Great Doubt, the new record by Danish experimental composer Astrid Sonne, carefully applies extended techniques for viola and detuned pianos upon hard, synthesized beats and brass sections, which are then warped into a surreal, narcotic kind of R&B. Her flat and clear-cut vocal delivery highlights the tension building within and behind it, among a digital flora of post-rock orchestration.
Author: Justin Gage
Takuya Kuroda :: Rising Son
Rising Son is a ray of regal jazz-funk bliss from start to finish, but the highlight has to be Kuroda’s cover of “Everybody Loves The Sunshine,” sung by José James with the world-weary joy of the Roy Ayers Ubiquity. This reissue closes with a “Sunshine” remix by UK keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones, layering smears of synth and thumping breakbeats over dubby, echo-drenched effects. Blue Note originals have been known to break the bank, so get down with Rising Son on its latest solar cycle.
The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PST, Channel 35)
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
lake j :: Dizzy
As a member of Chicago rockers Twin Peaks, Cadien Lake James once howled and screeched. As lake j, his mature and confident choices elevante his tracks from rockers to a higher grandeur.
Transmissions :: Vijay Iyer
Pianist, composer, and bandleader Vijay Iyer joins us on Transmissions. He joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss his new ECM release, Compassion, his collaborations with Shahzad Ismaily and Arooj Aftab, reflect on the post-pandemic nebulousness in the air, discuss his mentors Greg Tate and Amiri Baraka, and much more.
Soft Power :: Raw Bites
Add Helsinki sextet Soft Power to the growing list of jazz-rock revivalists. On their third album Raw Bites, Soft Power marries krautrock musculature to the jazz dynamics of Canterbury-scene stalwarts like the Soft Machine. But where one might expect fusion excess, Raw Bites delivers a punchy, rollicking album, brimming with riffs and hooks. This band is one to watch.
Bill Orcutt :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Guitarist Bill Orcutt has expanded past genre, throwing blues or jazz or noise into the experimental blender that is his distinct guitar playing. Whether the jagged notes jutting out of his Telecaster, the algorithmic waves made in his open-source synth program, or his layered compositions with the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet, he continues to subvert expectations time and time again. Ahead of his live release, Four Guitars Live with the aforementioned group, we sat down with Orcutt, talking about Steve Reich and Phill Niblock, improvisation, and using algorithms to find songs to cover.
Mal Waldron :: The Call
Everybody knows that Mal Waldron was the first artist released by Manfred Eicher’s fledgling label ECM. Less well known is that the veteran pianist also had the maiden release on Eicher’s experimental jazz imprint JAPO. That album, The Call, placed Waldron right at the heart of the burgeoning krautrock scene, teaming him up with affiliates of Amon Düül, Tangerine Dream and Et Cetera. The result was tripped-out, electrified space jazz of the very highest order.
Patrick Sansone :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Though he’s known for his work with Wilco and The Autumn Defense, Pat Sansone embraces wordless vistas and inner/outer cosmic tones on Infinity Mirrors, evoking the work of Steve Roach, Klaus Schulze, and Tangerine Dream. Sansone corresponded with us about his teenage synth fixations, and how photography and mindfulness tie into the expansive spaces of his new album.
Jenny Sorrenti :: Suspiro
Though one may not guess it from the more recent entries of her discography, at one moment, Jenny Sorrenti was deep in the underground annals of psych folk. The Italian songstress may have moved on toward the more madrigal/trad-folk side of things in recent years, but 1976’s Suspiro came barreling forth in sun-drenched pop with a flair for fuzz and grit. And though it has been recognized for its association with Jorma Kaukonen’s brother Peter making an appearance on mandolin and production duties, Sorrenti’s debut deserves the chance to stand on its own merit.
Raul Lovisoni / Francesco Messina :: Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo
Prati bagnati del monte Analogo from composers Raul Lovisoni and Francesco Messina was released on the Italian label Cramps in 1979. While nominally a part of the Italian minimalism genre, the music bears more in common with Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, released a year earlier. It’s minimal even by minimalist standards. Messina and Lovisoni were a part of the fertile avant garde scene in Italy.
Grimório de Abril :: Castelo D’Água
A new release, Castelo D’Água, comes out now via the incredibly consistent Brazilian micro-label Municipal K7. It maintains the characteristic amplitude of Sanchez’ landscapes while attaining more closely to the wetness indexed in reverb. The tracks follow what Bachelard would call the homology between water and dreams: the oneiric as a fluid substance, a liquid flow, or rather a submersion into pre-formal matter.
Dave Harrington, Max Jaffe, Patrick Shiroishi :: Staring Into The Imagination Of Your Face
Recorded live and in the moment at Golden Beat recording studios in Los Angeles, Speak, Moment documents the first afternoon guitarist Dave Harrington (Darkside, Dave Harrington Group, Tapers Choice), saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi and drummer Max Jaffe met. Ahead of the album’s release on March 8th, we’re pleased to share the video for “Staring Into The Imagination Of Your Face,” and Jaffe’s comments on the hypnotic video.
The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PST, Channel 35)
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
High Llamas :: Sister Friends
From the opening keys to the bouncy, echoing synths: indeed, the High Llamas are back with their immediate, radiating brand of orchestral lounge music. The last time we checked in with the prolific Sean O’Hagan, he referenced a parallel to the career trajectory of Robert Wyatt to describe his own creative tear of late. Perhaps recalling Mary Hansen’s vocals on Llamas tracks of yesteryear, the swaying new single “Sister Friends” features English pop singer Rae Morris taking lead vocals in a lush, jazzy duet.