Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Music Recommendations from The PLI #5
1) J Spaceman - Guitar Loops
2) Evan Parker - With Birds
3) Coxon, Prevost, Wales - Acoustic Trio
4) Coxon, Parker, Sanders, Wales - Trio With Interludes
So this is one big mass recommend from the Treader label. Coxon and Wales are Spring Heel Jack, techno/drum'n bass provocateurs from way back when. Around 2000-2001-ish they abandoned all dancey stuff and moved into free jazz, recording an excellent series of CD's with Matthew Shipp, Evan Parker, William Parker, Han Bennink, Wadada Leo Smith and Tim Berne. If you don't own these four records, they are worth finding (Masses, Amassed, Live and The Sweetness of Water) They cherry picked the best improvisers in the world and blasted sheets of noise from their laptops and the improvisers were left with the task of using that as their start point.
Now they've started the Treader label. Each record has beautiful packaging. Pastel color cardboard with a gold embossed animal on the cover. Each record has some amazing qualities and these four are my favorites. Trio With Interludes is a busy kinetic powerhouse. Evan Parker With Birds is a beautiful collection of the sax player dancing with a bird song projected at him by Wales and Coxon. Acoustic Trio shows Coxon and Wales moving away from electro-driving jazz into AMM territory, thanks to Prevost. This spare record is anything but a lightweight however, they achieve some massive density. Lastly their best seller to date, J Spaceman's Guitar Loops, is exactly that, Spaceman's one take performance of some exciting experimental guitar work (I'm not sure if Coxon and Wales were heavily involved in this one) sounding anywhere between world music and Sonic Youth.
All these Treader CD's are very limited, so if you see one grab it. A very good article on Coxon and Wales was in last month's Wire. There's been talk of an upcoming Coxon, Wales and Bennink recording that's supposed to be a real blistering monster, I can't wait. Check out their site if you can't find them in a brick and mortar, www.treader.org
5) Parts & Labor - Stay Afraid
Finally a record that rocks and doesn't feel overburdened with cliches. This record reminds me of Death From Above 1979's record from last year. Take the Lightning Bolt/Sightings/Wolf Eyes template of hardcore arty noise and add songs on top of it is the formula both bands use. While DFA's songs sounded in places like bar rock, Parts & Labor swap that for sounding like late 80's mid west hardcore. They sound like Lightning Bolt covering Husker Du. I can't get enough of this record.
