Label: Screwgun Records, 2020

Personnel - Tim Berne: alto and baritone saxophones; David Torn: guitars, loops, live samplings; Ches Smith: drums, electronics.

Containing three exciting tracks, Congratulations to You is the follow up to the acclaimed eponymous debut album of Sun of Goldfinger, the probing trio of saxophonist Tim Berne, guitarist David Torn and drummer Ches Smith. The musicians’ ability to conjure atmosphere while manipulating time and space is magical, and no contemporary jazz lover should be indifferent to the immensity and ruggedness of their sounds. The first two pieces were culled from their very first performance in Brooklyn in 2010, while the concluding title track was captured at the Vortex Club in London.

“Bat Tears” is not only a showcase for Berne’s echoing motifs and drifts on the alto - highly substantiated by Torn’s sampling and looping effects - but also to his grooving and popping baritone playing. The dance-like motion produced has the assistance of Torn’s rock-infested soloing and Smith’s krautrock-inspired rhythms. This initially raw and non-gratuitous chaotic incursion precedes a quieter second half, where uncompromising guitar noodling, loops and persistently ululating saxophone cries become trapped in a magnetic suspended form.

At more than 28-minutes, “Coco Tangle” is the longest ride on the album, carrying with it the possibility of dialogue and always providing us with something pleasurable to be discovered as the artists centralize their creative energies. The opening section brings out the fire within these artists, whose free expressions start to take a solid shape with the time. At some point, we have a cackling saxophone triggering digitally processed rhythmic figures, flickering flashes of powerful wah-wah guitar, and tremendous responses from Smith, who adds color and detail to every move - his actions can range from syncopated hip-hop-ish grooves to instinctive tribalistic flows to rock-infused rhythms. After delving into abstraction - a passage with some psychedelia in the mix - the trio outlines another kinetic, groove-centered concoction made of intense baritone sounds, galvanizing guitar procedures, and humanly ‘programmed’ trap-set maneuvers.

“Congratulations to You” is firstly presented as a partially blurred frame with inclinations toward experimental electronica before suddenly turn into a perfectly danceable number driven by a sparkling hip-hop beat. It reaches the climax when the trio breaks forth into a roar of sound.

Mastering texture, groove and free improv, Berne, Torn and Smith bring out the strengths in one another, and their unquestionable chemistry is on display from the very first track. Hail, Sun of Goldfinger!

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Bat Tears ► 02 - Coco Tangle

Label: ECM Records, 2019

Personnel – David Torn: guitar, live-looping, electronics; Tim Berne: alto saxophone; Ches Smith: drum set, percussion, tanbou.

Sun of Goldfinger is an outstanding, explorative trio composed of David Torn on guitar, live-looping, and electronics; Tim Berne on alto saxophone; and Ches Smith on drums, electronics, and tanbou. The group first played together in 2010 when Torn accepted Berne’s invitation to play a trio gig in Brooklyn, an event that got the guitarist very well impressed with the inventiveness of Smith.

Let me just start by telling you that the three-song album presented here is a must-have for fans of new music, allowing elements of jazz, rock, and avant-garde to blend under scrupulously burning arrangements and engrossing impromptu creations.

Torn’s “Spartan Before Hit It” is the central piece on the record, a modern symphonic marvel in every aspect that thrives with the addition of guitarists Ryan Ferreira and Mike Bagetta, super keyboardist Craig Taborn, and the strings of Scorchio Quartet, which contributes with two violins, a cello, and a viola. The song, tranquilly cinematic in its first minutes, has a rich piano underlying it and is ignited through a solid compound of saxophone-guitar exclamations, later turned into red-hot masses of sound, and a fancy rhythm that lies in-between the primitive African and the ecstatic Brazilian. The electronic effects are tastefully integrated and never feel as outsider elements. Surrounding, organic sounds penetrate deeply into our heads, extending emotions through a bright light before entering into a chilly, drone-dominant phase that paralyzes and bewilders. The autumnal landscapes are then reintegrated, with Torn’s folk gestures warming it up.

It’s phenomenal to see how the structural discipline and adventurous freedom work so well together, also prevailing on the two other spontaneous tracks. You’ll find three creative individuals speaking in their own languages and fusing different elements to conjure a unique collective atmosphere that unveils all their musical intelligence. They are master colorists working from different angles of time and space.

“Eye Meddle” combines guitar chords seasoned with beautifully atonal flavors, loops of several frequencies, odd percussion, and resilient grid-like sax lines that can sound furious and elastic. Halfway, look for the intoxicating psych-rock scenario mounted with a groovy hip-hop flavor running underneath. Hallucinating, this trip still offers a distorted guitar solo over a vibe-infused funky rhythm and cyclic buzzing drones emitted by guitar and saxophone. Nothing is out of place and the sound is fascinating.

Concluding the album, “Soften The Blow” starts off like poetry in motion, serenading us with passive dark tones. Wavy chordal twang and measured electronic fluxes are part of the game. The conversion to chaos happens when Torn inflames his guitar with a mix of distortion and delay in a rock-centric obsession, Berne dives into extravagant in-and-out work, and Smith uses nimble syncopation to produce a snarly pulsation.

Sun of Goldfinger is pure teamwork and nothing short of remarkable. Their unmissable debut album is powerful, it grabs you hard and you rise with it.