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Unforseen
As It Was
Avaton
Ora 4831
Musical
syncretism is quite alright by me, yet, it has gotten to the point
where another didgerdoo floating in the background or Afro-funk extravaganza
from Paris, (etc.) is not likely to intrigue anymore. Then, for some
odd reason, an austere one sheet from Allegro leads me to encounter
this deep blue box, a mysterious little accompanying booklet, and
most of all, the melodic and unusual sounds appearing to seep from
the speakers. Closer inspection of the aural materials revealed to
me a group of Greek musicians mining both the depths of their environment's
rich and ancient culture and sonic modernism. What is distinguished
about the results reinforce the music's iconoclasm: no easy comparison
to anything I've heard before may be made. Avaton's music is unique
yet accessible, beautiful for its sound as well as its bringing through
time echoes of the ancient.
The Onliest
John Law
Free Music Records
38
Pianist
Law, who has used a sudden upwelling of new records to aid his burst
onto the creative music scene, gives us here interpretations of
Monk both as self-expression and as the 'score' for an exhibition
of paintings (by --- ) . Law is a painterly pianist so his Monk
is full of pointilistic gestures, juxtapositions of stroke and counterposed
densities, and sly turns and returns, all of it mindful of Monk,
but equally mindful of strategems more modern and less 'bluesy'.
For example, Ugly Beauty gets broken into and resorted according
to little chunks of motif that, in their recasting, become atomized
enough to suggest that the beauty is in the small little fleck and
the ugliness in how suh flecks exists with us unaware.
On This
Planet
Steve Roach
Hearts of Space
11082
Here's
ambient experimentalism with a twist: longtime purveyor of deeply
layered electronics and rhythm, Roach has this time around attempted
to unfold his sound 'live' using explorations in real time instead
of doing the same in 'studio' time. The sharper edges introduced
make the transitions cut more, synthetic effects are brought into
much more relief, and it seems the narrative lines, always a strong
element in Roach's 'program music', are much more taut than usual.
But, what has me wondering if this may be his best record so far,
is the high drama sustained throughout. The live concept seemed
to work to make this a much darker, more surprising record; masterful.
Red Badge
of Courage
Beat Angels
Epiphany 1018
This
isn't creative anachronism, (t'ain't creative,) but it is joyous
anachronism touched with a patina of the hellbent and fully informed
by a quartet of grizzled rockers who clearly enjoy plugging the
Gibson's in and cranking it way up. It would be oxymoronic to bring
up an idea as silly as 'the evolution of bar-band music', but the
Beat Angels, nonetheless, make friendly, noisy pop at a high level.
This record won't sell: anachronism being what it is, but it's far
superior to the joyless, cynical borrowing of pseudo-hellbent stuff
like Oasis or Green Day.
The Smile
of the Snake
James Spaulding
HighNote 7006
Hear Me One
Stanley Cowell
Steeplechase
31407
Two
quartets featuring the combination of piano and alto saxophone an
rhythm section, keyed by compositions from two of great Black music's
most resourceful composers. Both Spaulding and Cowell have for over
twenty years have honored the singular spirit of bebop by compositionally
indicating the greater river of music it comes from. Cowell's broad
pallette includes all sorts of fascinating harmonic twists, subtle
shades, and unconventional structures, whereas Spaulding is more
interested in variations based on the simpler foundation of blues
yet similarly has an ear for striking colors and unusual forms.
Both imbue their music with their generous spirits, and so it is
both records serve as fine showcases for newcomer Bruce Williams
on the Cowell, and the masterful pianist Richard Wyands on the Spaulding.
Beautiful bebop dances...
Alfagamabetizado
Carlinhos Brown
MetroBlue
38269
The
sound of this record does does not suggest producer Arto Lindsay
won any battles in favor of his delicately fractured take on Tropicalisima
because Brown turns out some kind of monsterish combination of,
musically, Gilberto Gil and Prince. This record of heavy Brazilian
pop is driven by knifing distorted guitars and Brown's favoring
a lurching brand of swing. This is a case where the lush melodies
are all that keep this record from launching an uneeded alternative
to Brazilian rock, otherwise this is a well-timed meeting of attitude
with amplifiers.
Land of
Baboon Volume 2
(va)
Baraka 004
If those
heretical desert assassins had started a record label it might very
well be like the Baraka label, and it might release transgressive
audio like ...Baboon 2. This is definitive illbience bent and bent
some more and then mushed by some sound equivalent of photoshop
filters: battered way past the labelism of trip hop, trance, dub,
or rap. Professor Shehab and Dr.Israel lead the way along a rode
which winds mysteriously from Fort Greene to um, Cairo. Be forwarned:
new age assassination.
Deep
Concentration
(va)
OM 001
X-Cutioners
X-Cutioners
O?
Relentlessly non-commercial within the fetid waters of the hip hop
mainstream, the D.J.’s and scratchers assembled herein are
committed to the practice of an ingratiating experimentalism which
doesn’t sacrifice the sharp hooks and inviting turns necessary
to achieve ‘the phat’. Still, this kind of romantic turntablism,
shorn as it is of all street cant, is unlikely to appeal to the
balling faithful, and for this kind of ill aim, may be considered
positively avant-garde, even elitist. Meanwhile, the X-CUTIONERS
are similarly disposed but even more austere. Here, on their hotly
anticipated debut, the wicked scratching of four DJ’s eliminates
identifable samples, and even the compressed raps seem to fall away
from the torrid syncopated manipulations. The cutting edge never
compares easily with the current state of the formulaic; these two
pyrotechnical extravaganzas are to Dr.Dre what Braxton is to, say,
Wynton.X-CUTIONERS
are similarly disposed but even more austere. Here, on their hotly
anticipated debut, the wicked scratching of four DJ’s eliminates
identifable samples, and even the compressed raps seem to fall away
from the torrid syncopated manipulations. The cutting edge never
compares easily with the current state of the formulaic; these two
pyrotechnical extravaganzas are to Dr.Dre what Scelsi is to, say,
Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Travelin'
In Soul-time
Mal Waldron
and Jeanne Lee
BVHaast 9701
I’m
twenty years into my ‘Jeanne Lee’ thing, and so it is
pointless to offer anything but a biased view: a seeming high point
in the recorded work of one of the very greatest musicians is reached
on this close-to-perfect disc. This is soul music evolved into liberation.
Waldron’s dark persistence merged with Lee’s individualistic
incantation makes for ritualistic, spiritual pleasure, (always!)
and this time around, the dramatic organizing principle is a remembrance
of the atomic bomb victims in Japan. Invigorating sobriety.
Sax Pax
For a Sax
Moondog
Atlanti c 83069
My
head is shaking for here is the comeback of the year. (My own association
of Moondog is with a Columbia Records of long ago and faraway. It
was the era of Anna Russell, freewheelin' Bob, Oscar Brown Jr.,
and, sure, the New Christy Minstrels.) Meanwhile the Moondoggian
visage has hardly changed at all in thirty years. Like Sun Ra, Moondog
has always been old, always been beyond time, always been located
'out there'. Unlike in the 60's, the music industry is not at all
left wing anymore, and has no desire to caretake the avant garde.
Upshot: this record is not strange. It is uncommon: stretching Adolph
Sax through recombinant loops which take in jazz, Souza, the English
dancehall, the kind of exotica associated with Henry Cowell, and
drones associated with the olden and the ageless. Welcome back...
Cite
de la Musique
Dino Saluzzi
ECM21616
Saluzzi’s
sophistication and technique on the Argentinian button accordeon,
the bandeon, is even more advanced than the folkish sensibility
of Astor Piazolla. But, similar to Astor, Saluzzi uses the verities
of small group improv to drive his music. Saluzzi also gets the
ECM treatment which A.P. never got, and the pristine envelope gives
the beautiful music here a beguiling, graceful edge.
Fragments
(Modern Tradition)
Nana Vasconcelos
Tzadik 7506
Excerpts
from soundtrack work, yet, none of the pieces on this captivating
set sound like fragments. However, divorced from both fusion or
fussy imperatives, and with some sort of programmatic intent, this
is exceptional even by the great Brazilian percussionist's high
standards. Nana always makes good records based in rhythmic pantheism:
everywhere God, everywhere rhythm. ta ta da, ta, dum ta!
Frankenstein
(Symphony)
Francis Dhomont
Asphodel 978
Strange
and wooly Dhomont's uncatagorizable soundscape pieces together environmental
samples, shattered electronic textures, and the slightest whisps
of melody contributed by a crew of friends. Dhomont has stitched
together a tapestry of 'hints' in an attempt to snare something
about transmogrification into 'the monster, or, how it is something
close to human is pieced together. This turns into an extraordinary
adventure for the listener even as the listener must be tempted
to qualify it as an "a-musical" experience. By all means,
slap the headphones and let your self slowly down the knotted rope
hanging from the edge of the mysterious opening in the middle of
your floor.
Brotherhood
Suite
Don Cherry
Flash 004
This
is a sentimental choice, since Cherry has passed into the ranks
of the big heavenly band. But, it also documents vital episodes
in Cherry's voyage. It's not sentimental music, despite the simple,
even child-like themes. The songs are mostly long, yet Cherry's tendency to sprawl is reigned in
by the ensemble's tough-minded approach. Lots of inspired solos
and dramatic moments remind of how underdocumented Cherry was at
his peak. These live episodes, recorded between 1968 and
1974, catch Cherry at his best.
The Epiphany
of Glen Jones
John fahey and
Cul De sac
Thirsty Ear
57037
Even
by my standards, this is an odd piece of 'product'. It comes close
to being a record worth its price for the liner notes alone, a frank
accounting of the interpersonal hassles of this collaboration between
the eccentric virtuoso and a crew previously dedicated to birthing
bastard children of the Ventures and Sylvia Baker. What transpired
is gloriously weird: Fahey reeled the band out sometime after he
exasperated them and pushed them and all the studio evidence out
the proverbial window. The precedent for the mysterioso child is
any sort of voodoo-hinted pop, think Beefheart or early Dr. John,
but the sound is altogether more accessible. Imagine all the Windham
Hill artists playing wake up music after a brutal ketamine orgy.
Grandiosity sometimes is a workable strategy.
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