The Answer Is In The Beat

Meadow Argus: The Chameleon’s Dish tape (Aural Canyon, 2023)

December 3, 2023 at 1:46 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The new Meadow Argus tape layers vocals from some sort of meditation tape over vibrating industrial drone. On side A, “Color Wheel”. a calm, evenly paced voice directs you to different colors and shapes, and constantly asks how these things make you feel. Later on, he starts talking at a quicker pace and directs you to focus on a plant. I’ll be honest, I’m way more interested in focusing on the drone loops rather than the narrator. The loops are hypnotic but not smoothed out and relaxing, there’s distant squeals and shrieks which become more audible near the end. “Air to the Rock”, side B, has the same voice, talking about staring up at fluffy clouds. The music seems appropriate for skygazing but it’s still a bit abrasive, noisy, acidic, and clangy. There’s a well-timed moment of deep-inner-space trippiness before the narrator starts talking about seeing the auras of people around you. I kind of drifted out after that but I guess that’s appropriate.

Eki Shola: 還 (Kaeru) (self-released, 2023)

December 2, 2023 at 6:04 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Eki Shola’s fifth album is her most collaborative release, and easily her most fully realized so far. She recorded it in Japan with Uma Ebina (shamisen and shakuhachi), Tatsuya Okabayashi (Mongolian Morin Khuur), and drummer Hidenori Tsugita, and the unique instrumentation and group dynamics add an expanded depth to her songs. She first visited Japan 20 years ago as a medical student, and this album is a sort of homecoming, physically and spiritually. “For You” has a gently grooving beat and swirling keyboards, but the stringed instruments are the stars. “Kaeru” is more of an introspective funk jam about finding one’s home. The tense, reality-questioning “What Is” is followed by the more relaxed, reverie-like “Falling”. “Forest” has both dub effects and spiritual new age vibes. “Unity” is a conscious semi-rap about having hope for humanity, and “Not Afraid to Hope” turns the lyrical focus inward. Finally, “Starry” offers words of encouragement, most notably “Do it for yourself”. The whole album has a comfortable, spontaneous flow to it. These aren’t pop songs, but moments of inspiration, reflection, and camaraderie, with rhythms and hopeful lyrics that unfold at a natural pace.

Off World: 3 (Constellation, 2023)

October 29, 2023 at 1:52 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The final album of a trilogy from Sandro Perri’s experimental side project is another captivating set that eludes easy categorization, fluidly combining acoustic and electronic sounds into post-minimalist rhythmic and tonal explorations. After the wondrous string-based intro piece “Orientation”, “Impulse Controller” is a lengthy expedition through a textural rainforest, with cool, mellotron-like synths and a snaking rhythm with a sort of treated bounce to it, along with sporadic trumpet cries. “Terrascope” is a minute-long noise interlude featuring a Buchla Music Easel. “Ludic Loop” is a gorgeous slow processional with a wafting Juno synth line and guitar that cries out to the sun. Easily the album’s standout for me, just something lovely to bask in. “Empasse” has a similar back-and-forth movement, with Perri playing a Prophet 5, but he’s joined again by violinist Jesse Zubot, and while it doesn’t exactly feel harsh, it feels less comforting than the previous piece.

Kate Gentile: Find Letter X (Pi Recordings, 2023)

October 21, 2023 at 5:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Drummer and composer Kate Gentile’s newest opus contains three CDs, each over an hour long, and each is a dense, complex world of its own interconnected with the wider universe of the other discs. The other players are saxophonist/clarinettist Jeremy Viner, synth and keyboard player Matt Mitchell, and bassist Kim Cass. The electronic parts get a lot of short, sizzling, piercing interludes to themselves, like the very first track of the first disc. “Laugh Magic” is dense mathcore jazz that constantly switches time signatures, and already at this point in the album, all bets are off, there’s no telling what’s in store. The band navigate through corkscrew rhythms and more straightforward parts, sometimes overlapping or criss-crossing, and to me it all sounds perfectly composed and arranged and executed, not random or intentionally difficult. It’s hard to even pick out standout moments, because it really does feel like the whole album is meant to be taken as a singular journey. The press release says the album was inspired by the third season of Twin Peaks, and how it has an extremely complex story line and abstract logic of its own, and even though there isn’t a narrative connecting the pieces on this album, it’s similar in how it just completely subverts expectations and goes in its own directions and doesn’t wait for you to catch up with it. Some parts do deserve mention though, like the manic prog-metal-jazz of disc 2 opener “R.A.T.B.O.T.B”. Really the whole second disc keeps up that intensity, with tracks like “Garbage Juice” adding more synth chaos. “Importunate Babble” piles all the elements up into one of the album’s most intense, overwhelming compositions. Disc 3 opens with the 10-minute monster “Psychoradiant”, and cools down somewhat for a few moments, with a bit more emphasis on piano, but still with fast, rapidly evolving rhythms. “Spectrescope” seems to start with mellower tones and a more spacious approach but it gets worked up and knotty by the end. Then “Quantum Exits” is a 13 minute tour de force, but the much shorter “Epitome” which follows is a more concentrated burst of energy and color. Crazily enough, this isn’t even the most massive thing Gentile and Mitchell have created — they released a 6 CD set titled Snark Horse two years ago. After listening to Find Letter X a few times, I think I’m almost ready for that one.