,'' [bassist Aaron] Dessner says. ''If the debut is kinda smoky and somber, the next one will be more explosive, more like a punch in the face. Maybe we should call it Fuck Osama or something.''

AUDIOGALAXY.COM (Internet) by Lacey Tauber
Yes, the National are simultaneously retro and modern in the best way possible. Passing over decades of over-production and devotion to shtick, the National look back to a golden era of rock and country, taking cues from Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Leonard Cohen, even Johnny Cash. Yet at the same time, they filter through the endless barrage of sameness in music today, and find influences in modern Indie Rock, like Black Heart Procession, fellow Brooklyn-ites Clem Snide, and fellow Ohioans Guided by Voices. . . Setting the National apart even more as an Indie Rock force to be reckoned with are their intelligent, heartstring-tugging lyrics. At times their story-songs recall such classic American storytellers as John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen, yet the National avoid flag-swaddled patriotism by glorifying suburban existence, dark side and all. . . The fact that the National can handle both styles equally well is testament to their strength as a band and probably to their staying power. . . But the National is already a perfect example of what Indie Rock should be, and what it could become if it only tried.

CREATIVE LOAFING (Atlanta, GA) by J. Edward Keyes
Three songs into the self-titled debut from The National, Matt Berninger - himself an outsider and something of an obsessive - spits out the lyric: ''I hope you don't remember me . . . I don't want to know what you're thinking/I'm looking out the window, I'm sitting here just fucking drinking.'' It's a naked, bracing moment, one steeped deep in regret and despair. It's the sad confession of a man too sober to forget his mistakes but too drunk to summon anything other than bilious self-loathing.

The National is full of moments like these: lovers described as nightingales, workers described as crows. More than anything else, the record conjures the image of a sick and sweating man alone at a table inside a cabin that's dark as tarpaper, half-empty bottle next to him, letter full of confessions before him.

''I don't know if I'd call it self-loathing,'' says Berninger, speaking from the Manhattan-based Web-design company where he works. ''I think it's more like self-indulgence. A lot of these songs were written in the winter when it was cold, and I'd go home and drink and dwell on mistakes I'd made. There's a lot of pining on the record.''

PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER (Philadelphia, PA) by Brian Howard
''Do not tell me I've changed. . . you're just raising your standards,'' charges The National's Matt Berninger, making a solid if self-effacing point. The song, ''Beautiful Head,'' kicks off the band's self-titled debut (on Alec Hanley Bemis' Brassland label) with the kind of sad-sack love story that pops up again and again on the album. With a bit of a country rock feel and the songwriting sensibility of, say, Leonard Cohen, this Brooklyn-based quintet of transplanted Ohioans mingles an urbane swagger with more middle-American sensibilities. On the unflinchingly sobering ''Bitters & Absolut'' Berninger and guest Nathalie Jonas detail a relationship gone awry. When Berninger, a brilliant lyricist and chronicler of emotional minutia, sings in his bluntly plaintive voice ''Remember when you dipped your hand, I never saw it coming. . . you took the wind out of me,'' it's like getting stung in the gut with a medicine ball. Which isn't to say The National is a painful experience, but you'll more likely than not face up to some of your dusky demons in their enchanted little world.

IN PITTSBURGH (Pittsburgh, PA)
Picks of the Week: Most everyone has had a life-altering, mind-blowing conversation that induces a spiritual/mental epiphany. Imagine these conversations being repeated by a soothing, deep voice, while mellow guitars strum in the background. This gives you a pretty good idea of the Brooklyn-based band the National. Listening to their self-titled record is like looking through an old photo album: a slew of random impressions manage to strike abstract and unexplainable chords in your heart.

WASHINGTON CITY PAPER (Washington, DC) by Richard Byrne
Pick of the Week: The press nonsense that arrived along with Brooklyn-via-Ohio band the National's eponymous CD hails its sound as ''classic American music.'' Slip the disc into the player, however, and what flows from the speakers is tuneful but glum stuff, more reminiscent of Australia's Go-Betweens (''Anna Freud'') or moody Brit strummers such as the Smiths or Prefab Sprout. There's world-weariness in the bones of songs like ''Cold Girl Fever'' and ''Son'' that sounds more Brighton (think Quadrophenia) than Brooklyn, and a melancholic deadpan ache in singer Matt Berninger's voice that lingers just below the melodic thrum put together by two pairs of brothers (Scott and Bryan Devendorf and Aaron and Bryce Dessner). The band's debut is exquisitely wrought, and the National is probably worth a trip to Arlington when it plays. . .at the Galaxy Hut.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES (Chicago, IL)
Two sets of brothers (Scott and Bryan Devendorf, Aaron and Bryce Dessner) and one friend (Matt Berninger) may now live in Brooklyn but their music hails back to their Ohio roots. Berninger's rough-voiced vocals drift easily around an easy backbeat, melodic guitars and suggestive keyboards. Classic American roots rock with a distinctive sound all its own.

COLUMBUS ALIVE (Columbus, OH)
The National's eponymous disc is the Ohio-expatriates-turned-Brooklyn-dwellers debut and the first release for new borough-based indie label Brassland. If nothing else, The National proves that you can take the band out of Ohio, but you can't take Ohio out of the band. The group must stick out like sore thumbs there, with a decided Midwestern drawl, playing indie rock with a down-home and organic temperament. The bio likes to trot Leonard Cohen's influence out, though Tom Waits is probably a more accurate fit. ?this disc shows a lot of promise, making The National one to keep an ear on.-Brian O'Neill

BLUE DOG PRESS (Buffalo, NY)
They call it Post-Rock. What they really mean is Pre-Crap. The National, whiskeyed and wearyed intellectuals with a penchant for wistful melodies and existential angst, haven't exactly left rock behind on their excellent self-titled album; rather, they've found a means by which to reinvigorate it by looking sideways instead of merely backward, forward, or straight into the current malaise of mediocrity (at best.) Real songs. Played and sung and written by real people. No videos, but plenty of hooks.

PUNMASTER'S MUSICWIRE (Internet) by Baba O'Riled
From the Heartland to the Wasteland: The National's Emotional Wreck & Roll The National are five Cincinnati kids, reconvened in New York City and developing a downtown musical pedigree (guitarist Bryce Dessner has recorded with John Zorn and Clogs, his superb Aussie-American world-music side project) while ringing every doorbell on the alt.rock side of the street. At a recent show, their energetic, distortion-free strumming brought to mind Jersey lo-fi legends The Feelies, and Dessner's emotive slide playing sprayed weather-both rainbow and fog-all over the tunes just the way former Cincy garage-soulster Rick McCollum used to do it for The Afghan Whigs. Singer Matt Berninger doesn't so much sing onstage as incant, intone, dangling a cig from his fingers like some languid, post-grunge Aznavour.

The band's eponymous debut disc is smokier and more somber than their live set, but remains a memorable spin, Berninger's baleful and breathy poetry garlanding a take on American roots rock that's as much about blank faces and silent spaces as it is about mystery trains, wheels-on-fire or chestnut mares. The Terminal America on display here is the buzzed back-alley feel-up behind the Memorial Day parade, the flask of Bushmill's stashed behind the wedding china, the war hero with the pain-killer jones. Entropy is never far off and, seemingly, never unwelcome.

Berninger's buttery cognac voice (perhaps a tough sell to a U.S. pop public that bounces back and forth between Creed-style iron-tonsiled howlers and American Hi Fi punque-pop crooners) compels comparison to the Tindersticks' Stuart Staples, a folksier Ian Curtis, a less arch Mark Kozelek. Although the CD opener, ''Beautiful Head,'' is an uncomfortable vocal balancing act, listeners willing to suspend their hook-lust for forty-five and delve farther into the 0's and 1's will be rewarded by a series of smoldering out-folk meditations and deftly-literary barbed-wire lyrics that limn the erosion of bonds between brother and brother, son and mother, lover and lover. Lovingly-ravaged snapshots of loss and disaffection like the improbably catchy ''Cold Girl Fever,'' or the elegiac kiss-off ''American Mary'' blend to sobering effect imagistic verses and shadowy musical backdrops. These skillfully-unsettling midnight confessions even manage to startle with the unexpected art-school flourish (the subway-tunnel hallucinations of ''29 Years'') or lyrical knife-twist (''What are you for/Now that I've got hardcore?'').

Close your eyes and imagine Leonard Cohen, after-hours in a hangdog East Village tap room, reading Jesus' Son over some posthumous Richard Manuel four-track piano reveries. Feel the chill in your spine? It's like that. The National's fine debut is an uneven but uncommonly fascinating roadmap of the Invisible Republic, pregnant, promising as hell, and anything but garden-variety. In a pop milieu where risk-takers are rare as white rhinos, this sort of wire-walking is always well worth a listen.

George Cables

Editor's info:
As a leader and a sideman, George Cables defines mainstream jazz piano. When he was 18 he worked with Steve Grossman and Billy Cobham. He quickly gained recognition and worked with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard. He was on piano with Dexter Gordon from 1976 to 1978. George was Art Pepper's favorite pianist, no doubt because his harmonic sense, as well as the way he touches the keyboard and the way he phrases, raises him above the pack of competent yet generic players. He has performed and recorded with some of the greatest jazz musicians of our time, including: Joe Henderson, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Tony Williams, and Dizzy Gillespie. In addition to composing and arranging for his own albums, George Cables has contributed to recordings by Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw and many others. George Cables spent a great deal of time in San Francisco and this live performance was recorded at the famed Keystone Korner in 1980.

Black Moth Super Rainbow

www.almostcool.org:Rating: 7/10
What does nostalgia sound like? It probably depends on what era you grew up in, but for me it's many things. Surprisingly enough, even though I don't hear any of those in this record by Black Moth Super Rainbow, I still get a feeling of nostalgia when listening to Start A People. After releasing a great (and limited debut) called Falling Through A Field, BMSR is back again just over a year later with 16 tracks and just under 40 minutes of music that percolates with the sound of summers gone by.

For those unfamiliar with Black Moth Super Rainbow, an explanation of the sound is probably due, but it probably won't completely do justice. Imagine the old-school gurgling synth melodies of Boards Of Canada coupled with atmospheres that recall Air on an acid trip and mix in some chunky live drums and you're getting somewhere close. Opening track ''Raspberry Dawn'' takes all of the above and swirls them into a psychedelic haze of distorted vocals, heavily-filtered melodies and ringing drums that all sort of mash together into a slightly-uneasy cloud of weirdness. ''Vietcaterpillar'' mixes in even more upbeat drums alongside the squelched synths and bizarre vocals, while ''Seeeds'' almost self-destructs on itself by running everything through heavy processing and slight pitch bends warble the track ocassionally as if it's playing on an old boombox.

''I Think It Is Beautiful That You Are 256 Colors Too'' pulls together everything that the group is good at into what is probably one of the best tracks on the release (and indeed, the track is a slight remake of the same track that appeared on the debut release from the group) as cascading melodies and vocodered vocals all drift around a repetitive but insistent rhythm section that keeps the track moving along crisply. In some places, the lo-fi production and insistence on running everything through effects gets the better of the actual songs (as on the aformentioned ''Seeeds'' and on the almost sizzled ''I Am The Alphabet''), but for the most part Start A People is a weird little trip through a batch of tracks that sound like a a luddite robot (if you can imagine the juxtaposition) created them. Strangely addictive.

Black Moth Super Rainbow

Editor's info:
Black Moth Super Rainbow's approach has worked well. Setting out to produce a record using vintage analog and electronic instruments from the 1970s, their sound leaves one with a warm nostalgia. Perhaps some listeners, like myself, may be reminded of the synthesized soundtracks that accompanied early 80s PBS programming. Everyone has some distant memory that only needs the right combination of Yamaha monos, Korg vocoders, and cat octaves to be reactivated.
Black Moth Super Rainbow are mostly instrumental, calling to mind the traditions of post-rock, prog-rock, krautrock, and other such concocted movements. While their influences are likely drawn from such periods, as well as more current artists, it is difficult to nestle the band comfortably into any such a category.

In addition to evoking warm and fuzzy feelings, Falling Through A Field emits a strange vibe. A contradiction between the distant, shadowy melodies and light, earthy sound of the vintage instruments adds an air of mystery, setting this record apart from its contemporaries. The forest imagery artwork on Falling Through A Field is also hard to ignore. Perhaps Black Moth were born and raised in the woods and are descended from the tree-headed beasts which adorn the CD. Judging by the sound of things, it wouldn't surprise me.

Black Moth Super Rainbow's shortcoming comes from the awkward vocals, which neither generate tension nor work to accentuate the album's pleasant vibe. It's a tendency to add vocals that flattens songs such as ''I Think It Is Beautiful That You are 25b Colors Too'' with lyrics such as, ''I don't want to live through winter/I can't stand to see everything ending''. Nevertheless, any way you look at it, Falling Through A Field is a captivating listen. Forest people nuzzle up and cover yourselves with moths.

Art In Manila

Editor's info:
After Azure Ray disbanded in 2004, Orenda Fink (one half of the duo) crafted her debut as a solo artist: the acclaimed ''The Invisible Ones,'' (Saddle Creek) inspired by the mythologies of the South and her experiences with Vodou in Haiti. Through the ''Invisible Ones'' touring cycle, she assembled several different touring bands, along the way making profound musical and personal friendships with her band mates. One such relationship was with Adrianne Verhoeven (The Anniversary.) After several solo tours with Adrianne in her band, and with a little astrological nudge, Orenda decided to form a new band using the cream of the crop of her touring crew. The band she formed, Art in Manila, is comprised of Orenda (guitar, vocals), Adrianne (keys, vocals), Dan McCarthy (McCarthy Trenching, Mayday, Bright Eyes), also on keys, Steve Bartolomei (Mal Madrigal) on guitar, Ryan Fox (The Good Life) on bass, and Corey Broman (Dance Me Pregnant) on drums. '
he Woods On Fire' is the band's debut album, recorded in Omaha, Nebraska, by Joel Petersen (The Faint, Broken Spindles).

Black Moth Super Rainbow

www.popmatters.com:Rating: 7/10
Trippy. Lysergic. Acid-washed. These are the kinds of words that naturally come to mind when you listen to Dandelion Gum, the exuberantly non-linear fourth full-length from Black Moth Super Rainbow. From the plasticky surges of 1970s synth to the mood ring-ish flourishes of flower child flute, from the dream-state vocodered words to the glitch-stepped drum rhythms, every sensation this album evokes seems a bit too large for the real world. Nothing to do but haul out the drug metaphors, am I right?

And yet there's something hyper-natural (which is not the same as super-natural) about this lovely, soap-bubble delicate piece of work, something deeply tied to the world of sunshine, wildflowers, new grass and running water. There may be a krautrocking, electronically enhanced beat behind 'They Live in the Meadow', and a robotic distance to the vocals, but the words, the melodies, the rich surge of synthesizer notes are as warm and friendly as the sunny day the song's about. These are electronically derived songs you want to take outside with you when you sit on your stoop watching the birds in the trees. The combination of mysticism, technology and nature is as 1970s as a Peter Max litho. . .and just as multicolored and inviting.

No one knows much about Black Moth Super Rainbow. There are five of them. They started out somewhere in the wilds of Western Pennsylvania. They hide their true identities behind masks and nicknames. They have three other full-lengths to their credit as well as last year's spectacularly sprawling split with The Octopus Project. And yet, Dandelion Gum, to large extent, came out of nowhere, its groovy, buoyant, peace-sign vibe resembling nothing else on the current landscape. You'd expect this kind of record to molder somewhere in the back of the vinyl section, decorated in day-glo colors and copyrighted about 1971. And yet, it's right here, right now. Tune in. Turn on. Drop out.

Consider the fuzz-ridden 'Neon Syrup for the Cemetary Sisters', which builds clouds of translucent feedback into towering, evanescent structures, hippie flute weaving in and out like rays of sun. Or the almost-funk keyboard cadence of 'Lost, Picking Flowers in the Wood', circling on its tight leash, while digitalized vocals float eerily over. Every one of these songs feels like a mandala, something that, if you stared at long enough, you'd get an inkling of the meaning of the universe.

Or maybe that's the drugs talking. Because Dandelion Gum is one of those records that makes you feel like you're high, even when you're not, like you're on the verge of shambolic visions, even if you're taking out the trash, like there's an ineffable order to the universe, even when all signs point to chaos. Look there's a girl with a basket of flowers coming toward you and she's smiling. No she's flying. No she's turned into a three-headed snake. Beautiful. What a trip. Pass the Dandelion Gum.
by Jennifer Kelly

Black Moth Super Rainbow

www.popmatters.com:Rating: 7/10
Trippy. Lysergic. Acid-washed. These are the kinds of words that naturally come to mind when you listen to Dandelion Gum, the exuberantly non-linear fourth full-length from Black Moth Super Rainbow. From the plasticky surges of 1970s synth to the mood ring-ish flourishes of flower child flute, from the dream-state vocodered words to the glitch-stepped drum rhythms, every sensation this album evokes seems a bit too large for the real world. Nothing to do but haul out the drug metaphors, am I right?

And yet there's something hyper-natural (which is not the same as super-natural) about this lovely, soap-bubble delicate piece of work, something deeply tied to the world of sunshine, wildflowers, new grass and running water. There may be a krautrocking, electronically enhanced beat behind 'They Live in the Meadow', and a robotic distance to the vocals, but the words, the melodies, the rich surge of synthesizer notes are as warm and friendly as the sunny day the song's about. These are electronically derived songs you want to take outside with you when you sit on your stoop watching the birds in the trees. The combination of mysticism, technology and nature is as 1970s as a Peter Max litho. . .and just as multicolored and inviting.

No one knows much about Black Moth Super Rainbow. There are five of them. They started out somewhere in the wilds of Western Pennsylvania. They hide their true identities behind masks and nicknames. They have three other full-lengths to their credit as well as last year's spectacularly sprawling split with The Octopus Project. And yet, Dandelion Gum, to large extent, came out of nowhere, its groovy, buoyant, peace-sign vibe resembling nothing else on the current landscape. You'd expect this kind of record to molder somewhere in the back of the vinyl section, decorated in day-glo colors and copyrighted about 1971. And yet, it's right here, right now. Tune in. Turn on. Drop out.

Consider the fuzz-ridden 'Neon Syrup for the Cemetary Sisters', which builds clouds of translucent feedback into towering, evanescent structures, hippie flute weaving in and out like rays of sun. Or the almost-funk keyboard cadence of 'Lost, Picking Flowers in the Wood', circling on its tight leash, while digitalized vocals float eerily over. Every one of these songs feels like a mandala, something that, if you stared at long enough, you'd get an inkling of the meaning of the universe.

Or maybe that's the drugs talking. Because Dandelion Gum is one of those records that makes you feel like you're high, even when you're not, like you're on the verge of shambolic visions, even if you're taking out the trash, like there's an ineffable order to the universe, even when all signs point to chaos. Look there's a girl with a basket of flowers coming toward you and she's smiling. No she's flying. No she's turned into a three-headed snake. Beautiful. What a trip. Pass the Dandelion Gum.
by Jennifer Kelly

Octopus Project And Black Moth Super Rainbow

Spires That In The Sunset Rise

GAZ-ETA
[. . .] Spires That in the Sunset Rise - ekscentryczny girls band, pozostaje od kilku już lat jednym z najciekawszych przedstawicieli tzw. Sceny weird-folkowej, penetrującym z powodzeniem rozległe terytorium rozpościerające się między muzycznymi tradycjami Ameryki i domeną mniej lub bardziej swobodnej improwizacji. Już omawiany tu, debiutancki album formacji przynosił świadectwo dużego potencjału i ogromnej wyobraźni muzycznej pań, sięgających z upodobaniem po rozmaite instrumenty (głównie strunowe i perkusyjne) pochodzenia etnicznego. Muzyka Spires to próba odzyskania rdzennego brzmienia pionierskiej Ameryki - jest więc surowa, dzika i dość nieokrzesana, miejscami liryczna, częściej jednak ekstatyczna, bliska histerycznej ekspresji rodem z wyimaginowanych sabatów w Salem. Proszę się jednak nie niepokoić - nie ma tu miejsca na nieznośny patos wampirycznych gotycyzmów - nic z tych rzeczy. Są za to oniryczne kołysanki przeistaczające się znienacka w obłąkane pieśni, czy też może w pieśni obłąkanych, są przedziwne improwizacje - wokalne i instrumentalne, są ulotne ślady plemiennego transu - spiętego klamrą monotonnych powtórzeń, są wreszcie szepty, świsty i pohukiwania dziewiczej puszczy, w której głosy ludzkie i nieludzkie splatają się w jeden wibrujący dźwięk. Intrygująca muzyka nie dla każdego ucha. [. . .]
autor: Dariusz Brzostek


kootsie.blogspot.com
[. . .] odkrycie wszechczasów: Spires That In the Sunset Rise (riot girls psychedelic abstract bastardized punk world) - cztery dziewczyny, które świetnie się bawią, a Meredith Monk pewnie by się cieszyła słysząc, jak uzywają głosów.





Editor's info:
Spires That in the Sunset Rise is the musical collaboration of Kathleen Baird, Taralie Peterson, Tracy Peterson, and Georgia Vallas. Steeped in primal experimentalism and world eclecticism, the music is a repellant and magnetizing swarm of harps, guitars, cello, drums, harmonium, banjo, mbira, spike fiddle, bells, and vocals.
Now based in Chicago, Illinois, the four musicians have been playing music in different formations for over 10 years. Through these relationships, the music has evolved into a synthesis of various influence, with an arduous search of the unexamined (albeit darker sides) of folk music.

Rope

Editor's info:
Rope formed in Poland as a guitar/bass duo in 1998. Since relocating to Chicago in 2000 they have become one of the city's most flummoxing avant rock groups. Heresy, and Then Nothing But Tears is their second full-length album. Robert Iwanik (bass, vocals), Przemyslaw Krzysztof Drazek (guitar) and Michael J. Kendrick (trap set, percussion, electronics) blend deconstructed strains of Swans' emotional weight and Last Exit's fury with propelling grooves and Krzysztof Komeda's classical suspense into lush and often uncompromising no wave abrasion. Rope's constantly evolving ocean of impossible rhythms, screaming guitar and Iwanik's hissing voice adds up to an ultra-dynamic group force of cryptic awe. Features guest vocals from Grazyna Auguscik and songwriting / vocal collaboration by Oxbow's Eugene Robinson on four songs. Cover art by famed Polish fringe painter Stanislaw Ignacy ''Witkacy'' Witkiewicz.



Pitchforkmedia
[. . .] To dig the dark, dramatic sound of avant-rock trio Rope, you have to buy into the idea that music this histrionic can also be sneakily subtle. Guitarist Przemyslaw Krzysztof Drazek and bassist/vocalist Robert Iwanik make a pretty convincing case. ''She the Assasin'' opens the band's second album with all kinds of theatrics: show-stopping riffs, arty noises, slanted sax, steep climaxes that slam to abrupt halts. Yet weird timing and Iwanik's Tom Waits-like whispers tie all the bombastic jolts and pregnant pauses into a compelling knot, much like the way U.S. Maple's chopped chords and choked growls create their own odd logic. [. . .]
by Marc Masters

Rope

Editor's info:
Rope - Robert Iwanik (bass/vocals), Przemyslaw Chris Drazek (guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar) and Illinois native Michael J. Kendrick (trap set, household percussion) -- have forced a thousand years of oppression, seething and lost chance into a cascading and ultra-dynamic group sound. Widow's First Dawn is an epic six-part song-cycle about a life buried by its surrounding loss and failure, Rope transcends modern influence and looks back to the staggering explorations of Polish composer Komeda and other Romantic greats. Iwanik's whispered, near vocal hissing confessions shape the music's cinematic swell equally as near-smeared scat bellows of guest vocalist and Polish jazz legend Grazyna Auguscik. Drazek's crystallized guitar sheen pushes Rope's sound beyond musical similarities. Features Grand Ulena's Darin Gray on piano and Unstable Ensemble's Marty Belcher on soprano saxophone.



Dusted
[. . .] Widow's First Dawn is wonderfully faithful to their doomsday vision. It's all there -- the impossible rhythms, the screaming guitar, exclamatory homophony alternating with hairy counterpoint, the harsh, breathy lyrics, the bizarro harmonic approach. They add some additional timbres on disc, though, giving occasional space to soprano Grazyna Auguscik, soprano saxophonist Marty Belcher, and (unfittingly Monkish) pianist Darin Gray. (Auguscik's otherworldly, Berberianesque vocals are nearly as unsettling as Iwanik's threatening exhalations.)[. . .]
by Walter Horn

Grand Ulena

GAZ-ETA; 06/2008
Musiało minąć nieco czasu zanim się do tej płyty przekonałem na dobre. Nie dlatego, że jest słaba, ale dlatego że nie jest łatwa. Poza tym, mając w pamięci wcześniejsze zespoły Darina Graya (Yona-Kit, Dazzling Killmen), Grand Ulena zaskoczyła mnie nieco. Co prawda niektórzy upatrują w niej logicznej kontynuacji Dazzling Killmen właśnie, ale czy ja wiem..?
Na pewno nie znajdziecie tu chwytliwych riffów, że o wpadających w ucho melodiach nie wspomnę. . .
Powiedzmy, że mamy tu coś bliskiego Don Caballero, jednak bardziej minimalnego i ekstremalnego. Chłopaki ścigają się ze światłem i wcale nie pozostają daleko w tyle - tu mi Grand Ulena przypomina nieco Naked City, jednak bez tego charakterystycznego zlewu. Gdzieniegdzie wyłapuję echa Massacre z czasów świetnej ''Killing Time''. A niektórzy to ponoć i Ruins tu widzą (nie wiem - nie znam). Łapiecie już mniej więcej gdzie jesteśmy? Dla ułatwienia dodam, że muzyka ta jest całkowiecie pozbawiona wokali.
W kapeli oprócz Darina Graya (bas) są jeszcze Chris Trull (gitara) no i obsługujący perkę Danny McClain. Co do tego pierwszego, to miłośnicy gitarowego grania już wiedzą, że stanowi on klasę samą w sobie, a jeśli chodzi o jego koleżków, mimo iż nie kojarzę tych nazwisk, to przypuszczam, że również siedzą w tym nie od wczoraj, bo rzeźbią bardzo sprawnie i chyba nawet przychodzi im to bez specjalnego wysiłku.
Płyta zdecydowanie dla osób otwartych na nowe rzeczy - amatorom mocnych wrażeń polecam jej odsłuch przy okazji jakiegoś ostrego bólu głowy, fatalnego zatwardzenia, ciężkiego kaca, etc. - głębokie przeżycia duchowe (że nie powiem - odloty) gwarantowane!



Editor's info:
St. Louis-based alien complexity rock group of ex-Dazzling Killmen/On Fillmore bassist Darin Gray. Rounded out by guitarist Chris Trull and drummer Danny McClain - Grand Ulena is a solidification of rock music, rhythm, jazz and it splintered offshoots. Grand Ulena is disjunct rhythms played at high velocity. Disjunct beats played under broken and jagged melodies. Repetition of the retarded. Complex structures combined with complete and utter failure. Failed soloing combined with rigid riffery. Extended instrumental techniques forged into song.

Rope

Editor's info:
Debut by the Polish (now Chicago based) duo of Przemyslaw Chris Drazek (acoustic guitars) and Robert Iwanik (electric bass, trumpet, vocals). While drum-less, the two create an inverse of the crushing weight through trance-like acoustic guitar picking coupled with deep valleys of silence, distant trumpet, light drones, and Iwanik's soothing bass. Drazek's amplified acoustics can jab like John Cale's final ecstatic strokes during The Velvet Underground's ''European Son'' or awaken the spirit of Polish composer Krzysztof Komeda.


The Wire
[. . .] While others might take such a crescendo/decrescendo formula into predictable and colorless valleys, Rope frame their pieces as a yet unresolved conflict between flesh and phantom.[. . .]


All Music Guide
[. . .] Combining the guitar bliss of such bands as Windy & Carl with the experimental no wave sensibilities of U.S. Maple, Rope offers an amazing piece of electro-acoustic material primed for an avant audience. The four tracks of this debut EP move from the metallic spires and plodding bass of 'Unknown Source of Egoism' to the ghost-whispered 'Imagination of Rhythm' as if one elongated piece or a drone-based concerto.[. . .]
by Daphne Carr,

Thanksgiving

Editor's info:
''Welcome Nowhere'' by Thanksgiving was our first release, ''ELV000'', way back in 2004. It was poorly mastered, pressed on flimsy thin vinyl, made on rough torn up covers, came with a weird CDR with pops and hiss and shit, the silkscreening had chunks of wood and stone in it, etc. Still, it sold out and ended up on ebay for some reason so we figured we might as well re-release it and we might as well include all the other amazing songs from the sessions that didn't fit onto the first version. So here it is! Two records and a real CD (of the records), in a beautifully printed full color glossy gatefold sleeve. Side 3 is the famous rare ''Pregnancy Series'' ep released by States Rights Records, now on vinyl for the first time. Side 4 is unheard songs of the era, including ''Waterfalls''. Everything was remastered by the excellent John Golden. We are very proud of this one.

stylusmagazine.com; 2007-09-26
Hrsta's Ghosts Will Come and Kiss Our Eyes is what nightmares are made of. Aside from the disc's eerie moniker, the album is filled with the kind of foreboding, brooding, and downright horrifying compositions you'd imagine float through the minds of children and make them reluctant to close their eyes at night.

Stemming from the perpetual Constellation Records' incest, Hrsta's fronted by Godspeed You! Black Emperor guitarist Mike Moya. As such, you can imagine the sort of moods Ghosts invokes: an overwhelming sense of angst, empty yearning, hopelessness. But surprisingly, Moya is able do what Godspeed and their many spin-offs have been unable to for many years now. Hrsta is able to function within the post-rock formula, but finds enough wiggle room to fit into the mold while releasing something that, unexpectedly, sounds unique and apart from the label's mainstays.

Ghosts sees the blending of the ambience, vocal musings, and melancholy that seemed to have become stagnant and unimaginative on similar releases. After the spine chilling 'Entre la Mer et L'eau Douce' and hopelessly tragic 'Beau Village,' 'The Orchard' defines the sense of longing that permeates the entirety of the album. Hrsta manages to create tension that drifts through you, leaving you feeling as though you've missed something. And when they should finally give you what you desire, the spacey, cumulous 'Tomorrow Winter Comes' hangs ominously without remedy. Shortly thereafter, Moya's gentle croons on 'Haunted Pluckley' sound more mocking than comforting as they soon give way to a feedback medley and fade to black.

Hrsta isn't afraid to open to floodgates though. As restrained as the majority of Ghosts is, it occasionally overflows with the crescendos the genre has become known for: The calm drones on 'Hechicero del Bosque' combust into a blaze of shrieking leads and pounding basslines. 'Kotori' builds exponentially until it fizzles into random distortion.

For as powerful as Ghosts ultimately is, without close attention, it passes rather nonchalantly. Because even though it sounds more original and intriguing than most of its fellow releases, the genre as a whole seems to follow near identical trends, making each disc mostly unremarkable. Even Hrsta is unable to completely avoid this pitfall. Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than the painfully anti-climactic closer 'Holiday.' As Moya lazily chants 'Oh you're a holiday / Such a holiday' the track recalls the more monotonous moments of the genre. By highlighting Moya's vocals and lyrics rather than the monumental instrumentation, the track passes without notice, leading an album of incredible tension to a close that doesn't resolve a bit of it.

If this is what can be expected of Constellation in the future, however, things are looking up. Ghosts comes as a release and therapeutic solvent for a label that has been regarded as a one-trick pony. With a release schedule that boasts albums from fellow sonic adventurers Sandro Perri and Vic Chestnutt, that tide is surely starting to change. So while it sounds like a nightmare, this disc is more the album we've all been waiting to hear.
by Chris Gaerig

Dave Specter

All About Jazz; 2008-06
''. . .Specter is now a cornerstone of the Chicago blues scene and also the Delmark catalog. The label's faith in him is more than justified on this showing as he and his band know that the blues has never been about showy virtuosity. Instead what they bring to the music is taut energy and economy and a collective mode of expression that's right in the pocket.
The sets on this DVD were caught live at Buddy Guy's and Rosa's Blues Lounge in Chicago in August of 2007, and they feature special guests Tad Robinson, Jimmy Johnson and Sharon Lewis respectively. On his four cuts Robinson proves himself to have the blue-eyed soul thing down pat, and on ''How I Got To Memphis'' the music could just as easily have come from that city as opposed to the one in Illinois. ''What's Your Angle?'' offers tart comment on superficial times in a manner that's some kind of staple in the blues, and Robinson's harmonica summons up the always welcome spirit of Little Walter.
At 79 years of age Jimmy Johnson is frightening for all the right reasons. His lead playing is the kind of thing you can strip paint with or hang your coat on, according to preference, and his slightly high, impassioned singing could make a believer out of the staunchest agnostic. Specter and the band know it as well as anyone, and their backing is accordingly as accommodating as it is prime. ''Out On The Road'' finds both guitarists keeping it trenchant yet sweet. It's enough to have listeners and viewers wondering when these forces are going to record together again. Having said all that, ''Feel So Bad'' can only be misleading when Johnson makes the referenced condition feel so high and when Specter turns in a solo demonstrating how inspired he was at the moment.
Sharon Lewis is one of those blues women for whom screaming is only a means to an end, not an end in itself. On ''In Too Deep'' she gets both band and audience fired up. Her voice, insofar as such a distinction can realistically be made, comes out of somewhere other than the church-possibly a juke joint. Whatever, it's a gas, and in that respect it's a summary of the whole program. . .''
[Nic Jones]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Production Notes: 87 minutes.
Recorded August 20, 2007 at Rosa's Blues Lounge, Chicago and at Buddy Guy's, August 21, 2007.
Extras:
Dave Specter Commentary (87 minutes)
Discography
Photo Gallery



Editor's info:
Blues guitarist Dave Specter is never prone to grandstanding. He communicates an inherent sense of style and form, subtlety and swing, keeping his magnetic needle always fixed on a steady, unalterable course. Recorded live at Buddy Guy's Legends and Rosa's Blues Lounge, Live In Chicago features special guests Jimmy Johnson, Tad Robinson and Sharon Lewis. The CD contains four instrumentals and two songs by each of the guest vocalists, while the DVD has three vocals by each. DVD also contains Specter commentary special feature. Boss Funk, What Love Did To Me, What's Your Angle, Feel So Bad, Out On The Road, In Too Deep, Angel and more. . .

Little Arthur Duncan

All About Jazz; 2007-05
''. . .Delmark is as much in the business of social history as in that of capturing the present-day Chicago music scene with their DVDs, and this one is no exception.
There's something downright honest about Little Arthur Duncan and the manner in which he puts out the Chicago blues, and the performance documented here makes the point in no uncertain terms. This much is apparent from the outset on his own ''Leaving Mississippi,'' on which he sings with the vigour not of a younger man but of a man acting his age whilst making no effort to suppress his lust for life, his harmonica work exhibiting echoes of Shakey Horton. His band is right there with him, with the guitars of Illinois Slim and Rick Kreher meshing as though they were going for a first take in the Chess studio circa 1955.
Duncan isn't afraid to make himself a hostage to fortune in tackling Howlin' Wolf's ''No Place To Go,'' though comparison between his performance and the composer's would only be facetious. Duncan probably sits down for his rendition, yet that force of life imbues the performance with a vigour all its own. It's enough also to lift his reading of ''Got Love If You Want It'' to a level where the listener/viewer doesn't doubt the claim for a minute. The band has that tight but loose thing going while Duncan's harmonica tells an earthily trenchant story even as it knows the value of economy before Illinois Slim nods in Hubert Sumlin's direction for the next solo.
Willie Dixon's ''Little Red Rooster'' gets an outing, and Duncan's bringing something fresh to it is a feat in itself. He's aided in that respect by the membership of his band, for whom a groove is not so much something they have trouble locating as something they have difficulty getting away from.
The continuing validity of the blues as an expressive musical form might just lie with its social and economic relevance, but the likes of Little Arthur Duncan and his band prove that it also comes down to a whole lot more than that, and in their avoidance of histrionics and their devotion to the form they make a potent case. . .''
[Nic Jones]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Production Notes: 76 minutes.
Recorded August 18 2007 at Rosa's Blues Lounge, Chicago, Illinois.

Extras:
Arthur Duncan Commentary (76 minutes)
Tail Dragger DVD Trailer (1 minute 19 seconds)
Carey Bell DVD Trailer (1 minute 21 seconds)
Jimmy Burns DVD Trailer (1 minute 25 seconds)
Mississippi Heat DVD Trailer (1 minute 27 seconds)
Ad for 'Where The Music Lives' DVDs (1 minute 27 seconds)



Editor's info:
Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1


Live at Rosa's Blues Lounge You can still find the deep-rooted, hard swinging, rough and tumble blues that has inspired and moved generations of fans and musicians ever since the heyday of Chicago blues. Vocalist / songwriter / bandleader / harmonica player Little Arthur Duncan is one of the 'must see' artists for fans of the true, deep, lowdown blues. The music on this disc is raw and raucous and not very polished, but then Arthur's music has never been about slickness - it's about a good time, a deep blues feel, and above all a strong groove. So don't spend a whole lot of time analyzing it - relax and enjoy good solid traditional Chicago blues played by some of the best in Chicago who still play it. With special guest Little Al Thomas. DVD special feature; Little Arthur commentary. Also available: Singin' With The Sun (Delmark 733).


todayschicagoblues.blogspot.com:
Little Arthur Duncan has been part of the Chicago blues scene, in one way or another, since he arrived in the city from Mississippi in the mid-1950s. He lived in the same building as Little Walter, played on Maxwell Street with Floyd Jones and hung out with Jimmy Reed, Earl Hooker, Hip Linkchain, Magic Sam and Billy Boy Arnold, among others. But unlike many of his contemporaries who went on tour the world, Duncan stayed quietly on the local scene, playing his harp occasionally in small clubs, including two he owned on the west side in the 1980s.

It's this classic, no-frills Chicago blues sound that Little Arthur Duncan brings to Live at Rosa's Blues Lounge, recorded live in 2007 at Rosa's Lounge on the west side. Wearing a beret festooned with jewels and buttons, the 73-year-old harp player plays and sings his way through 17 tunes, including four penned by Duncan himself. On other tracks, Duncan delivers his versions of Howlin' Wolf's 'No Place to Go' and 'Little Red Rooster,' Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup's 'Mean Old Frisco Blues,' Roosevelt Sykes' '44 Blues,' Jimmy Reed's 'Pretty Thing,' and Little Walter's 'Blues with a Feeling' and 'I Got to Go.'

Most outstanding are Duncan's performances on the two Slim Harpo tunes, 'I Got Love If You Want It' and 'Scratch My Back.' The affinity Little Arthur feels with these tunes is obvious; his energy becomes palpable and transfers visibly to the crowd, who can't help but get up and dance. The music moves Little Arthur, too. Even when he plays sitting down, he can't help but dance in his chair, his whole body moving from toe to head.

The band is a perfect fit for Duncan's style of blues, as they are well-schooled and experienced in traditional Chicago blues. Guitarists Illinois Slim and Rick Kreher (once of the Muddy Waters band) offer tasty interaction with Duncan's vocals and harp, and bassist Michael Azzi and drummer Twist Turner provide a solid backbone of rhythm.

In addition to recording great blues music and artists, Delmark's DVD series has given the world a peak of what the Chicago blues scene is like. Here Little Arthur Duncan performs at Rosa's Lounge, which has been an active and popular blues club for nearly 25 years. This DVD showcases the intimate and interactive atmosphere of blues clubs, as the cameras pan through the club, giving us glimpses of photos on the wall, waitresses filling pitchers with beer, club-goers dancing in the aisles. Rosa's draws a crowd that's a mixture of ages and races, locals and out-of-towners.

And, on any given night, you're likely to see blues musicians and others in the blues biz hanging out in the crowd. This night, it was Little Al Thomas, who takes the mic as a guest vocalist on Doc Clayton's 'I Got to Find My Baby.' Little Al Thomas, with his Housewreckers band, still performs occasionally, primarily in Chicago's south suburbs.

Delmark has released Live at Rosa's Blues Lounge as both a CD and a DVD. DVD extras include a voiceover commentary by Little Arthur Duncan and trailers of other available Delmark DVDs.
by Karen Hanson

Mississippi Heat

All About Jazz; 2008-05
''. . .Varied is the word on this one, even whilst the music retains a cohesive feel. Pierre Lacocque's harmonica is notable for its singularity, and he heads a rolling cast of musicians in the realization of his original compositions plus one from Denise Lasalle, amongst others.
The music is clean and dirty at the same time. This take on Chicago blues is permissive of variations on the formula theme and they're mostly welcome. ''Light From Within'' exemplifies how the band can handle a slow tempo at the same time as they give up nothing in the way of dynamics. Singer Inetta Visor comes into her own on this one, coming on like an amalgam of Doris Duke and how Ma Rainey might have sounded had she been born decades later. In his guitar work Carl Weathersby nods to both Albert King and, in a fashion closer to the source, Otis Rush.
On the first couple of listens the dinky syncopation of the title track grates a little but then the truth kicks in, aided in no small part by Lacocque's harmonica and the proof it offers of how much he could thrive outside this strictly blues context. Visor shows how she can handle lamentation, with the very timbre of her voice enhancing the lyric.
''Chicago Is My Home'' has Lurrie Bell on it and the glorious defiance in his voice and succinct edge on his guitar proves how much he's taken in the likes of-appropriately enough-Magic Sam. The band's right with him too, bringing that realization of the down home and the urban to the fore in unequivocal terms.
Giles Corey's guitar on ''Forgot You Had A Home'' brings the smallest side order of Grant Green to proceedings, even whilst his phrasing is considerably more pronounced. Visor shows again how she has the innate ability to stay on the right side of the overblown.
It seems very easy these days to do this sort of thing very badly. That's not the case here. With talk of recession in the air this is the blues put out at a time that's right for it, with the enhancement of some really colorful horn charts. . .''
[Nic Jones]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Dave Specter

All About Jazz; 2008-06
''. . .Specter is now a cornerstone of the Chicago blues scene and also the Delmark catalog. The label's faith in him is more than justified on this showing as he and his band know that the blues has never been about showy virtuosity. Instead what they bring to the music is taut energy and economy and a collective mode of expression that's right in the pocket.
The sets on this DVD were caught live at Buddy Guy's and Rosa's Blues Lounge in Chicago in August of 2007, and they feature special guests Tad Robinson, Jimmy Johnson and Sharon Lewis respectively. On his four cuts Robinson proves himself to have the blue-eyed soul thing down pat, and on ''How I Got To Memphis'' the music could just as easily have come from that city as opposed to the one in Illinois. ''What's Your Angle?'' offers tart comment on superficial times in a manner that's some kind of staple in the blues, and Robinson's harmonica summons up the always welcome spirit of Little Walter.
At 79 years of age Jimmy Johnson is frightening for all the right reasons. His lead playing is the kind of thing you can strip paint with or hang your coat on, according to preference, and his slightly high, impassioned singing could make a believer out of the staunchest agnostic. Specter and the band know it as well as anyone, and their backing is accordingly as accommodating as it is prime. ''Out On The Road'' finds both guitarists keeping it trenchant yet sweet. It's enough to have listeners and viewers wondering when these forces are going to record together again. Having said all that, ''Feel So Bad'' can only be misleading when Johnson makes the referenced condition feel so high and when Specter turns in a solo demonstrating how inspired he was at the moment.
Sharon Lewis is one of those blues women for whom screaming is only a means to an end, not an end in itself. On ''In Too Deep'' she gets both band and audience fired up. Her voice, insofar as such a distinction can realistically be made, comes out of somewhere other than the church-possibly a juke joint. Whatever, it's a gas, and in that respect it's a summary of the whole program. . .''
[Nic Jones]
www.allaboutjazz.com



Editor's info:
Blues guitarist Dave Specter is never prone to grandstanding. He communicates an inherent sense of style and form, subtlety and swing, keeping his magnetic needle always fixed on a steady, unalterable course. Recorded live at Buddy Guy's Legends and Rosa's Blues Lounge, Live In Chicago features special guests Jimmy Johnson, Tad Robinson and Sharon Lewis. The CD contains four instrumentals and two songs by each of the guest vocalists, while the DVD has three vocals by each. DVD also contains Specter commentary special feature. Boss Funk, What Love Did To Me, What's Your Angle, Feel So Bad, Out On The Road, In Too Deep, Angel and more. . .

Little Arthur Duncan

All About Jazz; 2007-05
''. . .Delmark is as much in the business of social history as in that of capturing the present-day Chicago music scene with their DVDs, and this one is no exception.
There's something downright honest about Little Arthur Duncan and the manner in which he puts out the Chicago blues, and the performance documented here makes the point in no uncertain terms. This much is apparent from the outset on his own ''Leaving Mississippi,'' on which he sings with the vigour not of a younger man but of a man acting his age whilst making no effort to suppress his lust for life, his harmonica work exhibiting echoes of Shakey Horton. His band is right there with him, with the guitars of Illinois Slim and Rick Kreher meshing as though they were going for a first take in the Chess studio circa 1955.
Duncan isn't afraid to make himself a hostage to fortune in tackling Howlin' Wolf's ''No Place To Go,'' though comparison between his performance and the composer's would only be facetious. Duncan probably sits down for his rendition, yet that force of life imbues the performance with a vigour all its own. It's enough also to lift his reading of ''Got Love If You Want It'' to a level where the listener/viewer doesn't doubt the claim for a minute. The band has that tight but loose thing going while Duncan's harmonica tells an earthily trenchant story even as it knows the value of economy before Illinois Slim nods in Hubert Sumlin's direction for the next solo.
Willie Dixon's ''Little Red Rooster'' gets an outing, and Duncan's bringing something fresh to it is a feat in itself. He's aided in that respect by the membership of his band, for whom a groove is not so much something they have trouble locating as something they have difficulty getting away from.
The continuing validity of the blues as an expressive musical form might just lie with its social and economic relevance, but the likes of Little Arthur Duncan and his band prove that it also comes down to a whole lot more than that, and in their avoidance of histrionics and their devotion to the form they make a potent case. . .''
[Nic Jones]
www.allaboutjazz.com



Editor's info:
Live at Rosa's Blues Lounge You can still find the deep-rooted, hard swinging, rough and tumble blues that has inspired and moved generations of fans and musicians ever since the heyday of Chicago blues. Vocalist / songwriter / bandleader / harmonica player Little Arthur Duncan is one of the 'must see' artists for fans of the true, deep, lowdown blues. The music on this disc is raw and raucous and not very polished, but then Arthur's music has never been about slickness - it's about a good time, a deep blues feel, and above all a strong groove. So don't spend a whole lot of time analyzing it - relax and enjoy good solid traditional Chicago blues played by some of the best in Chicago who still play it. With special guest Little Al Thomas. DVD special feature; Little Arthur commentary. Also available: Singin' With The Sun (Delmark 733).


todayschicagoblues.blogspot.com:
Little Arthur Duncan has been part of the Chicago blues scene, in one way or another, since he arrived in the city from Mississippi in the mid-1950s. He lived in the same building as Little Walter, played on Maxwell Street with Floyd Jones and hung out with Jimmy Reed, Earl Hooker, Hip Linkchain, Magic Sam and Billy Boy Arnold, among others. But unlike many of his contemporaries who went on tour the world, Duncan stayed quietly on the local scene, playing his harp occasionally in small clubs, including two he owned on the west side in the 1980s.

It's this classic, no-frills Chicago blues sound that Little Arthur Duncan brings to Live at Rosa's Blues Lounge, recorded live in 2007 at Rosa's Lounge on the west side. Wearing a beret festooned with jewels and buttons, the 73-year-old harp player plays and sings his way through 17 tunes, including four penned by Duncan himself. On other tracks, Duncan delivers his versions of Howlin' Wolf's 'No Place to Go' and 'Little Red Rooster,' Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup's 'Mean Old Frisco Blues,' Roosevelt Sykes' '44 Blues,' Jimmy Reed's 'Pretty Thing,' and Little Walter's 'Blues with a Feeling' and 'I Got to Go.'

Most outstanding are Duncan's performances on the two Slim Harpo tunes, 'I Got Love If You Want It' and 'Scratch My Back.' The affinity Little Arthur feels with these tunes is obvious; his energy becomes palpable and transfers visibly to the crowd, who can't help but get up and dance. The music moves Little Arthur, too. Even when he plays sitting down, he can't help but dance in his chair, his whole body moving from toe to head.

The band is a perfect fit for Duncan's style of blues, as they are well-schooled and experienced in traditional Chicago blues. Guitarists Illinois Slim and Rick Kreher (once of the Muddy Waters band) offer tasty interaction with Duncan's vocals and harp, and bassist Michael Azzi and drummer Twist Turner provide a solid backbone of rhythm.

In addition to recording great blues music and artists, Delmark's DVD series has given the world a peak of what the Chicago blues scene is like. Here Little Arthur Duncan performs at Rosa's Lounge, which has been an active and popular blues club for nearly 25 years. This DVD showcases the intimate and interactive atmosphere of blues clubs, as the cameras pan through the club, giving us glimpses of photos on the wall, waitresses filling pitchers with beer, club-goers dancing in the aisles. Rosa's draws a crowd that's a mixture of ages and races, locals and out-of-towners.

And, on any given night, you're likely to see blues musicians and others in the blues biz hanging out in the crowd. This night, it was Little Al Thomas, who takes the mic as a guest vocalist on Doc Clayton's 'I Got to Find My Baby.' Little Al Thomas, with his Housewreckers band, still performs occasionally, primarily in Chicago's south suburbs.

Delmark has released Live at Rosa's Blues Lounge as both a CD and a DVD. DVD extras include a voiceover commentary by Little Arthur Duncan and trailers of other available Delmark DVDs.
by Karen Hanson

Sleepy John Estes

Editor's info:
This 1968 recording was originally issued as Electric Sleep, the title a riff on the Muddy Waters LP title Electric Mud. But the similarities ended there; whereas Mud was psychedelic and musically quite a departure from a traditional blues sound Electric Sleep simply combines a country blues artist with an electric blues band. This 2007 reissue is re-mixed & mastered from the original analog tapes and has a brand new cover. The legendary blues poet is accompanied by Jimmy Dawkins, guitar; Sunnyland Slim, piano; Carey Bell, harmonica&bass; Earl Hooker, Joe Harper, bass; Odie Payne, Jr., drums. Also fromSleepy John Estes: Legend Of. . . (Delmark 603), Broke & Hungry (Delmark 608), In Europe (Delmark 611), Brownsville Blues (Delmark 613), Newport Blues (Delmark 639)

Jason Ajemian

Dziennik; Piątek, 12.09.2008, ocena: * * * * *:
[. . .] Jeśli komuś się wydaje, że jazz stanął w miejscu, powinien posłuchać tego albumu. Chicagowski kontrabasista zebrał załogę instrumentalistów, których nazwiska nic mi nie mówią. Mało tego, brzmienie grupy - akustyczne i ascetyczne - nawiązuje do lat 60. Jednak z jakiegoś powodu płyta brzmi niezwykle świeżo, rozwijając się z utworu na utwór. Saksofonista Tim Haldeman i trębacz Jamie Branch grają jak profesorowie, gitarzysta Matt Schneider podkłada akordy oszczędnie i inteligentnie. [. . .]
autor: Tymon Tymański

All About Jazz; 2008-05
[. . .] This one straddles the divide between the straight-ahead domain and areas of greater freedom with such aplomb that listeners might be left wondering why such categories exist at all. In addition, there's a pervasive low-key quality to the music which serves in itself to further cement this group's distinct identity.
The cryptically entitled ''Your Shirts'' gives tenor sax player Tim Haldeman a chance to shine and it's clear that there's something endearingly quirky about his way with a phrase which calls to mind Joe Henderson in his prime, albeit allusively. The division previously referred to is bridged more than effectively on this one, with intense yet low key activity being the order of the day.
The thirteen seconds of ''Of'' are but a preliminary to the more substantial ''Ur'e The Guy (Keith Wood)'' and this piece seems to take on a life of its own in terms of the random yet ordered way in which the music comes together, with Haldeman again proving to be such a compelling soloist that we can only rue the fact that he'll now never get the chance to record with Andrew Hill. By contrast trumpeter Jaime Branch takes a more measured approach and the disparity between their styles and approaches makes for nice creative tensions. Branch's lines are lean here by virtue of the fact that he's purged them of every excess.
''Sackett's Harbour'' makes that clear, with the same qualities in similar abundance here on his thematic statement. Matt Schneider's guitar comes into its own on this one too, showing just what a deft accompanist he's in the process of becoming, especially beneath Jason Adasiewicz's marimba solo. As a duo it's more than evident that they have developed a close understanding of counterpoint and their efforts often lend the music a restless, exploratory feel.
The lengthy ''Smokeless Heat-Live on WMSE, Milwaukee,'' taken by the core trio of Haldeman, Ajemian and Tanaka has those qualities in spades. There's a form of tentativeness in some of Haldeman's lines on this one but that's only because he's pulling off the feat of listening and playing simultaneously. He devotes a great deal of the former of these to Ajemian's contribution and it's here more than anywhere else that the leader comes into his own.[. . .]
by Nic Jones
www.allaboutjazz.com

Keefe Jackson's Project Project

All About Jazz; 2008-05
''. . .Arriving in Chicago from Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2000, multi-instrumentalist Keefe Jackson has been steadily making waves in the Windy City's vibrant jazz community. His recent offering, the swinging and adventurous Just Like This, showcases Jackson's historically aware writing as well as the astute abilities of his collaborators.
Ready Everyday (Delmark, 2006) was the adventurous post-bop premiere of Jackson's sextet, Fast Citizens. Just Like This is the debut of his large ensemble, Project Project. Comprising a dozen of Chicago's finest improvisers, it balances the formidable sonic intensity of a mini-big band with the sensitivity of a chamber jazz group.
Although he contributes burly, infectious tenor solos on the swinging title track and ''Wind-Up Toy,'' this session primarily focuses on Jackson's abilities as a writer and arranger. With a bevy of impressive contributions from numerous soloists, Jackson's band members play with fiery passion, navigating shifting meters, contrapuntal structures and assorted textures.
Alternating Ellington-esque harmonies and rich ensemble charts with brisk patches of ardent improvisation from a throng of brass and woodwinds, ''Dragon Fly'' invokes the warm nostalgia of the past without ignoring the future.
Sharing a similarly conventional theme-and-solos construction, the title track ''Just Like This'' and ''Wind-Up Toy'' swing with infectious ebullience. Rich counterpoint and subtle ensemble harmonies during unison passages give way to blistering solo sections of fervent intensity and brisk pacing.
Episodically laced with stop-start dynamics and numerous solo cadenzas, ''The Grass Is Greener,'' ''Titled'' and ''Which Well'' pitch between sonic extremes. Using cellular structures to guide free improvisation-dark, tumultuous collective passages yield unconventional instrumental pairings. ''The Grass Is Greener'' features a garrulous tuba and trombone conversation, while ''Which Well'' veers suddenly from Dave Rempis' blistering alto sax duel with drummer Frank Rosaly, to the circuitous interweaving clarinets of James Falzone and Guillermo Gregorio, without warning.
Blending the sumptuous multi-horn voicings of Ellington and Strayhorn with the modernist angularity of such free jazz mavericks as Muhal Richard Abrams and Sam Rivers, Just Like This embodies the best elements of the jazz continuum, another welcome addition to the varied and brilliant Chicago jazz scene. . .''
[Troy Collins]
www.allaboutjazz.com

All About Jazz; 2008-05
''. . .This one could almost be a working definition of what Delmark exists for, documenting as it does an aspect of Chicago's seemingly ever-evolving creative improvised music scene and in so doing giving further exposure to a group of musicians surely destined to make an impact far outside the city's environs.
If anything Jackson's writing for this large ensemble is even more telling than that of his work in smaller group contexts, hence from the off the galumphing ''Dragon Fly'' balances Mingus-like scoring against free blowing without any incongruity and solos by the likes of Jason Stein and Josh Berman serve as examples of how stimulating the musical environment is.
The two elements discussed above are in play again on ''The Grass Is Greener.'' The ensemble is broken down into smaller, seemingly self-contained units, not the least of them being Jackson on tenor sax and drummer Frank Rosaly, and this duo engage in a passage marked by subtle, quick-fire interplay. Again the composed elements of the piece have a certain rhythmic angularity, but it's to Jackson's credit that he's in thrall neither to Thelonious Monk or Herbie Nichols in that regard.
The coherence of the program in that regard is emphasized by ''Just Like This'' where the leader again shows just how he's coming on as an instrumentalist. His approach to the tenor sax in particular is admirably free of overt influence, whilst there's an element in his sound which calls Clifford Jordan to mind regardless of all the radical differences in setting. James Falzone's bright, lithe clarinet gets an outing on this one too, and the way bass and drums fall in behind him is evidence of how precisely the band is drilled. Any further in that regard and the result might have been only arid sterility; as it is there's urgency of communication tempered by the collective regard for letting the music breathe.
The sly groove of ''Wind-Up Toy'' is tempered initially by notes that seem to hang in the air before the former asserts itself and Jackson, Berman and Falzone again turn in solos in which self-expression strikes creative balance with the work of the ensemble and the writing provides both framework and stimulus. The resulting issue of tension and release is thus pragmatically resolved, and this in turn is evidence of musical evolution happening in real time. . .''
[Nic Jones]
recenzja dostępna na www.allaboutjazz.com

Wally Rose

Editor's info:
Pianist Wally Rose was the original piano player in Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, the band that started the Traditional Jazz revival of the 1940s and '50s. Rose also played with Bob Scobey in 1950-51, Turk Murphy in 1952-54 and spent many years as soloist in San Francisco. In 1953 Rose recorded two influential solo LPs: Ragtime Classics and Ragtime Piano Masterpieces. Rose remained active throughout the '70s and '80s. Whippin' The Keys was recorded at two sessions; 1968 and 1971. The twenty ragtime selections were originally issued on two Blackbird LPs (Rose on Piano, Blackbird 12007 and Whippin' The Keys, Blackbird 12010). They are reissued here for the first time.

Mike Walbridge's Chicago Footwarmers

All About Jazz; 2008-04
''. . .With music as venerable as this it's approach that's the key, and with these men the approach is nigh on perfect. Neither the dead hand of reverence or the corn that's often the undoing of traditional jazz performed decades after the event has a place here. Instead the music harks back to a simpler, more spontaneous time in a way that's anything but the product of dewy-eyed nostalgia. The thing that makes the difference could just be love. Recorded over three different sessions approximately four decades apart, the results have that quality in common.
Only those with a heart hard enough to constitute a health risk could fail to be won over by Kim Cusack's clarinet on ''On The Alamo,'' whilst on the following ''I Never Knew'' Dan Stiernberg's rhythm work on banjo is more flexible than that instrument has a right to be and Walbridge's tuba is enough to put aside any thoughts of the unwieldy.
Throughout ''Tin Roof Blues,'' as per the rest of the program, the lack of harmonic underpinning lends the music a quality both airy and intimate, and Cusack on clarinet again shows how he's copped some of Johnny Dodds' down-home sensibility.
When piano does crop up on the likes of ''Nagasaki'' its presence is welcome and not least because Johnny Cooper had the idiom down like nothing on earth back in July of 1967. His intro to ''Angry'' sets up three minutes and twenty one seconds that's anything but a reflection of the title and his soloing brings Jelly Roll Morton to mind, albeit with a dose of politeness, which is anything but reflective of that seminal figure.
If a criticism can be made it lies in a certain lack of variation in tempo. Even ''Down Here Where The Sun Goes Down'' is deprived of any melancholy implicit in the title, although again the band's effort is likely to raise a smile and have the feet beating for all the right reasons.
The love these musicians show is a quality they share with Bob Koester, who's shown his in his willingness to put this music out. The effort hasn't been wasted on anyone in need of something to melt away the stresses of everyday life. . .''
[Nic Jones]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Eric Chenaux

Editor's info:
Sloppy Ground is Eric Chenaux's strongest, most accessible and most dynamic work in years. We have long been champions of the man's inimitable talents - as a songwriter, arranger and mind-bending guitarist - and this new album should make these talents clear to the nominally attentive listener. This is a collection of beautifully fried love songs, highly original in compositional approach and instrumental texture, utterly compelling in lyrical content and delivery. As Chenaux says, ''the lyrics are more concerned with what love does rather than what it means. . .the time moving through these tunes is not one of the beginning of love or the end or heartbreak of love (though I love that stuff too) but more often in the middle (the working middle, the in between)''.
Opening with the swirling drone ballad of ''Am I Lovely'' (and its achingly simple refrain ''Asking each other / Since we're together / Am I lovely?''), the album then breaks into the brilliant frazzled funk of ''Love Don't Change'', a staple of Chenaux live shows for many years (and a very different version of which was recorded some time ago with recurring collaborator Michelle McAdorey on vocals). On this take, the unique whammied fuzz of Aimee Dawn Robinson's electrified echo harp punctuates the chord changes while Nick Fraser's phenomenal and fluid drum work relentlessly sparks the syncopation. Chenaux busts out with an exuberant guitar solo over the tune's supple funk, driving home the song's declaration of a lover's simple striving: ''We could still be friends/ But we could eat sweet things at night/I want to slow this city down and be with you in still life''. It's an awesome and giddy display of guitar chops, but more importantly, wholly motivated by the song's underlying lyrical and (un)sentimental intent.
Third track ''Rest Your Daylights'' is a truly gorgeous twilight lullaby, perhaps the closest thing to a classic ballad on the album, marked by subtle slide-guitar textures winding around the main guitar arpeggios, and a perfectly restrained vocal performance from Chenaux. Side A closes with ''Have I Lost My Eyes'', the first of three trademark 'funk-marches' on the album, with Chenaux conjuring a Highlands-folk spirit where extended melodic lines form the compositional backbone of the piece, percussion is joined in unison to the melody's rhythmic phrasing, and the guitar behaves like psychedelic bagpipes. This re-channeling of traditional Scottish tropes works to similarly captivating effect on ''Boon Harp'' and ''Old Peculiar'', which form the centerpieces of the album's second side. Side B winds down elegantly with ''Dreaming Of Stars'', featuring one of the record's sweetest and most elaborate melodies, and ''Sloppy Ground'', the title track and album closer, with its plangent images of winter, city and memory driven by a lover's absence.
Chenaux has rallied some of Toronto's finest 'out' players for Sloppy Ground, including Nick Fraser on drums, Ryan Driver on amplified melodica and synths, David Prentice on violin, Doug Tielli on 5-string banjo, Martin Arnold on electric tenor banjo, and Aimee Dawn Robinson on electric echo harp. Chenaux's own guitar work has never been more thrillingly deployed in the context of (relatively) conventional songcraft.
Recorded by Jeff McMurrich at Halla Music in Toronto (with additional tracking by Efrim Menuck at Thee Hotel2Tango in Montreal) and mixed and mastered by Harris Newman at Greymarket in Montreal, Sloppy Ground is available on CD and 180gLP. Both come in our custom cardstock packaging and feature the work of Toronto visual artist Corinne Carlson.

The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band

opis wydawcy:
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band miał dość intensywny okres od momentu wydania ich ostatniego albumu w 2005 - Horses In The Sky. Kierując środek ciężkości na koncerty i specjalne projekty przez ostatnie trzy lata, ansambl podołał ponad stu występom w Europie i Ameryce Północnej. Pomiędzy sesjami których plonem była EPka Thee Silver Mountain Reveries odbyła się trasa Thee Silver Mountain Elegies Play War Radio (gdzie czwórkę z Silver Mt. Zion wspomagali znajomi z wytwórni, ambitny duet na wiolonczele i perkusję Hangedup), jak i doszło do paru znamienitych kolaboracji - w tym z Carlą Bozulich, Vicem Chesnuttem i Patti Smith we własnej osobie - tak w studio jak i na żywo.

W pełnym składzie (dwie gitary elektryczne, dwie pary skrzypiec, wiolonczela, kontrabas i perkusja) muzyka grupy rozwija się w kierunku coraz głośniejszej, swobodniejszej, pełnej śliny i łez. Na 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons bardziej niż kiedykolwiek, riffy stanowią totalną podstawę. Zakotwiczeni przez nowego perkusistę Erica Cravena (ex-Hangedup), zespół buduje cierpliwie nastrój po to by prędzej czy później wystawić go na pełny ogień, z właściwą sobie nowoodkrytą cierpliwością, falistością i srogością. Jakichkolwiek metodycznych ram by nie stosować dla okreslenia dźwięku jaki niesie ze sobą punkowy lament 1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound lub eksplodująca na na milion skrawków free-niosu i melodi Black Waters Blowed, zespół chyba jeszcze nigdy nie ocierał się z taką siłą o rock. Nigdy dotąd nie grał również z taką determinacją, desperacją, werwą. Jękliwy bluesowy riff stał się fundamentem tytułowego utworu, następującego po dwunastoczęściowym quasi-minimalistycznym wstępie, natomiast Engine Broke Blues zawiera przepiękną sekwencję akordów które okażą się już po chwili budulcem nieuybłaganej, wieloskładnikowej gry gitary, smyczków i organów.

Fanom zespołu większośc tego materiału wyda się znajoma, jako że to właśnie on był ogrywany przed ostatnich parę lat na ich koncertach. Nagrywania go podjęli się w nowo wyremontowanym Hotel2Tango w Montréalu. Za konsoletą wspomagał ich Howard Bilerman i Radwan Moumneh (który zresztą nagłaśnia ich również na żywo), ups the ante wydatnie, ze skwierczącymi gitarowymi crescendami wyznaczającymi tempo pikująco-bombardującego kłębowiska smyczków, podczas gdy głos Efrima piłuje i zawodzi poprzez słowa udręki, nadziei i jakby na wskroś - furii. Cechujące Silver Mt. Zion chóralne pasaże w przyjemny sposób mrowią momentami nieco styrane tak masywną dawką wrażeń narządy słuchu.





Editor's info:
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band have been making a big raw angry tender racket since the 2005 release of their last album, Horses In The Sky. With a focus on live performance and special projects over the past three years, the group proper has logged well over 100 shows in Europe and North America, in between sessions that yielded Thee Silver Mountain Reveries EP and Thee Silver Mountain Elegies Play War Radio tour (featuring four members of Mt. Zion and both members of labelmates Hangedup), as well as collaborations with Carla Bozulich, Vic Chesnutt and Patti Smith in the studio and in concert.
The music of the full band (two guitars, two violins, cello, contrebasse and drums) has grown louder, looser, full of spittle and tears. On 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons, riffs are the backbone more than ever. Anchored by new drummer Eric Craven (ex-Hangedup), the band works its slow build and burn with newfound patience, sinuousness and ferocity. Whether methodically framing walls of sound over the four-on-the-floor punk dirge of ''1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound'' or exploding in sheets of free noise and melody on ''Black Waters Blowed'', the band has never rocked harder and has never sounded more determined, desperate and driven. A stuttered blues riff is the foundation for the album's title track, making its appearance after a blisteringly minimalist intro. ''Engine Broke Blues'' features a gorgeous set of chords that build inexorably from multiple guitar, string and organ lines.
Fans of the group will be familiar with much of this material from the band's live shows over the past couple of years. The recording, undertaken at the newly renovated Hotel2Tango facility in Montreal and co-engineered by Howard Bilerman and Radwan Moumneh (who is also the band's live sound person), ups the ante considerably, with crackling guitar crescendos setting the pace for dive-bombing swirls of strings, while Efrim's voice rasps and wails words of worry, hope and fury throughout. The band's hallmark group vocal passages are positively spine-tingling.
Constellation is thrilled to be releasing this mighty slab on CD and 2x180gLP. Both formats come in our custom cardstock packaging, printed on 100% recycled fine paper, and include lyrics as part of the insert booklet.

Feu Therese

Opis Wydawcy::
Kiedy w roku 2005 Fly Pam Am się rozpadło, Feu Therese zdążyło jeszcze złapać jedną z ostatnich iskierek owego rozprysku. Gitarzysta świętej pamięci zespołu wraz z długoletnimi wspólnikami Alexem St-Onge i Stephenem de Oliveira postanowili założyć nową grupę. Składu dopełnił perkusista i malarz Luc Paradis. Niniejszy debiutancki album wypuszczony przed rokiem przez Constellation rozszerzył organizację dźwięku zapoczątkowaną przez Fly Pam Am, jakkolwiek chętniej niż na elektronicznych interwencjach lub zamierzonych sabotażach na stole mikserskim - polegając na prostych zestawieniach instrumentalnych - aby porwać muzykę.

Feu Therese są winni włączania krytycznych i wyjątkowo nonkonformistycznych elementów już w samą strukturę piosenek, przez co unikamy zderzenia z muzyką pochodzącą jakby z zewnątrz, osiąga na tym wydawnictwie nowy poziom dziwacznej sublimacji. Zdają się mieć za cel swoisty renesans syntetycznej muzyki która umyślnie wystrzega się skodyfikowanych elementów elektro-nostalgii XXI wieku: fawjoskich klawiszszy analogowych, połączenia ciężkiego basu i perkusji, wymęczonego faux-prymitywizmu.

Ta kolekcja piosenek i ambitnych utworów jest zaproszeniem do podróży. Od Haiti do Palermo przez Trójkąt Bermudzki ta inicjacyjna podróż drogą postępu czterech (a może i więcej) podmiotów poszukujących możliwości ucieczki od nich samych, by stawić czoła ulotnej rzeczywistości na zewnątrz. Twarze zamaskowane nylonem, potwory stojące naprzeciw nocy (która jest rodzaju żeńskiego) nie wiedząc w sumie czemu. Niechybnym jest natomiast ten oto fakt: nawet jeśli nie mają pojęcia jaki jest kurs który obrali, wszyscy oni podążają w tym samym kierunku. Po drugie: są to - bez cienia wątpliwości - piosenki.




Editor's info:
Feu Therese caught spark from the embers of Fly Pan Am's break-up in 2005, when FPA guitarist Jonathan Parant joined forces with longtime collaborators Alex St-Onge (bass, electronics) and Stephen de Oliveira (synths, voice) to form the new group. Painter turned drummer Luc Paradis completed the new line-up. Their debut self-titled album, released on Constellation in spring 2006, expanded on FPA's sonic agenda, while relying more on instumental juxtapositions - rather than electronic interventions or intentional sabotage at the mixing desk - to hijack the music. The Feu Therese mandate of knitting critical and non-conformist elements right into their song structures, instead of having these 'collide' with the music as if from outside, has reached a new level of bizarre sublimation on their new record.
Ça Va Cogner sticks to these conceptual guns, as Feu Therese aims to recuperate and re-cast a 'synthetic' music that intentionally eschews the codified elements of 21st-century electro nostalgia: the 'cool' analogue keys, the heavy bass & drum mix, the overwrought faux-primitivism. Feu Therese embrace unfashionable synth stabs and arpeggiators, riding them high in the mix, along with the vocals, delivered with unapologetically forward, spoken-sung deliberateness by de Oliveira (in a clear nod to the poetics and production values of 1970s/80s French chansonniers). The overt suppression of 'rockist' production values - values that the band would maintain now condition every corner of DIY popular music - places this record strangely outside its times. With lyrics entirely in french, some will no doubt find the whole package impenetrable, while others will wonder what brilliant alternative reality (Cannes ca. 1985 in a parallel universe?) they somehow missed.
St-Onge writes: ''La musique sur Ça va cogner ne cogne pas mais tente plutot d'adoucir les moeurs. Cet ensemble de chansons et de pieces ambigues est, tel le cri d'une sirene, une invitation au voyage. D'Haiti a Palerme en passant par le triangle des Bermudes ce periple initiatique trace le cheminement de quatre entites (et peut-etre meme plus) qui cherchent l'ouverture qui leur permettra de sortir d'eux-memes pour affronter le dehors insaisissable. Visage (s) sous nylons, les monstres affrontent la nuit qui est une femme sans trop savoir pourquoi. Toutefois, une chose est certaine : s'ils ne savent pas ou ils vont, ils y vont tout de meme.''
Our literal translation: ''The music on Ça Va Cogner (''It's Gonna Hit'') does not 'hit' but hopes rather to soften prevailing values. This collection of songs and ambiguous pieces is, like the siren's cry, an invitation to a voyage. From Haiti to Palermo by way of the Bermuda Triangle, this initiation trip traces the development of four entities (and maybe more) who seek the opening that will permit an escape from themselves, to confront the elusive outdoors. Faces masked by nylon, monsters confront the night that is woman, without quite knowing why. One thing is certain: even if they don't know where they're going, they go all the same.''
Our non-literal translation: Music de-natured, the face of desire disguised and distorted, love gendered and engendered; a little crisis of modernity in this all-too-modern age, where creating true aberrations, actual detournements, is perhaps fated to be - forever more - but a matter of style. We no longer have any idea what Feu Therese are about, but their controlled (repressed?) psychotics/erotics make for an utterly stange, disturbingly 'normal' sound. We invite you to hear this paradox for yourself. One thing is certain: these are, without a doubt, songs.
Ça Va Cogner is available on CD and 180gLP, with artwork by Luc Paradis and photography by Vincent Lafrance.

Hrsya

Editor's info:
Hrsta (her-shta) is the brainchild of founding Godspeed You! Black Emperor guitarist Mike Moya, who is joined on this third album (the band's second on Constellation) by Brooke Crouser (Jackie-O Motherfucker) on organs, guitars and various effects. Brooke has emerged as the core second member of the band, joining Mike on live dates since 2006, and contributing to composition and arrangement on this new record. The ever-faithful rhythm section of bassist Harris Newman and drummer Eric Craven provide additional backbone on select songs.
Ghosts Will Come And Kiss Our Eyes is a collection of gently foreboding psych-folk, anchored as always by Mike's unique guitar sound and otherworldly, cracked vocals (think a sedated Daniel Johnson or Wayne Coyne). With Hammond and pump organs now featured prominently in the mix, much of the new material here sits on a thick, saturated foundation of shifting tones, drones and sustained chordings.
Alternating between vocal tunes and instrumentals, the album creaks and cascades through hazed visions of cataclysm and calm, worry and wonder. ''Beau Village'', a dirge-like, slow-motion sea-shanty, offers an unsettled promise of safe harbour - quickly undermined by ''The Orchard'', which conjures a hallucinatory confrontation amidst burning fields. ''Haunted Pluckley'' is a twangy, twilight lullaby (the album title is pulled from this track's lyric), ''Hechicero Del Bosque'' finds the full band building to a controlled climax, and a brilliant Bee Gees cover (''Holiday'') closes the album. In between these singing songs are a clutch of gorgeous instrumentals forged from Mike and Brooke's guitar and organ interplay.
Superbly recorded by David Bryant (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Set Fire To Flames) at The Pines, his studio-cum-performance space near the old port in Montreal, Ghosts Will Come. . . brims with eerie atmosphere and intimate sonics, and is the most focussed Hrsta record to date.
Available on CD and 180gLP, as always in our cardstock packaging, with artwork featuring the photography of Lea Grahovac.



stylusmagazine.com; 2007-09-26
Hrsta's Ghosts Will Come and Kiss Our Eyes is what nightmares are made of. Aside from the disc's eerie moniker, the album is filled with the kind of foreboding, brooding, and downright horrifying compositions you'd imagine float through the minds of children and make them reluctant to close their eyes at night.

Stemming from the perpetual Constellation Records' incest, Hrsta's fronted by Godspeed You! Black Emperor guitarist Mike Moya. As such, you can imagine the sort of moods Ghosts invokes: an overwhelming sense of angst, empty yearning, hopelessness. But surprisingly, Moya is able do what Godspeed and their many spin-offs have been unable to for many years now. Hrsta is able to function within the post-rock formula, but finds enough wiggle room to fit into the mold while releasing something that, unexpectedly, sounds unique and apart from the label's mainstays.

Ghosts sees the blending of the ambience, vocal musings, and melancholy that seemed to have become stagnant and unimaginative on similar releases. After the spine chilling 'Entre la Mer et L'eau Douce' and hopelessly tragic 'Beau Village,' 'The Orchard' defines the sense of longing that permeates the entirety of the album. Hrsta manages to create tension that drifts through you, leaving you feeling as though you've missed something. And when they should finally give you what you desire, the spacey, cumulous 'Tomorrow Winter Comes' hangs ominously without remedy. Shortly thereafter, Moya's gentle croons on 'Haunted Pluckley' sound more mocking than comforting as they soon give way to a feedback medley and fade to black.

Hrsta isn't afraid to open to floodgates though. As restrained as the majority of Ghosts is, it occasionally overflows with the crescendos the genre has become known for: The calm drones on 'Hechicero del Bosque' combust into a blaze of shrieking leads and pounding basslines. 'Kotori' builds exponentially until it fizzles into random distortion.

For as powerful as Ghosts ultimately is, without close attention, it passes rather nonchalantly. Because even though it sounds more original and intriguing than most of its fellow releases, the genre as a whole seems to follow near identical trends, making each disc mostly unremarkable. Even Hrsta is unable to completely avoid this pitfall. Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than the painfully anti-climactic closer 'Holiday.' As Moya lazily chants 'Oh you're a holiday / Such a holiday' the track recalls the more monotonous moments of the genre. By highlighting Moya's vocals and lyrics rather than the monumental instrumentation, the track passes without notice, leading an album of incredible tension to a close that doesn't resolve a bit of it.

If this is what can be expected of Constellation in the future, however, things are looking up. Ghosts comes as a release and therapeutic solvent for a label that has been regarded as a one-trick pony. With a release schedule that boasts albums from fellow sonic adventurers Sandro Perri and Vic Chestnutt, that tide is surely starting to change. So while it sounds like a nightmare, this disc is more the album we've all been waiting to hear.
by Chris Gaerig

Sandro Perri

Editor's info:
This is the first full-length recording by Sandro Perri under his own name, following an E.P. on Constellation last year (on which Perri re-interpreted songs from his critically-acclaimed Polmo Polpo instrumental/electronic project). Working with some of Toronto's finest avant and improv players, Sandro has fully re-invented himself as a singer, lyricist and guitar player, and Tiny Mirrors is the culmination of this transformation - a highly personal collection of songs, shaped by an utterly original approach to composition, performance, and melodic and vocal phrasing.
Tiny Mirrors incorporates elements and sensibilities - albeit in subtle hues - as diverse as Vanguard-era Skip James (and his weary falsetto), post-tropicalia Caetano Veloso (the compositional twists), and the 60s-era axis of hybrid songwriters like Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, Harry Nilsson and Fred Neil (whose ''Everybody's Talkin''' is covered here, re-cast as a rumination on the 'epidemic' of second-hand experience). Perri's simultaneous guitar and kick drum playing is complemented by the cracked wah guitar of labelmate Eric Chenaux on several tracks, with brass, reeds, woodwinds, keys and percussion filling out the arrangements, courtesy of regular bandmates Ryan Driver, Marcus Quin and John Jowett. A handful of other Toronto players contribute on drums, trombone and cello.
Crucial to the album's sound is the fact that Perri gave up much control to the group dynamics, allowing some of the arrangements to develop out of the players' natural tendencies towards improvisation. ''Love Is Real'', for example, set to a fluid and amorphous backdrop of heavily phased 'neo-soul', was altered substantially by Chenaux's rhythmic re-configurations, while ''Double Suicide'' (of which the original version has not yet seen proper release) is presented here in an alternate form. Anchored entirely by drummer Blake Howard's in-studio restlessness, the original gets transformed from a brooding slow-burner into a strangely fractured bossa nova; a tricky polyrhythmic delight. Ending the record is a re-working of the lead-off track ''Family Tree'', here renamed ''Mirror Tree'' and consisting of only the core band, sans Perri altogether - a testament to the group's interpretive power.
Overall, Perri strikes the perfect balance of sophisticated writing (melodically and as a lyricist) and, with the help of his band, deceptively effortless, relaxed, unconstrained performance. These songs abound in subtle texture and flourish, and the burbling swirl of instrumental work is a through-line to his earlier recordings as Polmo Polpo, where a similarly simmering brew of interweaving melodies yielded such an original and seductive take on 'electronic' music. Perri brings the same originality, warmth, energy and intelligence to his eponymous singer-songwriter work; Tiny Mirrors pulses and froths and lounges and glides with inimitable ingenuity, genuineness, substance and style.
The album was beautifully recorded by Jeff McMurrich (Hidden Cameras, Constantines, Bruce Cockburn) at Hallamusic in Toronto. Two songs, and various overdubs, were recorded at Sandro's home studio, The Honey Pot.
The CD format of this recording comes in a felt-finish cardstock package with bronze foil-stamp printing. 180gLP comes in same paper, with a silkscreen print.

Vic Chesnutt

Opis Wydawcy::
Vic Chesnutt jest jednym z najwyśmienitszych żyjących rzemieślników piosenki. Jego teksty nokautują, jego głos nie ma sobie równych a połączenie obojga może dostarczyć twoim zmysłom lirycznych fraz które trwać będą w twojej głowie tygodniami, miesiącami, latami. . . aż kiedyś złapiesz się na dodawaniu ich do swego codziennego słownika sardonicznych komentarzy, druzgocących metafor, dowcipnych rymów. . . słów które nigdy nie są sprytne ze względu na siebie, lecz mądre i niezależne jak diabli.
Płytę nagrano zimą 2006-2007 w studiu Hotle2Tango w Montrealu. Sesja została rozpisana na orkiestrę przez Jema Cohena - pomysłodawcę płyty, który to nadzzorował płytę również od strony producenckiej (razem z Efrimem i Thierrym z Silver Mt. Zion oraz Guyem z Fugazi) oraz designerskiej (razem z Michael Ackermanem). Album nagrał Howard Bilerman.





Editor's info:
We have been massive Vic Chesnutt fans for many years. Prior to starting Constellation together in 1997, among the first records we bonded over was Is The Actor Happy, a slab of vinyl played so often (and so often late at night) that its grooves are well chewed.
Our friend, Brooklyn-based filmmaker Jem Cohen (Benjamin Smoke, Instrument, Chain), has known Vic for many years. When Jem proposed that Vic make his next album at the Hotel2Tango studio in Montreal, with various Constellation musicians (along with a couple of American friends) as players for the session, we were thrilled. When we heard the results, we were floored. When offered the opportunity to release the record, we were honoured.
Vic Chesnutt is one of the finest songsmiths we know. His words knock us out, his voice is like no other, and the two combined can deliver lyrical phrases that echo in your brain for weeks, months, years. . .that you find yourself adding to your quotidian vocabulary of sardonic asides, devastating metaphors, witty rhymes. Words that are never clever for their own sake, but smart and substantive as all get out.
The songs on North Star Deserter are some of the most bracing and intense we've ever heard from him: macabre and fearless, playful and funny, at times deeply personal and at others, incongruously hopeful. Stripped-down songs like ''Warm'', ''Rustic City Fathers'', ''Over'' and ''Marathon'' are juxtaposed with explosive rockers like ''Everything I Say'' and ''Debriefing'', while ''Glossolalia'' and ''You Are Never Alone'' feature wonderful arrangements and group singing.
The broad cast of players - all seven members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, along with Guy Picciotto (Fugazi), Chad Jones & Nadia Moss (Frankie Sparo), Eric Craven & Genevieve Heistek (Hangedup), Bruce Cawdron (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Esmerine) and T. Griffin (The Quavers) - offered influences and approaches to Vic's music that yielded a record unlike any other in his substantial discography.
Recorded over the winter of 2006-2007, at one of the last sessions to take place at the original Hotel2Tango location in Montreal (the studio moved in spring 2007), we believe North Star Deserter is the very best album Vic Chesnutt has yet made (while humbly acknowledging the boldness of such a statement). The sessions were orchestrated by Jem, who also oversaw production (along with Efrim and Thierry of Silver Mt. Zion, and Guy from Fugazi). The album was recorded by Howard Bilerman. The record is available on CD and double 180g LP, with artwork by Michael Ackerman and Jem Cohen.

Carla Bozulich

Editor's info:
''Evangelista is a sound that you can open your chest with, pull out what's inside and make it change shapes. Make it open more times and, even more. . . til the sound inside has finally sealed the hole where your vile/beautiful heart belongs. . . loved and safe even when you think you're totally alone. Even if you believe in nothing. good or bad, I must report: there's really no such thing as empty space. Even inside this void there is sound. You will hear it. You will see. You will be cradled and near deafened by love and mercy sounds and the sound of your own pulsing blood which used to drive me mad as a child when I would try to go to sleep. . .'' - Carla
Carla Bozulich needs no introduction. Her work with Ethyl Meatplow, The Geraldine Fibbers, Scarnella, The Red-Headed Stranger (with Willie Nelson) and many others spans over twenty years of uncompromising sound, driven by a voice and vision that consistently delivers spine-tingling beauty, originality and directness. Carla's new album (her first on Constellation, and the label's first release by a non-regional artist) is a devastating, elegiac, brutally honest song cycle that finds her voice unleashed with unprecedented emotive depth and determination. Evangelista is heartrending and gutwrenching, with isolation and desperation redeemed by incantatory sonics and out-reaching, soul-saving words. One damn compelling exorcism of a record, churning and channeling out of loneliness to heal and rebuild connective tissue through sound.
Carla came to Montreal to record the album with Efrim at the Hotel2Tango in coldest wintertime, with multi-instrumentalist and co-producer Shahzad Ismaily at her side, and a pocketful of beautiful noises and loops prepared back home in L.A. Various guest players add strings, guitars, drums, organ, piano, hums and other sounds.

Black Ox Orkestar

Editor's info:
The second record by Montreal's Black Ox Orkestar places the group at the forefront of a 'new Jewish music' that rejects contemporary fusion and musty nostalgia in equal measure. With backgrounds in folk, punk-rock and free jazz, the group's four musicians distill Balkan, Central Asian, Arabic and Slavic sources into a coherent, impassioned sound that gives teeth to old Jewish songs. Never relying on museum-piece reverence or an obvious, forced collision of musical forms, Black Ox is rewriting a Yiddish songbook in ways that sound organically anchored to tradition without being suffocated by it. Nisht Azoy (Not Like This) builds dramatically on Black Ox's debut (Ver Tanzt?; cst029), striking a similar balance between vocal and instrumental tunes, but with more intensity, mystery, and a readiness to stretch things out, whether in the incantatory opener ''Bukharian'' or the clomping crescendos of ''Az Vey Dem Tatn'' and ''Tsvey Tabelakh''. Further upping the ante with greater use of percussion and group singing, the band's entirely acoustic instrumentation pumps and pulses with explosive energy and emotion. Radwan Moumneh captures the 4-piece band (at Montreal's Hotel2Tango studio) with a detailed warmth and authority, and a large cast of guest players expands the group to bona fide orchestral size on ''Tsvey Tabelakh''. The slow plaintiveness of vocal songs ''Ikh Ken Tsvey Zayn'' and ''Golem'' rank among the group's most spine-tingling, mesmerising moments. ''Ratsekr Grec'' summons a Balkan dance rhythm in one of the album's more overtly traditional arrangements, adding a flurry of colliding horns down the home stretch. Taken as a whole, the cycle of songs on Nisht Azoy further opens up a world, inspired by Jewish diasporic culture and politics, that challenges conventional appropriations and forges music that is highly original, deeply felt and very much alive. As the band writes: ''Nisht Azoy is the melancholy and uncompromising sound of our mongrel music splitting at the seams, the boat creaking as we drag our friends on board. As we sing in Tsvey Taybelakh: 'When you come to a strange city, my love / Think of my words / When you come to deep waters, my love / You will not drown in sorrow / When you come to great fires, my love / You will not be burnt in sorrow.'''

Black Ox Orkestar

Editor's info:
Evenly split between instrumentals and vocal tunes, this debut album is a compelling blend of originals and new arrangements for pieces pulled from various Eastern European songbooks. The band aims to expand the definition of Jewish diasporic music, by learning and reinterpreting songs and rhythms from all over Slavic and Balkan Europe. Lyrics are in Yiddish and aim to speak forcefully to the bloody history and intractable contradictions of Jewish diaspora and 'return'. With backgrounds in punk-rock, free-jazz, and other liberation musics, the all-acoustic playing on this record benefits from a genuinely spirited delivery and intensely original approaches to arrangements that never feel forced. This is modern folk music from Eastern European sources played strong, unburdened by antiseptic production and/or cheap sentimentality.
Songs range from the propulsive to the sublimely restrained. ''Fishelakh in Vaser'' explodes with a pumping free-music rhythm section, ''Cretan Song'' is a staccato Balkan dance, and ''Ver Tantz?'' is an angry, politically-charged klezmer-punk original. Instrumentals ''Shvartze Flamen. . .'' and ''Nign'', along with the brilliant original ''Toyte Goyes'' (lyrics taken from a poem by Yiddish writer Itzik Fefer) are meditative and heartrending. Jessica Moss (violin, bass clarinet), Thierry Amar (contrebasse) and Scott Levine Gilmore (vocals, mandolin, cymbalom, drums) all play in Silver Mt. Zion, and Gabe Levine (clarinet, guitar) was chief songwriter in Sackville.

The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band

opis wydawcy:
Silver Mt. Zion to grupa prowadzona przez założyciela godspeed you black emperor! gitarzystę Efrima oraz dwoje innych członków Godspeed: Sophie i Thierry.

Zespół powstał, by w mniejszym gronie kontunuować to, co muzycy robią w ramach najbardziej znanego z ich projektów, czyli GYBE!.Pozwala im to w jakiś sposób uniknąc ograniczeń, jakie narzuca komponowanie i muzykowanie z dziewięcioma współpracownikami.

Efrim chciał także po prostu zrealizować parę własnych pomysłów muzycznych, które niekoniecznie dobrze wypadłyby w jego macierzystej grupie.

A Silver Mt. Zion zadebiutował koncertem w Musique Fragile 6 marca 1999

Na ich drugiej płycie skład został poszerzony do 6 osób (przybyła wiolonczela, drugie skrzypce i druga gitara), poszerzono też nazwę zespołu do The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-la-la Band

Muzyka z tej płyty zakotwiczona w smutku i lamencie nad niedoskonałym iopuszczonym światem (zarówno muzycznie jak i filozoficznie widać tu powinowactwo z Davidem Tibetem z Current 93), podskórnie jednak słychać sączący się z emocjonalnych dźwięków gniew tych zjawiskowych muzykantów.



Antena Krzyku 1/2002
Trio złożone z muzyków Godspeed You Black Emperor! rozrosło się do sekstetu. Do pierwotnego składu smyczki-fortepian dodano trąbkę, instrumenty perkusyjne i kilka innych dźwiękowych elementów. W efekcie nieco rozmył się urzekający minimalizm debiutu, a muzyka zaczęła niebezpiecznie upodabniać się do dokonań GYBE!, z tym że bardziej pod względem dźwiękowego bałaganu niż zapierającego dech crescendo. Nadal można tu znaleźć mnóstwo porażających pięknem i smutkiem momentów, ale ogólnie nie jest to chyba krok we właściwą stronę.
autor: Wojciech Szymczak





Editor's inf:
This second Silver Mt. Zion album features an expanded band, with a similarly expanded band name. The addition of cello, second violin and second guitar has allowed SMZ to develop richer, denser arrangements while preserving live ensemble playing. The opening instrumental pieces pick up where the debut left off, with found-sound loops and treatments introducing repeated melodic themes that move slowly through various counter-melodies -- the greater breadth of instrumentation brings extra subtlety, complexity and harmonic range to bear on these neo-classical dirges. Guitars and vocals move to the fore on the album's centerpiece tracks. ''Take These Hands And Throw Them In The River'' is an astounding juxtaposition of rhythmic thrust and ricocheting vocals, driven by a battered lyrical paranoia that conjures equal parts fear and rage. The calm after this storming piece comes by way of another vocal tune, this time fragile and near-whispered, with dual lines that alternately mask and reinforce each other. A piano and cello interlude prefaces the last side of the record, which features two guitar-driven songs, the first a blazing rock piece that builds to an exuberant distorted climax, the second as close to a pop masterpiece as this band is likely to craft, highlighted by a lovely arpeggio guitar riff and the defiant refrain ''musicians are cowards''. While remaining anchored in an underlying sadness and mourning over this failed world, this album reveals an angrier, more urgent face as this unique ensemble charts ever-widening sonic and emotional terrain.

The Silver Mt. Zion

Antena Krzyku 5/2000
[. . .] A Silver Mt. Zion to sideproject członków lokomotywy Constellation [GYBE!] i spokojnie pozycjom macierzystej grupy dorównuje. Mamy tu do czynienia z budzącymi niepokój smyczkami, z mocnymi partiami gitarowymi i solidnym waleniem w bębny. Wiem, że tak można pisać o muzyce kapel grających rocka symfonicznego, czy chociażby o ostatnich pomysłach Metalliki, ale naprawdę - w tym przypadku - nie o to chodzi. ASMZ starannie omijają czarne dziury, tak charakterystyczne dla symrocka, które przyjmują formę nadętego i żenującego patosu oraz zwykłej sztampy. Nie są też próbą sprzedania - po raz kolejny - odgrzanego kotleta mielonego (Metallica, brrr. . .). W ekipie z Montrealu mamy godnych kontynuatorów takiego podejścia do tworzenia muzyki, kojarzonego w większym lub mniejszym stopniu z ponoisową sceną, jakie zostało zapoczątkowane przez Rachel's i kapele z Kranky. A Silver Mt. Zion ewidentnie kroczą też drogą wytyczoną przez Godspeed You Black Emperor!, pokazując nam ciemniejsze strony naszej cywilizacji, korzystając przy tym z podobnych środków ekspresji. Udowadniają przy okazji, że można to zrobić subtelniej niż robią to długowłosi spece od doom/gotic/itp. . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . Metalu, czy też hordy hatecore'owców. Ważną cechą pozycji wydawanych przez Constellation jest ich nieprawdopodobnie wysoki poziom edytorski, co i w tym przypadku ma miejsce. Mając na uwadze rangę wydawnictw Constellation, które do tej pory słyszałem i wiedząc, że jest to wierzchołek góry lodowej, z niecierpliwością czekam na kolejne płyty.[. . .]
autor: Nestor Kościański



Editor's info:
A Silver Mt. Zion was formed by Efrim, Thierry and Sophie (all of GY!BE) at the beginning of 1999, and after a debut performance at Constellation's Musique Fragile concert series, the trio recorded this sublime debut record on 8-track at the Hotel2Tango in November of that year. Starting with simple, stirring piano themes written by Efrim, the music swirls and sways with multiple violin tracks from Sophie and plucked contrebasse from Thierry (his first recording on upright acoustic bass). What initially began as a single long, sparse chamber piece evolved into more fully-orchestrated movements, interspersed with tapes, drones and loops, along with some vocals. Guest musicians include Aidan (GY!BE, Exhaust, 1-Speed Bike) beating skins on ''Sit In The Middle Of Three Galloping Dogs'', and Gordon Krieger (Exhaust) and Sam Shalabi (The Shalabli Effect, solo) improvising on clarinet and electric guitar respectively on ''Blown-Out Joy From Heaven's Mercied Hole''. Additional taped fragments are from Efrim's archives, with contributions from Aidan. The resulting series of plaintive ensemble pieces shivers with intimate sadness. He Has Left Us Alone. . . is by far our most requested record for student film projects. Dedicated to Efrim's dog Wanda, who was dying of cancer while the album was made.

McNeal & Niles

Editor's info:
Quietly released on the Tinkertoo label in late 1979, ''Thrust'' marked guitarist Wilbur Niles first recorded venture. Originally available only on the northern Ohio area, the album was partially recorded at Devo's fledgling Man-Ray Studios in Akron and the LP at once disappeared as quietly as it had first appeared. Long the domain of only the most ardent record enthusiasts, Chocolate Industries has resurrected this lost classic for the world to finally appreciate. The sound here is expensive and reflective, a sublime and sophisticated funk that is more relevant today than ever.



dustedmagazine.com
The re-release of a classic LP you've never heard of is usually a dubious prospect. I initially approached Chocolate Industries' championing of the 1979 one-off album by super-obscure Akron, Ohio-based funk duo McNeal & Niles with some trepidation, memories of reissues with one useable break and sixty minutes of snoozeworthy fusion doing the electric slide in my head. Suffice it to say that there will be no electric slide dancing here. Thrust is that good.

Not unlike the Herbie Hancock fusion classic of the same name, Thrust is all about the keyboards. Machelle McNeal's synthesizer work elevates the album above mere stock instrumental funk. On tracks like 'Punk Funk' (not that kind of punk funk, sorry) and the vaguely Shaft-esque 'Hyper Tension,' McNeal subtly embellishes the groove, waiting to emerge into the sonic foreground with lush and mildly dissonant motives that add to the shadowy atmosphere. On 'Untitled,' McNeal alternates between restrained Fender Rhodes and icy synth pads that dominate the bridge, so much so that when he goes back to the Rhodes it feels like an elephant has left the room. Some of his keyboard tones are dated, though classic keyboard fetishization has arguably brought the whole notion of datedness into question. It's certainly not as tacky-sounding to these ears as, say, Weather Report.

This is not an album of stank jams, though some tracks are more celebratory than others. 'Punk Funk,' in particular, features some joyfully blister-popping fingerboard magic from guitarist Wilbur Niles, who handles most of the album's riffs with ease while staying firmly in the pocket. The ominously titled 'One Slave, One Gun' has a real sense of velocity, even though it sounds at times like a slightly gothic Santana, while 'Untitled' is more stereotypically funky and cheery. Again, Niles is an agile player who delivers simple melodic lines with a sly yet deliberate rhythmic sense.

Along with the JBs/Family Stone influences you might expect on a late-'70s funk record, Thrust is full of moody, harmonically adventurous compositions that suggest McNeal & Niles may have been slipping the occasional platter of Rush or Genesis onto the control room turntables. There's also a sense that this album was conceived as a showcase for McNeal & Niles' compositions rather than to promote a touring band, which might explain why some of these tracks take a turn for the weird. It's hard to imagine 'One Slave, One Gun' getting much radio play next to the aforementioned classic funk bands - like obvious kinsmen Parliament, McNeal & Niles would have been more likely to find an audience through avenues like college radio and word of mouth. That obviously didn't happen, but with the support of people like Dante Carfagna, who's to say that it won't happen now?
By Dave Morris

Robin McKelle

multikulti.com
Czy ktoś, kto w niedalekiej przeszłości został zaproszony do współpracy przez gigantów jazzu i smooth jazzu jak Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, Michael McDonald czy Jon Secada może być przeciętnym muzykiem?
To oczywiście pytanie retoryczne, raczej rzadko się zdarza, aby intuicja zawiodła nagle tak zacne grono muzyków. Dobrze zatem, że po tych niezwykle inspirujących doświadczeniach obdarzona głębokim, wyrazistym głosem Robin McKelle zdecydowąła się na swój debiut.
Producentem płyty został trębacz i aranżer Willie Murillo [Brian Setzer Orchestra, Aimee Mann, LeAnn Rimes].
W oryginale płyta wydana została przez kalifornijską wytwórnię Cheap Lullaby Records, teraz ma oto swoją europejską premierę w uznanej brytyjskiej wytwórni Candid [Stacey Kent, Mina Agossi, Clare Teal, Jamie Cullum czy Cormac Kenevey].
Nie należy się zatem dziwić, że płyta trafiła na Billboard's top 10, w USA i Europie odnosząc wielki sukces.



All About Jazz
Robin McKelle's debut CD is a blast of fresh air from the past. Introducing is done from the stance of a band singer from the 1940s in musical format and material, logical since most legendary jazz and pop singers learned their trade that way.
Most of the tracks are read in standard fashion—the band taking the opening choruses and the vocals coming in on the second, with strings added on the ballads. Many of the arrangements come right out of the Nelson Riddle book (especially the riffs on 'On The Sunny Side Of The Street'). The instrumental solos are tasty and tasteful especially Pete Christleib's tenor on 'For All We Know' and 'Dream'.

McKelle can belt, but she's also able to display a softer side of her vocal ability. 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen' (a pop hit in the 1940s along with 'Yes, My Darling Daughter') shows off a little-girl vocal quality. The song has been treated with some salsa courtesy of arranger Willie Murillo and features an effective trumpet solo by him as well.

In keeping with the â€obig band' formula, the CD even features a boy vocalist/girl vocalist duet. On 'You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me,' McKelle is joined by Robbie Wycoff, whose smooth voice sounds uncannily like Nat Cole's.

McKelle does well with both ballads and up-tempo tunes and, wonder of wonders, you can understand every word she sings. She likes to play around with the melody but it might be better if she established it more solidly

Editor's Info:
It's a remarkable voice -- a soul-infused alto tinged with haunting echoes of the postwar jazz greats. For years its possessor, Robin McKelle, has inched closer to her inevitable destiny with the spotlight. Having shared stages with revered artists such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, Michael McDonald, Jon Secada and others, McKelle now assumes center stage with a debut solo album that exuberantly broadens the boundaries of retro-swing. Produced by trumpeter, arranger and clinician Willie Murillo (Brian Setzer Orchestra, Aimee Mann, LeAnn Rimes), Introducing Robin McKelle evokes the jazzy spirit of 1940's America, while retaining a contemporary edge that speaks of a new wartime. With its well-struck balance of potent swing and fearlessly sentimental balladry, the album heralds the arrival of a peerless interpretive artist.

Indeed, Introducing Robin McKelle finds McKelle breathing fresh life into classics many listeners thought they knew intimately. She transforms the Andrews Sisters' jaunty 1938 hit, ''Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,'' into an insinuating Latin jazz tune, replete with lip-puckering tango and salsa rhythms. McKelle's hard-swinging take on Dinah Shore's breakthrough 1940 hit ''Yes, My Darling Daughter'' is no less miraculous, its sassy vocals and Lindy-Hopping rhythms offset by a come-hither rhumba break. The irresistible tandem of McKelle's voice and Murillo's arrangements combine on the after-midnight ballads ''Come Rain Or Come Shine'' and ''For All We Know,'' while timeless swing numbers like ''Something's Gotta Give'' and ''Sunny Side of the Street'' are notable for their authoritative vocals, punchy big band arrangements and driving instrumental performances.

''The Forties,'' McKelle sighs, a hint of nostalgic bluesiness in her voice. ''I was born to be in that time, I swear. You listen to the music from that period, and you picture these wonderful love stories between men and women. You picture how it was really supposed to be.''

As befitting a recording made by an incurable romantic, Introducing Robin McKelle sounds more like a vintage live disc than the studio recording it really is. The album's brassy, on-the-fly sound is a homage to the days when jazz orchestras ruled America's dancehalls and concert theaters. ''We took an old-school, big band approach, as opposed to the more modern three-harmony stuff,'' McKelle says. ''The musicianship on this record really allowed me to step up. It pushed me to reach higher as a vocalist and a musician.''

Working from a songbook that's over 70 years-old, McKelle and producer Murillo labored to invest Introducing Robin McKelle with an up-to-date relevance. Towards that goal, the duo employed old and new recording techniques, while coaxing some of McKelle's most emotive vocal performances.

''As a younger jazz singer, I don't feel like I could relate to the lyrics as much,'' the singer says. ''There's so much going on in a song like 'For All We Know.' You have to have loved and gone through those storms to be able to sing that song in a way that people will be touched by it. 'Cause when you're 20 years old, even though you could be in love, you don't have that life experience to draw upon.''

The experiences that shaped Robin McKelle's own life began in her hometown of Rochester, NY. The daughter of a liturgical singer, McKelle started her musical journey as classical piano student, then switched to playing keys in her high school jazz band. After attending the University of Miami and receiving her Bachelors of Music degree from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, she moved to LA and toured as a backup singer. ''The entire experience was like, 'OK, this is NOT what I want to do,'' McKelle says, recalling her touring days with a laugh. ''I wanna be in the front.''

Moving back to Boston, McKelle started her own trio, then joined the Voice Dept. at her Berklee alma mater. In 2004, she entered the esteemed Thelonious Monk Vocal Jazz Competition in Washington, DC, taking third place honors. ''That opened a lot of doors for me in the jazz world,'' McKelle says.

Indeed, it did. Just months after her DC performance, McKelle was offered a featured soloist spot with the Boston Pops Orchestra. She and her trio were invited to New York to perform privately for Blue Note Records CEO, Bruce Lundvall. McKelle has also had the privilege to perform for David Bowie, Carly Simon and Wayne Shorter in Berklee Commencement Concerts, BeBe Winans, Don Grusin and others.

Towards her goal of maintaining creative control, McKelle financed the Introducing Robin McKelle sessions out-of-pocket. The resulting recordings found a befitting home at Cheap Lullaby Records, the ambitious Los Angeles indie with a roster of trailblazing retro-contempo acts.

Now, with the release of her solo debut CD, Robin McKelle shares her rich, prismatic voice and her star-gazing jazz sound with the world. As its euphoric title suggests, Introducing Robin McKelle is nothing short of a yearning desire fulfilled. ''I feel a huge sense of accomplishment,'' the singer says proudly. ''I never had the opportunity where I could edit things, and take the time to make sure things are done the right way. But having that control, and the support of the producer and the label, has allowed me that freedom. It's a little personal self-validation.''
before making it interesting.

But all in all, this is a delightful CD with a time honored way to introduce a new vocalist. Enjoy this one and look forward to McKelle's future offerings.


by Marcia Hillman

Cormac Kenevey

multikulti.com
Irlandzki wokalista jazzowy Cormac Kenevey na pierwszy rzut oka wydaje się iść przetartym przez Harry'ego Connicka, Jamie Culluma, Petera Cincottiego czy Michaela Bubble śladem.
Na szczęście pomimo młodego wieku i przyjemnej aparycji nie w głowie temu Panu gładkie jazzowanie. Bliżej mu do chicagowskiego wokalisty Kurta Ellinga niż do wymienionych powyżej wokalistów.
Na swojej drugiej płycie 'The Art of Dreaming' z jednej strony prezentuje się jako kapitalny interpretator piosenek nowobrzmieniowego zespołu Moloko, z drugiej strony pokazuje, że potrafi też czytać po swojemu klasykę jazzu, standardy Cole'a Portera, Jerome'a Kerna czy Harry 'Sweets' Edisona brzmią nad zwyczaj interesująco!
Druga płyta, która pokazuje, że Cormac Kenevey ma szansę zostać jednym z najciekawszych, najbardziej twórczych wokalistów ostatnich 10 lat.
[Krzysztof Szamot]



Editor's Info:
The fabulous second album by Irish vocalist Cormac Kenevey is a collection of lyrical compositions alongside a variety of standards and is another fine display of Kenevey's instantly recognizable and original vocal style. The particular highlight on this disc is his salute to electronic pop group Moloko with a track on which he reproduces all of the instrumentation with vocal layering alone. This second album again finds him collaborating with accomplished UK born pianist, Phil Ware and his trio.




The Guardian
rating: ***/*****
Candid Records, which launched Jamie Cullum, is an indie label run by veteran producer and enthusiast Alan Bates. It is the real jazz deal, with a raft of classic music in its archives - but the secret of its longevity is the ability to balance this with the shrewd promotion of engaging and accessible young singers. At this, the label's annual festival, two nights were devoted to personable young Dublin-born crooner Cormac Kenevey's new album The Art of Dreaming.

A slight, soft-spoken and sharp-suited young man with a light and flexible tenor voice, Kenevey sounds like a promising prospect to follow in Cullum's wake. He also sounds as if the ambitious melodic flights of Kurt Elling are in his sights, even if the long unbroken swerve from a falsetto to a bass note at the close of There'll Be Some Changes Made does not have the raw power of the master. His rendition of Bein' Green - which fell somewhere between the versions by Kermit the Frog and Tony Bennett - failed to make the song's exploration of being different resonate. But Kenevey revealed an agile improv technique in a fast scat on Snoozy Blues, winding up on a circular-breathing long note that brought a burst of startled applause.

Kenevey has the warm tone and patience to develop Cole Porter's All of You, and the relaxed drive to cruise through a hard-swung The Way You Look Tonight against pianist Phil Ware's breezy countermelodies. But he still has some homework to do if he is to rival Kurt Elling's improvising resources. Just being another elegant young crooner on the American Songbook might not be enough these days.
by John Fordham




www.vortexjazz.co.uk
The follow-up to Irish singer Cormac Kenevey's debut album This is Living, The Art of Dreaming mixes a selection of standards (torchy - 'The Night We Called It a Day', 'I Fall in Love Too Easily'; romantic - 'All of You', 'The Way You Look Tonight'; or specially arranged to incorporate personal messages - 'The Nearness of You') with the odd jazz vocalese classic (Harry Edison/Jon Hendricks's 'Centerpiece' done at the Joni Mitchell tempo) and some originals (a beatbox song, 'Moloko Soup' and a joky sci-fi lyric 'In the Extraoutosphere').

Kenevey's voice is light and pleasant (in the Harry Connick/Peter Cincotti mould, but with more scatting and humour) and he has an attractively intimate approach to conveying a lyric; his band, too, is sparky and intelligent - all in all, he's an accomplished addition to a field with too few runners in it.

Cormac Kenevey

multikulti.com
Debiutancka płyta irlandzkiego wokalisty jazzowego wydana oryginalnie w 2004 roku przy okazji premiery jego drugiej płyty 'The Art of Dreaming' została właśnie wydana ponownie.

Dzięki temu możemy prześledzić ewolucję wykonawczą tego ciekawego muzyka, od 'przyjemnego' śpiewania przywodzącego na myśl Petera Cincottiego czy Michaela Bubble - bo taka jest właśnie jego debiutancka płyta, Cormac Kenevey nie spoczywa na laurach, szuka 'swojego' głosu i jest na najlepszej drodze aby to osiągnąć.
[Krzysztof Szamot]





www.allaboutjazz.com
This debut by Irish singer Cormac Kenevey is almost the very definition of pleasant. Kenevey has a light, pleasing voice that is well suited to airy, romantic material. Likewise, his band, led by pianist Phil Ware, keeps things moving smoothly and melodically. Listening to This Is Living, one can imagine someone's grandmother coming across Kenevey performing on say, PBS, and finding the young man and his music very nice.

Some of the most effective performances on the album are the most straightforward. 'You Call It Jogging,' written by John D. Loudermilk, has a nice bluesy bounce that suits the wry lyrics. Kenevey sings it with just the right amount of humor; that is, he holds back enough so it doesn't become a novelty tune. On the ballads, he turns in an assured performance of the perennial 'I'm Through With Love,' and his own composition, 'Movies,' is sweet and lyrically observant.


Another original song, 'Just A Day,' is unfortunately the album's one serious misstep. Built around what sounds like an ill-conceived human beatbox performance, on top of which Kenevey declaims overly precious lyrics, the tune is exceedingly gimmicky. Egregiously, it's placed right in the middle of the album, leaving a lasting impression.


Otherwise This Is Living is sure to please fans of the musical hybrid created when Broadway and jazz overlap. It is smooth, accomplished, and assured. In a word, pleasant.

By Stephen Latessa

George Melly

multikulti.com
George Melly, wokalista jazzowy, pisarz i krytyk sztuki dożył sędziwego wieku 80 lat. Zmarł 6 lipca 2007 roku w swoim domu w Londynie.
Płyta 'The Ultimate Melly', do której nagrania George Melly zaprosił m.in. Vana Morrisona, Jacqui Dankworth czy The Swingle Singers pozwala zapoznać się z tą wyjątkową postacią europejskiego jazzu, sam George Melly rozkochany w klasykach blues-swing [Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday] z charakterystyczną dla siebie sceniczną dezynwolturą po mistrzowsku łączy ze sobą jazz, soul, swing, gospel - nie brakuje też przywołań innych stylistyk.
Jego głos, podając tekst, prowadzi zarazem narrację muzyczną, znajdując, gdy trzeba, improwizowane rozwiązania. [Krzysztof Szamot]


www.vortexjazz.co.uk

Since parting company with John Chilton's Feetwarmers a couple of years back, George Melly has formed an extremely fruitful and mutually sympathetic alliance with one of the UK's most respected mainstream' outfits, Digby Fairweather's Half-Dozen.

Actually, the term mainstream does the unit scant justice: on this album alone, Dixieland rubs shoulders easily and naturally with R&B, traditional jazz with rock-oriented guitar solos, pure entertainment with more recherch‰ material. Guests include Van Morrison (Midnight Cannonball', Backwater Blues'), Jacqui Dankworth (Let's Call the Whole Thing Off', The Butter and Egg Man', both amusing duets with Melly) and the Swingle Singers, not to mention a string section, so there is plenty of vocal and instrumental variety on display, and Melly presides over the whole with his customary breezy good nature.

Inevitably, the Melly pipes are somewhat furred these days, but his personality, stage presence and the easy manner in which he imparts his great knowledge and love of the music from Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller through Billie Holiday to bluesy swing remain unimpaired, so he is able to move uncontrivedly between affecting visits to the likes of God Bless the Child' or As Time Goes By' and vaudeville-stage-patter-type songs performed with Fairweather playing the straight man.

A good-time album that will appeal most to those wishing to remind themselves of an enjoyable evening at one of Melly's gigs.



Editor's Info:
George Melly's illustrious career as an author, television personality, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, composer and musician has gained him admiration from a number of top musicians, which is clear when looking at the line up for 'The Ultimate Melly'.

Melly's debut on Candid features guest appearances from the legendary Van Morrison, The Swingle Singers, band leader and producer Digby Fairweather and acclaimed singer Jacqui Dankworth.

Neil Cowley Trio

multikulti.com
Czy można jeszcze zainteresować szerokie grono słuchaczy formułą klasycznego trio jazzowego?
Sukcesy na tym polu takich grup jak Bad Plus Trio czy e.s.t. Esbjorn Svensson Trio zdają się rozwiewać wątpliwości w tym zakresie.
Prowadzone przez niezwykle wszechstronnego muzyka Neila Cowley'a - Neil Cowley Trio prostą drogą zmierza w tym właśnie kierunku.
Pewnie jedną z przyczyn ich powodzenia jest fakt, że lider to zarazem założyciel jednej z najsłynniejszych acid-jazzowych grup wszechczasów Brand New Heavies.
Ich druga płyta 'Loud..Louder. . .Stop!' to dziesięć utworów, w których muzycy raz zachwycają delikatnością, impresyjną wyobraźnią w balladowych improwizacjach [Tord Gustavsen], by za chwilę zbić nas z tropu nerwową, dynamiczną pianistyką, przywodzącą na myśl najlepsze fragmenty z płyt e.s.t. Esbjorn Svensson Trio.
Album w całości, co może zaskakiwać sprawia wrażenie jednorodnej całości, z w pełni zintegrowanymi kompozycjami, które nie przez przypadek zostały docenione jazzową krytykę.
Po raz kolejny okazuje się, że odnowienie gatunku przychodzi często spoza jazzowego świata.
[Krzysztof Szamot]




Telegraph.co.uk
Rating: Pop CD of the week

The pianist Neil Cowley is clearly a man who thrives on not fitting in.

Thriving on not fitting in: Neil Cowley (centre), with trio members Richard Sadler (left) and Evan Jenkins
He started out aged 10 as a virtuoso classical pianist, but the classical world didn't suit. Then he went into soul and funk, but wasn't happy there either. So a few years ago he formed a jazz trio, whose first album, Displaced, astonished and (mostly) delighted the jazz world in 2006.

Now comes the second album, named in honour of a critic who was irritated by the way that Cowley's pieces often started loud, got louder and then stopped (they still do).

Like the first, it shows Cowley is still far from the jazz mainstream represented by brilliant virtuosi such as Gwilym Simcock. On the contrary, he makes music out of a refusal to be pinned down - which is why the talk of him being virtuoso seems wide of the mark.

Virtuosity needs the security of belonging in a tradition to flourish, but Cowley won't or can't allow himself that. There's a rough-hewn and endearing eccentricity about the music, which jumps about in a way that defies musical logic, but emotionally seems truthful.

In the process Cowley touches on many different musical areas. Ginger Sheep is a strutting music-hall number that sounds like a half-remembered Madness song. We Are Here to Make Plastic has an ingenious way of conjuring strangeness out of common chords that's reminiscent of Erik Satie. Most insistent of all these echoes is an English strain, particularly in Pavements Paved with Half Baguettes, which actually ends with a peal of bells in the piano.

Often we hear a sudden turn to wistfulness which then burgeons into ecstatic melody, which also points to an English romantic quality. But just as you're getting used to this notion a sidling bluesy phrase and funky bass immediately take you somewhere else.

It adds up to something utterly fresh, which manages to be pugnacious and tender-hearted at once.





The Guardian
Neil Cowley, the former Brand New Heavies keyboardist and pop producer, brought his secret enthusiasm for acoustic jazz piano out of the closet last year with his debut, Displaced. He won a BBC jazz award for it, and so began his remarkable third career. The EST and Bad Plus influences audible on that album are much more dispersed on this follow-up, which reflects the upfront manner Cowley has adopted to handle big audiences who like to know where the hook is, rather than chamber-jazz improv enthusiasts who don't care. Though all the anthemic motifs, thunderous chord-riffing, cymbal ferocity and backbeats might initially suggest there isn't much here for jazzers, Cowley's sensitivity to dynamics and the conversational understanding among the trio deliver plenty of surprises. The opening, His Nibs, is a funky thrash, but Dinosaur Die is a hypnotic minimalist exploration that Tord Gustavsen fans might like. Ginger Sheep is like an oompah silent-comedy soundtrack with a reverie in the middle and a boogie at the end. Few ideas last very long, as if Cowley were nervous of boring his audience - and for improvisation devotees, that's a drawback. But the tunes are irresistibly catchy, and the group is as tight as a drumhead.

by John Fordham


www.bbc.co.uk - 27 March 2008

This is the follow-up to Displaced, British pianist Neil Cowley's 2006 debut disc. It exudes a strong sense of the trio having strengthened a particular style, even if this involves a grafting of traits enjoyed by e.s.t. and The Bad Plus. The latter's anthemic tendencies gush all over His Nibs, providing this album opener with a sturdy, nay bullying, illustration of power trio potentiality. Like many others who are having their jazz cake and eating it, Cowley is cleverly laying his classicist moves over a driving rock beat, with drummer Evan Jenkins forever threatening a fully metronomic conversion. He's always slyly funking up, besides adding enough fidgety syncopation content, so that the hardcore beatniks don't become too alienated. It's a successful approach, as pedantic music critics are the only folks who will nowadays still insist on all of this compartmentalising for rock, jazz, funk et al.

Call this pomp-jazz, canny but not compromised. Cowley likes to hammer, in the frilly-cuff fashion. Dinosaur Die builds up a rising curve of repetitive minimalism, then Ginger Sheep decides on a knees-up vaudeville romp, like a Keystone Cops chase theme. The evocative images remain for Clumsy Couple, which is suitably ungainly, painting scenes of a faded ballroom triumph, now a decayed memory. We Are Here To Make Plastic is an agitated combination of Motörhead bonce-banging and the rippling player piano monomania of avant composer, Conlon Nancarrow. Cowley's very usage of the term 'trio' when naming his band suggests that he's quite happy to be viewed as a jazzman. Only the hoariest old relics from within that scene could possibly object to the unsuitability of either his compositions or his chops.
by Martin Longley



Manchester Evening News
Rating: ****/*****

IS the modern piano trio a prog-rock Trojan Horse, infiltrating the jazz camp?

The high degree of musicianship is a given, but note, on The Neil Cowley Trio's second album, the soaring grandeur of His Nibs and the multicellular structure of Ginger Sheep, which starts as a crazed mid-European stomp and drifts into ruminative Impressionism.

Clumsy Couple, a moody tune, builds to ecstatic release, and the jaunty Captain Backfire teems with quirky detail.

This cool, geeky, sexy sound would be Air-style futurist if electronics had been used.

Instead, the medium is the acoustic piano trio, the basic unit of jazz. Clearly Cowley & Co know the histories of classical, jazz, prog-rock, electronica et al, but they heroically refuse to be bound by any of it.



Editor's Info:
The big success story of 2007 and winner of the BBC Jazz Award for Album of the Year, The Neil Cowley return with this much anticipated second release full of energy, adrenalin and wit.

The Blessing

multikulti.com
Debiutancki album post-jazzowej załogi z Bristolu, miasta, w którym narodził się trip-hop to nad wyraz udany krążek. The Blessing załozony został przez dwóch muzyków z podstawowego składu kultowej formacji Portishead, perkusistę Clive'a Deamera i basistę Jima Barra, można ich usłyszeć chociażby na najnowszej płycie zespołu ''Third''.

Oczywiście muzycznie The Blessing skręca w zupełnie innym kierunku niż trip-hopowe gwiazdy z Bristolu. Jazz-rockowa stylistyka została tutaj wzbogacona o post-rockowe dokonania takich zespołów jak Tortoise czy Labradford. Włączenie do grupy dwóch muzyków o czysto jazzowych korzeniach: trębacza Pete'a Judge'a i saksofonistę Jake'a McMurchie dało powalający efekt, muzyka zespołu pulsuje niewiarygodną energią a kompozycyjne pomysły Deamera i Barra [sekcji rytmicznej Portishead] nadają tej muzyce nowy wyraz, warto otworzyć uszy na takie dźwięki.
Krzysztof Szamot


Jazzwise #118
The rhythm section may be familiar from Portishead, but it's hard to imagine a band further along the musical spectrum than The Blessing. This west country agglomeration play with a verve and clatter that reflects the sheer relish of their playing. Songs such as 'Cake Hole' or the single 'Bleach Cake' are all rattling high energy and crashing bass, which leave you breathless, with Judge and McMurchie barely given room to spit out a theme let alone solo.

The Acoustic Ladyland/Led Bib vibes are nakedly on view, but The Blessing also have their own voice, not to mention a scurrilous sense of humour, lack of pretension and joy in playing that sucks you along like poor Toto stuck in the tornado. Nor are the band just bang and clammer: Deamer has a wide vocabulary and tough but tender dynamic range, while songs like 'Loubia' have an unexpected African mystery, 'Thermos' has an extended groove and the hidden 'Small Fish Pond' is lounge jazz gone wonk. Enjoy, and catch live.
by Andy Robson


www.bbc.co.uk
At last, a jazz-rock band that refuse to be called jazz- rock. They love food, they have links with people as diverse as Roni Size, Portishead and Robert Plant and describe themselves as 'jazz, not jazz'. Ladies and gentlemen, make room in your lives for Bristol's The Blessing. . .

Of course Bristol's always had something different in the water. It makes perfect sense that the Blessing's rhythm section has served time in Portishead (whose Adrian Utley makes a guest appearance here). That band's mixture of beats, torch jazz and full-on noise attack became notorious because it dared to ignore boundaries. In a similar fashion, the Blessing can be pigeon-holed as 'jazz', but there's so much more at work here. '60s spy movies, ska, surf instrumentals, mariachi vamping (Can't Believe In Faith), noise terror and even a touch of fusion (well, they can play in seven).

A lot of what they do revolves around some mighty riffing. It's all like the soundtrack to some hipster car chase; at once cinematic and still infused with a healthy dose of humour. Like other UK mavericks like Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland, this is music that's quintessentially English. Yet The sly references are never allowed to overwhelm the groove. This is music for head and feet.

Jim Barr's bass lines serve as both support and as crunchy lead instrumentation at times. The intro to opener Bleach Cake kicks in like The Attractions in 1978 and Clive Deamer's drums are as tight and springy or softly brushed as needed. Where they succeed best is on the numbers that take their time to evolve and finally break free: Loubia being the best example, with its eastern shuffle building from murmur to squall and back again. The trick's also utilised on the mighty Suzi's Suzuki, which manages to bridge the gap between Canterbury and Castle Donnington quite seamlessly.

While the odd combination of sax, trumpet, bass and drums may not seem like a likely place to start a juggernaut as playful as this, Jake McMurchie (sax) and Pete Judge (trumpet) manage to compliment each other wonderfully, with McMurchie happy blow free or simply maintain the riff while Judge coaxes any number of growls and squeaks from his horn.

Music industry types will struggle to market music as inventive and fun as this. But if you want a good time that doesn't rely on skinny boys with guitars or endless technical showboating, you could do a lot worse than buy this little gem
by Chris Jones



www.music-news.com
This Bristol based group of musicians will be most famously identified for their ties to 90's Trip-Hoppers Portishead. Drummer, Clive Deamer, and bassist, Jim Barr, have brought that same genre-welding, inventive mentality to The Blessing. Joined by saxophonist Jake McMurchie and trumpeter Pete Judge, they'll look to expand a new generation of minds with their new release, All Is Yes, and its accompanying tour. The band formed in 2000, and spent most of their time working out Ornette Coleman covers. This slowly evolved into creating material of their own, and when they finally hit the recording studio in 2006, they discovered a sound to match and expand on their diverse collection of musical tastes.
Cage The Elephant - 'A'nt No Rest For The Wicked'

The group's work is structurally unique, implementing the use of improvisation where a set of chords would generally be found. The result is as moody and atmospheric as any of their previously recorded material. The horns bounce joyfully, roll thunderously, and conjure images of all varieties. The Portishead rhythm section is back on track, in old form once again. Barr's bass entrances, changing pace on a dime; never out of step with the head bopping beats laid forth by Deamer. Whether a fan of Jazz, or of progressive music as a whole, this is surely an album to pick up, and live show to catch.
reviewer: Carl Capenter

All Natural

Editor's info:
Those who say, 'They don't make hip hop like they used to,' need look no further. On May 6th, Chicago's hip hop veterans All Natural, are back with a new album, Elements (Fire). 'Fire' is part one of a four-part series in which each album will represent a different natural element and hip-hop vibe. True to its name, Elements (Fire) represents hip-hop's aggressive boom-bap sound made popular during the mid-90s. MC cap D sets the album's tone on the initial track, The All , with an aggressive battle rap in which he shows that he is still on top of his game. On past albums All Natural has displayed a variety of sounds and flavors, however Elements (Fire) is 'in your face' hip-hop throughout.
The only exception is on the song Stronger than Love, a smooth and soulful track on which cap D kicks a classic story about the correct way to hustle. Another album highlight is Signature Flow, a rough reggae track featuring Chicago legend Grav who spits an ill ragamuffin flow alongside his friend Noyd.
Bringing new faces to the game is a staple in the All Natural formula. On the production side, 'Fire' places veteran producers such as Kev Brown (De La Soul and Raheem De Vaughn) and cap D (All Natural and J-Live) alongside newcomers such as Proh Mic, Kalico, Gee Field and Battletek. On the lyrical side, All Natural introduces labelmate Rita J (whose solo album, Artist Workshop, drops fall 2008). On the song Good Life, Rita and cap D define what 'good life' means in their eyes.
Other stand out tracks include, SomethinofNothin and Poppers Pop and Breakers Break (an up-tempo song that pays homage to the Windy City's world famous B-boy scene of the past and present).
In step with the b-boy vibe, the song You Know My Name features a video available on YouTube in which Chicago Phase II B-Boy crew represents lovely (http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=MGbymoQmKb0). Of course, you can't have a classic boombap album without scratches from the DJ, so Tone B supplies a variety of phrase and cuts for heads to reminisce.
For those of you who are familiar with All Natural's previous work, you will notice traits from their past albums. . .but don't think 50 Years, think Fresh Air and Thinking Cap.

Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra

Dziennik; 2008-11, ocena: * * * * *
''. . .Zachodzę w głowę, jakie używki aplikowali sobie Sun Ra i członkowie jego słynnej Arkestry, kiedy nagrywali ten album. W grę mogły wchodzić - bieluń, gałka muszkatułowa i belladonna. Bez względu na historię stymulacji, ich muzyka broni się sama. Wodewilowe tematy, knajpiane szlagworty, dziecięce songi skąpane w kosmicznym free jazzie - to może być tylko słonczny Bóg Ra! Do wielokrotnej kontemplacji. . .''
[Tymon Tymański]

diapazon.pl; 2008-09
''. . .''Some Blues. . .'' to z kolei płyta, o której krytycy wspominają stosunkowo rzadko, popełniając tym samym niewybaczalny grzech zaniechania, mamy tu bowiem do czynienia z wybitnym dziełem Arkestry, grającej w znakomitym składzie odpowiedzialnym również za arcydzieła ''egipskiej psychodelii'' - ''Cymbals'' i ''Crystal Spears'' (prócz dawnych współpracowników mamy tu także nieco młodszych muzyków, jak Akh Tal Ebah, Eloe Omoe i Atakatune). Improwizujący pod wszystkowidzącym okiem lidera, pełen ognia tentet prezentuje się w siedmiu odsłonach o bluesowym rodowodzie, choć przy tego typu klasyfikacjach należy pamiętać, że obcujemy z dziełem Sun Ra. Nie brak tu i swingu, i lirycznych momentów, i rytmicznych pochodów ku rozpalonemu słońcem sercu Afryki, i kosmicznych wzlotów w wehikułach wyzwolonej improwizacji. Jest nawet ujmująca, płynąca z głębin jazzowego undergroundu adaptacja nieśmiertelnego tematu ''My Favorite Things''! Wszystko zaś okraszone gęstym brzmieniem big-bandu i psychodeliczną wizją Sun Ra. . .''
[Daiusz Brzostek]
pełny tekst recenzji dostępny na diapazon.pl

All About Jazz; 2008-04
''. . .Pioneering bandleader Sun Ra recorded very few small group recordings in his lifetime. Those existing albums rarely focus on standard material, which makes Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue unique in his vast discography. Taking up where the Evidence label left off in the late 1990s, Atavistic's Unheard Music Series has begun reissuing some of Ra's rarest and most intriguing sessions.
Following the 2007 reissue of the iconic albums Strange Strings (Atavistic, 1966) and The Night of the Purple Moon (Atavistic, 1970), Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue unveils yet another facet of the wildly prolific innovator. Originally released in limited quantities on Ra's own El Saturn records, this 1977 studio album is augmented by a previously unavailable collective improvisation and two variations on ''I'll Get By'' recorded in 1973.
Among Ra's contemporaneous recordings, only Atlantis (Evidence, 1967), The Night Of The Purple Moon (Atavistic, 1970), Cymbals (Evidence, 1973), New Steps (Horo, 1978) and Other Voices, Other Blues (Horo, 1978) feature similarly stripped-down line ups, with none focusing on standards like this set.
Ra's take on standard material, as might be expected, is anything but. These slightly off kilter re- interpretations remain melodically faithful, while drifting into jaunty abstraction, unimpeded by rigid time signatures or conventional concepts of harmony and tonality.
A haunting reading of ''Nature Boy'' and an expansive take on ''My Favorite Things'' that features a stellar solo from tenor saxophonist John Gilmore, further cement Ra's reputation as an under-sung visionary and bandleader. Gilmore's progressive tenor excursions affirm why John Coltrane looked to him for ideas on modal improvisation.
Eschewing his usual array of electronic keyboards, Ra primarily plays acoustic piano on these old chestnuts, working intricately modulated variations from their classic chord changes and harmonies. With no bass player present on the majority of the tunes, Ra's left hand plies fractured bass patterns, laying down an unconventional, but swinging pulse.
The only non-standard tunes are the opening title track and ''Untitled.'' The titular track rides a swaggering bluesy clip over a languorous modal groove, while ''Untitled'' is the album's only free improvisation, featuring a gaggle of caterwauling horns and some especially turbulent tenor from John Gilmore.
Sun Ra rarely had access to exceptional recording technology, and while this session is no exception, it is typical of the time and entirely listenable. Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue is a welcome rediscovery featuring a devilishly askew take on the tradition, one can only wonder what the folks from Atavistic will uncover next. . .''
[Troy Collins]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra

diapazon.pl; 2008-09
''. . .''The Night of the Purple Moon'' to w zgodnej opinii wielu krytyków jeden z klasycznych, legendarnych albumów lidera Arkestry - pretendujący nierzadko do rangi arcydzieła awangardowego jazzu, także i z tej przyczyny, że jest jedną z nielicznych płyt Ra nagranych przezeń w kwartecie (wespół z Dannym Davisem na saksofonie i klarnecie, Staffordem Jamesem na gitarze basowej oraz Jonem Gilmorem na perkusjonaliach i saksofonie tenorowym). Ów ograniczony skład zjawia się tu nie bez przyczyny - otwierając przestrzeń muzycznych poszukiwań dla lidera, eksplorującego niestrudzenie brzmieniowy i improwizatorski potencjał elektronicznych instrumentów klawiszowych - przede wszystkim syntezatora Mooga i rokischordu. Efekt tych poczynań oszałamia muzyczną wyobraźnią, oferując zestaw krótkich, wyraziście zrytmizowanych utworów o niebanalnym i wyrafinowanym posmaku psychodelicznego jazzu (przywodzącego na myśl ''My Brother the Wind vol. II''). Surowy, lecz nie pozbawiony swingu, groove unosi tu elektroniczne improwizacje lidera przez kosmiczne bezdroża brzmieniowych efektów, konfrontując je okazjonalnie z oszczędnymi, lecz kipiącymi energią partiami solowymi instrumentalistów. Z tych interakcji rodzi się zaś wymarzony soundtrack do wyimaginowanego filmu science fiction, prezentującego futurystyczna wizję świata w stylu retro. . .
''
[Dariusz Brzostek]
pełny tekst recenzji dostępny na diapazon.pl

All About Jazz; 2007-09
''. . .One of a rare handful of small group sessions, The Night Of The Purple Moon is one of bandleader Sun Ra's most accessible and enjoyable albums. Similar in scope to side one of Atlantis (Evidence, 1967), Cymbals (Evidence, 1973), New Steps (Horo, 1978) and Other Voices, Other Blues (Horo, 1978); this stripped-down studio session is a unique example of Ra's wide-ranging artistry.
Dominated by the sound of the Rocksichord (or, in Saturnian parlance, Roksichord) Ra plays the newly invented keyboard almost exclusively, adding a pair of mini-Moogs to a few solo pieces. Recorded in 1970 at Variety Recording Studio in New York with three core Arkestra members, the original quartet album is augmented with home recordings from 1964 featuring Ra alone on Wurlitzer electric piano. With the original master tapes damaged, this edition is remastered from pristine vinyl, lending the performances a warm, nostalgic quality.
The funky timbre of the Roksichord engenders the session with an often humorous quality, which Ra embraces with aplomb. The tunes are all short and quirky, blending joyous swing, subtle blues, rollicking funk and raucous abstraction in equal measure.
With electric bassist Stafford James as his primary accomplice, Ra enlists faithful tenor saxophonist John Gilmore to fulfill percussion duties. Gilmore's utilitarian trap set accompaniment is subtle, but effective. Multi-instrumentalist Danny Davis relieves Gilmore on ''Impromptu Festival'' allowing Gilmore's lyrically muscular tenor to take flight.
Davis alternates between various reeds on half the songs, lending percussive support to the rest. His caterwauling alto sax eruptions on the tumultuous ''A Bird's Eye View Of A Man's World'' and burbling alto clarinet on ''21st Century Romance'' are tempered by his mellifluous flute work on the plaintive ''The All Of Everything.''
The briskly swinging title track and funky ''Dance Of The Living Image'' are driving ensemble excursions, ripe with Ra's boisterous keyboard antics. A wickedly deconstructed blues motif, ''Blue Soul'' is just one of a handful of Ra's unaccompanied Roksichord/mini-Moog solo excursions. The bonus cuts feature Ra's overdriven Wurlitzer conjuring hazy Gamelan melodies, with ''Wurlitzer and Celeste'' invoking an extraterrestrial music box.
A handsome reissue, The Night Of The Purple Moon is a welcome rediscovery and a fitting addition to an endlessly fascinating discography. . .''
[Troy Collins]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Sun Ra And His Astro Infinite Arkestra

All About Jazz; 2007-07
''. . .Emblematic of its title, this is one of the most unusual albums in the vast discography of visionary bandleader Sun Ra. In league with such classics as Heliocentric Worlds (ESP, 1965), The Magic City (Evidence, 1965) and Atlantis (Evidence, 1967), this obscure session focuses on similarly intense long-form improvisations. Originally recorded in 1966, Strange Strings is the culmination of Ra's most otherworldly experiments.
Pre-dating the comprovisations of Butch Morris and the game pieces of John Zorn, this is a classic example of Ra's conduction methods. With no rehearsal beforehand, (''a study in ignorance,'' Ra told his musicians) the results are surprisingly structured and spaciously uncluttered.
The only Sun Ra album of its kind, the title track and ''Strange Strange'' feature the entire Arkestra playing stringed instruments; ukuleles, banjos, mandolins, kotos, koras and more. In addition to the array of exotic strings, the ensemble features Art Jenkins uttering reverb-drenched mutterings, a huge sheet of tempered metal used as percussion, and a heady dose of intermittent reverb infiltrating everything.
''Worlds Approaching'' opens the session dramatically; thundering tympani announcing an ominous, droning bowed bass ostinato, unleashing a slew of acerbic solos from Ra's front line of horn men, with Marshall Allen's fervent oboe heading the charge. Reverb, distortion and echo oscillate randomly throughout the piece, adding a truly surreal quality. Typical of this vintage, the lo-fi recording quality elicits a folksy, music vérité ambience.
''Strange Strings'' and ''Strange Strange'' reverberate with dissonant texture and percussive clatter; the Arkestra eschews horns entirely, using the thrift store strings Ra acquired for them instead. Far less accessible than the opening tune, there is still a definite sense of episodic logic to these pieces. Similar instrumental groupings materialize with regularity, spurring on subtle shifts in sound. Punctuated by Jarvis' explosive percussion tirades, Ra's directorial hand in the proceedings is obvious.
Previously unissued, ''Door Squeak'' was recorded a year later. As the title suggests, it features Sun Ra playing a door with a squeaky hinge, accompanied by members of the Arkestra playing string instruments. Quieter, but similar to the previous cuts, it exudes a sparse alien sound-scape with Ra's hinge sounding uncannily Moog-like as it descends in pitch.
An anomaly even in the wildly unconventional discography of Sun Ra, this is a revealing listen for those interested in the furthest reaches of experimental music. For those unafraid to take the trip, Strange Strings will definitely take you places you have never been. . .''
[Troy Collins]
www.allaboutjazz.pl

Peter Brotzmann Octet

www.polskieradio.pl:80/muzyka/plyty/jazz
Kontrowersyjne arcydzieło, które wyznaczyło kanon europejskiego free jazzu, a zarazem pierwsza płyta, jaka przyniosła Brötzmannowi rozgłos. Wciąż brzmi szalenie groźnie i niepokornie.

Peter Brötzmann, choć obecny jest na scenie od ponad 40 lat, niezmiennie uchodzi za największego radykała free jazzowego saksofonu. Wyciągając skrajne wnioski z amerykańskiej ''fire music'' (jak mawiano w latach 60. na awangardę czarnych, nowojorskich pieców wolnej improwizacji), zwłaszcza dokonań Alberta Aylera, wykreował ochrypłe, nieokrzesane brzmienie oraz niebywałą intensywność i dosadność przekazu. Firmowana przez niego, wydana w 1968 roku płyta Machine Gun była z kolei najbardziej rebeliancką europejską jazzową produkcją swoich czasów (notabene dziś uważana jest za kamień milowy w procesie emancypacji muzyki improwizowanej ze Starego Kontynentu od amerykańskich wzorców). Jej wywrotowa wymowa przejawiała się nie tylko w wymiarze muzycznym, ale i ideologicznym (zwróćmy uwagę na datę powstania płyty; jednocześnie trzeba dodać, że antymieszczańska, kontestatorska postawa Brotzmanna jawiła się jako ekstremistyczna nawet na tle wydarzeń maja'68). Tym bardziej należy ją więc traktować jako ze wszech miar istotny manifest twórczej wolności.

Album rozpoczyna się od charczących, gardłowych fraz dęciaków (można odnieść wrażeniem, iż faktycznie imitują one tytułowy karabin maszynowy), które po chwili wypiera zmasowany atak 8-osobowego zespołu; poza liderem grającym na saksofonie tenorowym i barytonowym: Willem Breuker - saksofon tenorowy i klarnet basowy, Evan Parker - saksofon tenorowy, Fred van Hove - fortepian, Peter Kowald - kontrabas, Buschi Niebergall - kontrabas, Han Bennink - perkusja, Sven-Ake Johansson - perkusja. Warto tu nadmienić, iż niemal każdy z członków stanie się w nadchodzących latach ważną figurą europejskiej free jazzowej sceny. Na tle chaotycznych biegników, nerwowych akordów czy klasteów dobywanych z klawiatury przez Freda van Hove'a oraz gorączkowych kanonad schowanej nieco w tle perkusji rozpoczynają się krzykliwe i chrapliwe monologi, bądź zaciekłe dialogi (czy raczej przekrzykiwanie się) instrumentów. Absolutnie wolne podejście do wszelkich kategorii konstytuujących muzykę - do struktury (tu, w bardzo ogólnym zarysie naszkicowanej), przez harmonię, rytm, melodię, po kształtowanie frazy i artykulację, owocuje improwizacją kreującą paletę niestandardowych brzmień, układających się w masywną ścianę dźwięku. Co jakiś czas nawałnicę przerywa wycie aerofonów, bądź wyłaniający się z wrzawy nieco ludyczny motyw, zwykle jednak szybko ginący w kotłowaninie dźwięków. Chwile wyciszenia i różnicowania dynamiki zdają się służyć wyłącznie temu, by następujące po nich uderzenie zabrzmiało jeszcze bardziej porażająco

Nieposkromiona siła, huraganowa ekspresja tej muzyki, jej gwałtowność, żarliwość wyznaczyły poprzeczkę na długie lata. To jazz w swej najbardziej zadziornej, nieokiełznanej formie. Dla jednych doświadczenie tej muzyki będzie katarktycznym rytuałem, niczym spotkanie z teatrem okrucieństwa, innych zachwyci jako wyraz totalnej twórczej otwartości i afirmacji indywidualnej kreacji, a jeszcze inni (zapewne większość) - po prostu uciekną w popłochu. Tak czy owak - żelazny kanon i bardzo ważny punkt na ścieżce rozwoju zwłaszcza europejskiego, ale i światowego jazzu. A także pamiątka czasów, gdy wierzono, że nonkonformizm, krytyczna i zaangażowana postawa artystów zdołają zmienić świat.
autor: Łukasz Iwasiński

Peter Brötzmann / Peter Uuskyla

www.diapazon.pl
[. . .] Blisko 100-minutowe spotkanie starych znajomych (nagrane we wrześniu 2006r. w Szwecji) - pozostającego wciąż w genialnej formie Brotzmanna (tegoroczne koncerty w Polsce dowodzą tego najdobitniej) i jego starego kumpla ze Skandynawii - Uuskyli (najczęściej grywali dotąd w trio z Friisem-Nielsenem). Uuskyla jest dość specyficznym perkusistą (nie wszyscy za nim przepadają), albowiem jego gra wydaje się pozornie pozbawiona lekkości i polotu typowego dla naszych ulubionych freejazzowych pałkerów. Wszakże jego nieco ''kanciasta'' poetyka idealnie wpasowuje się z estetykę kipiącego energią Brotzmanna (nie chcę przez to powiedzieć, że on też gra bez polotu. . .). Ale dość tych ambiwalencji - dostajemy naprawdę świetny kawał rasowego free, składający się z czterech fragmentów opatrzonych tytułami, na dwóch dyskach. Absolutnie i bezwarunkowo polecam, zwłaszcza tym, którzy niedoceniają roboty Uuskyli!.[. . .]
autor: Andrzej Nowak

The Vandermark 5

multikulti.com:
Najkrótszym i bodaj najtrafniejszym podsumowaniem najnowszej płyty formacji The Vandermark 5 wydają się być słowa wypowiedziane w zupełnie innym kontekście przez byłego marszałka sejmu Ludwika Dorna - ''będzie tak samo tylko bardziej''. Owo 'bardziej' oznacza tutaj jednak intensywniej, energiczniej, dynamiczniej, drapieżniej. Zrozumieją to w pełni ci, którzy znają poprzednie albumy formacji i bywali na koncertach kwintetu. Najnowsza odsłona - nagrana w tym samym składzie, co ''A Discontinous Line'' i wydany nakładem krakowskiej oficyny Not Two podwójny winyl ''Four Sides To The Story'' - najbliższa jest - pod względem dynamiki realizacji i intensywności brzmienia grupy - właśnie koncertowemu obliczu. Dzięki współpracy z basistą Shellaca - Bobem Westonem - udało się uzyskać brzmienie jakiego do tej pory mogli zakosztować tylko słuchacze obecni na koncertach - każda płyta czy studyjna czy koncertowa brzmiała nie tak, kwintet tracił największe bodaj atuty, nie tryskał wszechrozsadzającą, rockową energią. Tutaj jest inaczej - już od dedykowanego Gyorgy'emu Ligeti ''Friction'', dodatkowo wzmocnionego rockowym riffem (podobnie jest w ''New Acryllic'') przez (na początku balladowe) ''Any Given Numbers'' po czerpiące z tradycji big bandowego jazzu ''Speedplay'' (dedykowane Max'owi Roach'owi) - wszystko to porywa słuchaczy w jakiś zupełnie dziki pęd czerpiąc z niezależnego rocka, jazzowej tradycji, free improv'u i muzyki współczesnej, i stapiając to wszystko w nową, spójną, nierozerwalną całość. Nieco inaczej zbudowane są ''Singpots'' (dedykowane znakomitemu fotografowi i ojcu wiolonczelisty Erica Friedlandera - Lee Friedlanderowi), ''Compass Shatters Magnet'' (dla Paula Rutherforda) - te dwa utwory przywodzą na myśl dokonania innej formacji Vandermarka - Territory Band. Chociaż w trzeciej części ''Compass. . .'' kwintet znów rozpędza się w wypracowanej przez Vandermarka formule - z rytmem zapętlonym przez bass, perkusję i barytonowy saksofon lidera. Zamykający płytę ''Desireless'' (jako adresat dedykacji pojawia się kolejny fotograf, japończyk Daido Moiyama) jest jakby płytą w pigułce, podsumowaniem tego, z czym słuchając albumu się spotykamy. Tym albumem Ken Vandermark nie dokonuje rewolucji, jaką był poprzedni album. Tam, po dwóch albumach silniej osadzonych w jazzowej tradycji znów odwoływał się do tradycji niezależnej sceny rockowej. Tutaj raczej udoskonala to, z czym mieliśmy się już okazję spotkać. Lecz czyni to w sposób absolutnie niebywały. Bardziej niż dobra płyta!
[Wawrzyniec Mąkinia]


www.polskieradio.pl:80/muzyka/plyty/jazz
Kolejna płyta bodaj najbardziej znanego i reprezentacyjnego projektu Kena Vandermarka. Choć chicagowski saksofonista całą muzyczną spuściznę, niezależnie od tego czy wywodzi się z obszaru klasyki, improwizacji czy też popkultury, traktuje na równych prawach, to - w przeciwieństwie do postmodernistycznego, nowojorskiego środowiska, które święciło triumfy w latach 90 - nie stara się prowokować programowym eklektyzmem, żonglować przewrotnie konwencjami i stylami. Wszystkie wpływy zupełnie naturalnie i szalenie błyskotliwie przekłada na język jazzu.

Podstawowym punktem odniesienia dla Vandermark 5 jest niezmiennie jazzowa awangarda lat 60. Można jednak odnieść wrażenie, że kwintet czerpie z tradycji w sposób coraz bardziej wszechstronny. Z płyty na płytę członkowie formacji stają się także coraz lepszymi, wrażliwszymi kolorystami. Najważniejsze, że muzyka brzmi wciąż świeżo. Album przynosi bardzo solidne, zadziorne tematy, oparte często na nośnych, nowocześnie podanych groove'ach, do tego rozwijane z nerwem, improwizacje saksofonów i nierzadko surowe, drapieżne partie wiolonczeli w wykonaniu grającego z zespołem od 3 lat Freda Lonberga-Holma. Są pełne ekspresji, niemal ekstatyczne wzloty, ale nie brak również subtelnego cieniowania. Wśród adresatów dedykacji umieszczonych w tytule każdej kompozycji znajdziemy wybitnych fotografów: Daido Moriyamę, Andreasa Gursky'ego, Walkera Evansa, Lee Friedlandera, Bernda i Hillę Becherów oraz, oczywiście, muzyków, w tym zmarłego niedawno giganta bopowej perkusji Maxa Roacha, czy Gyorgy Ligetiego. Jednym słowem, ''Beat Reader'' to wspaniała ilustracja możliwości akustycznego, mocno osadzonego w kanonie, ale zdecydowanie pozostającego w łączności ze współczesnością, wielowymiarowego, pełnego polotu jazzu.
autor: Łukasz Iwasiński

Fire Room [Ken Vandermark / Lasse Marhaug / Paal Nilssen-Love]

multikulti.com; 2008-06
''. . .Nie pierwsza to płyta, na której możemy usłyszeć razem trójkę improwizatorów - Ken Vandermark, Lasse Marhaug i Paal Nilssen-Love grali już wspólnie w Territory Band (4, 5 i 6) oraz norweskiej odsłonie Powerhouse Sound. Pierwsza to jednak płyta gdzie pojawiają się tylko we trójkę i w dodatku - w całym bogatym dorobku Kena Vandermarka - pod pewnymi względami dosyć nietypowa. O ile pewne noise'owe akcenty można było wcześniej w jego projektach zaobserwować (Frame Quartet, delikatnie na niektórych płytach The Vandermark 5, odważniej natomiast w Territory Band - zwłaszcza 4), nigdy jednak nie odgrywały one takiej roli i nie determinowały tak bardzo poczynań chicagowskiego muzyka. Tutaj nie obcujemy z noisem w formie czystej - Vandermark silnie osadza i ten projekt w jazzowej tradycji, odwołuje się do rocka czy muzyki współczesnej - ale jest to składnik, który zdecydowanie tutaj dominuje. Ci, którzy szukają mocnych muzycznych doznań na pewno nie będą zawiedzeni - obcujemy z muzyką intensywną i drapieżną, gęstą i rozwichrzoną, pełną dziwnych, generowanych elektronicznie (Lasse Marhaug), ale i akustycznie (niesamowity Paal Nilssen-Love) brzmień i zgrzytów. W tą dźwiękową i wyimprowizowaną zawiesinę wdziera się saksofon Vandermarka - czasem przecina muzyczną tkankę niczym nożem (Broken Music 1), czasem przejmuje kontrolę nad poczynaniami tria i narzuca swoją mocno zrytmizowaną, pędzącą wizję (When Water Burns, Broken Music 2), czasem tylko snuje coś na kształt melodii (noise'owa ballada Hand Lettered). Muzycznie ta płyta jednak świetnie się broni - trzy muzyczne osobowości wnoszą t,o co mają najlepszego, nikt tu nie dominuje - wszyscy są na równych prawach. Całość nie jest jednak tylko sumą umiejętności członków zespołu - dzięki wzajemnemu zrozumieniu, doświadczeniu, otwartości i uwadze improwizatorów obcujemy w muzyce z pewną wartością dodaną. Nie wiem ilu słuchaczy ten album zachwyci (mnie uwiódł), ale jednego jestem pewien - w obojętności nikogo na pewno nie pozostawi. . .''
[Wawrzyniec Mąkinia]

diapazon.pl; 2008-10
''. . .Z pewną taką nieśmiałością sięgnąłem po krążek tria Fire Room, bo płyta anonsowana jest jako mariaż elektroniki z free jazzem. Należę do tego grona słuchaczy jazzu, którzy są otwarci na różne eksperymenty muzyczne, ale raczej z trudem znoszę w tej muzyce elektronikę. Coś w mojej percepcji jazzu buntuje się przeciwko takim kolażom.
Czyżbym więc uległ jakimś masochistycznym podszeptom kupując ten tytuł. Zrobiłem to dla dwóch członków zespołu - Kena Vandermarka i Paala Nilssen-Love, których nagrania w różnych składach zalegają obficie na półkach mojej płytoteki. Nie należę wprawdzie do bezkrytycznych fanów Kena i jego licznych pomysłów na muzykę, ale od czasu do czasu zaskakuje mnie on jakimś świeżym projektem. Trzeci członek tria Lasse Marhaug udzielał się już wprawdzie w niektórych wcześniejszych projektach Vandermarka (np. Territory Band), ale na tyle delikatnie, iż nie pozostawił w mojej pamięci większego śladu.
''Broken Music'' należy do jednych z największych zaskoczeń na plus w dorobku Kena Vandermarka i spółki w ostatnich latach. Elektroniczne eksperymenty Lasse Marhauga na tym krążku są nie tylko bardzo strawne dla mnie, ale uważam je za genialnie wmontowane w całość muzyki. Stwarza to niezwykły klimat na płycie. Nie będę się wymądrzał, bo w muzycznej elektronice jestem zupełnym laikiem, ale takie proporcje jazzu i elektroniki są dla mnie całkowicie do przyjęcia. . .''
[Lech Borowiec]
pełny tekst recenzji dostępny na diapazon.pl

Larry Ochs' Sax & Drumming Core

All About Jazz; 2007-12
''. . .Known mostly for his work in the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, tenor and sopranino saxophonist Larry Ochs assembled Sax & Drumming Core in 2000, partnering his reeds with the drums of Scott Amendola and Donald Robinson, two other members of the Bay Area improvising community. Amendola has recently upped his profile in Nels Cline's unit, while Robinson was a longtime collaborator with saxophonist Glenn Spearman, including the Double Trio with Spearman and Ochs.
Up From Under, recorded on a European tour in 2004, is Core's second release, following The Neon Truth (Black Saint, 2002). The basic thrust behind the unit, according to Ochs, is as a vehicle for exploring the vocal tradition in African-American, Eastern European and Asian cultures, vis-a-vis the ''cry'' atop the drum choir. The title track employs a heavy, dual backbeat as Ochs digs in, panning his tenor voice in gutbucket honks and pulpit-shaking shouts. Rarely does a pair of drummers occupying a tight rhythmic space behave so complementarily, but Amendola and Robinson stir one another's pots with rounded sashays and devilish accents. Ochs enters in a brief and spare dialogue on sopranino with Robinson, exploring delicate patterns of tongue-speech before returning to raspy exhortation.
But as much fire and brimstone might come from the blues tradition, Sax & Drumming Core isn't all yawp. ''Dragon Fly'' is a dusky, pastoral piece, its lilting and wispy subtones intermingling with distant tub patterns. The clicks and pinched phrases of the higher horn are in full view on ''X-10,'' well-matched by percussive seesaws. The glossolalia Ochs employs on tenor become delicate minutiae of cadence and tone in between salvos of hot infinity. Up From Under presents a nuanced set of improvisations from the vocal-drum tradition, a refining of the art which is as much forward glance as homage. . .''
[Clifford Allen]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Drew Gress / Ralph Alessi / Tim Berne / Tom Rainey / Craig Taborn

Druga płyta tego wspaniałego kwintetu, o którym recenzent Diapazonu pisał:
[. . .] Ta muzyka wyłania się powoli z ciszy, wychodzi z cienia i z ledwo wyczuwalnym pulsem rodzi się nieśmiało melodia. Nieśpiesznie rozsypane dźwięki łączą się w jakąś biologiczną, żywą substancję. Kolejne nuty jakby się przeciągały, prostowały, prężyły nabierając coraz większej siły wyrazu. I dalej cała kompozycja zaczyna do nas przemawiać w coraz bardziej złożony i dynamiczny sposób. [. . .]. - fragment recenzji ich poprzedniej płyty '7 Black Butterflies'.



All About Jazz; 2007-12
''. . .Bassist Drew Gress returns with the same group from 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition, 2005), but The Irrational Numbers is more than a logical continuation of Butterflies' postmodern lyricism. Instead, it's an album of more vivid extremes, ranging from detailed writing to even freer improvisational exchanges and an overall greater sense of adventure. Not that Butterflies was anything but intrepid, but Numbers ups the ante with ten Gress originals, proving the old adage about being the sum total of one's experiences.
The majority of Numbers grooves in a way that references both Dress' inestimable experience in the modern mainstream with artists including pianists Fred Hersch and Marc Copland, and his left of center work with The Claudia Quintet and trumpeter Dave Douglas, amongst others. But there are periods of completely free improvisation, as in the center of the twelve-minute ''Neopolitan'' where, along with altoist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Tom Rainey, Gress explores a kind of extended, jagged angularity rarely heard on Butterflies. It's no surprise, considering Gress' participation in the free improv collective Paraphrase with Berne and Rainey, but it is remarkable how the group finds its way from a very unfettered place to the sophisticated time and changes-based underpinning of Gress' thematically constructed solo.
Gress's resonant voice plays an even more dominant role as soloist and contrapuntal partner this time around. ''Bellwether'' is a sophisticated orchestral miniature, tinged with subtle electronics and Gress' leading voice, while the rhythmically knotty ''Chevelle'' is propelled by Rainey's undeniable pulse and a brief but idiosyncratically dissonant theme from Berne and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. Taborn's spare solo is countered by Gress' more energetic take, with Alessi finding the middle ground before leading into a through-composed ending where the pulse relaxes and Gress' contemporary melodism becomes more evident, with Taborn the angular foil to Berne and Alessi's consonance.
''Fauxjobim'' may not directly reference its namesake, but it is more relaxed, as Gress' melody interweaves with Berne and Alessi's languid lines. Taborn, an encyclopedic stylist who always retains an unmistakable voice, delivers yet another solo that stands out in its complete avoidance of grandstanding, setting the stage for an in tandem solo by the ever-inventive Berne and Alessi. In contrast with his own recordings, it's an ear-opener to hear Berne solo with such direct simplicity and unadorned melodic intent.
''By Far,'' one of Gress' most darkly beautiful pieces to date, is a brooding ballad where the form never completely dissolves, but ebbs and flows with the quintet's open-ended simpatico. ''True South,'' with Taborn's nearly two-minute opening solo, a brief but fiery exchange between Rainey and Alessi augmented by co-producer David Torn's sonic magic, and a dirge-like theme leading into Gress' electronic coda, may be inspired by John Philip Souza, but one would be hard-pressed to find a direct link.
He may be best known as a sideman of rare stylistic flexibility, but with The Irrational Numbers Gress continues to prove his worth as a composer and bandleader of increasing significance. . .''
[John Kelman]
www.allaboutjazz.com

Henry Rollins Band

Opis Wydawcy:
Wznowienie pierwszej studyjnej płyty Henry Rollins Band nagranej w 1987 roku uzupełnione teraz o cztery koncertowe utwory nagrane Kortrijk, Belgia, wrzesień 1987.



henryrollins.pl
Niedługo po tym, jak rozpadło się Black Flag, Henry postanowił wrócić na scenę muzyczną. Razem z gitarzystą Chris'em Haskett'em (przyjacielem Rollinsa z Waszyngtonu), basistą Berni'em Wandell'em i perkusistą Mick'iem Green'em nagrał Hot Animal Machine (album opisany jako solowe wydawnictwo Henry'ego, z okładką zrobioną przez Mark'a Mothersbaugh'a) i Drive-By Shootings (pod szyldem Henrietta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters). Muzyka była podobna do tej, którą tworzyło Black Flag, chociaż skłaniała się odrobinę bardziej ku heavy metalowi i jazzowi.

Niedługo później, Henry zdecydował się założyć Rollins Band, z Haskett'em, basistą Andrew Weiss'em i perkusitą Sim'em Cain'em (Weiss i Cain wcześniej grali z Gone, zespołem zajmującym się instrumentalnym rockiem, założonym przez gitarzystę i założyciela Black Flag, Greg'iem Ginn'em). Theo Van Rock, który zajmował się brzmieniem zespołu, był często wymieniany jako jego członek.

Weiss został wyrzuony podczas trasy koncertowej po wydaniu albumu End Of Silence, zastąpił go jazzowo-funkowy basista Melvin Gibbs. Ten skład Rollins Band miał najwięcej jazzowych inspiracji, w końcu Gibbs zaczynał swoją muzyczną karierę w jazzowym zespole Ronald'a Shannon'a Jackson'a, również obsesja Henry'ego na punkcie Miles'a Davis'a miała wpływ na brzmienie muzyki RB.
Ich pierwszy teledysk z albumu Weight wydanego w 1994 roku, schizofreniczny 'Liar', był wielkim hitem na MTV (Henry występował w nim w różnych kostiumach, m.in. jako zakonnica, policjant czy superman). RB pojawił się na Woodstock'u w 1994 roku, a Henry brał udział w wielu programach MTV.
W 1997 Rollins Band podpisał kontakt z wytwórnią Dreamworks, która wydała ich album Come In And Burn. Płyta nie odniosła takiego sukcesu jak Weight, więc zespół zrobił przerwę w działaniu.

Niedługo później, Rollins zastąpił dotychczasowy skład RB rockowym zespołem Mother Superior. W 2000 roku wydali Get Some Go Again, a w 2001 Nice. Ten skład zespołu był dużo bardziej hard-rockowy.

Całkiem niedawno pojawiły się plotki o reaktywacji zespołu w składzie Rollins, Haskett, Gibbs, Cain.


Editor's info:
Life Time is the first studio record by the Rollins Band. We did our first practice on 04-07-87 and went out on a long tour of America and Europe. On the road we wrote songs and put them into the set. By late October we finished the shows in London, UK. We went up to Leeds where Chris had a place to live and booked studio time at the same place that he and I did the Hot Animal Machine recordings a year before. I had no producer for this record and feared that since everyone in the band had strong opinions on how it all should be done that if we tried to do it ourselves we would do more harm than good. I called Ian MacKaye and asked for help. He got on a plane and came right out. That's Ian. We got straight to work as we had little time or money. All twelve songs were cut and mixed in a few days. We would do a take and Ian would tell us that it was good and we were moving on. When someone would say that they wanted to do it over again, he listened patiently and then asked again which song we wanted to do next. We got it all done and dragged it back to America for about 3,200 dollars. My, how things have changed. The album cover was drawn on the back of a diner place mat by Stephen Myers as a gift for my then roommate Laura. Only the offset reproduction of the piece remains as the original went with her when she gave up her room. She shot herself a few years ago. Special thanks to Ian for coming to the rescue on such short notice. Thanks to you for checking this out. -- Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins stał się sławny jako wokalista punkowego zespołu Black Flag, później zaczął wydawać swoje autorskie wykłady/monologi (tzw. spoken word shows), oraz książki. Założył własny zespół - Rollins Band.
Zagrał w kilku filmach, brał udział w wielu programach MTV, prowadzi też swój własny program w telewizji IFC. Ma własną wytwórnię muzyczną i wydawnictwo 2.13.61 records.

Pierwszy album nie zawierający muzyki, a opowiadania i anegdoty Henry wydał w 1987 roku.
Od tego czasu oprócz koncertowania ze swoimi zespołami jeździ w trasy podczas których występuje z własnie takim repertuarem. Podczas swoich spoken word shows, Henry mówi o wszystkim. Ma swój specyficzny sposób patrzenia na świat i właśnie o tym opowiada. O swoim życiu, swoich relacjach z innymi ludźmi, amerykańskim stylu życia, uczuciach, ale też o polityce i innych zupełnie poważnych sprawach.
Każdy występ podczas danej trasy jest unikalny, tematy się nie powtarzają.

Henry Rollins, charyzmatyczny amerykański wokalista i frontman grupy Rollins Band, wydał nowy album ''A Rollins In The Wry''.

Wydawnictwo z serii płyt zawierających słowne wystąpienia i wykłady Rollinsa zawiera materiał zarejestrowany w Los Angeles, w 1999 roku.



Editor's info:
I remember cold water being splashed on my face and the harsh light of a bare bulb burning my eyes. I looked down and saw my arms had been duct-taped to the chair. I relaxed, it was just another 'meeting with management.' My manager, Richard 'he'll do it' Bishop, then said, 'My Gulfstream needs new carpeting. I have booked a series of talking shows for you at Luna Park here in town, one night a week for the next nine weeks. This will be good for you. These stiffs will think you really care.' 'But, I'm exhausted from nonstop touring and working on your property, pruning your orange groves, picking grapes in your vineyard. Please, I'm low on material, let me rest.' A large shape moved to my left, I caught the back of a hand across my face. 'You'll do what I say or I'll move that cardboard box you're living in further downtown!' I was removed from the office and hurled out onto the street, signaling the end of the meeting. The resulting CD is taken from a few of the aforementioned nights at the wonderful Luna Park. Thanks for listening. -- Henry

Bocconi Jazz Business Unit

Antonio Farao Quartet

Stefano Maltese

Bansigu Big Band

Capurro Claudio

Toni Germani

Giovanni Falzone / Contemporary Orchestra

Guido Manusardi Quartet

Bob Gullotti / Leo Genovese / Dave Zinno

Greg Burk Quartet

Umberto Petrin / Jean-Luc Cappozzo

Nobu Stowe / Lee Pembleton

Carla Marciano 4tet

Tiziano Tononi & The Ornettians