!Exclaim.ca Reviews - Improv & Avant-Garde Reviews

Dirty Beaches - Drifters/Love Is the Devil

editorial@exclaim.ca (Alex Hudson) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:10 -0400

This release isn't a double album in the traditional, White Album or The Wall sense of the term. Rather, it's comprised of two entirely separate LPs that share a jacket for purely practical purposes. Of the two, Drifters is more likely to illicit comparisons to Dirty Beaches' 2010 breakthrough, Badlands, as its taut bass lines and drum loops provide a hypnotically repetitive foundation for reverb-swathed croons and squalling guitar muck. It's a largely enjoyable voyage into the seedy, neon-lit underbelly of big-city nightlife, but the real treat comes when...Read More

Jaga Jazzist - Live With Britten Sinfonia

editorial@exclaim.ca (Alan Ranta) — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:02:09 -0400

Jaga Jazzist have always had an immersive sound, and it's grown in grandiosity over the years. This majesty is elegantly enhanced in their collaboration with the renowned Britten Sinfonia, and feels more natural than the Metropole Orkest's mesmerizing take on Basement Jaxx (released in 2011). Despite the rich textures available to the Norwegian electronic-jazz collective, whose mingling with the Sinfonia fleshed out their numbers from nine to several dozen talented musicians, the performance shows almost as much restraint as audacity. "For All You Happy People" bookends a sweet shuffle with...Read More

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol 3: To See More Light

editorial@exclaim.ca (Vincent Pollard) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:10:18 -0400

Forming the final part in Stetson's New History Warfare trilogy, To See More Light is comparable, both stylistically and thematically, to its 2011 Polaris Music Prize-nominated predecessor. In a similar manner to Judges, it was recorded, for the most part, live in one take, employing the same clever mic placements, impressive circular breathing, simultaneous singing while playing, rhythmic valve-tapping and brooding atmosphere. The guest vocalist this time around is Justin Vernon, who Stetson has recently played with as a touring member of Bon Iver, a head-scratching...Read More

Bruce Cassidy - My African Heart

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:45:42 -0400

Having worked with the likes of Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Lighthouse, trumpeter Bruce Cassidy abandoned his thriving career and moved to South Africa. Twenty years of immersion in the life-affirming music and culture of that vibrant country left their indelible imprint on Cassidy's being. Returning to Canada, Cassidy composed and arranged South African-rooted music for a band of the country's foremost jazz musicians, who clearly relish the delicious funkiness of the 11 tunes. Exclusively playing the expressive EVI (electric valve instrument, a synth-based, trumpet-like horn), Cassidy is a...Read More

Lullaby North - Speak in Tongues

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:39:53 -0400

With the release of Speak in Tongues, Ecuador-born, Toronto-based guitarist/composer Emilio Guim continues his unique fusing of jazz, rock and spoken word with his robust quartet, Lullaby North. He also adds a few extra players, including Kevin Turcotte (trumpet) and Doug Tielli (trombone), on two tracks each, plus saxes and an accordion. Pieces like "5 a.m. Hidden Parade" and "Whistle Brings Rain" each have idiosyncratic grooves and strong arrangements, with the lyrics in the latter track delivered with appealing, punk-ish, inconsistent tuning. Dylan Hillyer's spoken word delivery on...Read More

Olafur Arnalds - For Now I Am Winter

editorial@exclaim.ca (Vincent Pollard) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:16:16 -0400

Multi-instrumentalist and contemporary classical composer Ólafur Arnalds, known for his solo work, Hollywood soundtracks and collaborations with Nils Frahm, brings us his latest release, the aptly titled For Now I Am Winter. His third full-length to date, it features orchestral arrangements from NYC-based composer Nico Muhly, as well as some judicious use of laptop electronics. Several numbers, including the heavily melancholic title track, which comes across like Sigur Rós meets Antony and the Johnsons, feature the vocal talents of fellow Icelandic native Arnór Dan. Dominated by...Read More

Bachar Mar-Khalifé - Who's Gonna get the Ball from behind the Wall of the Garden Today?

editorial@exclaim.ca (Vincent Pollard) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:07:55 -0400

Stylistically, Who's Gonna get the Ball from behind the Wall of the Garden Today? is an impossible album to pin down. Starting off with a two-minute organ dirge worthy of a Giallo flick, second track "Yas Nas," a traditional Kuwaiti song, is an irresistible Arabic stomper with a heavy piano riff, blistering percussion and a kick-drum that recalls the organic dance music of Brandt Brauer & Frick. Bachar Mar-Khalife is a classically trained, French-Lebanese pianist and percussionist who started out as a professional concert performer. Conceived of as a meeting of East and West, the...Read More

Riverrun - Unravel

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:28:36 -0400

Pianist/composer Tom Richards makes music way outside the lines, but with eerie familiarity. Unravel blends live-feel improv with post-production alchemy. "Ohrid" combines environmental sounds, water, vehicles and a strange distant keyboard. Quick cut to drums, bass and a sparse, wandering piano solo and then another to drastically down-sampled, granulated piano that emerges into normalcy and much-processed, sustained clarinet tones that get back to business for Peter Lutek's klezmer-inflected solo. "Aisuchi" has multi-tracked, Asian-sounding clarinet and a fevered, distorted piano...Read More

Rich Halley 4 - Crossing the Passes

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:42:36 -0500

Inspired by a daunting hike across the Wallowa Mountain range of Oregon with drummer son Carson, tenor saxophonist Rich Halley is clearly in shape to meet the challenges of playing flat-out, rough-and-ready free-jazz. His sound is brawny and brawling, and his playing is rooted in hard swinging, hard bop. The piano-less quartet lets Halley range freely on tunes like "Traversing the Maze," with its start-stop structure and give-and-take interplay, with long-time running mate/plunger-mute-wielding trombonist Michael Vlatkovich. Bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Carson Halley are high quality,...Read More

Barry Altschul - The 3DOM Factor

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:58:58 -0500

At 70, drummer/composer Barry Altschul sounds like a vigorous 30. Overflowing with ideas and energy, he steers his power trio (bassist Joe Fonda, tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon and himself) through muscular music with a vision sharpened by decades of experience. Drummer for the likes of Paul Bley, Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers, Altschul knows a thing or two about how freedom and discipline interact in real-time groups. And he brings that battletested wisdom to compositions like "Martin's Stew," which is dauntingly complex, but navigated with certainty and grace. Irabagon is on fire on every...Read More

Mas Aya - Pockets

editorial@exclaim.ca (David Dacks) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:49:27 -0500

Mas Aya is an alter ego of Brandon Valdivia, a multitalented drummer in Toronto, ON, who has worked in intense free-improv (Not The Wind, Not The Flag), reggae (Friendliness and the Human Rights) and various Latin American contexts with equal inspiration. Reconciling these musical signposts would have to result in some pretty original points of connection, and that's the story here; Valdivia is the type of musician who demonstrates the enthusiasm and open-mindedness required to accomplish this. While roots reggae is admittedly lacking, the sunburnt "Cumbia Del Sol" is most of the way there,...Read More

Nick Fraser - Towns and Villages

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:38:36 -0500

The lifeblood of free jazz can be found in musicians' efforts to push beyond existing habits and practices. They court the danger of the unknown and unpredictable. To that end, drummer Nick Fraser decided to cross swords with NYC free jazz saxophone titan Tony Malaby. The result is an album of strong playing by engaged players matching wits in real time, weaving their sounds together to make a "whole cloth," not separate threads. Group cohesion is one of the strongest qualities of the quartet's music; how cellist Andrew Downing and bassist Rob Clutton synch up with Fraser's tight looseness...Read More

Masayoshi Fujita - Stories

editorial@exclaim.ca (Vincent Pollard) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:44:20 -0500

Berlin-based composer Masayoshi Fujita is known mostly for his electroacoustic collaboration with German electronic musician Jan Jelinek, as well as his work under the moniker El Fog. With Stories, Fujita presents an album of solo vibraphone compositions, set across eight tracks that hang together beautifully as a suite. As El Fog, Fujita blends his vibraphone playing with electronics and digital sound manipulation, but here he eschews the electronics in favour of raw vibraphone, and the results are stunning. The experimentation is still present, but in a more analog form, as Fujita...Read More

Adam Sherkin - As At First

editorial@exclaim.ca (Nick Storring) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:00:18 -0500

Don't judge Toronto, ON-based pianist/composer Adam Sherkin's debut album by its cover. Allegedly "forged in tradition and contemporary relevance," and containing several homages to the classical music canon, these compositions are in fact far more interesting and personal than encumbered by their "dead white guy" forbearers. Sherkin's music is unmistakably that of a young, living, breathing and very gifted composer. This being 2012 though, he's not really an iconoclast either; instead, his work manifests gentle contradictions. Each piece is varied, even audibly drawing from numerous...Read More

Nite Lite - Megrez

editorial@exclaim.ca (Bryon Hayes) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:52:49 -0500

Music is most relevant when it literally swells with meaning, but it is downright engaging when the meaning within the music is not immediate, when it requires a bit of sleuthing: a probing set of ears and an open mind. Such is the output of Nite Lite, the Portland, OR-based duo of Phil and Myste French, former curators of one of the American cassette underground's most revered labels: Stunned Records. Their aim, as the label puts it, is to "keep the world alive by sculpting shapes out of its sounds," and that's exactly what they've accomplished through the clever use of field recordings. As...Read More

Ken Aldcroft's Convergence Ensemble - Sneaky Pete ― Slugs'

editorial@exclaim.ca (Bryon Hayes) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:35:04 -0500

Toronto, ON guitarist/composer/improviser Ken Aldcroft and his handpicked ensemble continue to outdo themselves with every recording. This double-CD set of multifarious free jazz is the group's fourth outing and their strongest effort to date. The first disc finds various combinations of solo/duo/trio/group settings working out a handful of pieces in a variety of permutations before signing off with the ultra-groovy "Sneaky Pete." This track is top form Convergence Ensemble, with a snarling but sweet guitar/horn breakdown near the midway point. Most of disc two focuses on "Slugs'," a six-part...Read More

Lina Allemano Four - Live at the Tranzac

editorial@exclaim.ca (Daniel Sylvester) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:40:14 -0500

The first seven notes of "Flummox," the leadoff track from Lina Allemano Four's Live at the Tranzac, immediately conjure up comparisons to Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come. Playing her trumpet with that same thrown-off gangster cool that made Coleman such a decisive figure, the Toronto, ON trumpeter gives listeners a full-length tribute to the classic era of free jazz on her third LP. Where contemporaries like Ken Vandermark or Matthew Shipp navigate their groups through canals of primitive noise, Allemano prefers to hover above the rocky terrain, using short bursts...Read More

Scott Walker - Bish Bosch

editorial@exclaim.ca (Vincent Pollard) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:39:56 -0500

Building upon his groundbreaking last two albums, Bish Bosch is Scott Walker's (aka Noel Scott Engel) latest aural descent into the abyss. The album takes its name from a pun on the British expression "bish bosh," a slang term for something completed quickly and often without due care, a knowingly ironic nod to the fact this is only Walker's third solo album in close to two decades. The Bosch in the title presumably refers to medieval painter Hieronymus Bosch ― and not the popular brand of power tools ― whose chaotic paintings of hellish torture are a fitting visual...Read More

Brodie West - The Law of the Meander

editorial@exclaim.ca (Nick Storring) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:32:54 -0500

Brodie West's breathily angular sax tone has never been presented with such intimacy as on this odd little solo tape from Toronto, ON's Healing Power. West is known as a member of various Toronto outfits, including Drumheller and Eucalyptus, as well as a collaborator with Dutch avant-punks the Ex and legendary free-jazz drummer Han Bennink, not to mention celebrated Ethiopian musicians such as Getachew Mekuria. West's style, which is full of curt, slippery phrases and tentative-sounding tangents, can definitely be disconcerting upon first listen; it's almost as though you're eavesdropping on...Read More

Beres Hammond - One Love One Life

editorial@exclaim.ca (David Dacks) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 11:39:39 -0500

Beres Hammond has enjoyed a lengthy career as Jamaica's greybeard crooner of choice. At this point though, having perfected the classy, mature persona that has served him so well, he's starting to crest over the hill. It's partly the fault of the music; he used to smooth out the edges of many a tough dancehall production ("Too Experienced" is his signature song in that style), but now he finds himself riding nostalgic echoes of roots reggae that make less of an impression than ever. There's a greater strain in both high and low ranges of his voice that reinforces his age, plus his diction is...Read More

Moskus - Salmesykkel

editorial@exclaim.ca (Bryon Hayes) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:23:53 -0500

Moskus is a youthful Norwegian piano trio that specialize in quiet, fireside jazz with a colourful personality that sets their music apart from the soft jazz milieu. Over the course of ten self-written compositions, they demonstrate a maturity and softness that are actually quite refreshing in today's blow-your-guts-out jazz universe. Anja Lauvdal brings a sense of economy to her piano playing, while double-bassist Fredrik Dietrichson and drummer Hans Hulbækmo bounce along at whatever speed suits the piece at hand. At times, Hulbækmo's percussive activities stray into the land of the...Read More

Ken Aldcroft & William Parker - One Sunday

editorial@exclaim.ca (Daniel Sylvester) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:04:47 -0500

Even to the staunchest avant-guardist, the music of Ken Aldcroft has always sounded sonically challenging. Capturing the gilded discord of Derek Bailey while transcending the instrument mauling of Bill Orcutt, the Toronto-via-Vancouver musician has managed to break down the experimental guitar genre to its most primal core. On One Sunday (his first big-name collaboration), Aldcroft fleshes out four free-associative anti-symphonies with modern jazz double bass legend William Parker. Running just under an-hour-and-20 minutes, One Sunday is given the freedom and space to allow...Read More

Bunita Marcus - Sugar Cubes

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:49:25 -0400

There is strength in the delicacy of composer Bunita Marcus's music. It can manifest itself in a single note. Standing in the sunshine, with eyes closed, on a winter's day, to feel one drop of water on the cheek from an icicle above, one small impact that wakes up the hearer: this is here/now. The title solo piano piece came from her teacher's (John Cage) advice on how to overcome "composer's block." She put a box of sugar cubes on the piano, where she creates. The piece, "Sugar Cubes," evolved out of the four-note motif based on the letters C, A, G and E. In "Sleeping Women" (with an...Read More

Coat Cooke/Rainer Wiens - High Wire

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:41:22 -0400

When two of Canada's master free improvisers get together and get down, for sure it's going to be a high wire act full of danger and possibilities. When West coast saxophonist Coat Cooke and Montreal prepared guitarist Rainer Wiens play, they come ready for adventure, risk-taking and deep listening. "Storm Eye" is replete with swirling tenor saxophone and gamelan-like guitar thrumming ― turbulent, eddying, circular and open-ended. Cooke switches to soprano for "Elevation," his approach getting increasingly dense and dramatic over changing ostinato patterns by Wiens on thumb piano. The...Read More

Weasel Walter, Mary Halvorson, Peter Evans - Mechanical Malfunction

editorial@exclaim.ca (Bryon Hayes) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:28:25 -0400

This trio barely need an introduction, as all three players have either lengthy, diffuse (Walter) or burgeoning (Halvorson and Evans) careers in the American improv scene. Mechanical Malfunction is the second outing for the group, tailgating their 2011 debut, Electric Fruit. When they initially came together to play, the trio focused mainly on purely improvised music, as demonstrated on their shape-shifting debut. As they prepared for this record, they decided to allow for structures and themes to guide their improvisations, creating surprisingly fresh sonic spaces in which to...Read More

Ratchet Orchestra - Hemlock

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 11:45:16 -0400

Murky, mysterious, cheeky, luminous, folksy, spacey and compellingly creative, the 30-member Ratchet Orchestra cover a dizzying amount of musical territory. Composer/bassist Nicolas Caloia has brought together the crème de la crème of the Montreal creative music scene, and he clearly relishes how much breadth of expression he can muster from their ranks. Pastoral plunking gives way to a Zappa-esque bass clarinet melody, with piquant piccolo adding astringent bite, in the long-form "Dusty." It veers into free improv guitar shredding abstraction, ceding to bass sax throb, vinegary woodwind...Read More

Stefan Christoff - Duets for Abdelrazik

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 11:22:10 -0400

The connection between artistic expression, cultural awareness and human rights issues is a vital channel through which the impetus for justice and change can flow. When the Canadian government of Stephen Harper dragged its heels, stymieing the return of Abousfian Adelrazik from his years of persecution and torture in Sudan, artists and activists were at the forefront of lobbying and protests to expedite his safe homecoming. Montreal pianist/activist Stefan Christoff assembled a stellar cast of collaborators with whom to express his mixture of emotions on this raw, dark subject. Saxophonist...Read More

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

editorial@exclaim.ca (Alan Ranta) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:25:56 -0400

To someone who recently discovered Godspeed You! Black Emperor, care of the Montreal-based post-rock collective's first album in ten years, 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! is a new ritual. Sprung on fans at a show in Boston a few weeks before its official release date, the vinyl album is a mesmerizing gatefold with imposingly stark images and a cryptic poem (seen on band T-shirts since at least February of 2011). The sleeve houses a twelve-inch with two 20-minute avant-rock sessions and a seven-inch with two ominous, noise-laden drones, intended to be played in the unusual order of...Read More

Aaron Lumley - Wilderness

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:56:30 -0400

Right out of the gate, this solo bass set is no-holds-barred, intense improvisation that grabs the attention. "Bastard Hawk" has acoustic bassist Aaron Lumley channelling his inner raptor ― screels and squalls, thumps and scrapes appear with dizzying rapidity. Rhythmically energetic, the brief "Woodwose" makes its statement emphatically and then shuts up ― nice. Some pieces are less succinct, but no less intriguing and don't wear out their welcome, like "Coyotes Proclaim Her Arrival," with has some dolorous double-stops and dissonance. "Among the Oaks" is resonant, with low-end...Read More

Grass Roots - Grass Roots

editorial@exclaim.ca (Bryon Hayes) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:47:37 -0400

A quartet made up of some of the hardest working members of NYC's spirited free-jazz scene, Grass Roots take their moniker to heart. This collective of sax (Darius Jones on alto and Alex Harding on baritone), bass (Sean Conly) and drums (Chad Taylor) are all about egalitarian music making, incorporating the diverse backgrounds of the individual players yet striving to achieve an organic, soulful music that transcends singularity. On the surface, this is expressed in the tunes chosen on this, their debut release. Each player is credited with at least one track, while the group share credit on...Read More

Ratchet Orchestra - Hemlock

editorial@exclaim.ca (David Dacks) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:59:52 -0400

If you make music in Montreal, there's a good chance you know one of the 30-odd members of this behemoth, irregularly convened by Nicolas Caiola. Since 1997, he's gradually figured out how to make the most of all the possible instrumental colours and playing styles of each member, and it's never sounded better (on record) than on Hemlock. How lucky to have at one's disposal an entire flock of flutes playing with a gaggle of strings and several bass-oriented saxophones, as on "Yield." The ascending notes of "Hemlock Pt.1" gather another strange collection of instrumental colours into...Read More

Elizabeth Shepherd - Rewind

editorial@exclaim.ca (Kerry Doole) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:31:27 -0400

Does the world really need another album of standards from a female jazz singer? Well, yes, when the vocalist in question is as tasteful and talented as Elizabeth Shepherd. The Toronto, ON-based singer/keyboardist/composer has earned international acclaim for adventurous earlier records that fused soul, jazz and pop. Recorded while she was pregnant, Rewind is Shepherd's most conventional record yet, but she's able to breathe new life into tunes from the likes of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Kurt Weill, the Gershwins and Cannonball Adderley. (Shepherd co-wrote only one number here,...Read More

The Bad Plus - Made Possible

editorial@exclaim.ca (Daniel Sylvester) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:04:06 -0400

Before there was BADBADNOTGOOD, there was the Bad Plus. With their eighth studio album, the one-time "bad boys" of jazz have begun their grace slide into adulthood with Made Possible. Breaking ground a decade ago with brazen covers of Nirvana, Pixies and Aphex Twin, the Minneapolis trio have since switched gears, incorporating vocals (courtesy of Wendy Lewis) on 2008's For All I Care and releasing their first full-LP of originals with 2010's Never Stop. On Made Possible, the Bad Plus try their hand at electronic instrumentation, injecting electronic drums and...Read More

Kyle Brenders Quartet - Offset

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 11:39:51 -0400

Musical freedom comes in many forms, shapes and shades. Often a pretext for self-indulgent wanking, in the case of multi-instrumentalist/composer Kyle Brenders, it's his self-imposed challenge to create demanding, precise dimensional music. From the opening quick march of "Sciatica," with its harmonized melody, to the leader's raucous tenor solo, Offset declares itself passionately engaged in thoughtful music making. "Terrace," with Brenders on clarinet, stops, starts, hovers, converses, muses and digs into a tightly rehearsed ensemble chart in which trombonist Steve Ward plays...Read More

Brandi Disterheft - Gratitude

editorial@exclaim.ca (Kerry Doole) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:30:21 -0400

The third album from fast-rising, Juno-winning Canadian bassist/composer/bandleader Disterheft follows a somewhat straighter path than 2009's Second Side, but it reaffirms her talent and sense of adventure. Disterheft has improved as a vocalist, as shown on the title track and her convincing breathy French on "Le Regarder La Rencontrer Encore." Six originals sit alongside fresh takes of standards "The Man I Love" and "But Beautiful," the politically charged, but still relevant "Compared To What?" and Renee Rosnes composition "Mizmahta." Rosnes is part of the superb band, alongside...Read More

William Parker Orchestra - Essence of Ellington / Live in Milano

editorial@exclaim.ca (Bryon Hayes) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 14:48:15 -0400

Documenting the worldwide debut of bassist/composer William Parker's new jazz creation, Essence of Ellington finds his orchestra distilling what Parker refers to as "the glow around the music that has nothing to do with what the music sounds like" from the songs of the Duke (and others), and making the compositions their own. It's a strategy that pays off in spades, especially since Parker and the other 13 players in his orchestra are so full of verve that each second of music literally bursts from the stereo. Particularly amazing are the vocal talents of Mr. Ernie Odoom, who croons...Read More

Mika Vainio - Fe3O4 — Magnetite

editorial@exclaim.ca (Nick Storring) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 14:38:50 -0400

Mika Vainio returns once again with a disc of masterfully stark futurism. Maintaining clarity and simplicity has always been a priority throughout the Finnish composer's solo catalogue, as well as with the more rhythmic Pan Sonic. Unsurprisingly, this new recording continues along that same raw trajectory. Constructed of thick beams of electric sound, each piece pulses and glistens radiantly yet floods your ears with coarse torrents of sound, alternating violence with stillness, even silence. Like his other work, it mesmerizes with its somehow delicate brutalism, yet constantly breaks the...Read More

Oren Ambarchi - Sagittarian Domain

editorial@exclaim.ca (Eric Hill) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:50:02 -0400

Ambarchi's more propulsive tendencies have lately manifested in units featuring Jim O'Rourke and Keiji Haino. Here, the Australian instrumentalist harnesses all that energy and imports it to a (mostly) solo studio situation. The single track is an epic Krautrock-inspired workout that most closely resembles the Faust/Tony Conrad Outside the Dream Syndicate recordings from the '70s. Ambarchi tackles the role of Faust singlehandedly, multitasking on drums, bass, guitar and other sundry sounds, all in one daylong session. The drum and bass pulse that frames the piece possesses fine motoric...Read More

Evan Caminiti - Dreamless Sleep

editorial@exclaim.ca (Bryon Hayes) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:33:26 -0400

Half of San Franciscan drone duo Barn Owl, the consistently prolific Evan Caminiti, is well-known for emitting vaporous streams of guitar tone. His latest dream-drift epic, Dreamless Sleep, finds him reconfiguring a series of four-track guitar/synth recordings a year after they were originally laid to tape. The experiences, travels and emotional/mental activities over the course of a year can significantly alter one's headspace and, as such, Caminiti has imbued each of these pieces with a cogent transformation. The original skeletal fragments of melody have been draped with thick...Read More

Willits + Sakamoto - Ancient Future

editorial@exclaim.ca (Vincent Pollard) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:46:52 -0400

This is the second album of collaborations between legendary pianist and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and Bay Area experimental musician Christopher Willits; it consists of six subtle, slow-moving pieces, ranging from four to seven minutes in length. The album is based upon piano sketches that Sakamoto sent to Willits shortly after the release of their debut, 2008's Ocean Fire. Sakamoto's sharply tuned piano cuts through Willits's soothing soundscape of drone over a bed of static, creating a tension throughout the six pieces that underpins what would be an otherwise soothing, ambient...Read More

Long Distance Poison - Signals to a Habitable Zone

editorial@exclaim.ca (Bryon Hayes) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:41:25 -0400

In an effort to accelerate the global goal of communicating with extraterrestrial beings, Long Distance Poison have prepared a blueprint for building an "HZ Signal Sync" device and have supplied it for like-minded individuals to assemble their own while playing the otherworldly tones that emanate from this lovingly packaged LP. The idea is to transmit these "signal songs" to habitable zones ― areas in outer space that will hopefully be discovered during NASA's Kepler Mission. What the potential alien life forms will think of these electronically produced drone emanations is anyone's...Read More

Golden Retriever - Occupied with the Unspoken

editorial@exclaim.ca (Daniel Sylvester) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:01:49 -0400

Matt Carlson and Jonathan Sielaff both possess that rare ability to create experimental music that manages to come off as painless and graceful. Turning composite structures and shapeless arrangements into lovely compositions with their respective groups (Parenthetical Girls and Au), the duo attempt to add a bit of grime with their Golden Retriever project. With their second full-length (following a slew of CD-R releases), Occupied with the Unspoken, Carlson and Sielaff craft instrumental pieces using an analogue modular synthesizer and a bass clarinet ― instruments only designed...Read More

Joe Morris/William Parker/Gerald Cleaver - Altitude

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:53:57 -0400

Recorded live on a hot night at NYC's the Stone, the trio's sweat-drenched playing is full of fire and intensity. Guitarist Joe Morris and bassist William Parker were two of the first musicians to release records on Steven Joerg's AUM Fidelity, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. That the label is still producing recordings and that the musicians are still resolutely creative 15 years later is a testament to their perseverance and willpower. The first two tracks clock in at over 25 minutes apiece. They are jam-packed with fervour and potent playing, especially from drummer...Read More

David S. Ware & Planetary Unknown - Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011

editorial@exclaim.ca (Bryon Hayes) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:44:36 -0400

Together, David S. Ware and Planetary Unknown (his quartet of free-jazz elder statesmen) have over 150 years of experience in the jazz universe. Ware, Cooper-Moore, William Parker and Muhammad Ali have each participated in seminal moments in the history of improvised music. The circumstances that contributed to the formation of this ensemble in 2010 may be equivalent to a second "big bang" for some jazz aficionados. This release documents the European debut of the group and presents them in top form. There is an unflagging energy captured across the three lengthy pieces. Such exuberance,...Read More

One World Trio - Journeys

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:39:44 -0400

From Pakistan, Sudan and Canada, with a 20-year residency in South Africa, the members of this trio share an astonishing breadth of musical and cultural experience. Classically trained sitarist Anwar Khurshid brings melodic, dynamic and timbral nuances to every phrase. On "Layover in Madrid," he coaxes delicate expressiveness out of single notes. Matching him in quality and depth of musicality, Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI) master Bruce Cassidy trades phrases and sections with Khurshid, arching melodies, throaty, low-voiced motifs and subtleties abounding. Recorded live, Journeys...Read More

François Houle 5 + 1 - Genera

editorial@exclaim.ca (Glen Hall) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:38:55 -0400

Clarinetist François Houle is never less than excellent, performance- and composition-wise. And his current sextet give him a depth of sound resources with which to deploy his compositional vocabulary while also providing empathetic support for his solo ventures as well. "Guanara" is mid-to-slow tempo over Michael Bates's tasty bass line and Harris Eisenstadt's subtle underpinning drums. Samuel Blaser digs in, creating a powerful, strong-toned, lyrical trombone solo, followed by Houle, who gets to strut his technical stuff into the highest register. "Albatross" finds Houle channelling his...Read More

Various - Musique Fragile Vol. 2

editorial@exclaim.ca (Nick Storring) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:08:31 -0400

Launched in 2010, with a three-disc set featuring full-lengths by Khôra, Nick Kuepfer and Les Momies De Palerme, the Musique Fragile initiative was designed to showcase new artists of a slightly more experimental and hermetic orientation than Constellation's mainstays. Composed and recorded in highly idiosyncratic manners, the music featured in both sets is unique, boundary pushing, yet still accessible. Craig Dunsmuir's disc as Kanada70, Vamp Ire, presents 15 concise pieces culled from his sizeable archive, and these vignettes are some of his best pieces. Refusing to adhere to...Read More

Cinematic Orchestra / Various - The Cinematic Orchestra Presents: In Motion #1

editorial@exclaim.ca (Daniel Sylvester) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:19:19 -0400

Just to cement the notion that the Cinematic Orchestra possess the most literal name in music, the British sextet have provided another batch of films with compensatory soundtracks. On In Motion #1, the Cinematic Orchestra decide to farm out their work, employing fellow instru-minimalists to help re-imagine the scores to seven decisive works by avant-garde short filmmakers. Tackling works by the lesser-known Standish Lawder ("Necrology") and the celebrated René Clair ("Entr'acte"), the Cinematic Orchestra stick close to the script, delivering a pair of moodily moving, electronically...Read More

Ernstalbrecht Stiebler - Sequenz II – Mitteltöne – Trio 89

editorial@exclaim.ca (Nick Storring) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:17:26 -0400

This disc of German composer Ernstalbrecht Stiebler offers a rare glimpse into his particular, focussed aesthetic. His reductionist fascination with "sonority, rhythm and duration" unfolds through slowly shifting, continuously sounding pieces. Even, poised and somewhat austere, his elegant drones, though very spare, are deeply affecting and engaging. Not unlike Mark Rothko and other colour-field painters, his simplified abstractions elicit rich emotional responses. The three works here are executed gracefully, and with patience. The monochromatic "Sequenz II," for cello and tape, hovers...Read More

Neneh Cherry & the Thing - The Cherry Thing

editorial@exclaim.ca (Alan Ranta) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:17:34 -0400

In one corner sits Neneh Cherry, a Swedish-born singer with a penchant for hip-hop who refused to be pigeonholed in the wake of the instant fame she gained with 1988 hit "Buffalo Stance," subsequently collaborating and experimenting in any direction her muse led. In the other corner are Scandinavian trio the Thing, noted for absorbing the work of disparate popular and underground worldly influences into their distinctive, convention-defying free-jazz repertoire. Together, they tackle such diverse subject matter as infamous hip-hop duo Madvillain, trip-hop muse Martina Topley-Bird,...Read More