Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Bill Conti - (1978) Uncle Joe Shannon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) LP
United Artists Records – 935
Bonnie Prince Billy - (2019) I Made A Place CD
Palace Records – 067
Irreversible Entanglements - (2019) Homeless/Global
International Anthem Recording Company – none
The first new music from Philly/NY/DC free jazz collective IRREVERSIBLE
ENTANGLEMENTS since their 2017 debut. “Homeless/Global” is an epic,
23-minute standalone “single” that foreshadows their forthcoming
full-length LP (due Spring 2020).
A statement on the music, from the band: "As with the session for our first album, we began this session by just setting studio levels and hitting that record button. Homeless/Global was the first thing we played, no script, no plan. It’s a studio take that reflects what we do live: take the stage without a map, navigate the world in deep, telepathic, contrapuntal communion with each other and the histories we’re tapping into, push into the known and unknown, and arrive at the end together."
An unabridged take from the first moments of the Philadelphia recording session for their forthcoming LP, “Homeless/Global” stretches out inside a vacuum of time, running over 23 minutes in a blink of an eye. The track starts by falling backwards into an energetic recollection of Strata East swing, swelling forcefully till it bursts into the foreboding preach of poet/MC Camae Ayewa. In a wide-ranging poem touching on migration, exile, and border violence, she coolly inveighs: “in search of new bodies, we leave ourselves at home… plug into the network, socialize as a clone.” The band builds back up through a soaring statement by saxophonist Keir Neuringer (evoking an old-world zurna séance), before the rhythm section simmers down to a deep pocket of psychedelic groove held together by Luke Stewart’s mantric basslines and textured by Aquiles Navarro’s extended trumpet technique, as drummer Tcheser Holmes dances dynamically around a pulse and Ayewa runs down an inventory of Black history that “no one remembers.” “Homeless/Global” captures the essence of the band in improvisational ritual, and the increasingly powerful capacity for interdimensional transport they’ve collectively developed over 2+ years of hard hitting on the global live circuit.
IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS is a Philadelphia/New York/DC-based free jazz collective consisting of poet/MC Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), saxophonist Keir Neuringer, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Tcheser Holmes. Originally performing as two different ensembles at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event in 2015 (in response to the NYPD slaying of Akai Gurley), the five musicians recognized a shared ethos, and shortly after, assembled as a single unit for an impromtu studio date at Seizure’s Palace in Brooklyn. That session yielded their debut album "Irreversible Entanglements" (released by International Anthem & Don Giovanni in September 2017). Critical and communal acclaim for the album (including “Best of 2017” nods from NPR Music, WIRE Magazine, Bandcamp, and others) fueled a high demand for the band in the live setting, and the group have since spent much of 2018 and 2019 on the road. They have collaborated in performance with many legends of creative music including Amina Claudine Myers, Pat Thomas, and Nicole Mitchell; and their highest profile shows have included Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, Le Guess Who Festival In Utrecht NL, Barbican in London, and the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
Irreversible Entanglements’ new album will be released LP/CD/Digital by International Anthem & Don Giovanni in Spring of 2020.
A statement on the music, from the band: "As with the session for our first album, we began this session by just setting studio levels and hitting that record button. Homeless/Global was the first thing we played, no script, no plan. It’s a studio take that reflects what we do live: take the stage without a map, navigate the world in deep, telepathic, contrapuntal communion with each other and the histories we’re tapping into, push into the known and unknown, and arrive at the end together."
An unabridged take from the first moments of the Philadelphia recording session for their forthcoming LP, “Homeless/Global” stretches out inside a vacuum of time, running over 23 minutes in a blink of an eye. The track starts by falling backwards into an energetic recollection of Strata East swing, swelling forcefully till it bursts into the foreboding preach of poet/MC Camae Ayewa. In a wide-ranging poem touching on migration, exile, and border violence, she coolly inveighs: “in search of new bodies, we leave ourselves at home… plug into the network, socialize as a clone.” The band builds back up through a soaring statement by saxophonist Keir Neuringer (evoking an old-world zurna séance), before the rhythm section simmers down to a deep pocket of psychedelic groove held together by Luke Stewart’s mantric basslines and textured by Aquiles Navarro’s extended trumpet technique, as drummer Tcheser Holmes dances dynamically around a pulse and Ayewa runs down an inventory of Black history that “no one remembers.” “Homeless/Global” captures the essence of the band in improvisational ritual, and the increasingly powerful capacity for interdimensional transport they’ve collectively developed over 2+ years of hard hitting on the global live circuit.
IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS is a Philadelphia/New York/DC-based free jazz collective consisting of poet/MC Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), saxophonist Keir Neuringer, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Tcheser Holmes. Originally performing as two different ensembles at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event in 2015 (in response to the NYPD slaying of Akai Gurley), the five musicians recognized a shared ethos, and shortly after, assembled as a single unit for an impromtu studio date at Seizure’s Palace in Brooklyn. That session yielded their debut album "Irreversible Entanglements" (released by International Anthem & Don Giovanni in September 2017). Critical and communal acclaim for the album (including “Best of 2017” nods from NPR Music, WIRE Magazine, Bandcamp, and others) fueled a high demand for the band in the live setting, and the group have since spent much of 2018 and 2019 on the road. They have collaborated in performance with many legends of creative music including Amina Claudine Myers, Pat Thomas, and Nicole Mitchell; and their highest profile shows have included Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, Le Guess Who Festival In Utrecht NL, Barbican in London, and the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
Irreversible Entanglements’ new album will be released LP/CD/Digital by International Anthem & Don Giovanni in Spring of 2020.
Bill Callahan - (2019) If You Could Touch Her At All
Drag City – 770
Less than six months since the release of Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest,
our hero Bill Callahan takes a victory lap through the country with a
fresh (digital only!) single consisting of two, infallibly Callahan-ed
up cover songs! Bill's take on Lee Clayton's classic, "If You Could
Touch Her at All," walks a mile in some BIG shoes--by which we mean the
boots of Willie, Waylon and George Jones, all of whom did great versions
of the song-- casually and confidently. With the classic country ring
of steel drifting through the mix, Bill stakes out the song's
complexities in his own natural way, naturally!
Once comfortably in Bill mode, you'll find yourself "flipping" the single over and over! More deep empathy occurs on the "b-side" with a recitation of Leonard Cohen's 1968 classic, "So Long, Marianne." Bill tackles the tune with a straightforward arrangement featuring more steel and his own warm vocal, making for a well lived-in listening experience. This two-song single is a balletic homage to North America's incomparable 60s-70s songbook, offering a fine tribute to all the artists who've interpreted these songs in the past, sung by a master in his own era.
Once comfortably in Bill mode, you'll find yourself "flipping" the single over and over! More deep empathy occurs on the "b-side" with a recitation of Leonard Cohen's 1968 classic, "So Long, Marianne." Bill tackles the tune with a straightforward arrangement featuring more steel and his own warm vocal, making for a well lived-in listening experience. This two-song single is a balletic homage to North America's incomparable 60s-70s songbook, offering a fine tribute to all the artists who've interpreted these songs in the past, sung by a master in his own era.
VA - (2018) Hellenic Punk (Greek Punk '82-'91) CS
Not On Label – none
Basically it's Greek punk from the era mentioned, 26 songs in 70 minutes, and a Turkish band thrown in for good measure. I don't know anything else except that squinting at this tiny tracklist in Greek letters has made me blind.
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