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Saturday, August 30, 2025

Lampen - Würgeengel (We Jazz Records, 2025)

Saturday, August 30, 2025    1 comment


By Martin Schray

I do have a soft spot for guitar/drum duos. For Derek Bailey/Paul Motian, Masahiko Togashi/Masayuki Takayanagi, Tashi Dorji/Tyler Damon, William Hooker/Thurston Moore, and - not to forget - the wonderful Xenofox (Olaf Rupp/Rudi Fischerlehner). Lampen (Kalle Kalima on guitar and Tatu Rönkkö on drums) is also part of that list. “Würgeengel," named after Luis Bunuel’s surrealist film drama (the word is the German translation for El ángel exterminador), is a mini-album consisting solely of the eponymous song, and it's a little masterpiece. Following on from their second album Halogen the two Finnish musicians have now shifted the style of their music from a more pro-rock-ish approach to atmospheric ambient sounds. Kallima’s guitar literally floats through the piece, it’s full of delicate arpeggios, harmonics, tender feedbacks and notes fading into thin air. There’s no display of technique whatsoever; it’s just a celebration of the beauty of the sound. Bill Frisell must have been looking around the corner during the recording.

The whole thing is supported by Tatu Rönkkö’s dark drums, which are also less interested in rhythms than in sound. Only few bright cymbals, hi-hat and snare drum sounds are to be found, instead a lot of work is done with mallets, there are lots of trills and crescendos. It’s as if you were looking for shelter in a stalactite cave and the thunderstorm slowly moves away, but the wind is still whistling through the rock formations. Only at the end, after eight minutes, does the improvisation swell a little, but just briefly, to allow even more time for expansive chords and tones. 

Music for taking off, winding down, meditating, chilling out. Definitely the surprise of the last few months.

Lampen’s Würgeengel is available as a download. You can listen to it and buy it here: https://wejazzrecords.bandcamp.com/album/w-rgeengel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Monday, August 25, 2025

Wheelhouse - House and Home (Aerophonic Records, 2025)

Monday, August 25, 2025    No comments

By Martin Schray

Dave Rempis has produced a lot of music recently, averaging four or five albums per year. Therefore, it’s not easy to maintain the excitement for the music and to surprise his listeners. Living in Chicago, Rempis naturally benefits from first-class fellow musicians and a series of well-rehearsed bands (think of Ballister, Kuzu, and the Rempis Percussion Quartet). With House and Home he has revived another long-standing project - namely Wheelhouse, his trio with Nate McBride (bass) and Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone). Their album Boss Of The Plains, released in 2013 as one of the first two releases from the then-fledgling Aerophonic label, is now considered a modern classic of the Chicago free jazz scene.

But while the aforementioned projects toured regularly and also recorded albums constantly, Wheelhouse only made this one recording. There have been many reasons for this: On the one hand, Nate McBride returned from Chicago to Boston to work as a carpenter, contractor, and business manager (there is hardly any money in free jazz, as we all know). He also wanted to spend more time with his family. Adasiewicz, on the other hand, achieved international recognition beyond Chicago (excellent vibraphonists are rare), especially in Peter Brötzmann’s quartet with John Edwards (bass) and Steve Noble (drums). Yet, he also withdrew from the music business a little to pursue similar life goals as Nate McBride.

However, the trio’s connection never completely broke off. Rempis and McBride remained in contact and met for performances in Boston, when the saxophonist was in the area. And during Adasiewicz’s hiatus, Rempis was one of the few people who could persuade him to play live occasionally. When the vibraphonist returned to regular performances in 2022, the two began collaborating in various contexts in Chicago, including their outstanding quartet with Joshua Abrams and Tyler Damon, which culminated in Propulsion (Aerophonic, 2024).

In early 2024, Dave Rempis finally had the idea of a reunion. During a short concert series in Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee, they played together as if there had never been a break. It seemed as if there were still the regular long rehearsals in Adasiewicz’s attic or McBride’s living room, as if they were still cooking together, discussing, spending time with each other’s families - only that in between there were lives that had been lived, which had left their marks and opened up new perspectives.

The opening seconds of the first track, “Stash”, are reminiscent of a radio play (with Adasiewicz’s dreamy vibraphone layers), and the trio’s chamber music-like approach has not faded over the years, distinguishing it from Rempis’s other bands. However, the saxophone lines and bowed bass lend the piece a delicate darkness. The underlying mood is maintained throughout the entire 60 minutes, even though Rempis sprinkles in nervous escapades here and there (“Rising Sun,” “Gingerbread“). McBride and Adasiewicz unerringly catch him again. A highlight is the last piece, “Arrest,” which brings together all the qualities of the band. The revelry in melodies, Rempis’s reference to Trane’s spirituality, Adasiewicz’s atmospheric chords, and the soothing down-to-earthness of McBride’s bass. Despite all this, a certain strangeness and roughness is never forgotten. It feels like a dream that reminds you how beautiful so-called free jazz can be. It’s just a shame that it ends so abruptly.

The fact that Wheelhouse are back is a story, which is actually too good to be true. Enjoy it. You don’t know how long it takes until they record again.

House and Home is available on vinyl, as a CD and as a download. You can listen to it and order it here:

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Monday, January 13, 2025

Dave Rempis / Jason Adasiewicz / Joshua Abrams / Tyler Damon -Propulsion (Aerophonic Records, 2024)

Monday, January 13, 2025    No comments

By Martin Schray

I recently bought Ballister’s self-released debut Bastard String (from 2011), an album that is relatively rare. After listening to it for the first time, I was amazed at how much Dave Rempis still sounded like Peter Brötzmann back then. And it’s even more astonishing how varied his playing has become over the years. This can be recognised very well on his new album Propulsion. The band presents Rempis on saxophones (as usual), vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, who is known for his work with the aforementioned Peter Brötzmann, bassist Joshua Abrams (of Natural Information Society fame) and Rempis’s long-term musical partner Tyler Damon on drums.

From the very first note it’s remarkable how melodic and spiritual Propulsion is. This becomes particularly clear on “Egression“, the second track. Rempis begins with a minimalist solo, with Abrams lingering on a monotonous riff in the background (something he also likes to do with Natural Information Society), which remains dry as dust and thus forms a clear contrast to Rempis’s vibrato-laden sound and the extremely high registers the saxophonist uses here. In the second part, the rhythm section pushes Rempis up a mountain, from where his full sound then floods the land below in the most marvellous way. He sounds like Trane in his late phase, less gospel-like, more controlled instead, but just as passionate and heart-warming. The liner notes say that “this recording also catches the band at a moment of major emotional impact“, which might explain said emotionality. Propulsion also “documents the final concert of more than 900 shows that Rempis curated and produced as part of a weekly Thursday-night series of jazz and improvised music that stretched for more than twenty-one years from 2002-2023.“ This band therefore not only represents the four individual musicians, but is also representative of the state of the art of the Chicago scene. The music is not an “Ephemera“, as the third and final track is called, but a promise of what is yet to come. It’s the music of another America, not that of the neoliberal populists, but that of John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and Joe McPhee. We will need it. Perhaps more than we realize.

You can buy and listen to Propulsion here:

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Sunday, July 7, 2024

Dave Rempis - Sunday Interview

Sunday, July 07, 2024    No comments

Photo by Cristina Marx/Photomusix

  1. What is your greatest joy in improvised music?

    To me it’s the combination of physicality in the playing and finding ways to truly be in the moment in the deepest sense. But that also combines with intelligence, wit, and strategic thinking. The best improvisers to are ones who don’t just “play what they feel” at a given point in time, but can actually recall the motifs, forms, and structures that have developed over the course of a piece, whether it’s 5 minutes or 90 minutes. They then make decisions based on that knowledge, which is a whole lot to balance at once – playing an instrument, dealing with the immediate input from other musicians, and navigating and contributing to the longer-term compositional elements of a piece. Seeing a band who can do all of those things at the same time is truly exhilarating. 

  2. What quality do you most admire in the musicians you perform with?

    A commitment to the music, no matter what the context. Whether you’re playing on a big festival stage, or a quiet Monday night at a bookstore in your hometown. I admire the folks who take every situation with the same level of seriousness and find ways to make a contribution to the music every time.

  3. Which historical musician/composer do you admire the most?

    There are so many, I don’t know where to begin. I hate top 10 lists, and desert island choices. I am who I am as a musician because of so many different people I’ve had the fortune to hear over the years, both live and on recordings. They’re all important to me and it’s the combination of all of those ideas, practices, and approaches that help make me who I am as a musician. 

  4.  If you could resurrect a musician to perform with, who would it be?

    It’s an interesting concept, but I wouldn’t be so presumptuous. That person may be quite happy where they are, or where they “aren’t” depending on your perspective. I’d hate to take the gamble that they wouldn’t be real happy to get dragged out of there and have to play with my dumb ass. We can always meet up later if the situation allows.

  5. What would you still like to achieve musically in your life?

    I’d still really like to be able to put together a large ensemble to record and tour at least once. But financial realities of this music make that pretty challenging unless you’re one of the anointed few who have grant or other money showering down on you from above. It’s challenging enough to make a trio tour work out ok financially for everyone nowadays.

  6. Are you interested in popular music and - if yes - what music/artist do you particularly like?

    Yeah, I like tons of different music. There’s no one right now in pop music who I’d say I’m loving, but there are plenty of folks across the years. I used to bartend at a couple of large Chicago rock venues when I was younger and got to see everyone from Prince to Bob Dylan to Slayer to Tori Amos. There’s great work in all different genres, it just depends on who it is.

  7. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

    Always a work in progress…plenty of things to work on.

  8. Which of your albums are you most proud of?

    As an improviser, I’m not sure that records are really the final outcome of something to be celebrated and analyzed and adulated. To me they’re very much more of a snapshot of a particular moment in time. The real work to me is the ongoing learning process of live performance across many years. With that in mind hopefully the most recent ones are the “best.”

  9. Once an album of yours is released, do you still listen to it? And how often?

    Since I run my own record label, and produce 90% of the recordings I’m on, by the time a record comes out I’ve heard it so much through the process of choosing material, mixing, mastering, double checking masters before manufacturing, etc etc that I generally don’t want to hear it ever again. That said, I listen once when it comes back from the manufacturer (or to several copies if it’s an LP) to make sure there aren’t any manufacturing errors. And then I usually go back about 6 months later once I have some distance from it to see if I still think it’s any good or not.

  10. Which album (from any musician) have you listened to the most in your life?

    Tough one. When I was younger it would probably have been a Coltrane or Ornette record, but at this point I’d guess it’s a Yusef Lateef record – probably Live at Pep’s. 

  11. What are you listening to at the moment?

    Silence. I just came back from tour and am enjoying a little space before I go out again in 10 days or so. I read a lot when I’m home, and I find it tough to both read and listen to music at the same time. It overwhelms my brain! I can’t wait to get in the van for this upcoming US tour with a new quartet called Archer with Terrie Ex, Jon Rune Strøm, and Tollef Østvang though. I love driving on the road, and those are the times when I can really listen with some focus, since I’m not answering emails or doing other admin work when I’m driving. There’s a ton of stuff on my list including a couple of new releases from my friend Mars Williams who passed away last fall, both of which just came out on Corbett vs. Dempsey.

  12. What artist outside music inspires you?

    My partner turned me on a lot to Piet Oudolf over the last few years. He’s a Dutch gardener/landscape architect who’s done a ton of major projects including the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago, and the Highline in New York. He has some remarkable concepts about gardening, particularly regarding the dynamic nature of his work, which seem very relevant to the music.

Dave Rempis on the Free Jazz Blog:

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Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Feldman, Daisy, Rempis - Sirocco (Aerophonic, 2023)

Tuesday, April 11, 2023    No comments

Mark Feldman – violin
Dave Rempis – alto/tenor/baritone saxophone
Tim Daisy – drums

A Sirocco is a hot wind blowing up from Libya toward Italy. I find it fascinating that a hot wind has a return address. It is also a movie set in Damascus, starring Humphrey Bogart who “meets destiny in a low-cut gown.” I am pretty sure the musicians had the first in mind. The second seemed to me to echo as I listened to this exquisite album. Every bit of Sirocco reminds me of a vast current moving from far away into my corner of the conscious world. To feel a hot, dry wind is to feel a thousand miles of strange geography on the surface of your skin.

The first two minutes of the first movement (OSTRO) oriented me toward the direction of the wind. It was the kind of spooky that is most intense because it is subtle and puzzling. Ostro is a southerly wind. The almost insect-like whistle-whine is eerie; it must be telling me something important! At just shy of the third minute, the violin drops down and the drums enter the conversation. Still the buzzing, and then the rapid warble increases as the instruments dig in and, one bit at a time, build up an edifice of evocative lines and surfaces.

At seven minutes in (a quarter of the first piece) we first hear a subtle pitter pat from the percussion that teases, reminiscent of water on rocks but revealing only that dry wind on the tent strings. Most of the first movement is given to solos by horn or violin that move in a vast space created by the percussion. Occasionally horn and strings encircle the listener as the drumbeat carries the two along that geography.

The second movement (BORA), like the first, is about twenty-eight minutes. Bora is another dry northeasterly wind, this one a cold blast on the Adriatic. Here a touch more narrative is detectable, bits you could hum along to, and even a little Hollywood romance in the violin lines. Don’t worry, the insect hum of the wind, the ripple of the air current over rough percussive ground, is always there. I think I liked the second movement better, but only because the first prepared me for it. This trio has mastered the art of preparing the ground.

I’ve had an ear out for Dave Rempis for some time. I can recommend The Covid Tapes, with Tomeka Reid, Joshua Abrams, Tim Daisy, Tyler Damon. I noticed Feldman on recordings with Ivo Perelman and Susan Alcorn. For Tim Daisy, check out this YouTube clip .

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Sunday, December 25, 2022

Free Jazz Blog's Top 10s of 2022

Sunday, December 25, 2022    25 comments

Winter Landscape with CDs, by DALL-E


I am assuming that by now you have heard about the surprisingly advanced writing capability of the ChatGPT artificial intelligence. My first thought (like I assume many others) was "well, that's it, there goes another irreplaceable profession." However, embracing my mantra of being the change that I fear, I asked the AI to help me out and "write an introduction to a top 10 list of avant garde and creative jazz recordings from 2022." Aside from that "experimental jazz fusion" quip (machines can be quite cold!), the AI did a perfectly anodyne job. So, without further ado, here is ChatGPT:
Welcome to our top 10 list of avant garde and creative jazz recordings from 2022! This list highlights the best of the current jazz scene, featuring a diverse array of styles, sounds, and influences. From experimental jazz fusion to free-form improvisation, these recordings showcase the overwhelming creativity of the jazz world. As you explore each of these recordings, you'll find something unique and inspiring in each one. So, let's dive in and explore the top 10 avant garde and creative jazz recordings of 2022!
Granted, ChatGPT isn't privy to all the nuances of our work here, so let me editorsplain ... below you will find the top 10 lists from the writers of the Free Jazz Collective -- the intrepid, open-eared engineers behind the Free Jazz Blog. From each list, the most listed recordings were culled to produce the following list of top 10 recordings of the year. Our rules are simply, anything that appears on a list must have been reviewed by someone on the blog (or by the reviewer personally, somewhere). So, you will be able to search for any of the recordings here and read a review of the recording. Our next step is to collectively vote on the top album from the list below for our top album of the year, which we will present on January 1st.
We also welcome your thoughts on the top recordings of 2022 in the comments.

Drawn from the lists below, the Free Jazz Blog's 2022 Top 10:

  • ATTIC (Rodrigo Amado / Gonçalo Almeida / Onno Govaert) - Love Ghosts (NoBusiness Records)
  • Christoph Erb, Magda Mayas, Gerry Hemingway – Bathing Music (Veto Records)
  • Eve Risser Red Desert Orchestra - Eurythmia (Clean Feed)
  • Fred Moten, Brandon López, Gerald Cleaver - Moten/Lopez/Cleaver (Relative Pitch Records/Reading Group)
  • Zoh Amba - Bhakti (Mahakala Music)

And now, alphabetically by first name, the top 10's from the writers...


Eyal Hareuveni

  • Ruben Machtelinckx + Arve Henriksen - A Short Story (Aspen Edities)

  • Kobe Van Cauwenberghe - Ghost Trance Septet plays Anthony Braxton (el NEGOCITO)

  • Gordon Grdina’s Haram - Night’s Quietest Hour (AttaBoyGirl)

  • Torben Snekkestad / Søren Kjærgaard - Another Way of the Heart (Trost)

  • Gammelsæter & Marhaug - Higgs Boson (Ideologic Organ)

  • René Lussier - Au diable vert (ReR Megacorp/Circum Disc)

  • Mats Gustafsson & NU Ensemble - Hidros 8 - Heal (Trost)

  • Paal Nilssen-Love Circus - Pairs of Three (PNL)

  • Gerry Hemingway - Afterlife (Auricle)

  • Satoko Fujii - Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams (Libra)

Historical

  • Brötzmann / Van Hove / Bennink – Jazz In Der Kammer Nr.71 (Deutsches Theater / Berlin / GDR / 04 / 11 / 1974) (Trost)

  • Brötzmann / Bennink - Schwarzwaldfahrt (Trost, Book + Disc)

  • Daunik Lazro / Jouk Minor / Thierry Madiot / David Chiésa / Louis-Michel Marion - Sonoris Causa  (NoBusiness)

Book

  • Markus Müller - FMP: The Living Music (Wolke)


Fotis Nikolakopoulos

  • Pat Thomas & XT (Seymour Wright, Paul Abbott) with Will Holder - “Akisakila” / Attitudes of Preparation (Edition Gamut)

  • Küchen/ Fernández / Kaučič - The Steps That Resonate (Not Two Records)

  • Agnel/ Butcher - La Pierre Tachée (Ni-Vu-Ni-Connu)

  • Dave Rempis/ Avreeayl Ra - Bennu (Aerophonic Records)

  • Leroux/Van Isacker/Vanderstraeten – Als Ik Niets Meer Van De Kano Zie (Aspen Edities)

  • Susie Ibarra & Tashi Dorji – Master Of Time (Astral Spirits)

  • Christoph Erb, Magda Mayas, Gerry Hemingway – Bathing Music (Veto Records)

  • Masked Pickle - 7 (Relative Pitch Records)

  • Rachel Musson, N O Moore, Olie Brice, Eddie Prévost - Under the Sun (Matchless Recordings)

  • Andy Moor & Tommaso Rolando - Sessione Pre Angiou (Torto Editions)

Historical

  • Masayuki Takayanagi, New Direction - Station '70: Call In Question / Live Independence (Black Editions)

  • Akira Sakata & Takeo Moriyama - Mitochondria (Trost Records)

  • Peter Brötzmann/ Milford Graves/ William Parker - Historic Music Past Tense Future (Black Editions Archive, 2021)

Book

  • Markus Müller – FMP: The Living Music (Wolke)
    For anyone interested in European Improvisation


Gary Chapin

  1. Mary Halvorson - Amarylis/Belladona (Nonesuch)

  2. Julie Tippets and Martin Archer - Illusion (Discus)

  3. Matthew Shipp and Chad Fowler - Old Stories (Mahakala)

  4. Daniel Carter, Ayumi Ishito, Eric Plaks, Zach Swanson, Jon Panikkar - Open Question, Volume 1 (577)

  5. Fred Moten, Brandon Lopez, Gerald Cleaver - Moten/Lopez/Cleaver (Relative Pitch / Reading Group)

  6. Ivo Perelman - Reed Rapture in Brooklyn (Mahakala)

  7. Tim Berne and Matt Mitchell - One More, Please (Intakt)

  8. Liba Villavecchia Trio - Zaidín (Clean Feed)

  9. Nate Wooley - Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes (Pyroclastic)

  10. Kobe Van Cauwenberghe - Ghost Trance Septet Plays Anthony Braxton (el Negocito)

Historical

  • Julius Hemphill - The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony (New World, 2021)


Gregg Miller

  • The Attic - Love Ghosts (NoBusiness Records)

  • Martin Küchen - Utopia (Thanatosis Produktion)

  • Matthew Shipp Trio - World Construct (Esp-Disk) 

  • Adams, Dunn, Haas - Future Moons (Ansible Editions)

  • The International Nothing - Just None of Those Things (Ftarri)

  • Pedro Alves Sousa - Má Estrela (Shhpuma)

  • Anna Kaluza & Jan Roder - Am Frankfurter Tor (Relative Pitch)

  • Wadada Leo Smith - The Emerald Duets (Tum)

  • Forbes Graham - Another Day, Another Vector (Relative Pitch)

  • Cameron/Horne/Flaten/Thomas - Place is the Space (Personal Archives)


Guido Montegradi

  • Bill Orcutt - Music for Four Guitars (Palilalia)

  • Pat Thomas & XT (Seymour Wright, Paul Abbott) with Will Holder - “Akisakila” / Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees) (Edition Gamut)

  • Rob Mazurek - Father's Wing (RogueArt)

  • Fire! - Requiēs (Rune Grammofon)

  • Thurston Moore, Mats Gustafsson, Stephen O'Malley – Born Without Word/At A Worn (Slowboy, 2021)

  • N. O. Moore - Llanfechain (Scatter)

  • Derviche – Murs Absurdes (Ayler)

Historical

  • William Parker - Universal Tonality (Centering Records/AUM Fidelity)

  • Soft Machine – Facelift - France & Holland (Cuneiform Records)

Keith Prosk

  • Jacob Wick - Standards (Full Spectrum Records)

  • Jessica Pavone - When No One Around You is There but Nowhere to be Found (Relative Pitch Records)

  • Fred Moten, Brandon López, Gerald Cleaver - Moten/Lopez/Cleaver (Relative Pitch Records/Reading Group)

  • Hugjiltu 胡格吉乐图 - Cycle 循环 (Dusty Ballz)

  • gabby fluke-mogul, Joanna Mattrey - Oracle (Relative Pitch Records)

  • Markus Eichenberger & Christoph Gallio - Unison Polyphony (ezz-thetics)

  • Kobe Van Cauwenberghe - Ghost Trance Septet plays Anthony Braxton (el NEGOCITO Records)


Lee Rice Epstein

  • Fred Moten, Brandon López, Gerald Cleaver - Moten/López/Cleaver (Relative Pitch/Reading Group)
    From the moment I heard this, I was under its spell. López and Cleaver are brilliant improvisers, and Moten’s poetry is some of the most evocative and captivating in recent years.

  • 2. Pat Thomas & XT (Paul Abbott and Seymour Wright) - “Akisakila” / Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees) (Edition Gamut)
    As I wrote earlier this year, this album is “deliriously engaging, frenetic and charged with a hot energy that burns brilliantly.” Months later, it burns as brightly as ever. I’ve listened to it dozens of times and will surely listen to it dozens more.

  • 3. Myra Melford Fire and Water Quintet - For the Love of Fire and Water (Rogue Art)
    A couple months ago, I caught Melford’s quintet live at the Angel City Jazz Festival. Already the music leapt from the speakers, and live, the quintet was every bit as energetic and delightful.

  • 4. Wadada Leo Smith - The Emerald Duets (TUM Records)
    Another banner year for the great Wadada Leo Smith, and the music on The Emerald Duets seemed like the peak amidst his highest mountains. Politically engaged, philosophical, and deeply felt, this set of trumpet-drummer duets is an instant classic.

  • 5. Eve Risser Red Desert Orchestra - Eurythmia (Clean Feed)
    I’ve been waiting for the proper recording of Risser’s Red Desert Orchestra since I first saw clips, shortly after the release of her landmark White Desert Orchestra. Its arrival surpassed expectations, textured and thrilling and fulfilling any and all promise.

  • 6. The Attic (Rodrigo Amado / Gonçalo Almeida / Onno Govaert) - Love Ghosts (NoBusiness Records)
    It’s impossible to deny Amado’s Refraction Solo (Live at Church of The Holy Ghost) is one of the all-time best solo albums. The Attic trio slightly nudged ahead on my personal list as they remain one of the most incredible free trios. Love Ghosts, recorded just before the pandemic, is all fire and heart.

  • 7. Survival Unit III - The Art of Flight: For Alvin Fielder (Astral Spirits)
    As mentioned in the liner notes, this was recorded the same night as McPhee’s final performance with the great Alvin Fielder. That Survival Unit III’s finest should be dedicated to his memory is lovely and poetic.

  • 8. Kirk Knuffke Trio - Gravity Without Airs (Tao Forms)
    A spectacular double album from Knuffke, Michael Bisio, and Matthew Shipp. Bisio is something of a connective tissue between Knuffke and Shipp, on their first recording together, but the comfort and ease the trio displays gives the feeling of a long-time conversation, inviting audiences to listen deeply and linger at length.

  • 9. Ra Kalam Bob Moses & Damon Smith - Purecircle (Balance Point Acoustics)
    Smith has a catalog filled with fantastic duos, and this one featuring the legendary Moses is truly exceptional. Each of them is a sensitive and inspired improvisor, and Purecircle is daring, rich, and dynamic.

  • 10. Daniel Carter, Ayumi Ishito, Eric Plaks, Zach Swanson, Jon Panikkar – Open Question, Volume 1 (577 Records)
    I’m not sure what I expected once Carter and Ishito teamed-up, but through Playfield and now their Open Question quintet, they seem to have unlocked something exciting in each other. I continue to look forward to anything they might be working on, and I really hope to hear more from this group soon.

Historical

  • Cecil Taylor - The Complete, Legendary, Live Return at The Town Hall NYC November 4, 1973 (Oblivion Records)

  • Peter Brötzmann / Fred Van Hove / Han Bennink - Jazz in der Kammer Nr. 71 (Trost)

  • Curlew - CBGBs, NYC, 1987 (Cuneiform)


Martin Schray
(In order):

  1. Pat Thomas & XT (Seymour Wright, Paul Abbott) with Will Holder - “Akisakila” / Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees) (Edition Gamut)

  2. Zoh Amba - Bhakti (Mahakala Music)

  3. Oxbow feat. Peter Brötzmann - An Eternal Reminder of Not Today: Live at Moers (Trost)

  4. Ballister - Chrysopoeia (Not Two)

  5. McPhee Marker - McPhee Marker (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

  6. Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin - Ghosted (Drag City)

  7. Zoh Amba (with William Parker and Francisco Mela) - O Life, O Light Vol. 1  (577 Records)

  8. Rodrigo Amado - Refraction Solo (Trost)

  9. Myra Melford - For the Love of Fire and Water (Rogue Art)

  10. Keiji Haino - My lord Music, I most humbly beg your indulgence in the hope that you will do me the honour of permitting this seed called Keiji Haino to be planted within you (Purple Trap / Black Editions)

Historical

  • Albert Ayler - Revelations: The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings (Elemental)

  • Peter Brötzmann / Fred Van Hove / Han Bennink - Jazz in der Kammer Nr. 71 (Trost)

  • Derek Bailey - Domestic Jungle (Scatter)

  • Peter Brötzmann/ Milford Graves/ William Parker - Historic Music Past Tense Future (Black Editions Archive, 2021)


Matty Bannond

  1. Georg Demel Quartett – Pale Blue Dot (Unit Records, 2021)

  2. Spacepilot – Hycean Worlds (Orbit 577)

  1. Taxi Consilium – Spiritual Car Wash (PMGJazz)

  2. Wolves and Mirrors – Wolves and Mirrors (Klaeng Records, 2021)

  3. Zoh Amba – Bhakti (Mahakala Music)

  4. Basher – Doubles (Sinking City Records)

  5. Adams, Dunn, Haas – Future Moons (Ansible Editions)

  6. Marta Warelis – a grain of Earth (Relative Pitch)

  7. Denis Gäbel – The Good Spirits Part 2 (Mons Records)

  8. Volker Jaekel – Short Stories (Jazzwerkstatt, 2021)


Nick Metzger

  • Andrew Cyrille, William Parker, Enrico Rava - 2 Blues for Cecil (TUM Records, 2021)

  • Tyler Mitchell featuring Marshall Allen - Dancing Shadows (Mahakala)

  • Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet - For the Love of Fire and Water (Rogue Art)

  • Ra Kalam Bob Moses & Damon Smith - Purecircle (Balance Point Acoustics)

  • Fred Moten, Brandon López, Gerald Cleaver - Moten/Lopez/Cleaver (Relative Pitch Records/Reading Group)

  • Isaiah Collier & Michael Shekwoaga Ode - I Am Beyond (Division 88)

  • Die Hochstapler - Beauty Lies Within (Umlaut)

  • Pat Thomas & XT (Seymour Wright, Paul Abbott) with Will Holder - “Akisakila” / Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees) (Edition Gamut)

  • James Brandon Lewis - MSM Molecular Systematic Music (Live) (Intakt, 2022)

  • Makaya McCraven - In These Times (International Anthem)

Historical

  • Cecil Taylor - The Complete, Legendary, Live Return at The Town Hall NYC November 4, 1973 (Oblivion Records)

  • Albert Ayler - Revelations - The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings (Elemental)

  • Elton Dean Quartet (Dean, Tippett, Miller, Moholo) - On Italian Roads (Live at Teatro Cristallo, Milan, 1979) (British Progressive Jazz, 2022)

  • William Parker - Universal Tonality (Centering Records/AUM Fidelity)


Nick Ostrum

  • Wendy Eisenberg – Bloodletting (OOYH, 2021)

  • I AM (Isaiah Collier & Michael Shekwoaga Ode) – BEYOND (Division 81)

  • Wills McKenna / Norman W. Long / Ishmael Ali / Bill Harris – Anemoi (Amalgam)

  • Joe McPhee – Route 84 Quarantine Blues (Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2021)

  • New Monuments – Language is the Skin (Torn Light)

  • Fred Moten/Lopez/Gerald Cleaver – S/T (Relative Pitch)

  • Mali Obomsawin – Sweet Tooth (OOYH)

  • Eldritch Priest - Omphaloskepsis (Halocline Trance)

  • Wadada Leo Smith – Emerald Duets (TUM)

  • URUK – Ame (Live at Artacts) (Trost)

Historical

  • Peter Brötzmann/Han Bennink/Fred van Hove – Jazz in der Kammer 1974 (Trost)


Paul Acquaro

  • Myra Melford - For the Love of Fire and Water (Rogue Arts)

  • Rodrigo Amado - Refraction Solo (Trost)

  • Samo Salamon - Dolphyology: Complete Eric Dolphy for Solo Guitar (Samo Records)

  • Anna Kaluza & Jan Roder - Am Frankfurter Tor (Relative Pitch)

  • Cécile Cappozzo Quintet - Hymne d'automne (Ayler)

  • James Brandon Lewis Quartet - MSM Molecular Systematic Music (Live) (Intakt)

  • José Lencastre - Common Ground (Phonogram Unit)

  • Patricia Brennan - More Touch (Pyroclastic)

  • Dave Gisler Trio with jaimie branch and David Murray - See You Out There (Intakt Records)

  • Colin Stetson, Billy Martin, Elliott Sharp & Payton MacDonald - Void Patrol (Infrequent Seams)

Historical

  • Cecil Taylor - The Complete, Legendary, Live Return at The Town Hall NYC November 4, 1973 (Oblivion Records, 2022)

  • Soft Machine – Facelift - France & Holland (Cuneiform Records, 2022)

  • Sam Rivers - Caldera (NoBusiness, 2022)

  • Peter Brötzmann / Fred Van Hove / Han Bennink - Jazz in der Kammer Nr. 71 (Trost)

Books

  • Markus Müller – FMP: The Living Music (Wolke)

  • Phil Freeman - Ugly Beauty (John Hunt)


Sammy Stein

  • Mats Gustafsson and Tony Lugo - Vertical (Superpang)

  • Tyler Mitchell featuring Marshall Allen - Dancing Shadows (Mahakala)

  • Sothiac Feat Paul Jolly (with Phase 3) - Superluna (33Xtreme)

  • Tamarisk - Plays a Word for Sun (Waveform Alphabet)

  • The Bad Plus - The Bad Plus (Edition)

  • Kobe Van Cauwenberghe - Ghost Trance Septet plays Anthony Braxton (El Negocito)

  • Ivo Perelman (and many others) - Reed Rapture in Brooklyn (Mahakala Music)

  • Sun Ra Arkestra - Living Sky (Omni)

  • MC3 - Sounds of The City (Phonocene)

  • Mats Gustafsson and NU Ensemble - Archival Series 002 (Self release)

Historical

  • Peter Brötzmann, Milford Graves & William Parker - Historic Music Past Tense Future (Black Editions Archive, 2021, recorded 2002)

  • Albert Ayler - Revelations: The Complete ORTF 1970 ( Fondation Maeght Recordings)


Stef Gijssels

  1. Rob Mazurek - Father's Wing (RogueArt)

  2. Wadada Leo Smith – The Emerald Duets (TUM)

  3. Pedro Alves Sousa - Má Estrela (Shhpuma Records)

  4. Lisa Ullén, Elsa Bergman, Anna Lund - Space (Relative Pitch)

  5. Almeida, Gibson, Melo Alves, Trilla, Vicente - Dog Star (Spontaneous Music Tribune, 2021)

  6. Joe McPhee, Jen Clare Paulson, Brian Labycz – The Mystery J (Corbett vs Dempsey, 2021)

  7. Torben Snekkestad & Søren Kjærgaard - Another Way of the Heart (Trost)

  8. Myra Melford - For the Love of Fire and Water (Rogue Art)

  9. ÜberMartin Küchen - Utopia (Thanatosis Produktion)

  10. Christoph Erb, Magda Mayas & Gerry Hemingway Trio - Bathing Music (Veto)


Stuart Broomer

  • John Butcher/ Angharad Davies/ Matt Davis/ Dominic Lash/ Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga - nodosus (Empty Birdcage Records)

  • Cécile Cappozzo Quintet - Hymne d'automne (Ayler Records)

  • Keiji Haino - My lord Music, I most humbly beg your indulgence in the hope that you will do me the honour of permitting this seed called Keiji Haino to be planted within you (Purple Trap / Black Editions)

  • hyper.object (Rodrigo Pinheiro/ João Almeida/ Carlos Santos/ Hernâni Faustino/ João Valinho) - inter.independence (Phonogram Unit)

  • Rachel Musson, N O Moore, Olie Brice, Eddie Prévost - Under the Sun (Matchless)

  • John Oswald, Henry Kaiser, Paul Plimley - At One Time (Improvisations for Cecil Taylor) (Metalanguage, 2021)

  • Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy (Eremite)

  • Eve Risser Red Desert Orchestra – Eurythmia (Clean Feed)

  • Pat Thomas & XT (Seymour Wright, Paul Abbott), with Will Holder - "Akisakila" / Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees) (Edition Gamut)

  • Nate Wooley Columbia Ice Fields - Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes (Pyroclastic Records)

Historical

  • Peter Brötzmann/ Milford Graves/ William Parker - Historic Music Past Tense Future (Black Editions Archive, 2021) (recorded 2002)

  • Daunik Lazro, Jouk Minor, Thierry Madiot, David Chiesa, Louis-Michel Marion - Sonoris Causa (No Business) (recorded 2003)

Book

  • Markus Müller - FMP: The Living Music (Wolke)

Troy Dostert

  1. Tyshawn Sorey Trio +1 (With Greg Osby), Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism (Pi Recordings)

  2. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double, March (Firehouse 12)

  3. James Brandon Lewis Quartet – MSM: Molecular Systematic Music - Live (Intakt)

  4. Eve Risser Red Desert Orchestra - Eurythmia (Clean Feed)

  5. Sélébéyone - Xaybu: The Unseen (Pi Recordings)

  6. Pat Thomas and XT - “Akisakila”/Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees)(Edition Gamut)

  7. Ches Smith - Interpret It Well (Pyroclastic)

  8. Zoh Amba - Bhakti (Mahakala Music)

  9. Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet - For the Love of Fire and Water (RogueArt)

  10. The Attic (Rodrigo Amado, Gonçalo Almeida, and Onno Govaert) - Love Ghosts (NoBusiness)


William Rossi

  • Keiji Haino/Jim O'Rourke/Oren Ambarchi - “Caught in the dilemma of being made to choose” This makes the modesty which should never been closed off itself Continue to ask itself: “Ready or not?” (Black Truffle, 2022)

  • Ben LaMar Gay - Certain Reveries (International Anthem, 2022)

  • Mats Gustafsson & NU Ensemble - Hidros 8 - Heal (Trost Records, 2022)

  • Christoph Erb, Magda Mayas & Gerry Hemingway Trio - Bathing Music (Veto, 2022)

  • Antoine Chessex, Francisco Meirino, Jérôme Noetinger - Maiandros (Cave12, 2022)

  • Wolves and Mirrors - Wolves and Mirrors (Klaeng Records, 2021)

  • Fire! with Stephen O'Malley and David Sandström - Requiēs (Rune Grammofon, 2022)

  • Wadada Leo Smith - The Emerald Duets (TUM Records, 2022)

  • Mali Obomsawin - Sweet Tooth (Out Of Your Head Records, 2022)

  • Mind Fiber - Ya Cha Ban (Dusty Ballz, 2022)




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Thursday, November 3, 2022

Susie Ibarra & Tashi Dorji - Master of Time (Astral Spirits, 2022)

Thursday, November 03, 2022    No comments

By Martin Schray

Those who, like me, only know Tashi Dorji from his collaborations with Tyler Damon or Dave Rempis (e.g. Kuzu) and Susie Ibarra mainly from her work with David S. Ware, may expect a hell of a ride on this duo album - and are then immediately disabused of their notion. Master of Time is more of a contemplative recording that places great emphasis on the percussive nature of the music. As a result, the somber dissonances on Master of Time are more elegiac and ethereal than iconoclastic. However, if one becomes aware of the background of the recording, this is makes more than sense.

In 2019, the Tang Museum at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York presented The Second Buddha: Master of Time, an exhibition about Padmasambhava, the eighth-century guru who brought Buddhism to Tibet. In addition to lectures and visual and virtual exhibits, the museum commissioned a concert conceived as a “musical bardo exploration“. Bardo here represents a kind of intermediate state, an inclusion, an inherent state of the mind, and is the name for the states of consciousness possible according to the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, in this world as well as in the hereafter. Susie Ibarra and Tashi Dorji try to give musical form to this state. Buddhism does not play a major role in the work of the two musicians (even if one might assume that in Dorji's case, since he comes from Bhutan), they try to represent this state mainly with the help of rhythmic structures. Ibarra, for example, has always been interested in indigenous Philippine kulintang music and therefore has used sound art as a means to address issues of cultural and environmental survival and renewal. Dorji came to free improvisation via punk rock, but has never abandoned the musical intensity and energy of that music. Thus, the differences between the two musicians’ styles introduce a level of in-between, as Bardo ultimately envisions: their grooves are intertwined and synchronized with each other, and dissolve as new structures are created. The LP includes two side-length excerpts from the concert (the download adds two shorter pieces) that explore the juxtaposition and disruption of these rhythmic structures. In “Confluence“ Dorji's choppy arpeggios puncture Ibarra’s airy sound and her rustling textures like the blade of a samurai sword. “The Way of the Clouds“, on the other hand, runs toward a straight minimalist groove that then shatters into guitar strumming like a glass falling on concrete, only to reassemble and rise like Phoenix from the ashes.

Master of Time is available on vinyl and as a download. You can listen to and buy the album on Bandcamp:

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Sunday, November 14, 2021

Kuzu – All Your Ghosts In One Corner (Aerophonic, 2021) *****

Sunday, November 14, 2021    6 comments

By Tom Burris

Expansion was happening in Kuzu's music before COVID shut the world down. The band was wrapping up a short U.S. tour right as the world's doors were being locked. The music that was created on the last two nights of that run, which the band members knew would shut them down for a long time, is documented on this disc. That openness, that expansion that was opening up their sonic world would be taken from them in a matter of hours – and often the anger, apprehension, and doubt about it all explodes in every direction. It's the sound of raging artists destroying their most advanced works in the face of an impending void because what the fuck does any of this mean now?

There is also a looseness that's not quite been this loose before. Yes, it's the comfort of playing with your brothers; but it's also the feeling of trying to ignore the tension that surrounds everything too. It's only relaxing on the surface when Tyler Damon does a lop-sided, lazy swing on the drum kit to Dave Rempis' slow reeding down the midnight 1970s Bowery sidewalk. Tashi Dorji throws in an occasional guitar pwang! while his amp buzzes. They're half of the Lounge Lizards on the nod. A little painful, but rest assured it hurts them more than it hurts you. It's the sound of DEPRESSION, full tilt. And then like Kaoru Abe waking up on a stage with a sax in his mouth, “Scythe Part 1” rips into the ether and then calms and then rips again, this time with a blinding, eye melting intensity that will have you feeling around your cheeks for blood and eye yolk.

“Part 2” doesn't provide much relief. Damon & Rempis sound like James Chance beating up Big Bird while Dorji chases 'em around with a hot fire poker. A drunk and bitter Tex Avery producing children's television. Dorji has the guitar fueled with far more distortion than Sharrock or anyone else even remotely associate with the word Jazz. He wrangles with an extra loose string underneath Rempis' overblown cries when things get winded. Out of nowhere, there's this image of Rempis thinking “fuck Chance; what if LYDIA played the sax?!?” Everything speeds up. The lights in the room get brighter, threatening to pop. But then the possession subsides a bit, with Rempis playing some sustained notes. The spirit trance hasn't been completely broken – and that becomes crystal clear when Rempis' fire music shoots through Damon and Dorji's house of mirrors like a flamethrower. Dorji's volume pedal dance combined with Damon's rapid clanging as the house burns down literally makes me dizzy.

At the point where Rempis is honking Morse code, Dorji plays with a radioactive device, and Damon beats the metal bowls covering the heads of electric chair death row inmates, it finally hits me that this is the most intense music the group has ever released. Then again, there is this artful spaciousness they've been crafting and attempting to present that nearly always precedes the chaos throughout. Maybe that's the reason the intense bits burn so brightly. Hard to tell. Even after multiple listens. Art reflecting the burning world, I guess. Hard not to do that when your ass is on fire. What you gonna do without your ass?

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Thursday, July 29, 2021

Dave Rempis with Reid/Abrams/Daisy/Damon – The COVID Tapes (Aerophonic, 2021) *****

Thursday, July 29, 2021    9 comments

By Tom Burris

2020 was a bad experience for everyone. And if you were a musician you pretty much lost your gig. Recordings don't pay enough to sustain any of our outcat heroes – and they couldn't get together in a studio to record anyway due to the unpredictable nature of a potentially fatal virus wreaking havoc on all of humanity. We know what happened next; and although it wasn't ideal it was still great. We got to see things we never would have seen otherwise, most likely. Highlights of the online streaming concert experience included watching chickens walk on processed sound sources in Aaron Dilloway's house and getting up close and personal with Dave Rempis in his practice closet in the Unity Lutheran Church in Chicago. A new and different world wields new and different experiences – and streaming concerts helped soothe and/or stimulate most of us in a time of need - players, promoters and listeners alike.

For his solo closet sessions, Rempis got back to playing standards quite a bit. It appears that going back to one's roots happened frequently for people during 2020. I logged more time listening to the Stones, Velvets, Dylan and old blues records than I probably had in the last 20 years. There's comfort in them there grooves. It's where I came from. It's home. So it's not surprising that Dave dug up the old standards to cope with the new and shitty world that was being heaped upon us and repeatedly made worse by a U.S. government that mismanaged literally everything in sight – and that also doubled down on the incompetence with red-faced belligerence whenever it was called out. Good times. My sincerest best wishes for the people of Brazil and India, who are still in the heat of it all. What can we do other than throw money at the problem? This could become an entire essay that would take away from the matter at hand – but we are all unfocused as the US and Europe slowly open back up to something resembling “normalcy”. Everyone I know is stressed and questioning almost every aspect of their lives. The one thing I think we can all agree on is that we should never go back to the way things were before. We should use this time as an opportunity for positive change. We could do worse than to use the model of the streaming concert as an example of how to cope – and move forward. Sound naive? Then you weren't there. Beauty counts. Kindness counts. Musicians and venues brought it and we paid for the experience in kind. It benefited everyone who participated. We got through (most of) the pandemic together via computer screens, which as I said before isn't ideal, but it's what we had & it did the fucking job. Now if we could figure out a way for some of these folks to make a decent living from their art... Onward!

Where was I? Oh yeah, Rempis and standards. These solo pieces are an absolute joy. Joe McPhee's “Knox” kicks off the first disc with a succinct introduction to the approach he'll take on most of them: long, soulful, sometimes mournful tones that alternate with perfectly timed blasts of inspired freedom. “Just A Gigolo” is played slowly and sweetly. Legato – not at all punchy like Monk's version(s) but just as effective. Rempis says it's an appropriate tune for his online performance hustle. Not sure I agree as it feels more like a gift than a business transaction. He flutters his way through “On Green Dolphin Street” like he was born to play it, constantly flowing between melodicism and free ecstatic lines of ornithology. The closer for the entire double-disc set is Duke and Strayhorn's “Isfahan,” which shows Dave's apparent love of the melancholy standard in blazing lights. It's a stunner. He could have easily compiled a solo disc of these, but I think I like it better in this format: solo tracks alternating with group collaborations. Breaks everything up nicely.

The collaborative tracks here were recorded at Margate Park in Chicago, with the exception of “Toron” with Tim Daisy, which was laid down at the Sugar Maple in Milwaukee. “Toron” is a standout, beginning quietly as a bicycle wheel's spokes are struck with playing cards (not literally) accompanied by a wheezing threat. Rusty squeaks and junkyard pounding follow, building tension until Jazzbo the Snake Charmer shows up for a slow musical poem before the snake dances its way out the hat. And what a dance! Daisy matches Rempis' loping, fast lines with precision and fire. Rempis gets a solo spot in the middle that is inventive as hell, free as the blazing sun – then Tim re-enters swinging like Klook, the snare accents so infectious you can't help but move your feet. They kick back and forth between swinging bop and unhinged freedom like it's nothing – and it's incredibly exhilarating. The remaining collaborative tracks have more of a bootleg feel to them, which works incredibly well aesthetically. The outdoor setting lends itself to a flat sound, but is perfectly rounded out by the environmental sonics that inevitably slip into the recordings. The trio that Rempis has with Joshua Abrams and Tyler Damon on “Skin and Bones” sounds like a modernized version of the classic Sonny Rollins Trio to me – and I'm not exaggerating. Tomeka Reid and Abrams form automatic chords effortlessly on “In The Wild,” which Rempis weaves swift lines above – perhaps an homage to the birds present that day. Cicadas attempt to take over by the end of the piece, and there is a natural response from the musicians. “Glitch” is probably my favorite of the collabs and features percussion wunderkind Tyler Damon. He takes a nice long stretch to feel his way toward an addictive groove before Rempis joins in, with Damon adding incredibly interesting variations on the groove. Clyde Stubblefield and ecstatic Trane. Then suddenly there is calm. Long notes from Dave and wind chimes from Tyler. Builds to an interstellar storm, but more BYG than Impulse. The last several minutes barrel out like absolute best of the freedom sixties. Superb.

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Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Kuzu - The Glass Delusion (Astral Spirits, 2021) ****½

Tuesday, July 13, 2021    1 comment

In her book In Praise of Risk, the French philosopher and psychotherapist Anne Dufourmantelle, who sadly passed away far too early in 2017, deals with the concept of suspense at a central point. For her, it means to hold your breath and to look with as much attention as possible at what is simply there, at what offers itself to you in the presence of things. According to her, suspension is not a standstill of time before the event, it’s the event itself. It’s the beginning of inner time, since the decision has in fact already been made, only no one has known it yet.

Compared to Kuzu’s latest album, The Glass Delusion, there are some interesting parallels. The band - Dave Rempis (saxophones), Tashi Dorji (guitar), Tyler Damon (drums) - feels its way forward with an idea of where the improvisation should go to, they stake out their field. In the process, the music resembles a conception that has become sound, that does not touch the ground and seems to refuse to take any direction. It’s perfectly open, it remains in an exciting uncertainty - for the musicians and the listener. Rempis and his colleagues seem to enjoy to dwell in this exciting position for as long as possible, because it forces them to remain tense for something unexpected that can happen at any moment. At the same time, it’s important to avoid prefabricated schemes, to stay as far away as possible from the big, worn-out gestures, answers and platitudes (as to Kuzu this would mean punk rock jazz). Rigid certainties must be avoided, though it’s still necessary to act. Yet, this state isn’t one of anxious or hesitant waiting. The music doesn’t have to point towards a goal, the state of suspension itself is the event.

The beginning of the first track “It Simply Becomes Jammed Part 1“ and the last track, “Gnash“, are perfect examples of this. They bookend the improvisation and the guitars flicker over single notes, the sounds pearl like shards of glass on the floor. The saxophone carefully feels its way from note to note as if it was lost in a timeless space, while the cymbal shots ricochet through the room and the drum brushes tremble like hummingbird wings. It’s like a sonic mirage in a desert. Yet, there is direction. Tyler Damon pushes the band relentlessly forward in “It Simply Becomes Jammed Part 1“, there’s a straight, irresistible rock groove. But it’s not the goal everyone is heading to, you’re rather reminded of a tense, exciting interlude. It’s the moment which is reminiscent of the former Kuzu albums - Purple Dark Opal, Hiljaisuus, and Lift To Drag. Here the band is as intense as usual, they are energetic, repetitive and straight into your face.

However, the real quality of this album is a different one. Compared to the Kuzu albums before The Glass Delusion the most self-reflective one. We get to know a different band, a tender one that displays the more sensitive and dramatic sides of their musical identity. Very surprising, very recommended.

The Glass Delusion is available on vinyl and a download.

It’s available from the label's website, where you can also listen to “It Simply Becomes Jammed Part 2“:

or from the Downtown Music Gallery.

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Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Fraser / McCowen / Weinberg - Thip (Tripticks Tapes, 2021) ****

Wednesday, May 26, 2021    No comments

By Keith Prosk

Contrabassist Henry Fraser, clarinetist John McCowen, and saxophonist Sam Weinberg play a contemplative, tensive chamber noise on the four-track, set-length Thip.

Fraser and Weinberg are a familiar duo that have established themselves as an apogee of the noisier spheres in improvised music, releasing Drolleries - with percussionist Jason Nazary and guitarist Andrew Smiley - and Foment - with drummer Tyler Damon - in 2019 and Grist with percussionist Weasel Walter in 2020. Thip is their first release with McCowen whose own gravitations towards noise can be witnessed in Two Energy Cops At 3 AM (for Bb) and parts of Live @ ISSUE Project Room (for contra) from 2020. Recorded in 2019 at ISSUE Project Room, Thip captures the cathedral reverb of the space and leverages it as musical material to become a defining characteristic of the performance.

The trio whines, screeches, and squeals, sometimes such a pure noise to be indistinguishable from each other, but with enough glimpses of the metallic chirp and chime of saxophone, the nasal wood of clarinet, and the coarse scratch of rosined strings to never totally lose the sources. Soundings are more often attacks alone in space - though with exceptions in each piece, the falling/rewinding lines of “Ayeda,” the tropical bird calls of “Arunae,” the percussive repetition of “Nur” - with relative sparsity and alien tonalities lending an unfamiliar and volatile viscosity to the movement that recalls the disorienting holy minimalism of Arvo Pärt traced through Maneri / Maneri / Phillips. Communication is contrapuntal, more often sounding in unoccupied spaces than together to weave its snaking lines. But the reverb and echo of the room eliminates any silence, extends the sounds, and chains the discrete noises to make a continuous pulse. It’s hard to pinpoint, but there’s an intonation in the instruments that suggests they acknowledge and incorporate the reverberations into the group, maintaining a density and dynamics in such a range as to always allow it and to never drown it out, seemingly giving as much play time to their echoes as to themselves.

There’s a bonus track of the trio with trumpeter Joe Moffett recorded in a park, with air planes, birds, and a whirring silence from portable equipment recording outdoors, but no echo, encouraging some sustained soundings and energetic interplay not heard as often in the ISSUE performance.

Thip is available digitally and on cassette.

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