Mark Keresman, August 2014

Philip Blackburn ★★★★1/2

Music of Shadows

Innova

Some composers literally compose, as in notation on paper, while others are sound artists, those who generate sonic tapestries that aren’t in the “strictest” sense “music” but the results can be nonetheless
compelling. Prototypical example: Steve Reich’s “It’s Gonna Rain,” wherein a loop of a preacher shouting the title overlaps upon itself—maddening to some, invigorating to others. Brit-born, USA-residing Philip Blackburn is both, fashioning “soundtracks” (of a sort) to the environments of state fairs, forests, galleries, parks, and stages. “Still Points” features synthesized percussion that sounds like a stick striking a plastic pipe, then evolves into an alarm clock, and the buoyant pops multiply geometrically, suggesting African drumming and Indonesian gamelan, then transform into harmonica- and accordion-like lilting bleats. It’s a bit like Terry Riley’s “In C” and Reich’s “Drumming,” yet totally different—lush, pulsating, slightly disorienting, and frequently beautiful, sounding like both the product of humans’ electronics and sounds of nature. “The Long Day Closes” takes inspiration from Handel’s opera Xerxes and oddly (or not) slightly suggests (but does not imitate) Gyorgy Ligeti’s choral music (the otherworld choir in Kubrick’s 2001)—it’s a beautiful sound-cloud of desolate beauty, of purposeful (slow) motion and oceanic stillness, wherein a ship’s foghorn slowed to an eerie, ghostly sigh. This is a disc to take you literally “away.” If you’re a fan of ambient (Eno, Roach, Köner, Cluster) with heft, this is a must. (3 tracks, 71 min.) innova.mu


Sokal/Känzig/Valihora

Refire ★★★★

Intakt

Chicago Underground Duo

Locus ★★★★1/2

Northern Spy

It just shows to go you, sometimes. Intakt is one of the premier labels in Europe for avant-garde jazz and improvised music, but Refire is so darn accessible (yet uncompromising) and engaging I think it could be played on some American radio stations. (Strange, yet true.) Austrian saxophonist Harry Sokal has a style based in the surging bebop of Johnny Griffin and the temperate, supple, deceptively sweet tone of Eddie Harris, one of the fellows that defined groove-oriented jazz in the 1960s and ‘70s. While many of the compositions are indeed spacious (no keyboards or guitar, remember), Sokal plays melod
iously with a sense of swing and affable yet soulful urgency, occasionally (as Harris did then, Jane Ira Bloom now) running his sax through electronic modifiers. Bassist Heiri Känzig coaxes moments of cello-like purity along with pliant, Paul Chambers-like swing and Charlie Haden-like throb, and drummer Martin Valihora provides propulsion but plays in a virtually Impressionist manner (as did the late Paul Motian). Refire has plenty of funky struts, hard-and-fast swing, and occasionally surreal/oblique passages (think of early ‘70s Weather Report). Gosh, this is fine. (13 tracks, 53 min.) intaktrec.ch

The Chicago Underground Duo is one of American jazz’s most expansive and unusually long-running (since 1997) combos. Cornetist Rob Mazurek (some Don Cherry influence here) and drummer Chad Taylor play lots of other assorted instruments (and overdub themselves),  drawing upon traditional and modern African music, open-ended improvisation, Glass/Reich minimalism, polyrhythms, mutant funk, and electronica for a set of throbbing, crackling, otherworldly soundscapes. Imagine electric-era Miles Davis combined with early-‘70s Weather Report and distilled into some concise, captivating delicacies, and you have Locus: cerebral yet vigorous, ethereal yet vivid. (9 tracks, 40 min.) northernspyrecords.com


Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison ★★★★★

Our Year

Premium/Thirty Tigers

Jon Pardi ★★★★

Write You A Song

Capitol Nashville

It’s performers like these that keep the true country sound alive. Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison, husband and wife, have established solo careers and it’s only in the last few years that they’ve been active as a duo. Our Year, a mix of originals and covers, is firmly in that tradition of Johnny Cash & June Carter and George Jones & Tammy Wynette, full of honky soul, voices that intertwine beautifully. Willis has more than a bit of Southern hillbilly/rockabilly wildness in her voice, while Robison has a plainspoken Texas barroom drawl, going together like honey and lemon in a cup of strong hot tea on a snowy day. This is real country music, performed tightly but minus any Nashville glitz, closer in style/spirit to the acoustic-oriented Austin country of Willie Nelson and the cracking Bakersfield twang of Merle Haggard. But this pair isn’t stuck in the past—they country-fy ‘60s Brit rockers The Zombies’ “This Will Be Our Year.” If you like the mix of plaintive, distinctive harmonies, sighing pedal steel, banjo, harmonica, and acoustic guitar, this is one of this year’s best
. (10 tracks, 33 min.) thirtytigers.com

    For his debut, Californian Jon Pardi achieves a nifty balance between the Nashville mainstream (slick production, a few radio-ready pop intimations) and fervent Bakersfield boisterousness. Pardi’s got a strong country voice (you can tell he’s dug Buck, Merle, & Dwight), sings with conviction and some self-deprecating humor, and the music is mighty, no-frills (OK, a few frills, so what?) honk tonk with a strong beat, plenty of twang, and tasty, tangy pedal steel guitar with a few hints of rock crunch (the opener “What I Can’t Put Down” sounds like a Steve Earle song and I mean that in the best possible way). This is a great debut and it’ll be fascinating to see where Pardi goes from here. (11 tracks, 39 min.) umgnashville.com


The Ugly Beats ★★★★

Brand New Day

Get Hip

Some people can’t let go of the Sixties…and in some cases, that’s not a bad thing. Austin, Texas’ Ugly Beats evoke that era just before rock & roll became an (ahem) Art Form (i.e., Sgt. Pepper’s) and “heavy, maan” (Cream, Hendrix). The Ugly Beats’ modus operandi includes chiming/jangling guitars (think Byrds, Beau Brummels, Kinks circa 1966-68, the first four REM albums); plain
tive, heart-on-sleeve vocals, conciseness, and yearningly pretty, insidiously catchy melodies that one can only generate after consistent absorption of early Beatles albums and Little Steven’s Underground Garage radio show. What separates this lot from other neo-‘60s combos? Well, The UBs sound like they mean it, no hokey or joke-y frills, and tunes that get (even) better after successive listens.  Go on, just try to get “Gone For Good” out of your head after two spins, I dare you. Retro? Sure, but so is The Flamin’ Groovies’ Shake Some Action and that’s a great platter. Brand New Day is one of those albums that sounds best in a dark room on a cool or rainy summer night. (12 songs, 35 min.) gethip.com


Jenny Scheinman ★★★★1/2

The Littlest Prisoner 

Columbia Masterworks

Many of us can only handle one career, but Jenny Scheinman has (at least) two—a violinist in jazz (with Bill Frisell, among others) and i
mprovised music, and a violinist/singer/songwriter of country and folk music (w/ Bruce Cockburn). Littlest Prisoner is the latter, and it’s very fine indeed. Frisell plays all over this, but he’s scaled back on lengthy improvisations in favor of muted accompaniment to Scheinman’s very emotional vignettes…but make no mistake, his playing is exquisite. Vocally, JS sounds hauntingly akin to a huskier Gillian Welch or pre-1973 Joni Mitchell, and musically it leans toward singer/songwriter folk with inflections of mountain music (pre-bluegrass string-band sounds) and non-Nash Vegas country. (I could easily imagine Willie Nelson doing some dandy versions of these songs.) The only downside to this set is its uniformity of (sober) mood—a bit more variety would have made this a monster. As it is, it’s merely excellent. (10 tracks, 38 min.) sonymasterworks.com
 

Sokal/Känzig/Valihora

Jon Pardi