Recap: Best of 2019

Feb 22 2020

Best of 2019 #02: Aaron Novik – “The Fallow Curves of the Planospheres”

 

This is less an album and more a sonic event.  Aaron Novik brought together five different ensembles and countless inspirations to capture the essence of his travels in France, Italy, Rotterdam, Berlin, and New York City.  The sounds range from sparse and introspective to joyful and bountiful to dissonant and transitory, and they are embodied in the five recordings The Hotel of 13 Losses, Rotterdamn, Berlin, O+O+, and No Signal.  The Fallow Curves of the Planospheres is a compilation of those recordings.  Selected music from the five recordings snaps right into place with one another, and Novik has curated the pieces as one might choose just ten photos from hundreds taken while on an extended journey… just enough to represent the spirit and experience of it all.  As a stand-alone recording, The Fallow Curves of the Planospheres is a magnificent work of music.  In that way a work of art can be representative of something much larger, of experiences and concepts far grander, it represents one of the very best projects of 2019.

There will be much more discussion about this project soon, during the So… About 2019 wrap-up column series.

This Self-Produced recording was released on Avant LaGuardia.

Music from France, Italy, Rotterdam, Berlin, New York City, and San Francisco.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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Feb 17 2020

Best of 2019 #03: Matana Roberts – “Coin Coin Chapter 4: Memphis”

 

The meeting point of history and mythology is as much collision as it is convergence, and there’s no better musical representation of this dichotomy than the “panoramic sound quilting” of Matana Roberts. The compositions of Coin Coin are as likely to be cryptic as they are to be clearly focused. On Memphis, it trends toward the latter, and that clarity is what makes it the most stunning offering in the series to date. The past is present in Roberts’ music, and its creative daring reflects the strength of the modern scene, even as it moves on into the future.

That’s how I summarized the latest chapter in the Matana Roberts Coin Coin series for The Bandcamp Daily.  My write-ups, and thoughts, about this music has always been brief.  It’s a necessary succinctness.  The alto saxophonist’s compositions are dense with history, with dreams, with the weight of passing time.  Attempting to parse that down is counterproductive.  My reactions to this music are ineffable, and not a little bit impenetrable.  By its nature, art becomes personal, and as we experience it, we incorporate it into our own lives, and that’s when the art no longer belongs to the artist, but becomes our own with our own context.  The chapters of Coin Coin just don’t lend to that transformational relationship.  Roberts story is hers, and it boils down to it is what it is.  It is also one of the most stunning works of 2019.

Your album personnel:  Matana Roberts (alto sax, clarinet, wordspeak, voice), Hannah Marcus (electric guitar, nylon string guitar, fiddle, accordion, voice), Sam Shalabi (electric guitar, oud, voice), Nicolas Caloia (double bass, voice), Ryan Sawyer (drumset, vibraphone, jaw harp, bells, voice), and guests:  Steve Swell (trombone, voice), Ryan White (vibraphone), Thierry Amar, Nadia Moss, Jessica Moss (voice).

Released on Constellation Records.

Music from Earth (via New York City, Chicago, Montreal, and Memphis).

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Check out Roberts’ project-specific Tumblr page for more on Coin Coin and etc.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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Feb 16 2020

Best of 2019 #04: Haftor Medboe – “Will of the People”

 

In 2019, the recorded output of Haftor Medbøe was incomparable.  Different ensembles and different sounds and different environments kept listeners on their toes and their expectations in check.  The gentle exhalation of a melody and deep dive into serene waters was just as likely to manifest as a combustible attitude and quick burn of rocket fuel.  We’ll be talking more about the guitarist’s 2019 output in an upcoming Year in Summary column, but in the context of the Best of 2019 list, no album better represents the quality of the work or the expanse of its range than the live performance recording Will of the People.  These four extended, fully improvised pieces are as riveting as anything to hit the shelves in 2019, and about as resounding an introduction as one is likely to get to Medbøe’s work.

Your album personnel:  Haftor Medbøe (electric guitar, effects), Pete Furniss (bass clarinet, electronics), and Tom Bancroft (drums, percussion).

Released on Copperfly Records.

Music from Edinburgh, UK.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp

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Feb 15 2020

Best of 2019 #05: Jaimie Branch – “Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise”

 

It would’ve been so easy to do the same thing.  It wouldn’t even have been a bad thing.  Had Jaimie Branch made the second installment of her Fly or Die series the same as the first, it would’ve been more of the good stuff, and that would’ve been quite all right.  But she didn’t.

It would’ve been so easy to do something completely different.  It wouldn’t even have been a bad thing.  Had Jaimie Branch made the second installment of her Fly or Die series the polar opposite of the first, it would’ve been something brand new from an exciting artist, and that would’ve been quite alright.  But she didn’t.

The trumpeter situated herself dead center of possibilities, and that was best of all.  Rather than duplicate a winning formula, and, conversely, rather than turn her back on it and make dramatic changes for the sake of change, Branch added depth and nuance to what was familiar, and brought unity to what is old and new.  On Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise, the electro-acoustic posture maintains the lean toward each extreme, but influences of chamber, Latin, rock and bouquets of percussion round things out in a way that makes it so it ain’t a duality at all.  The trumpeter’s pure aggression, raw melodicism and punches-in-bunches style haven’t gone anywhere, but they’re given new life with the new approach.  As I stated in my write-up of this album for The Bandcamp Daily, “Branch’s debut made a formidable impact, which makes the achievement of her sophomore release that much more impressive. It can take half a lifetime for an artist to discover their voice, and sometimes even longer before they can bring that voice into focus.”  The timer had barely started ticking before Jaimie Branch hit that mark.

Your album personnel:  Jaimie Branch (trumpet, voice, synths, sneaker squeaks, bells & whistles), Lester St. Louis (cello, percussion), Jason Ajemian (double bass, percussion, vocals), Chad Taylor (drums, mbira, xylophone), and Guests:  Ben LaMar Gay (voice), Marvin Tate (voice), Matt Schneider (12-string guitar), Dan Bitney (percussion, synthesizer) and Scott McNiece (egg).

Released on International Anthem Recording Co.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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Feb 15 2020

Best of 2019 #06: Guillermo Klein’s Los Guachos – “Cristal”

 

So, when are we gonna hear another Bird, are we ever going to see another Miles, is anyone ever gonna rise up to the heights of Coltrane?  These are questions I field with no little frequency, and my answer is always the same:  They’re already here. The giants walk amongst us.

Guillermo Klein is counted among those giants. The pianist has been responsible for some of the most stunning, beautiful music of the modern era.  No better proof of this claim are the recordings made with his Los Guachos ensemble.  Klein brings about a communion of modern post-bop and Argentinean folk, and is capable of generating epic melodic journeys and sublime harmonic reveries all within the span of one piece, no one element outshining the other, and all feeding into one another, like stars sharing the role of lighting up the night sky.  As I summed up for The Bandcamp Daily, “Cristal is yet another sign that we no longer have to wait for the next anything. [And] when historians attempt to pinpoint the modern equivalent to 1959, they will almost certainly select a year that saw a Guillermo Klein Los Guachos recording hit the shelves. Hell, it may even be 2019.”

Your album personnel: Guillermo Klein (piano, vocals), Miguel Zenon (alto sax), Bill McHenry (tenor sax), Chris Cheek (soprano, tenor & baritone saxophones), Diego Urcola (trumpet, flugelhorn), Taylor Haskins (trumpet, flugelhorn), Sandro Tomasi (trombone), Ben Monder (guitar), Fernando Huergo (electric bass), Jeff Ballard (drums), and Richard Nant (percussion, trumpet).

Released on Sunnyside Records.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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