jazzy

I Was There!

/ David James / 1 Comment

Last weekend I had the pleasure to see Mr. Steven Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, perform twice in the same day.  The first event was a live collaboration with Dr. Strangeloop for the Ann Arbor Film Festival, scoring the 1962 avant garde animated film Heaven and Earth Magic as it played in the Michigan Theater.  Truly one of the strangest media experiences of my life, the film itself is an utter mind fuck – stark black and white 19th century cutout images swirling, grinding, and making Dali proud – while the accompanying score blew the doors off my perception of what Flying Lotus is capable of.  This material was a straight up experimental drone symphony and shared few commonalities with the ostensibly beat-centric music the man is known for.  Of course, I gave myself to it wholeheartedly and was spit out the other end with wild eyes and an expanded level of respect and admiration.  And some dizziness.

A still from Heaven and Earth Magic.

Then, we hit the Blind Pig and became truly and completely blown away.  We were the faithful masses and he was our prophet.  Everyone around me surrendered to the tunes; even the most reserved students were compelled to move at least a bit.  The live set eclipsed anything I came prepared for, and set the bar for live electronic acts at least a few notches higher than I’d perceived possible.  Here’s a glimpse of him weaving Idioteque, one of Radiohead‘s towering productions, into the maelstrom:

[enjoy, and remember that Cosmogramma is coming May 3 in UK and 4 in US! Preorder now!]

Bows – Cassidy

/ David James / 4 Comments

Bows were born after the demise of brilliant post-rock pioneers Long Fin Killie, by lead guitarist and singer Luke Sutherland.  A more atmosphere- and beat-driven, nominally trip-hop associated group than its predecessor, Bows bloomed into something equally adventurous and fulfilling as the acclaimed first band.  On this album, they flew even higher.

Bows_oH5Su307aXMx_full

With a foundation in the bleeding edge of  UK PostRock, Sutherland and company’s oceanic swells bleed into entirely new territories, amplifying the latent dub tendencies of the former scene while skipping right over the forefront of then-popular Bristol trip-hop sounds into a starbursting heaven of cascading orchestral waterfalls and breathy dreampop vocals courtesy of chanteuse Signe Hoirup Wille-Jorgensen and Sutherland himself.  The enigmatic low end throb provides a bedrock for the torrent of acid-bent melodic workouts embedded with a stream of sub-consciousness lyrics and oracular percussion.

Imagine your favorite deep 90’s Bristol album draped in the gauzy atmosphere of A.R. Kane or Cocteau Twins and shot through with terrifying elation and existential anomie.  This is light years beyond that image.  Leaning away from the club floor and into the fevered minds of blissed out dreamers, it’s the pinnacle of its kind.  Perhaps the only one.

[get ahold of Cassidy at norman records, lala, or reliably, amazon]

Zach Hill – Astrological Straits

/ David James / 1 Comment

Zach Hill, one of the most prolific and varied modern drummers, has been involved with bands ranging from Hella, Nervous Cop and more,  to collaborations with Rob Crow and even left-field electronic artist Prefuse 73 on their combined Diamond Watch Wrists project.  In 2008 he finally unleashed his own solo debut – and to the surprise of many, it’s much more than the masturbatory percussion fetish expected when drummers go solo.  Instead we’ve got a progressive psychedelic mind-warp of a journey from fractured hard trance grooves to massive Black Sabbath-style epics to splintery noise jams, all wrapped up in a free-jazz melange that keeps shifting underfoot, subverting expectations as the ride moves along.

12127-astrological-straits

Starting with what sounds like an air raid siren filtered through a vocoder, Astrological Straits is forthcoming about the pressurized sonic onslaught being unleashed.  Despite avoiding the obvious perceived pitfalls about a percussionist’s album, the skins are beat mercilessly right out of the gate:  pummeling, shredding, and outright assaulting his set is what the man’s become known for, and he doesn’t disappoint.  The surprising element is the very arrangements themselves – sometimes moving in expectedly grandiose directions, sometimes twisting into a weird techno-jazz-crunch where the drums submit to the gathering maelstrom and become one with the mix.

Speaking of that mix:  for this album Hill enlisted the help of Tyler Pope (!!! and LCD Soundsystem), Marnie Stern, No Age, his own Hella bandmates, Les Claypool and many more interesting players.  This may give a hint as to the breadth and scope of the album, but certainly not its direction.  Growing from a jumbled, crushing stop-start tentative seed to Boredoms-inspired tribal hypno-grooves, through noise-pop freak-outs, then straight off the planet into a prog-funk-metal-fusion jam that ends the album over 9 breathless minutes.  It’s this restless enthusiasm for change and the ebb and flow of energy which clearly displays Mr. Hill’s jazz underpinnings.  He may be oft compared with high energy percussionists like Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt but his head (and prodigious ability) lies in another realm entirely.  This is so much more than impressive musicianship; it’s a new world being ripped open by an intellectually primal beat explorer.  I’ll leave you with a quote from the man himself:

Q: What’s in the future for you? Where are you headed?

A: I want to change the world of my instrument in a large way.  I want to get to the highest place with my instrument that I can possibly get and change the instrument for the better.  I want to innovate.  That ‘s what I set out to do and that’s what I’m going to do, whether anybody’s paying attention or not.”

– Modern Drummer, August 2006

[get your hands on this overlooked gem at boomkat, insound, and of course amazon]

Blue Sky Black Death – Late Night Cinema

/ David James / 4 Comments

Blue Sky Black Death lays down infinitely cinematic left-field instrumental hiphop with their latest album, in the process stretching the very definition of the genre into something altogether more epic and expansive.  This LP widens the scope and practically begs for a dystopian sci-fi film to accompany its stately but tweaked out majesty.  The duo, comprised of Kingston and Young God, threw down this sonic gauntlet at the feet of every other production wizard and studio sculptor last year and have yet to see a contender pick it up.

bsbd-lnc

Of course, using the term ‘cinematic’ for an album with the word practically in its title may seem lazy, until you’ve spun this at a proper volume.  There is no descriptor more apt or quick to pop into mind when listening.  This aspect is nothing new in itself; merely raised to an unheard level and played with finesse and a keen ear for detail that lets the music step forward from a long line of atmospheric beat conductors into it’s own wide screen realm.

To put it in relative (and entirely ignorable) terms, this feels as if Dr. Dre were abducted by extraterrestrials  and dropped off in a state of the art London studio with no memory of his prior life, accompanied only by his prodigious skills behind the boards and cryptic instructions to make a masterpiece with the resources at hand.  All apologies for the seemingly facetious metaphor but if you found yourself nodding at the notion, you’re probably already listening.

Late Night Cinema simply forces a smile at the sheer virtuosity and breadth of vision presented.  No song ends the way it began, each track an internal journey presented with a bravado betraying the confidence these guys have in their ability to lay out a fully fleshed out song sans the crutch of vocals or obvious hooks.  Utilizing everything from live instrumentation to indecipherable samples to what sounds like a full orchestra, they throw everything which works into the mix and  leave no stone unturned in the search for a level of the stratosphere in which to comfortably glide.  Plucked strings, fat horns, crunchy bass, snippets of dialogue, rapping, singing, and found sounds work their way into every crevice of the mix.  The aural environment is packed to the gills and populated with stylistic genius.  Though the nature is sprawling and the landscape expansive, there is simply no wasted space within this record.  Every slavishly worked over millisecond of sound feels buffed to a sheen and ready for the close inspection of a jeweler’s eye.  Honestly, I can’t recommend this enough.

[pick this up via undergroundhiphop or cduniverse, or the always dependable amazon, you won’t regret it]

Ghost – Hypnotic Underworld

/ David James / 1 Comment

Ghost are the premier Japanese psych-folk-prog rock group, led by singer Masaki Batoh and brought to ecstatic, piercing life with guitarist Michio Kurihara’s electric wizardry.  In 2004 they reached a career apex with the release of Hypnotic Underworld to near-universal acclaim.

DC249mini

Starting with the four part title suite, the album kicks off in true old school progressive style.  Building through a darkly ambient jazzy labrynth before upping the ante in part two with flitting woodwinds and jangling percussion, the track explodes with buzzing, agressive guitar work and pounding rhythm until – just when it seems to be running out of steam – Ghost hit the afterburners and take off with the appropriately titled, 22 second, coda: Leave the World! Regrouping with the hypnotically beautiful Hazy Paradise, the album shifts into a more standard structure with tracks exemplefying their uniquely accessible blend of psychedelic otherworldliness.  Ganagmanag, an exotically percussive jam at the album’s center is a clear peak after the opening behemoth; expansive and inviting, it’s the sort of song which, when the excitement and focus ramps up well over halfway through, it’s surprising to realize almost 10 minutes have passed – and disappointing that there aren’t 10 more.  Ending with an unrecognizable cover of Syd Barrett‘s Dominoes, the band drifts out on a quintessentially classic psychedelic note.

[grab this album at the fantastic boomkat store, on cduniverse or find a copy via amazon]

Meanderthals – Desire Lines

/ David James / 1 Comment

meanderthals-desire-lines

Meanderthals are a truly new hybrid project comprised of Norwegian DJ Rune Lindbæk and English duo Idjut Boy, and recently released their hauntingly unified musical cornucopia of a debut album.

Desire Lines manages to swallow up everything but the kitchen sink, every touchstone of the artists’ collective sound base, while retaining a densely unified sound and singular feel throughout.  The entire trip is anchored by a heavy dub foundation and shrouded in a balaeric beach party ensemble, shot through with airy acoustic and scruffy funk electric guitar.  Darkly futuristic keyboard lines weave into and around breathless moments of sunny ecstasy that lift the eargasm potential far above mere dance floor slow burns.  Every moment is blessed with a loose, jazzy attitude which belies the group’s disconnection from the club and the more introspective nature of this heady excursion.  All of these statements are true, yet merely dance around the compulsively head-nodding appeal of Desire Lines.  This is an album to unwind to, whether out on the town or back at home.  It’s something you’ll end up listening to alone most often, despite the instantly gratifying beats and approachable nature – any friend with a working set of ears would be thankful for an introduction – it’s just too engrossing a listen when surrendering full attention.  One look at the cover art probably gave more of an impression than any of this paragraph, but if you have read this far, take my word that the visuals are certainly representative of the majestically dreamlike beauty captured by this album.

[submit to the sound at boomkat or cd universe – and be sure to show some love at the Meanderthals myspace]