Post No Bills
Friday, January 18, 2013
Jazz Music Post No Bills The blustery blowouts of saxophonists Colin Stetson and Mats Gustafsson
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.18.13 at 02:30 PM
Year in Review Music Post No Bills My favorite albums of 2012, numbers ten through one
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.18.13 at 08:32 AM
The final installment of the year-end countdown of my favorite albums from 2012.
10. Duane Pitre, Feel Free (Important) New Orleans composer Duane Pitre created a system/composition using a computer algorithm. At root, the computer holds various recordings of harmonic patterns played on guitars tuned in just intonation; the program randomly plays back various little snatches, which overlap and resonate in ever-changing combinations. The piece can function in that sparse mode, but it becomes more interesting when other players join in, as on this lovely recording with violinist Jim Altieri, hammer dulcimer player Shannon Fields, bassist James Ilgenfritz, cellist Jessie Marino, and harpist Jesse Sparhawk. Participants are free to play what they want, although Pitre established rules to prevent performances from veering into chaos or overload. These collaborators nail it, making it the most beautiful, gently accruing piece of strings vibrations I've heard all year.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Year in Review Music Post No Bills My favorite albums of 2012, numbers 20 through 11
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.16.13 at 03:02 PM
Part three of this week's countdown:
20. Sharon Van Etten, Tramp (Secretly Canadian) On the stunning Tramp, Sharon Van Etten continues to transform herself: once a folk-inspired wallflower, she's now an emotional powerhouse with a sound too big for any one genre. Her voice brings solidity and grandeur to the lovely melodies—she shows impressive range in her overdubbed vocal harmonies, and her baroque embellishments never feel overdone.
12 O'Clock Track Music Post No Bills 12 O'Clock Track: Sand, "White Nights"
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.16.13 at 12:00 PM
But yesterday the reality that Ryan doesn't live here anymore sunk in deeper with me thanks to the release of the debut album Sky Bleached (Cuneiform) by his new LA trio, Sand. The group features another ex-Chicagoan, Devin Hoff, on bass and Tim Young, a ubiquitous session musician, on electric guitar. Four of the ten pieces were written by Ryan in collaboration with his bandmates, while he composed five on his own; the tenth piece is a version of Paul Motian's "White Magic." Ryan and Hoff carve out deep, loping, and lean grooves—a bit fusion-kissed but totally unfussy—for Young to extrapolate within, at great length. Ryan uses a variety of time signatures, but the group never draws attention to any technical trickiness; the performances are marked by impressive rhythmic elasticity and melodic generosity, to the point where this sounds like an instrumental rock band more than a jazz trio, not that it matters in the end. Some of the songs bring a heavy punch and distorted crunch, but more often than not the sounds are clean. Today's 12 O'Clock Track is the airy album opener, "White Nights," which you can hear after the jump.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Year in Review Music Post No Bills My favorite albums of 2012, numbers 30 through 21
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.15.13 at 02:40 PM
The countdown continues.
30. Fay, Din (Time No Place) The solo debut from the former singer and keyboardist in Chicago's Pit er Pat is a head-rattling assemblage of stammering beats, vocal cut-ups, and twitchy, terse synthesizer licks. Now based in LA, Fay Davis-Jeffers collages the various fragments to construct hypnotic, almost tribal settings for her abstract vocal incantations—but she never lets the music glide or settle into anything predictable. A dozen listens in, the album still keeps me on glorious edge.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Year in Review Music Post No Bills My favorite albums of 2012, numbers 40 through 31
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.14.13 at 03:01 PM
40. Mike Wexler, Dispossession (Mexican Summer) Another strong effort from this overlooked Brooklyn psych-rocker, who keeps his music modest and restrained. There's more than a touch of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd embedded in these delicate, slow-moving, slightly queasy grooves and subtly expansive arrangements, but their intimacy and beauty belongs solely to Wexler.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Jazz Music Post No Bills Joe Lovano releases the first great jazz album of 2013
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.11.13 at 02:00 PM
The band's two drummers—Otis Brown III and Francisco Mela—have never sounded more comfortable, crafting huge polyrhythmic gullies that Lovano and pianist James Weidman are able to pour their improvisation into, floating across, splashing within, and sinking into the grooves. It's remarkable how different they sound together yet how expertly they fit together, never stumbling or getting in one another's path. Few modern saxophonists have such a mercurial tone as Lovano, as his harmonic rigor allows him to shade and smear every note with unexpected color or breathy textures, and this shape-shifting band gives it greater leeway than ever.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Music Post No Bills Jason Soliday may have closed Enemy, but he's still presenting great shows in the space
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.10.13 at 03:38 PM
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
12 O'Clock Track Music Post No Bills 12 O'Clock Track: Brokeback, "The Wire, the Rag, and the Payoff"
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.09.13 at 12:00 PM
Friday, December 28, 2012
Jazz Year in Review Music Post No Bills My favorite jazz albums of 2012
Posted by Peter Margasak on 12.28.12 at 02:00 PM
