The guitar duo is one of my favorite musical settings – it has it all: camaraderie and creativity, volume and versatility, and so many vibrating strings. In late spring of 2012 I caught the then new duo of Nels Cline and Julian Lage playing as an opening act at a show at Le Poisson Rouge and their music has been lodged in the back of my min…
Paul Flaherty and Chris Corsano’sLow Cost Space Flightsis a tough recording that has no fear of a high pitched squawk or a tumble of the drums. I wonder, as I sit here enrapt with the music pouring out of the speakers, what drives discerning listeners to seek out such difficult music?
Maybe one reason is that the music is from such an honest …
ByPaul Acquaro and Martin Schray
Before we start with the review let’s bow humbly before Joe Lizzi and Ben Young, the men behind Triple Point Records, a small label which has released only three albums so far. But these albums are Cecil Taylor’s/Tony Oxley’s double LP Ailanthus/Altissima (Taylor’s last release) and New York Art Quartet…
New York based Anna Webber’s saxophone work is kind of like Tim Berne’s in its angularity and wit. Spare and precise, the patterns and logical progressions she uses creates a self-contained world of sound.
From the album’s strong start with ‘Carnophobia’, you get the sense that the songs are sketches, templates made of musical cues …
Mostly Other People Do the Killing – Blue (Hot Cup, 2014) ***
Mostly Other People Do the Killing is a group that has created an identity on creative parody, musical juxtaposition and incredible technical facility. Their albums have been given pretty rave reviews here … just going back a few years we covered the live Coimbra Concert, their…
When live electronics are well done the results are often unique and rewarding, which just so happens to be the case with exciting electro/acoustic trio Tesla Coils. Comprised of sax, electric guitar and laptop, these skilled and daring musicians bring to life the brilliant Tesla coil metaphor. Like cool blue lightening bolts trapped in a gla…
Ton Trio II is Aram Shelton on alto saxophone, Scott Brown on bass and Alex Vittum playing drums, and together they deliver a showcase of musical dexterity and ideas that grabs you the moment the needle finds the groove, or the laser hits the disc, or the data streams to the player.
Vittum’s pulsating drumming helps kick off the album with ‘Th…
The second track, ‘What?!’ is a heart-stopping, hard-hitting, kind of feels-good-even-though-it-kind-of-hurts type of thrash-jazz-rock, which is all fine and good if you have stuck around after the first track ‘Chained’ peeled some skin off your face. It’s Peter Van Huffel’s Gorilla Mask – a heavy jazz trio from Berlin and their latest album, B…
Sometimes I compose my reviews while driving. No, I’m not typing and driving, rather I’m taking advantage of the wild world of text-to-speech and as we all know, what comes out is sometimes so wonderfully dinged up by the Internet that it becomes something rather unique. Case in point? My review of the excellent Chasing Tailsby the trio of …
Ches Smith’s These Archeshas released a live recording of a 2012 appearance that is more than just a document of a great gig by his all-star These Arches group, it also contains new music specificallycomposedfor the Warsaw show that comprisesInternational Hoohah.
Recorded after the group’s debut Finally Out of My Hands(which was my very firs…
The saxophone quartet Battle Trance is the vision of tenor saxophonist Travis Laplante. The catch here is that the quartet is one that features Laplante, Matthew Nelson, Jeremy Viner, and Patrick Breiner all on tenor. A unique concept, with a unique sound, Palace of Wind is a fascinating recording with a cover image and title that references th…
Flametet is a sextet from the Boston area and is led by acoustic bassist (and DIY synthesizer player) Kit Demos. The other members are Todd Brunel on baritone clarinet, Charlie Kohlhase on baritone saxophone, Pandelis Karayorgis on Wurlitzer electric piano, Johnny Mclellan on drums, and Jeff Platz on guitar.
The pleasure of A General Histo…
