RareNoise Records

Jan 20 2020

Best of 2019 #62: Led Bib – “It’s Morning”

 

There’s always been something seriously appealing about the raucous electronics jazz of Led Bib.  Some of it has to do with how their exuberance transmits an abounding sense of fun, a quality that increases the more over-the-top their music becomes.  There’s also the aspect of their music that extracts a cerebral reaction, in how the chaos of a particular piece exhibits a sturdy melodicism, not unlike an unsinkable ship in the middle of a malleable hurricane.  But it’s the addition of vocalist Sharron Fortnam to this session that elevates their latest recording up to a whole new plateau.  It was never apparent that a vocalist would ever mesh with this outfit, and yet the way it all shakes out, a vocalist in the fold was the most natural, logical decision ever.  That the music goes through this transformative effect while retaining all of the things that make the music so enjoyable to begin with was no easy task, and its achievement is a trait that makes It’s Morning one of the best recordings of 2019.

Your album personnel:  Sharron Fortnam (vocals), Chris Williams (alto sax), Pete Grogan (alto and tenor saxophones), Elliot Galvin (keyboards, piano), Liran Donin (bass, backing vocals), Mark Holub (drums), and guests:  Jack Hues (vocals), Susanna Gartmayer (bass clarinet), Irene Kepl (violin) and Noid (cello).

Released on RareNoise Records.

Music from London, UK.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at: Bandcamp – Amazon

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Dec 24 2019

Now up: September’s Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations

 

And here we go.  Let’s do some catch-up on notifications about my latest Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations posting on The Bandcamp Daily.  This monthly installment covers albums for September 2019.  There’s ten primary recommendations in total, plus some bonus recommendations, to boot.  There’s been no let-up on the deluge of new music in 2019, so if you were thinking about maybe settling into a prior month’s purchases, forget about it… you’ve got more excellent new music to discover.  I have been saying this same thing nearly every month, and every month it is true.  On that note, let’s begin.

Follow this LINK to read those recommendations and listen to music from each album.

Check out past recommendations by running through my contributor archives.

Have fun going through the list!

Cheers.

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Jan 23 2019

Bird is the Worm 2018 Album of the Year: Bobby Previte – “Rhapsody”

 

Every year, without fail, one of the top albums of the year will be in possession of a lyricism that is positively epic, as if existing in some primal state of mythology.  It’s the kind of things one can imagine viewed by an ancient community sitting on rock ledges in a makeshift theater on the edge of the forest, as actors orate timeless tales of the gods and their impact on humanity on an otherwise ordinary day.  This particular album will hint strongly of a narrative arc.  Despite the odds against it, the album will attain a cohesion in the face of its wild nature.  A sharp intelligence will act as an undercurrent to implausible plot twists and otherworldly conflicts.  The album will conjure up the uncommon magic that lies at the heart of mundane events and seemingly ordinary times.

In recent years, we’ve seen John Ellis’s 2014 release MOBRO and Michael Blake’s 2016 release Fulfillment fill this role.  They are recordings that put their imprint on their respective years of release, but more importantly, they belong to a lineage of music projects that possess the wild abandon and creative courage required of epic tales.  It’s no small thing, and it can never be overvalued in the context of any art form, any life.  For 2018, the album to achieve these heights is Rhapsody by Bobby Previte.

It’s a story about traveling.  It’s about a life in motion, and about the state of existence in between.  When you’re no longer in the place you were and not yet in the place you are headed, you exist in a perpetual state of transition, where what was old is being shed and what will be new has not yet been embraced.  These changes may only be momentary and impermanent, but it’s during a state of flux that all of the rules of expectations and understanding may be warped and broken and bled.  It is during these moments that the greatest upheavals may occur and the most sublime segues.  Bobby Previte’s ensemble of guitarist Nels Cline, pianist John Medeski, harpist Zeena Parkins, vocalist Jen Shyu, and alto saxophonist Fabian Rucker exploit every instance of those opportunities for the most dramatic, thrilling, expressive and fun recording of 2018.  This is what it sounds like when a creative vision is completely unleashed.

Rhapsody is The Bird is the Worm 2018 Album of the Year.

Released on RareNoise Records.

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from New York City.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm.

I also wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

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Oct 21 2018

Recommended: Joshua Trinidad – “In November”

 

Despite the volleys thrown back and forth by the trio of trumpeter Joshua Trinidad, guitarist Jacob Young and drummer Stale Liavik Solberg there’s a heavy presence to In November that belies its airborne flight patterns.  And it’s not like things move at a slow pace.  Yes, there’s a steady patience to some tracks, like the beautiful “Bell (Lullaby),” when Young breaks out the acoustic guitar and slowly develops the melody as if pondering each step along the way.  That same weight of consideration just amps up the impression of a heavy presence whenever the tempo kicks it up a notch.  It’s a neat effect, and it’s why music that might otherwise be cumbersome has a light step, and, at times, does take to the air and soar.

Your album personnel: Joshua Trinidad (trumpet), Jacob Young (guitar) and Stale Liavik Solberg (drums).

Released on RareNoise Records.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Denver, Colorado.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Aug 14 2018

Recommended: Bobby Previte – “Rhapsody”

 

The latest work from Bobby Previte presents itself as a collage of imagery, of a dream comprised of many smaller dreams all vaguely detached from one another.  But that’s the view from the ground, experiencing the music in the moment.  From above, taking everything in its entirety, there is an undeniable sense of the interconnectedness of everything, of Rhapsody as a universal machine decoded into sonic form.  The pulsing melodicism of Fabian Rucker’s saxophone melts into Jen Shyu’s booming vocals which are, in turn, enveloped by Zeena Parkins’ harp, like sunlight blanketed the soft ripples of a wave as it swallows a bit more of the shoreline at high tide. And this, too, is captured in the embrace of Previte’s drums, Nels Cline’s guitars and John Medeski’s piano accompaniment. The cycle repeats itself when Rucker’s sax emerges from the center and becomes the gravitational force that sets everything in orbit.

Rhapsody is a running narrative, a song cycle about traveling and the traveler, and where Previte wants the focus to be not on destinations and points of departure, but instead on the state of existence in between.  The music’s floating imagery falls right in line with that inspiration, representing the fleeting yet visceral sensation from attempting to nail down a perspective in a state of perpetual motion and change.

This is a stunning work, and it’s one of the very best things I’ve heard all year.

Your album personnel:  Bobby Previte (trap drums, percussion, autoharp, guitar, harmonica), Nels Cline (acoustic guitar, slide guitar, twelve string guitar), John Medeski (piano), Zeena Parkins (harp), Jen Shyu (voice, erhu, piano) and Fabian Rucker (alto saxophone).

Released on RareNoise Records.

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from NYC.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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