Rodney Whitaker: Outrospection: The Music of Gregg Hill
Rodney Whitaker, a Detroit-born musician and Professor of Jazz Bass and Director of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University, arranges several compositions by Lansing’s Gregg Hill, with musicians from MSU’s jazz faculty. The record was made under COVID lockdown with all the musicians socially distanced in different booths, but it still sounds cohesive. Whitaker’s daughter Rockelle, who has a deep, sultry voice in the tradition of all the classic jazz divas, sings her own lyrics on four songs. Apart from those, “Dollah Hollah” is uptempo and short and dedicated to Abdullah Ibrahim (aka Dollar Brand), plus the title makes me think of “dolla dolla make ya holla”. “Bridge to Nashua” is longer but also energetic. “J-Quest” has a good bit of lead trombone by Michael Dease (who also plays on opener “Outrospection”). “Cadillac Club” is just a really sweet post-bop tune which just goes. “The Peace Song” wraps it all up with a joyous (instrumental) plea for unity — relaxed and unstrained, but budding with love and hope.
Previously known as Bodyverse and based in Berlin, Andrée Burelli recorded her newest album in her native Italy. All of the songs have Italian titles, but the two songs with singing are both wordless. The lush, hypnotic music patiently unfolds, with sparse piano notes shrouded in mist and reverberating in a huge, empty, white space. “De Sidera” has a bit of a sensuous bassline and synths which twitter like insects surrounding Burelli’s enchanting vocals. “Aquilone Perduto” is short and sweet with a curious, piccolo-like melody. “Cum Sidera” has another slithering bassline and is closer to a sort of goth/new age/downtempo hybrid than the rest of the album. If it was still the ’90s, some producer would’ve slapped some slowed-down breakbeats and Gregorian chanting on it in an attempt to be the next Enigma, but thankfully it’s left to shine the way it is. The next two tracks feel a little bit like a step back for reflection, but “Leggeri Come Cenere” (the final one) has a trace of a bassline, giving something to hold onto before the album drifts into the ether.
Justin Broadrick briefly made extremely hard-edged drum’n’bass as Tech Level 2 during the late ’90s and early 2000s, then revived the alias for a new EP last year. This is a set of shelved productions originally meant for release on Danny C’s Teknological imprint. It is, honestly, some of the absolute best work Broadrick’s ever done, in my opinion. Ultra-aggressive d’n’b with bass that absolutely smothers, probably too overloaded for most typical DJs and fans of the genre, but fuck ’em. The first track rocks well from the depths of hell, and the second out-menaces Future Forces/Bad Company. “Suspended” is heavily tense without exploding as much as the others. “Returned to the Depths”, though, no kidding — sheer terror assault at 100 miles an hour.
Completing a trilogy, the newest album from trumpeter Nils Wülker is a very studio-driven fusion of jazz and electronics, with plenty of arpeggios and percolating melodies. The drums feel live but also technology-enhanced, and they often feel closer to rock or electro than jazz rhythms. It does get a little clean and background-y, but at least it feels more adventurous than radio-friendly smooth jazz, with vaguely glitchy beats on “Distorting Time” and some psychedelic phasing on his trumpet during “The You of Now”. I feel like this album would appeal much more to fans of downtempo electronic acts like Tycho than most jazz audiences, however, as it doesn’t really have the swing or flow one would normally expect from jazz. But it works as a sort of hybrid of jazz trumpet and instrumental pop; I haven’t listened to any of Herb Alpert’s latter-day work but maybe it sounds close to something like this. “Seat 47” starts out sounding almost like synth-funk but ends up with a more sentimental melody (which isn’t too different from that of the preceding track, “Hybrid”). “Highline” is a remote duet with fellow trumpeter Theo Croker, and one of the more upbeat songs here, but in an ’80s smooth funk way. “Blow Up” has more of a cold minimal techno pulse to it. “Perlage” brings things back into the light with a warm, rimshot-heavy groove. “Faced With a Choice, Do Both” seems to have a tentative dual nature but ultimately does what it says and goes forward, with two trumpet lines singing out over lightly skipping synth arpeggios and clopping drums.
The standout from last year’s Interlocked returns as the head of a 4-song EP. The original itself is still a huge neo-hardcore banger, but Etch makes it more intense and euphoric, breaking the beats up further, adding more lazer-grime bass, and neon atmosphere. “Battle Stations (Benny ILL Remix)” rides along with heavy sliding bass and controlled drums that pack just enough of a punch. Coco Bryce’s take on the track “Interlocked” nods to early Prodigy-style hardcore but a bit more mellowed out, especially with the house pianos, until the breaks come raging in towards the end.
Far beyond mere club tracks, Etch’s work is more of a psychological investigation through meticulous drum programming and sparse but highly considered atmospherics. “Tyrant” has an ominous sample stating that “you’re just a puppet, you’re not in control…” over shifting breaks and tolling bells. “Loose in the Asylum” mostly hovers in midair, with a few moments where heavier breakbeats plunge down to the surface. “Shadows Passed By” is a little more conventional, with a repeated sample inquiring “what can I find?” and a heavier break release during the second half. “Amygdala”, co-produced with Luo, has calm, mellow pads and ethereal vocals which shiver and wail, and the jazzy breakbeats erupt in fits and starts.
4-17-21
Anz ~ Loos In Twos (NRG)
DJ Q ~ All That I Could (Lavonz Remix)
Logic1000 ~ I Won’t Forget
Risqué III ~ Risqué Madness
Detroit’s Filthiest ~ All White Buffs (Will Simpson Remix)
DJ Black Low & Kapzela feat. Licy Jay & MLG ~ Emonate Oe Bethela D Vosho
Disco Vumbi ~ Wilobo Man
HHY & the Macumbas ~ Horror Vector
Low End Activist feat. Sikka Rhymes ~ Invite Chaos (Loraine James Remix)
ZULI ~ Tany
Slikback ~ WA1023
NO EYES ~ m i i
Windmill ~ Divine Inspiration
81 ~ Intro
Lakker’s Ian McDonnell records some of his most forward-thinking post-club material under his solo alias Eomac. His first release for Planet Mu has the sort of broken, stop-start thumping beats he’s known for, but with more of an emotional uneasiness informed by isolation and the general unrest and injustice of the world. “Mandate for Murder” kicks the album off with an overtly political looped sample, hammering the title phrases in your head with intricate industrial-IDM beats. “Portuguese Man O’War” has sliding, creaking synth tones that sound like groaning ghosts, and seem designed to make you feel uncomfortable. “What Does Your Heart Tell You” has bubbling, slightly prickly melodies on top of crunchy beats, gradually getting more blurry and scattered. “Falling Through the Cracks” is heavy and cathartic, ending up with layers upon layers of demonic screams. “Reasons to Live” might aurally seem as dark and foreboding as the rest of the album, but its lyrics are actually scraping out affirmations and encouragements. “Prophetess” is supremely icy and haunting, but stops short of pushing you into a well of fear. “All the Rabbits in the Tiergarten”, previously heard on the most recent Planet Mu compilation, has choppy, fluctuating, semi-ravey beats and a gentle flutey melody, while trancey strings rise and fill the track with a sense of courage needed to overcome something frightening, with necessary actions that could potentially have a major impact on one’s life.
Skam alumni follows 2020’s Decay LP with an EP bringing two of that album’s tracks to vinyl for the first time, as well as an enviable batch of remixes. Opener “We Are All We Have” is dark, cavernous midtempo IDM, which is nice, but the more ravey, breaky “Lockdown 3.2X” is much more fun, while still touched with a shade of post-industrial darkness. The original “We Are All We Have” had a strong early Autechre feel to it, so it’s interesting that Autechre’s own mix of the track is much more vaporous and ambient, de-emphasizing the futuristic beats and sort of hollowing it out into a ghostly reflection. Somatic Responses keep the party spirit of “Lockdown” intact, but simultaneously tighten it up a bit while letting it slip off the rails slightly. The digital version has additional remixes of album tracks. Primary Node’s mix of “We Are Not Okay” starts out broken and bumpy but ends up more free-cruising 4/4 techno. Lackluster’s “Illusion of Gods” is epic, prismatic IDM which allows you to catch your breath as it airs out during its final minute. “Follow Through Hell (S>>D Remix)” is perhaps the rawest and most subterranean track here, walking a tight, tense line without falling apart and losing it.
The first album from upstate New York’s Elsyne is a steady, solid effort filled with shifting breakbeats and wintry melodies. It starts off really strong with “first snow”, then seems to merge IDM and gamelan with the second track. Subsequent tracks have some swift, choppy breakbeat patterns and somewhat ominous melodies. Tonally, a lot of it sounds kind of in-the-box, but the beats creep into more unconventional patterns, and while the tracks aren’t always filled with unexpected twists and turns, they are well paced. Highlights include “reverse” and the bittersweet “雨”, also included in an instrumental version.
The Answer Is In The Beat 