Mere months after launching his very own Ruff 'N Tuff imprint Stekker drops his second vinyl EP of the year on fellow Breda based hardcore junglist Coco Bryce's Myor Massiv label.
Another 4 cuts of drum & bass wise Amiga choppage and exquisite rave breakbeat euphoria, teaming up with the likes of DJ Sofa and the inimitable, illustrious Phineus II.
grey marbled vinyl / incl. dl code
Full artwork - Special Edition 3 x 12" solid white & grey mixed (Ash Grey) coloured vinyl. Housed in book-opening gatefold sleeve with a gloss varnish finish.
Each individual vinyl is housed inside a custom printed sleeve. Includes download card.
Plays on 45 RPM
purple marbled vinyl
Faces Of Bass head honcho Coco Bryce once again dons his DJ Y moniker, delivering two slices of four to the floor sorcery.
Cheech Wizard is straight-for-the-throat hardcore acid, which wouldn't have sounded out of place at a turn-of-the-century squat party in a deserted warehouse in Rotterdam.
On Junk Waffle he opts for a more rave-centric jungle techno vibe: stabs galore, deep subs, pounding kick drums and a solid dose of Amens.
On-Ly is the solo and collaborative moniker of pianist and producer Joshua Smeltink. On-Ly has been playing local traps since 2017, varying across numerous bands, recently settling into the second line-up for his own On-Ly band: Carl Lindeberg, bass (Surprise Chef), Henry Hicks, guitar (Horatio Luna) and Bryce Zelno, drums (Astral Flex).
Based on Denis Johnson's beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century. The Netflix film features the music of Bryce Dessner, who blends classical influences with a modern sensibility. Dessner has been a member of the successful rock band The National for years. In the past years he becomes more and more known for scoring contemporary films, such as C'mon C'mon, Sing, Sing and The Two Popes. The final song on this album features none other than Nick Cave, making this a real must-have. Train Dreams is available as a limited edition on orange & black marbled vinyl and includes an insert.
"The complete Helluva Boss: Season 1 (Original Soundtrack) from hit animated series Helluva Boss created by Vivienne “VivziePop” Medrano. Includes a brand new original song “BUZZZN,” full version of “My World Is Burning Down Around Me”, “Rock Version” of “I.M.P Jingle,” and a Garry Blipp cover of “Oh Millie.”
Featuring original music by Sam Haft and vocals from cast members including Brandon Rogers (Blitzo), Bryce Pinkham (Stolas), Richard Horvitz (Moxxie), Vivian Nixon Williams (Millie), Erica Lindbeck (Loona), Norman Reedus (Striker), Cristina Vee (Verosika Mayday), Mara Wilson (Mrs. Mayberry), Barrett Wilbert Weed (Octavia), Alex Brightman (Fizzarolli), James Monroe Iglehart (Asmodeus), Rochelle Diamante (Beelzebub), and more!"
Der Erfolg von Pavement mit ihrer ausverkauften Reunion-Tour, den goldenen Schallplatten oder jüngst dem von der Kritik gefeierten "Pavements"-Film ist ein Beweis für ihr großes Erbe, welches bis heute junge Newcomer-Bands beeinflusst. Obwohl sie in ihrer ursprünglichen Zeit von 1989 bis 1999 zu einer der einflussreichsten amerikanischen Indie-Rock-Bands wurden, erreichten sie nie den Mainstream-Erfolg anderer Kollegen dieser Zeit. Ihr Lo-Fi-Stil und die oft ironischen, abstrakten Texte haben allerdings eine treue Fangemeinde aufgebaut. Wie seltsam bahnbrechend diese wunderbar verspulte wie verspielte Band ist, wurde einem gerade erst jüngst wieder im Kino durch den Film "Pavements" bewusst, dessen Soundtrack jetzt auf Vinyl und CD erscheinen wird. Der Soundtrack, zusammengestellt vom Pavement-Produzenten/Cutter Robert Greene und der Band selbst, vereint disparate Elemente des Films. Dazu gehören Dialog-Ausschnitte, Szenen aus dem fiktiven Oscar-Köder-Biopic "Range Life", sowie Aufnahmen der Besetzung aus dem Jukebox-Musical "Slanted! Enchanted!". Ergänzt wird das Ganze durch Live- und Probe-Aufnahmen der Reunion-Tour der Gruppe im Jahr 2021. Die Aufnahmen der kompletten Band wurden von Bryce Goggin abgemischt, der bereits an den Pavement-Klassikern "Crooked Rain Crooked Rain", "Wowee Zowee" und "Brighten the Corners" mitgewirkt hat.
I first remember meeting Eminence in 2019, at one of her Upraw events she was doing at the time in Leeds (now taking place in Bristol). She had booked me & Coco Bryce to play & since then, we kept in contact and she would send me her music that she was working on.
Last year, I heard that she had collaborations on the go with both Dwarde & Kid Lib, which made me curious about how those tunes would sound & when she sent me early previews of them, I was very keen on getting them for the label. It took quite a while for both of these collabs to get finished but eventually, after many back & forth between Eminence & both artists, we reached a point where everyone was happy (I think!) with the end results.
I was asked by Priori (a producer based in Montreal) who runs a label called NAFF about doing a remix of this tune called "First Step To Peace" by Sabola. I did the remix that month & both him & Sabola were pleased with how it sounded and it got the go ahead for release (should be out at some point soon!)
In February, I had a gig in Montreal where I was able to meet both of them beforehand to hang out and chat about music and such & getting to know Sabola in person, I realised that he had more interest in & knowledge about jungle than I had initially assumed. Also, he was occasionally producing jungle tunes, but none of them had been released before.
I asked him to send me some of what he had been working on & when he sent me "Close Your Eyes", I knew straight away that I needed to get him on the label in some form. I signed that track instantly and then waited for him to work on some more music for a Future Retro London release, which then resulted in "Give You Some Space" & that was all I needed.
In the end, I decided that rather than doing 2 separate 10" releases for the collabs Eminence had done with Dwarde & Kid Lib and the tracks that Sabola had made, it would be more practical to combine them into a split 12" EP release & here we are.
Big up to Eminence for her collabs (as well as her putting up with my constant chasing up of progress for the release), to Dwarde & Kid Lib for their work on the collaborations, to Sabola for his excellent work on his two tracks & to Priori for introducing me to his music.
Die Quelle des Lebens
Egal, in wie vielen musikalischen Welten Gautier Capuçon zu Hause ist: Die Erde, auf der wir alle leben, ist einzigartig – und darum widmet ihr der französische Cellist mit Gaïa ein Album: eine Hommage an die gleichnamige Urmutter Erde in der Mythologie. Mit emotionalem Blick und eingängigen Klängen von heute erkundet Gautier Capuçon das besondere Verhältnis des Menschen zu seinem Heimatplaneten. Aufgenommen vor der beeindruckenden Bergkulisse rund um Schloss Elmau in den Bayerischen Alpen, teilt sich die von diesem ebenso kostbaren wie gefährdeten Lebensraum ausgehende Inspiration beim Hören unmittelbar mit.
Auftragskompositionen für Gaïa von Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter, Joe Hisaishi, Bryce Dessner, Abel Selaocoe u.a.: 17 Welt-Ersteinspielungen von 16 zeitgenössischen Komponisten
YELLOW VINYL[28,53 €]
DEEP END / SAD CINDERELLA[24,16 €]
White Vinyl[28,53 €]
Kreisch! The Lemonheads kehren mit ihrem ersten Studioalbum mit ausschließlich Originalmaterial seit fast 20 Jahren zurück. Nach Jahren des Schreibens, des Umherziehens und des Neuanfangs sowie der Veröffentlichung der Single "Fear Of Living" kehrt Evan Dando mit 11 Original-Lemonheads-Songs zurück. Seit langem in Arbeit, geprägt von wechselnden geografischen Gegebenheiten, entstanden mit einer Reihe willkommener Gäste, ist es eine kühne, melodische Bestätigung einer der markantesten Stimmen des Alternative Rock. Dandos Wohnsitz in Brasilien, wo ein Großteil des Albums aufgenommen wurde, hat ihm in den letzten Jahren einen ruhigen Perspektivwechsel ermöglicht - eine Chance, sich neu zu orientieren, sich wieder zu verbinden und seine Songs endlich in den Fokus zu rücken. Das Ergebnis ist ein Album, das sowohl frisch als auch vertraut klingt: verwurzelt in den Merkmalen der besten Arbeiten der Lemonheads, aber erweitert durch jahrelange Lebenserfahrung und eine neue Umgebung. Love Chant wurde von dem brasilianischen Multiinstrumentalisten Apollo Nove produziert und bringt alte Freunde und neue Partner zusammen: J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr), Juliana Hatfield und Tom Morgan sind wieder mit an Bord, zusammen mit dem Produzenten Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Antony and the Johnsons), Erin Rae aus Nashville, John Strohm von den Blake Babies und Nick Saloman von The Bevis Frond. Und Adam Green von der New Yorker Kultband The Moldy Peaches ist als Co-Autor an dem lockeren Country-Abstecher "Wild Thing" beteiligt. In den letzten Jahren hat sich der Einfluss von The Lemonheads noch verdeutlicht, Acts wie MJ Lenderman, Courtney Barnett und Waxahatchee haben Dandos Songs gecovert und loben die emotionale Klarheit, den melodischen Instinkt und die ironische Intimität, die seine Texte auszeichnen. Diese generationsübergreifende Resonanz macht Love Chant zu mehr als einer Rückkehr - es ist eine Erinnerung an das, was diese Band in erster Linie ausgemacht hat und jetzt noch um einen späten Höhepunkt erweitert wird. Inklusive der Vorab-Singles "Deep End" und "In The Margin". "The Lemonheads' ability to merge punk rock's energetic simplicity with lush, melodic hooks is both timeless and influential." Pitchfork. CD (Digipak) oder LP (embossed vinyl sleeve artwork)
Kreisch! The Lemonheads kehren mit ihrem ersten Studioalbum mit ausschließlich Originalmaterial seit fast 20 Jahren zurück. Nach Jahren des Schreibens, des Umherziehens und des Neuanfangs sowie der Veröffentlichung der Single "Fear Of Living" kehrt Evan Dando mit 11 Original-Lemonheads-Songs zurück. Seit langem in Arbeit, geprägt von wechselnden geografischen Gegebenheiten, entstanden mit einer Reihe willkommener Gäste, ist es eine kühne, melodische Bestätigung einer der markantesten Stimmen des Alternative Rock. Dandos Wohnsitz in Brasilien, wo ein Großteil des Albums aufgenommen wurde, hat ihm in den letzten Jahren einen ruhigen Perspektivwechsel ermöglicht - eine Chance, sich neu zu orientieren, sich wieder zu verbinden und seine Songs endlich in den Fokus zu rücken. Das Ergebnis ist ein Album, das sowohl frisch als auch vertraut klingt: verwurzelt in den Merkmalen der besten Arbeiten der Lemonheads, aber erweitert durch jahrelange Lebenserfahrung und eine neue Umgebung. Love Chant wurde von dem brasilianischen Multiinstrumentalisten Apollo Nove produziert und bringt alte Freunde und neue Partner zusammen: J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr), Juliana Hatfield und Tom Morgan sind wieder mit an Bord, zusammen mit dem Produzenten Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Antony and the Johnsons), Erin Rae aus Nashville, John Strohm von den Blake Babies und Nick Saloman von The Bevis Frond. Und Adam Green von der New Yorker Kultband The Moldy Peaches ist als Co-Autor an dem lockeren Country-Abstecher "Wild Thing" beteiligt. In den letzten Jahren hat sich der Einfluss von The Lemonheads noch verdeutlicht, Acts wie MJ Lenderman, Courtney Barnett und Waxahatchee haben Dandos Songs gecovert und loben die emotionale Klarheit, den melodischen Instinkt und die ironische Intimität, die seine Texte auszeichnen. Diese generationsübergreifende Resonanz macht Love Chant zu mehr als einer Rückkehr - es ist eine Erinnerung an das, was diese Band in erster Linie ausgemacht hat und jetzt noch um einen späten Höhepunkt erweitert wird. Inklusive der Vorab-Singles "Deep End" und "In The Margin". "The Lemonheads' ability to merge punk rock's energetic simplicity with lush, melodic hooks is both timeless and influential." Pitchfork. CD (Digipak) oder LP (embossed vinyl sleeve artwork)
The Complete Piano Etudes of Philip Glass available for the first time on vinyl, housed in a 4LP Box set (also available as a 2CD format).
After more than thirty years of working with and performing the great repertoire, the music of Philip Glass has, in a way, almost revolutionized my life as a musician,” confides Vanessa Wagner.
An emblematic artist on the French music scene, winner of a Victoire de la musique award and director of the Chambord and Giverny festivals, Vanessa Wagner is as inspired in her interpretation of Mozart, Debussy, Tchaikovsky and Dusapin as she is alongside Murcof and Rone.
With her innovative and daring approach, she has established herself as a major influence on the classical music landscape, crossing boundaries and blazing inspiring trails.
A tireless pioneer of new repertoires, she has been exploring the repertoire of minimalist composers for several years. For InFiné, she has dedicated 4 albums to the major figures of this movement, John Adams, Meredith Monk, Brian Eno, Ryūichi Sakamoto, as well as to the new generation Caroline Shaw, Bryce Dessner and Nico Muhly.
After giving numerous concerts based on these works, she felt the need to record in their entirety this essential monument in the history of music, which bridges the gap between the 20th and 21st centuries: Philip Glass's 20 Etudes for piano
by Philip Glass.
His approach helps to place these two books in the great repertoire, alongside the great cycles of studies by Ligeti, Debussy, Dusapin, and before them, Chopin and Liszt.
Philip Glass was born in 1937 and grew up in Baltimore. He studied at the University of Chicago, the Juilliard School and in Aspen with Darius Milhaud. Dissatisfied with much of what was then considered modern music, he moved to Europe, where he studied with the legendary pedagogue Nadia Boulanger (who also taught Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and Quincy Jones) and worked closely with sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar.
The thread linking Philip Glass to Vanessa Wagner may be as simple as a detail: a moment, a pedagogy, a way of looking at the piano. In Words Without Music, Glass recalls his apprenticeship with Nadia Boulanger in Paris - a lesson in rigorous received just as the Nouvelle Vague was about to shatter the conventions of cinema the conventions of cinema, just as the composers of the minimalist movement had done with with the language of music. Nurtured by Ravel and Debussy, the great French pedagogue disciplined yet inquisitive minds, capable of embracing modernity without denying modernity without denying their heritage.
When NYC-based experimental dance punks Guerilla Toss, active since 2011, were in Vermont recording their new full-length album You're Weird Now, frontwoman Kassie Carlson would prepare what she called 'punk lunch': a communal meal made by raiding the studio fridge for whatever was left and assembling a sandwich from the most random ingredients imaginable. Regularly joining punk lunch were two legends from their own corners of the weird music world: Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, The Jicks) and Trey Anastasio, Phish guitarist and owner of The Barn; the recording studio where Guerilla Toss were making You're Weird Now, with Malkmus in the producer's seat. Engineer Bryce Goggin, who has worked with Malkmus since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and Ben Collette, Phish's longtime engineer at The Barn, were also part of the crew. While the idea of the guy from Phish and the guy from Pavement sitting around with Guerilla Toss, congenially assembling sandwiches from random foodstuffs dug up from the depths of a studio fridge, might seem absurd, it also makes total sense. Because really, if there's any band that serves as the natural bridge between slacker punks who saw Pavement way before you did, wild-eyed wooks who've seen Phish more times than you ever will, and even the eccentrics in '90s drip following former GT tourmates Primus-it's Guerilla Toss. A band so imaginative and unapologetically themselves, they're basically the real-life manifestation of a utopian, post-snob world where all musical ideas are worthy of expression and everyone is welcome. You're Weird Now powers this message. Guerilla Toss' fifth album and second for Sub Pop is a hugely creative and joyful statement about the joy of creativity. With You're Weird Now Guerilla Toss reclaim the word "weird" for everyone brave enough to let their freak flag fly and stay true to their artistic vision no matter what-a way riskier act than it's ever given credit for, and one that requires a certain amount of serene self-confidence that it takes time and effort to cultivate and sustain. And they do so with the enthusiastic support of their musical predecessors: a standout moment arrives with "Red Flag to Angry Bull," which builds to a campfire sing-along-worthy outro featuring Malkmus and Carlson duetting over a chatty, classically Phish-y (there's really no better word for it) solo from Anastasio. The band hopes the message of You're Weird Now will resonate not only with music heads but anyone who struggles with feeling weird in a world where it will always be hard to be different. At the end of the day, it's all about the spirit of punk lunch: there's room for everyone because music is for everyone. "Everyone loves and appreciates music," says Carlson. "If you don't like music, you're kind of an asshole." That's not weird-that's just true.
"Astral Americana hymns hovering somewhere between the dirt and the stars" Pitchfork
"Mood music for moments of solitude, best experienced without distraction" The Times
"Overwhelmingly effective and ravishingly beautiful" The Wire
American Dust is an ode to the beauty of the American Southwest, where vast desert landscapes hold stories both stark and tender. Eve Adams’ characteristic folk noir weaves a vivid tapestry of love, sacrifice and quiet revelation, conjuring images of dust storms, stray dogs and far off trains.
The high desert of California is a vast and confounding place. Equally inspiring as it is punishing, it’s a landscape that carries magic in its deep dark nights, holding stories both tender and stark in the coarse layer of dust that settles upon everything. It’s long been a source of inspiration for musicians, writers, and painters, each of them adding to the same current, carried forward over time, through hope and hardship and the passing years.
Somewhere out there in that broad and boundless landscape, Eve Adams has been living her own desert life, quietly writing the follow-up to 2021’s Metal Bird LP. Where that album sang of liminal space, the dream-like turbulence of Hollywood’s golden age, American Dust is far more rooted in traditional storytelling; a eulogy for the American Dream channeled through that sweeping part of the country that holds such power and mystery. Slipping into different and varied costumes throughout its ten songs, it finds Eve not just observing the people around her but stepping into their shoes and peeling back the layers of their quiet lives.
Adams writes from within. A few years ago she moved out there, to “the middle of nowhere”, finding a slowness that didn’t exist in the city, and she knows only too well about the mystical nature of the land and those who live within it. Weaving together themes of grit and romance, American Dust holds its focus on the bittersweet poetry of lives lived in solitude, most notably the women who sustain life at the center of it all. “There’s something very radical about domestic life,” Adams says of this thread. “So many women live their entire lives behind closed doors, completely in the shadows. Within those lives is such sacrifice, devotion, and love. I wanted to honor that: the poetry in the mundane, the longing in the repetition. The way love survives boredom and dust and time.”
Eve is joined on American Dust by Canadian musician Bryce Cloghesy, aka Military Genius of Crack Cloud, who plays throughout and also helped produce the album. Musically bold and vivid, it’s an ambitious and detailed stride forward from what’s come before, the scope of the LP’s narrative reflected in the radiant sweep of the playing. On top of gentle piano and guitar, gorgeous strings drift through the album, lending the songs a woozy sense of romanticism; a collaboration with Gamaliel Traynor (Cello) and Caroline’s Oliver Hamilton (Violin).
For all the drama that’s coiled around these songs, it’s the recurring notion of love and hope fighting against everything that holds true throughout American Dust. Musically it’s lush and vibrant, intimate and cinematic side by side, and always bursting with warmth. But it’s what it holds in its weary bones that elevates it to something truly special, something more than just a collection of songs penned in the heart of the desert. The characters it speaks of, and from, feel shadowed but wholly real, like they’re bursting to share their stories that have remained hidden for years and years and they allow Eve Adams to grow as a songwriter right in front of our eyes.
“The same swirling dust that clung to the covered wagons of my ancestors as they crossed the Great American Desert is the same dust my great-great-grandmother swept off her porch during the Dust Bowl of 1936 in Oklahoma, is the same dust that blows in through the cracks in my windows here in the desert, carrying stories from a time long gone,” Eve says, reflecting on the personal narrative that runs through her new album.
“It’s not just dust—it’s American Dust, the kind that settles into the bones of a family and never leaves. I think about that dust as a symbol of the passage of time. I hope this album will be part of that same current, carrying forward for the next generations of my family to find. I’ve been lucky enough to have journals and poetry from my ancestors that documents their lives during times of pure hope and pure hardship. I’d like to think of this album as a contribution to that family history.”
LSB returns with another EP on his imprint, Footnotes. His first solo release since his mini-album project in 2022, this time Luke returns with a few regular vocalists in store. MC Sense follows up the track ‘Pandora’ with ‘World of Ours’, while Bazil of Kinross and Luke work together for the first time since the multi-million time streamed ‘Roots’, this time with Sydney Bryce providing a female compliment.
The title track ‘Home’ and first track ‘Give You Up’ have been regulars in LSB’s sets now for over a year, and are sure to delight those who love Luke’s mix of piano, strings and melancholy at 174bpm!
Nuke Watch stretch out and zone in on “Wait For It…”, two side-long jaunts that run their freeform M.O. to their own illogical ends. Following on from recent excursions on The Trilogy Tapes and Impatience, they revel in the long format for Patience, crafting a steady assault of haywire rhythms and swampy, off-world ambience.
On the A-side’s Supersonic Percussion Anagram, a battery of electronic and sampled drums - from window-shaking subs to melodic subcontinent percussion - shift from one bar to the next, a continuously morphing, snake-charming ruckus confirming their status as Bushwhick’s finest rhythm purveyors.
For the B-side Nuke Watch mind-meld with fellow NYC phreq Bryce Hackford for Think Peace, a disorienting lurch through the knotty depths of free associative modular synthesis, unraveling spools of intrigue that goes deep into the unknowable.
Nuke Watch is Aaron Anderson and Chris Hontos.. They’ve released records as Nuke Watch on The Trilogy Tapes, Commend, Impatience and Moon Glyph. As Beat Detectives they’ve released records on Not Not Fun, 100% Silk and their own studio imprint NYPD Records.
“Wait For It…” was written and produced by Aaron Anderson and Chris Hontos. Electronic drum pads on Supersonic Percussion Anagram by William Statler. Additional instrumentation on Think Peace by Bryce Hackford. It was mixed by Chris Hontos and Justin Randel, and mastered by Justin Randel. Art and design by Luca Schenardi..
RIYL - tabla, meandering, beat tapes, swamp jazz.
The debut recording by The Ancients, the intergenerational coalition of Isaiah Collier, William Hooker, & William Parker formed by parker to play concerts in conjunction with the milford graves mind body deal exhibition at the institute of contemporary art los angeles & now a working group. across x2LPs of side-length long-form improvised sets recorded at 2220 arts & archives in LA & the chapel in San Francisco, The Ancients bring the free jazz trio languages first explored by the Cecil Taylor Unit & Ornette Coleman’s -Golden Circle- band (expanded upon in later eras by Sam Rivers' Trio & Parker’s collective trios with Charles Gayle/Graves & Peter Brötzmann/Hamid Drake) into their own unique & scintillating realms of expression.
As we tumble further into the throes of history’s tides, people of hope & creativity rely on the works of our great artists to lift our spirits & focus our resolve. -ascension- was recorded less than a year after the passage of the civil rights act & four months after the assassination of Malcolm X. -journey in satchidananda- was recorded the month reagan was re-elected governor of California. M’boom made its debut recording weeks after the watergate scandal broke & a couple months after the wounded knee occupation ended. The music of the ancients builds on these great musical legacies. it resounds with the pride of survival & the joys of making & sharing music. It delivers to us hope & balm. something real in you, real in history, & real in the music is shared, right on time.
When Eremite records commenced operations during the 1990s free jazz resurgence, heavyweight freedom-seeking tenor saxophonists such as Fred Anderson, Peter Brötzmann, Charles Gayle, Kidd Jordan, & David S. Ware were at the height of their powers. Isaiah Collier’s tenor playing in the ancients is bracing testimony that the wellspring lives on. to hear the young chicago firebrand blowing freely with veteran improvisers in an entirely open-form group music is a revelatory study of his vast talent, personal voice, & the intensity of his expression —as well as a bold complement to his composition-based albums as a bandleader (including -the almighty-, a new york times' best albums of 2024 selection).
I've admired drummer William hooker since first encountering his music in a hartford ct city park, early ‘90s (on a double bill with Jerry González & Fort Apache Band). From the man himself right off the bandstand i bought his even-then rare 1st recording, the 1976 self-released x2LP opus -is eternal life- (reissued 2019 by superior viaduct). An imposing force on his instrument & an intrepid DIY cat, Hooker’s been exuberantly swinging in&out of free time for 50+ years. informed by the innovations of Sunny Murray & Tony Williams yet entirely himself, there is no other term for it than “pure hooker.” at age 78, with the ancients & everywhere else, THE HOOK is in peak form.
With a discography approaching 600 entries & 50+ years working across the musical maps, including in the history-defining bands of Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon, Peter Brötzmann, in his own wondrous ensembles from small group to orchestra to opera, a bastion of compassionate leadership & a poetic champion of his musical community, in tireless service to what he rather egolessly refers to as “the tone world”, multi-instrumentalist, improviser & composer william parker is a living hero of the grassroots & the black mystery musics, not to mention one of the great bassists in the history of jazz. To quote George Clinton, conquering the stumbling blocks comes easier when the conqueror is in tune with the infinite.
Live to 2-track concert recordings by Bryce Gonzales, Highland Dynamics. Mastered by Joe Lizzi, Queens, NY.
SML is bassist Anna Butterss (Jeff Parker, Daniel Villarreal, Makaya McCraven), synthesist Jeremiah Chiu (Ariel Kalma, Marta Sofia-Honer), saxophonist Josh Johnson (Jeff Parker, Makaya McCraven, Nate Mercereau, Marquis Hill), percussionist Booker Stardrum (Amirtha Kidambi, Carl Stone, Lee Ranaldo, Patrick Shiroishi), and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann (Sam Wilkes, Meg Duffy, Perfume Genius). Their debut album Small Medium Large began as a collection of long-form improvisations recorded during two
separate two-night stands at beloved Highland Park venue ETA, a major development site for the burgeoning new LA jazz & improvised music sound, which unfortunately closed its doors permanently at the end of 2023.
The venue, perhaps best known outside of LA for Jeff Parker’s 2022 album Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, was the perfect location for the start of SML, especially given that both bassist Anna Buterss and saxophonist Josh Johnson are in the quartet featured on that record. Small Medium Large was engineered and recorded in stereo direct to Nagra by Bryce Gonzales and compiled, arranged, and edited with additional production, recording, and
studio composition by SML.
While editing, chopping, and rearranging stereo mixed improvisations is hardly a new concept (for a modern and relevant example we can look to Makaya McCraven’s output on IARC) these results are a stunning expansion of the Teo Macero / Miles Davis editing concept explored on classics like Bitches Brew, On The Corner, and Get Up With It. Stylistically though, these recordings have more in common with the proto trance repetitions of Harmonia, and with Holgar Czukay’s re-assemblage technique used in his work with Can. Throw in a supremely intuitive utilization of Susumu Yokota’s floating patterns polyrhythm concept and we have a truly entrancing take on time-clocked electronic rhythms augmenting with live percussion, yet maintaining that elusive human sway.
