Label: Trost Records, 2022
Personnel - Peter Protzmann: tenor saxophone; Eugene Robinson: vocals; Niko Wenner: guitar; Dan Adams: bass guitar; Greg Davis: drums.
Recorded live at Moers Festival 2018, An Eternal Reminder of Not Today marks a singular, incendiary collaboration between the experimental rock deities known as Oxbow and the venturous German saxophonist Peter Brotzmann. The latter provides the front-line along with vocalist Eugene Robinson, whose lyrics are often just as direct in their ideals and quests. The rhythm team is composed of guitarist Niko Wenner, bassist Dan Adams, and drummer Greg Davis.
The welcoming blues rock of the opener, “Angel”, is harmonically launched by Werner, who occasionally pins it with seasonable harmonics. The electric bass solidifies the texture, and then arrives the drummer, completing a recondite sonic blend that foreshadows what comes next. The range and depth of Robinson’s vitriol create a deep impact in the company of Brotzmann’s tearfully penetrating lines, which aim straight at the soul.
This is a fantastic curtain lifter of an assured performance that proceeds with the abrasive sound of “Cat and Mouse” - another piece taken from the 1992 album King of the Jews (my absolute favorite) - where the avant noise-rock exerted denotes a diffuseness at its center that makes you never know what to expect. The energy cools off just for one moment before exploding again into a cloud of electric particles. This piece goes directly to “Skin”, from the album An Evil Heat (2002). It’s another powerful, if darker, avant-garde excursion, whose head presages another furious improvisation by Brotzmann, constantly defying limits with the force of a hurricane.
Both “Host” and “The Finished Line” reflect strong melodic moments, whereas “Over” promotes technically precise passages of prog and noise rock with alternation of compression and expansion. The record comes to a conclusion in the form of an encore with “The Valley”, whose first segment has the saxophonist playing perhaps a bit too ‘out’. He returns during the ultimate chordal sequence with a different stability.
Revolutionary and confrontational, this is a live record that you should not pass on by, especially if you like your music filled with vigor, defiant attitude, and freedom.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Angel ► 02 - Cat and Mouse ► 03 - Skin