I don't know what it is about summer. The last several weeks I've either been listening to reggae (mostly the Studio One comps on Soul Jazz), or Black Mayonnaise or Merzbow or my Joy Division Zune (dude, I'm joking!). The reggae thing is understandable, but until the NJ heat got officially oppressive a few days ago, the blackness less so. Two of my other favorite releases to come through the WFMU new bin of late have been pretty dark as well so we'll just go with it.
Well, to be fair the Chris Welcome Quartet album (on the terrific Tigerasylum label), simply called Quartet, is not so much dark as it is plain spooky in the Hitchcockian sense. This record comes out of the free jazz tradition, at least I think so, but it has such a refreshingly light touch to it; it is slow burning and almost quiet, as opposed the the Arthur Doyle school: The Birds vs. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Also, one gets the sense that the compositions, simply numbered 1-15, are more of the game here than the deft musicians are letting on, a series of mini controlled explosions, putting all senses on heightened alert. Chris Welcome, who plays guitar, is content to gently supply the mystery, while the saxophone (Jonathan Moritz on tenor and soprano) darts around rootlessly, adding to a mounting ennui. The rhythm section (Shayna Dulberger, bass and John McLellan, drums) is impressively reactive and almost stilted, there's hardly a steady groove to be found, creating a sense of suspense akin to wondering what that noise is in the woods, is it coming closer and will it kill me.
MP3: Chris Welcome Quartet - #1+2 (from the album Quartet on Tigerasylum)
I knew nothing much about Alfredo Costa Monteiro until I put together this post on Ruth Barbaran a month or so ago (the two often collaborate along with Ferran Fages). The Portuguese by way of Barcelona musician/installation artist exists in the space between European free improv and noise, and I'll be damned if his record Épicycle on the excellent Etudes label isn't a doom metal album in art wrapping paper (that's not a judgment on the CD packaging, by the way, which is beautiful). The thing is about dynamics, quiet drone filled with alien and unearthly shocks of vicious sound made with the most earthbound instruments of them all: the human voice. In fact, the whole piece is apparently created with nothing more than Alfredo's voice as the source material, giving it a disconnected late night shortwave radio quality, not unlike the Conet Project or Tod Dockstader's Aerial series (made from the bits of static and hum of lost radio waves). It's alternately desolate and horrifying, and composed with just the right amount of ebb and flow to make it a bit more than, well, another noise album. Highly recommended!
MP3: Alfredo Costa Monteiro - Épicycle (excerpt) (from the album on Etudes Records)
Many thanks to Chris Welcome and Alfredo Costa Monteiro/Etudes for their permission to post these tracks.
Scott, I tend to get into dark, enveloping, experimental epics this time of year as well. I find the NJ summer bleak and oppressive, but also undeniably familiar and often interesting—somehow, this music fits that collision of feelings. See this post from way back when. I've been listening to a ton of The Cherry Point. While the one-man Hollywood noise act is definitely Merzbow-inspired, TCP has its own layer of unique creepiness going on. Several of their discs can be downloaded at Terror Noise Audio. I recommend the titles Black Witchery and Anguish. I've also really been enjoying the collaborations of BJ Nilsen and Stilluppsteypa....
Posted by: WmMBerger | June 12, 2008 at 09:48 PM
Which Black Mayonnaise? You linked to an old myspace page for the emperor jones album, so maybe you're missing the newer still blacker one, "Unseen Collaborator"
http://resipiscent.com
And the Black Mayonnaise official MySpace page is here:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=297845657
Posted by: recked | June 19, 2008 at 08:56 PM