v a l l e j o n o c t u r n o

Best Music of 2007- yeasayer, all hour cymbals

Yeasayer CD, All Hour Cymbals, has all the requisites for an excellent music CD under my criteria- unique sounds, distinct songs, subtle rhythms, vocals harking back to some unknown time, and of course, a cross-genre craft that makes the overall effort sound unlike most other music. Likened to Byrne and Eno stuff from the late 70's, the music to me has a medieval feel from the 60's rock. And I mean that in a very positive light since you hear things in this CD that you never thought you'd hear again. The critics have taken a liking to these guys as can be seen from the many remarks:

i've talked about yeasayer a lot this year, and you've probably heard about them everywhere else - they have certainly owned the latter half of this year, publicity-wise. their live show is as visually exciting as it is aurally, and though the 45 minute restriction was welcomed with boos, yeasayer rocked the house and left no one wanting. they tackled all their "hits," starting the set with the anand wilder tune "forgiveness" before breaking out "2080" to universal applause. other songs included "no need to worry," "sunrise," both seasonal songs ("summer" & "wintertime"), "final path," and a new song which, unfortunately, seemed less complex than their other work. despite that, their set was musically solid and rewarding - much heavier than all hour cymbals - a satisfying conclusion to a great night of music. if friction's job is to handpick bands that are going places, they couldn't have done better than last night's show. Probably the most exciting part of yeasayer's set was chris keating, the band's charismatic frontman. though all of yeasayer was into their performance, keating took it to another level, totally lost in the music. seemingly transported. . .

And from NPR of all places:

Yeasayer is making some of the year's most interesting and infectious music. Describing their sound as "Middle Eastern-Psych-Pop-Snap-Gospel", the Brooklyn-based group creates huge waves of sound with a vibe that's both primitive and modern. Dark melodies are set against world funk rhythms.

The first few seconds of Yeasayer's album, All Hour Cymbals, are a thrill ride, with choral harmonies, hand claps, and triumphant, heavy drums on the track, "Sunrise." The song builds to an enormous cacaphony. "2080" has a funk-inspired bass line with gorgeous harmonies. The track "Ah, Weir" shows the band's lighter side with easy-going percussion that eventually leads into the epic "No Need to Worry".

Yeasayer isn't likely to be a great unknown for long. The band is already getting a lot of attention with their "2080/Sunrise" single released on the label We Are Free.

MySpace

Daytrotter Session

YouTube

StereoGum

 

Best Music of 2007- Supersilent, 8

Their first studio album from this Norwegian super new music/jazz group is a sonic surprise. As always, this music is so difficult to categorize, but that is what makes it so good. Reputedly this music is all improvised-should this make a difference? Yes. From my perspective all music is improvised, including Beethoven's 5th-that is, their is an element of improvisation that makes the music what it can best become-an audio experience for for those experiencing it. And it should matter if you listen to music for "surprises". Electronic and ambient as contemporary music should be-this stuff wanders all over the place making you wonder what universe you inhabit-no small chore.

Here is what the BBC said about this CD:

Supersilent are eight albums and ten years old. There is something so rootedly elemental about their group endeavour that it sometimes seems difficult to identify a sense of progression over their releases for Rune Grammofon. This may also be attributed to the group’s unchanging working method: they meet to record their music without preparation or discussion beforehand. Each track is entirely improvised.

"8.1" is a brooding affair, agog with bass rumbles and skittering scrapes lost in mid-range gloom. Half trapped animal, half anti-social neighbour, it refuses to raise itself off the ground, preferring to lurk round dark corners, creeping earthbound and just out of sight. Four minutes in, its warped form briefly gathers itself up into a lumbering rhythm before disintegrating into something more interesting: asymmetrical lunges like a shape-shifting beast struggling to resolve itself into something useful. It’s heavy stuff, best lifted by suitably powerful cranes or the sort of lorries found in big quarries.

"8.2" is a cymbal-scape menaced by ruminant bass. Reflective, intense and lonely, its sibling is a spooked peace longed for, but never quite achieved. "8.3" gradually increases the tension with an ever-increasing thrumming activity out of which wails Ståle Storløkken’s signature synthesizer banshee cry. "8.4" returns to a mournful half-light like a distant cousin of Miles Davis’s "He Loved Him Madly".

And from Experimusic:

Norway’s Supersilent is a well known name in contemporary experimental  jazz circles due to their unwillingness to compromise, their diverse  amalgamation of sounds, their unique work ethic and their icy Scandinavian cool. ‘8’ celebrates 10 years of Supersilent and is their first studio album for almost five years. Supersilent comprises of Arve Henriksen (trumpet, voice, electronics, drums), Helge Sten aka Deathprod (audio virus, guitar), Jarle Vespestad (drums) and Ståle Storløkken (keyboards, synthesisers).              

Just to gather some context behind the band, Supersilent is a collective which never rehearse or even discuss music. Instead  they meet only to play/record improvised music and hence this enables the individual players to express themselves in a totally free environment and the finished article demonstrates that the  players communicate on some kind of telepathic level. Like albums 1-6, ‘8’ was chosen from several hours of finished       music which itself was culled from lengthy jam sessions. ‘8’ reveals Supersilent’s ability to redefine the concept of ‘free jazz’ and showcases a plethora  of (occasionally very abstract) soundscapes and sonic-motifs which  exist in an almost unlimited sound-space. This is primarily due to warm and ultra sharp production values coupled with Bob Katz’s                 mastering work (in close collaboration with Deathprod), who handled  ‘8’ almost like classical music to keep the extremely  dynamic range of the original recording.

Reax Music Review

Italian Review of CD

Supersilent on YouTube             

Bookmat review

Outside of Superdome

Other side of stadiums

Maynard House

Tatoo House

Ben Ratliff's The Story of a Sound

From Ratliff's introduction to his book:

From the outside, one keeps wondering which musician will take the next decisively evolutionary step, as all those who seem to be candidates repeat themselves, become hermetic or obvious, fail to write compelling original material, sell out in some form, or begin to bore their audiences. And then one wonders whether evolutionary models should be applied to jazz at all. It seems to be the case that jazz loops around, retrenches, makes tiny adjustments that don't alter the basic language. The problem, though, is that Coltrane certainly made it seem as if jazz were evolving. He barreled ahead, and others followed. Some are still following.

His career, especially the last ten years of it, was so unreasonably exceptional that when he became seen as the representative jazz musician, the general comprehension of how and why jazz works became changed; it also became jagged and dangerous with half-truths. Every half-truth needs a full explanation.

This is not a book about Coltrane's life, but the story of his work. The first part tells the story of his music as it was made, from his first recordings as a no-name navy bandsman in 1946 until his death as a near-saint of jazz in 1967. The second part tells the story of his influence, starting in his lifetime and continuing until today. The reason that the two stories are separated — even though one will cross over into the other's territory now and then — is because the work and its reception have had distinct, different, and individually logical lives.

This is a book about jazz as sound. I mean "sound" as it has long functioned among jazz players, as a mystical term of art: as in, every musician finally needs a sound, a full and sensible embodiment of his artistic personality, such that it can be heard, at best, in a single note. Miles Davis's was fragile and pointed. Coleman Hawkins's was ripe and mellow and generous. John Coltrane's was large and dry, slightly undercooked, and urgent.

Best Music of 2007- Marc-Andre Hamelin, Haydn Piano Sonatas

I am constantly amazed at the wide range of expression that these piano sonatas can generate from a diverse group of performers. Reputed to be not as open-ended and complex as Beethoven's sonatas for piano that would soon follow, Haydn's sonatas, as are his string quartets, a first visit into this solitary genre full of passion and notes. For me, these sonatas have a more distinct and precise emotion attached to each and for this reason it is easier to follow the performers sensibilities. Hamelin has managed to do it all, from Scriabin to Alkan to Beethoven, and with his special touch. Though there are many excellent versions of these little heard sonatas by Brendel and Schiff,  Hamelin's interpretations are extremely solid and reinforce my feelings that these need to be heard a lot more often than they are today.

From Fanfare Magazine:

Perhaps this general lack of public awareness is due to the fact that Haydn’s music for years was seen as amiable rather than brilliant. A small handful of symphonies and quartets survived this condescending treatment, because the composer was considered (inaccurately, as it turned out) the “father” of the symphony and the quartet. Now that the symphonies and the quartets have been reclaimed in total as works of surprisingly fine quality, regardless of their respective levels of sophistication, perhaps we can finally listen with fresh ears to the piano sonatas too. Their drama, humor, lyricism, and invention would seem to require no less.

“Brilliance” is a good term to apply to this recording, as well. Without equating this with speed, it still must be said that fast movements are very fleet under Hamelin’s hands but convey an impression of still greater speed, due to the extraordinary ease with which he tosses off runs and ornamentation. Indeed, that’s one of the great pleasures of this set: the visceral joy of hearing such a marvelous technique. (Leif Ove Andsnes has it, as well, on EMI Classics 56756, but he’s just slightly slower and less expressive than Hamelin in the final movement to the Piano Sonata No. 32; while Ax on Sony 89363 is comparatively a dull dog in the same piece.) The finales of the Sonata No. 23 and the Sonata No. 52 bristle with wit presented at a manic pace. Yet for all their agility, control is never lacking, and Hamelin clearly delights in finding the exact placement of an accent, the proper articulation for a given phrase, the perfect balance between hands at any given moment. This contrasts well with the likes of Jenő Jandó in his Naxos series, for whom speed is joined to a ride on the surface of this music.

From Leonard Link, a music afficionados blog, on a Hamelin in person performance:

What can one say of Hamelin's playing that hasn't been said before? The man is incredible.  I know his work almost entirely from recordings, and not having heard him play in concert very much, I was eager to hear whether his live performance would live up to the exalted technical standard from his studio work.  After all, no second takes here, no chance for patching or redoing rough sections....  And he did live up to that exalted standard.  His facility, range of dynamics, sensitivity were all exemplary.  And yet, I felt that perhaps he makes a stronger impact on a recording because you can't see him playing.  He seems so relaxed, so impassive at the keyboard that perhaps one mistakes the cue and doesn't hear the amount of passion and individuality that is contained in his playing.  This comes across on the recordings because you don't see the impassive artist before you. And he should replace the publicity photo he's been using - it's so outdated that it doesn't look like him any more.  When he came out to play, I didn't recognize him - thought perhaps it was the manager of the hall to make an announcement!  He appears much more slim than his pictures, rather sharper featured....

YouTube-Hamelin Haydn Sonata
NY Times Best Album of 2007
NY Times Recital Review

 

 

Hartmut Schwarzbach

Harmut Schwarzbach's fotos of children who live by garbage dumps

Hugo Ball

from consumptive.org

TERRITORIES OF INTERWOVEN GENETIC DESIGN

Sean Hanna

Sean Hanna's Research and Design

Best Music of 2007- Kartet, The Bay Window

An inventive and surprisingly fresh take on Jazz from France. Studied, yet loose and precise, this quartet displays the genious of having worked together for many years, since 1989 when the original 4 met to play music together. Monk's Misterioso which opens up the CD has those unique elements that make this music so pleasurable to hear. The rhythmical interplay works, very, very well. The Bay Window is their 1st CD for a non-French label-they have 4 other previously recorded CDs in France. From an interview by Tony Reif earlier this year, the band members discuss their origin:

TR: Kartet was formed I believe in 1990, and still has three of its original members - Chander joined in 1996 when the original drummer Benjamin Henocq left. I guess you guys were in your early 20s back then? What was it about that moment in each of your careers up to that point that brought the group together? And what has kept it together all this time?
 
Benoît Delbecq: Kartet was actually formed in November 1989, when Guillaume and I first met. I had a trio with Benjamin and bassist Titus Oppman who then left Kartet in April 1990, that's when Hubert joined. Guillaume and Benjamin were 20, Titus and I were 23. Hubert was 32 in 1990.

Initially, there was this encounter with Guillaume. He was the only young player in Paris who was into Steve Coleman, Dave Holland's quintet...just like me, I was into Ornette totally too. At this time jazz players were a bit skeptical about Steve Coleman, just as much as about Ornette for some of them! Well Guillaume and I went to Banff in the summer of 1990 to study with him. Everything went quite fast. Unfortunately Benjamin couldn’t make it with us to the Banff workshop even though he was selected too. That would have been almost the whole Kartet in Banff.

We started it all in November 1989 with Guillaume and Benjamin and Titus the week after Guillaume had played a jam session in a small club where we were playing a regular trio gig. At this time I was very much into mixing contemporary tools with jazz improv, free improv too. Soon after that I worked for a theatre show in Marseille, and was invited for a composer residency. In the end I persuaded the cultural guys there that we had to do it with Kartet, and it worked. By the next September, Hubert had joined in, we all moved to live in the same house near Marseille for 10 months, and rehearsed and practiced in an incredibly intense period which of course shaped our music to come.

Guillaume Orti: Benoît could have taken the opportunity for himself but he proposed the whole band for this résidence. That was really what united the band. By living together we could stay concentrated on developing our musical vocabulary: melodic and harmonic material, original rhythmic tools, etc.

And from All About Jazz, here's an excerpt from their review of the CD:

The music is composed, but the freedom with which they ring it makes the impact. The constant invention of ideas gets off right from the start as they take on Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso.” There is nothing Monkish about the make-up. Orti shapes the melody in his own frame on the alto saxophone, leaving Delbecq to insert the melody as a teaser and dart out. Dupont lays down a stout bass line as Sardjoe adds vibrant color, his accents flexed, the cymbals shimmering. All of this makes for a delectable appetizer for what is to come.

What comes rises gently, from the folds of interplay and invention. The quartet churns out little nuggets of delight as melodies float in and out of the body. Ideas are forged on the moment and given dimension with jazz harmonies adding to the atmosphere. “B + B” is set up by Orti and Delbecq, a floating round of melody seeking a vantage point that it finds soon enough in the walking bass line of Dupont and the now-intense probing of Orti.

Hubert Dupont's Website
Group Website
Another review of The Bay Window