Kenny Garrett & Svoy - Who Killed AI?

May 9, 2024

Label: Mack Avenue, 2024

Personnel - Kenny Garrett: alto and soprano saxophone, vocals; Svoy: programming, vocals, piano, keyboards.

Mighty saxophonist Kenny Garrett hasn’t lost any of his improvisational soulfulness while playing over a totally electronic backdrop in Who Killed AI?, a duo album with pop/electronica star Svoy.

The album kicks off with “Ascendance”, a keyboards-soaked piece driven by invigorating rhythms and punctuated by warped chords over which Garrett’s sweltering phrases stand out with angular hooks and an effortless inside/outside malleability. “Miles Running Down AI” channels the spirit of Miles Davis’ electric album Bitches Brew in an exuberant fusion pinned by a funky wah-wah groove and occasionally punctuated by vibing clouds of poise.

However, not every track hits the mark; “Transcendence” unfolds under a sparse, dull beat in a controlled atmospheric setting that lacks provocation, while the duo's rendition of the standard ballad "My Funny Valentine” falls short of capturing its charm and luster.

Yet, there are highlights worth noting. “Divergence Tu-Dah” presents an alternative R&B-meets-hip-hop fusion cooked up with ominous noir undertones, vocals, and a hypnotic backbeat. The solo here - emulating a guitar - flows with an empathetic language bursting with dramatic expression. Equally enticing, “Convergence” appears as a muscular EDM-inspired cut, reminiscent of Donny McCaslin’s intrepid dancefloor excursions. Here, Garrett exhibits strong motivic inclinations.

While the duo’s bold attempt to create something out-of-the-box is laudable, the album ultimately left me with mixed feelings, as not all tracks manage to leave a lasting impact.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Ascendence ► 04 - Divergence Tu-Dah ► 07 - Convergence

The Killing Popes - Ego Kills

July 22, 2021

Label: Clean Feed, 2021

Personnel - Oli Steidle: drums, percussion, marimba; Dan Nicholls: keyboards, bass, sampling; Frank Mobus: guitar; Phillip Gropper: saxophones; Phil Donkin: bass; Nathalie Sandtorv: vocals (#8); Jelena Kuljic: vocals, sampler; Liv Nicholls: backing vocals.

The Killing Popes, a brainchild of the inventive German drummer/percussionist Oli Steidle, is now a duo with the inclusion of Dan Nicholls who, besides producing, plays keyboards, bass and sampling. The duo crosses genre barriers with legitimacy, counting on the close-distance interplay of musicians such as guitarist Frank Mobus, saxophonist Phillip Gropper, bassist Phil Donkin and a trio of guest vocalists.

The new album, Ego Kills, oozes out a weirdly intoxicating feel, and “Bling Bling Frog$”, being as much playful as it is unorthodox, takes us into an electro-jazz universe with intense concentration of depth-charged odd beats, round funky bass playing, fragmented fluxes and nifty ostinatos. Gropper’s vivid saxophone makes a nice contrast with the effects-laden soundscapes created by spacious guitar and soaring synths.

“Butcher” effectively blends experimental funk-rock and nu breaks with an outrageously fun pose, drawing attention to its rhythmic diversity as well as Mobus’ guitar work, which veers from adamant staccato to improvisatory off-kilter. His art-rock boldness also bursts into view on “Chthulu”, where plummeting breakbeats, jazzy keyboard sounds and angular unisons exude a transcendent grace that hooks us in.

The psychedelia offered in “Hi Five” takes you through blurred landscapes with warped trajectories and slinky distortions. There are discerning accents, jittery drumming and fast bass walks set in motion with tonal purpose.

The clangorous, drum-saturated “Legitimacy Loop” introduces “F-U-C-K”, which - featuring the voice of Nathalie Sandtorv - combines streamlined and wrinkled textures. At one point we find deep saxophone figures and sustained keyboard clouds set against a mix of krautrock-like rhythms and experimental electronica, but at another stage there’s an ambient guitar wrapped in lo-fi surroundings.

The vocals and text by Jelena Kuljic inflames the agitated “King of Soap”, whose punk attitude is bolstered by Steidl. Commanding with authority from the drum kit, the latter's plan metamorphoses again on the closing title, “Long Live the Popes”, where the band explores groove with a funky temperament before turning to electronica and dark ambient.

Ego Kills is a place where free jazzers can enjoy a vast palette of sounds that are commonly associated with electronic dance music. It’s unconventional, complex stuff with a tight grip on dynamics and a screaming production.

Favorite Tracks:
03 - Butcher ► 06 - Chthulu ► 08 - F-U-C-K

Matt Mitchell & Kate Gentile's Snark Horse

July 20, 2021

Label: Pi Recordings, 2021

Personnel - Matt Mitchell: piano; Kate Gentile: drums, percussion; Jon Irabagon: alto and soprano saxophones, Matt Nelson: tenor saxophone; Ben Gerstein: trombone; Davy Lazar: trumpet; Brandon Seabrook: guitar, banjo; Ava Mendoza: guitar; Kim Cass: bass, Mat Maneri: viola.

Snark Horse, the duo of pianist/keyboardist Matt Mitchell and drummer Kate Gentile, releases an epic 6 CD-box set that brims with astoundingly intricate rhythms and textures as well as plenty of freely improvised passages within a rigorous structural organization.

For this monumental opus composed of one-bar compositions and short electronic pieces, the twosome enlisted a collective of eight musicians who appear in various combinations across the album, ranging from duo to tentet (Snark Horsekestra). All these contributors, known for being constantly on the look for new experiences, have been playing with the duo since 2013.

It’s extremely hard to pick favorites from the extensive tracklist, but “Compartments/ ‘S Partial” threw me into its delightfully elliptical trajectories via saxophone/trombone interjections and explosive guitar maneuvers, all in a permanent musical connection and deep focus. Featuring a similar instrumentation and blooming with polyrhythmic wonder, “Igh/Dogmacile” dives deep into industriously mechanical motions. The great vibe of Mitchell’s “A Pouting Grimace” is reinforced here through the deft interplay between the pianist and the guitarist Brandon Seabrook. This piece is linked to “Greasy Puzzle”, a sort of mournful stirrer.

If “Trapezoids/Matching Tickles” opens with exciting drumming and features Jon Irabagon in absolute command of the altissimo register and extended techniques, then “Nudgelet”, with bassist Kim Cass aboard, probes prog-rock aesthetics with hints of electronica and lots of jazzy piano atop. Mitchell also jazzes up the fast paced “Glubz/Spelling Bad on Purpose”, where entrancing rhythms and glorious timbres are held down tight.

The fervent “Thing-Fact/Theoretical Muscle” has Irabagon and Gerstein producing lavishly with shaggy authority, whereas “Regular Falutin’” exudes a more exotic touch in the combination of Seabrook’s banjo with Mat Maneri’s viola over an entrancing 13/8 rhythm. The same pair operates in a different context alongside trumpeter Davy Lazar on “Mad Homonyms/Phex”.

You'll find unremitting odd meter everywhere. Hence, Gentile’s “F Tesselations/Chimeric Numbers” shows off the full Horsekestra grooving in five and seven, whereas “Mind Goggle/End of Something” develops in a slower nine, having Matt Nelson’s dark tenor timbres working as a perfect foil for Ava Mendoza’s atmospheric guitar.

Diversity is offered with the short electronic numbers, which include ritualistic paraphernalia (“Flock Adulation”), granular and glitchy vibes (“Pheromone Quiz”), spectral dissonance (“All Tall Ghosts”), and flickering, bloopy sounds (“Underblobb Sys”).

For all its ingenious conception and technical quality, this is essential listening for all modern music surfers whose waves range from microscopic precision to cosmic turbulence.

Favorite Tracks:
04 (CD1) - A Pouting Grimace/Greasy Puzzle ► 01 (CD2) - Trapezoids/Matching Tickles ► 08 (CD3) - Glubz/Spelling Bad on Purpose ► 02 (CD4) - F Tesselations/Chimeric Numbers ► 05 (CD5) - Mad Homonyms/Phex

Peter Bruun's All Too Human - Because You're Worth It

December 1, 2020

Label: ILK, 2020

Personnel - Peter Bruun: drums, synth; Kasper Kranberg: trumpet; Marc Ducret: guitars; Simon Toldam: keyboards; Petter Eldh: bass, electronics; Anders Banks: flutes, bass clarinet, saxophone.

Danish percussionist Peter Bruun gives continuity to a project he started in 2017 with guitarist Marc Ducret, trumpeter Kasper Kranberg and keyboardist Simon Toldam. On the new outing, Because You’re Worth It, this quartet is extended with the addition of bassist Petter Eldh and woodwinds player Anders Banks.

The shapeshifting “All Too Disko” is impregnated with synth pop sounds, relating more to Kraftwerk’s experimentalism and Gary Numan’s synth-driven new wave than any real disco band. Displaced trancy beats populate an evocative setting that includes a fusion-inspired solo by Ducret, and a consonance of flute and synth melodies.

“The If Machine” first denotes an inclination to slacken industrial rock textures but soon becomes infested with dark washes of synthesizer that hauls it into an experimental dance style akin to Depeche Mode. Always driven by the unexpectedness of the beat, the ambiance switches from light to austere, but the final moments are given a jazz-infused treatment on the grounds of trumpet and guitar.

Less galvanic than its predecessors, the title track still provides orchestral momentum and tension, yet its relaxation only becomes slightly disturbed by the irregularities of the fractal beat.

“Tipping Points” adheres to a fearless rhythmic impetuosity that pushes it forward with the help of Eldh’s bass lines. Sharp unisons and occasional counterpoint are found with the flute layers introduced by Banks. Nonetheless, it’s Ducret’s surging electric guitar that stands out in the final segment.

The album gets better as it moves forward, and the trip-hop-ish “Dead Rock Base” is another impactful track with a heavy concentration of dark synth textures bolstering the foundation. This electronically carved jazz finds its peak when Kranberg shows off his improvisational flair.

Joyously unconventional, the tweaked trajectories of Bruun’s music are the product of a cerebral compositional style irrigated with well-programmed moves and improvisation. At least, no one can accuse him of lacking experimentation or not attempting to innovate.

Favorite Tracks:
03 - Because You’re Worth It ► 05 - Tipping Points ► 06 - Dead Rock Base

Bernhard Meyer / John Hollenbeck - Grids

July 1, 2020

Label: Clean Feed, 2020

Personnel - John Hollenbeck: drums, percussion, prepared piano; Bernhard Meyer: electric bass, effects.

On their first collaborative duo album, NY drummer John Hollenbeck and Berlin bassist Bernhard Meyer create their own experimental signature with a combination of unbound rock and ambient electronic sounds. Investigations of both industrial and minimal music, and a considerable amount of chilled, low-pressure beats are also found in Grids.

Inspired by landscapes around the world, the album starts and finishes in atmospheric suspension with “Black Rock Desert” and “Vya”, respectively. The innate mystery of the former has its origins in the chromatic bass moves that populate the textural paths conducted by Hollenbeck's iridescent brushwork. Siding with it in tonal quality, the latter piece takes the shape of a tone poem bathed in melancholic dark hues. Also ambient-oriented, “Kozhim, Naroda and Balbanyu” depicts the Russian rivers with a minimalistic, downtempo approach. Yet, you’ll find sweeping rattling sounds and patterned bass noodles spotted with harmonics.

If “Xina Bena Jordao” alludes to the folk Amazonian culture of Brazil by mixing its rhythms with trip-hop vibes and presenting bass chants dubbed with murmuring overlaps for texture, then “Peace-Athabasca” paints the Canadian Delta referred in the title with an interesting combination of indie rock and electronic music. Meyer’s aesthetic bass work brings some dissonance and echo to a composition stirred by Hollenbeck’s rhythmic transfigurations.

On “105, Sangkat Boeing Profit, Khan 7”, the duo focuses on a specific Cambodian scenery, incorporating screeches, slams, clanks and microsounds in the insistent mechanical routines that Hollenbeck’s prepared piano is in charge of. The rigidness of this industrial procedure becomes variable in frequency, and soothing bass lines and effects carried off by Meyer consent in giving the piece a serenely composed conclusion.

“Uluru-Kata Djuta” is a sonic reconnaissance of the Northern Australian park, a protected area characterized by peculiar rock formations. Tinged with attractive sound effects, this number is plotted with a more tangible substance.

Grids will reward more the experimental music follower than the typical jazz listener.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Black Rock Desert ► 02 - Peace-Athabasca ► 06 - Xina Bena Jordao

Lorenzo Feliciati / Michele Rabbia - Antikythera

December 17, 2019

Label: RareNoise, 2019

Personnel - Lorenzo Feliciati: electric fretted and fretless bass, keyboards, samples and soundesign, electric guitar; Michele Rabbia: drums, electronics + guests - Cuong Vu: trumpet; Andy Sheppard: sax; Rita Marcotulli: piano; Alessandro Gwis: piano; Roy Powell: Hammond organ, Moog, keyboards.

Italian bassist Lorenzo Feliciati teams up with fellow countryman drummer Michele Rabbia on Antikythera, his seventh release on progressive music label RareNoise. The title refers to an ancient Greek mechanism that was used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses. Hence, the music is firmly grounded in lingering automations, many times shaped as soundscapes, with technology and improvisation as inextricable allies. A few tunes feature renowned guest artists clamping their improvisatory ideas into the substrata sculpted by the pair of sound architects. This procedure was of extreme importance, not only to give melodic focus to the setting, but also for timbral diversification.

Things get off to a start with the cinematic theme “Irregular Orbit”, which, full of atmosphere, blooms with ambient droning, electronic trappings, and sparkling cymbal chatters that gain further preponderance as electric bass patterns gradually develop. This piece brings pianist Alessandro Gwis to the forefront, whose intimate maneuvers also show up on the ear-pleasing “Perigee”, in which a percolating guitar soothes the soul.

Rita Marcotulli is another pianist featured on the album, giving her notable contribution on three tunes, two of which melodically fortified by British saxophonist Andy Sheppard. His bright-toned soprano comes to the fore on the hip-hopish “223 Teeth”, straddling on top of a simple bass pedal in seven yet finding room for cascading piano replications and vocal samples, while his breathy tenor playing can be heard for a short time on the smooth “Parapegma”. The textural silkiness of this somewhat sensual piece denotes indisputable tango influences.

Other pieces like “Prochronistic” and “Sidereal”, both featuring the emphatic trumpeter Cuong Vu as a source of light, promote an accessible experimentalism. Cautiously adventurous and noir, the former remains in a perpetual rhythmic state of pendulousness for nearly four minutes before emphasizing the trumpet within a less dense electronic context; the latter, lightly funkified by the bass and beat-oriented, throws the spotlight on Marcotulli’s piano - in its pure and prepared forms - before segueing into a section filled with synth and electric guitar sounds.

Antikythera feels sketchy and sometimes choppily edited, but still provides immersive soundscapes with the right amount of abstraction to please fans of a warped, moderately dark jazz with an inclination for dub and experimental ambient.

Favorite Tracks:
01- Irregular Orbit ► 04 - Prochronistic ► 05 - Sidereal

DarkMatterHalo - Discernible Grid

January 17, 2019

Label: Hardedge, 2018

Personnel – Hardedge: sound design; Brandon Ross: guitar; Doug Wieselman: guitar.

Known for its utterly unique experimentalism and obscurity of sound, DarkMatterHalo is a collaborative effort by sound designer Hardedge and guitarists Brandon Ross and Doug Wieselman. Ambling through tapestries of abstract clutter, Discernible Grid is their newest program of six explorative tracks.

Sunk in a pool of well-coordinated electronic effects that include water sounds, oft-repeated chirps, bizarre rattles and grainy scratches, bell chimes, and futuristic noises and vibes, “Sub-urban” maintains the mysterious spaciousness until the end in the company of some eerie guitar work. Delving into a strange, brooding muse, the trio makes us wonder where we are taken, especially when the guitar activity intensifies to create moderate psychedelia.

Remaining torpid and trippy for most of the time, “Gasping Silence” embarks on the tidal ebbs and flows of experimental ambient. The flickering, sometimes murmuring guitars ease the mood, but don’t remove the deep abstraction of the setting.

More palpable in texture and direction, “In Difference” renders a combination of droning vibes and chiming guitar glow in a twitchy crescendo that also incorporates suitable percussive sounds. This dark ritual creates suspense and will leave you under a spell for the time it runs.

If “The Final Tear” is a techno/trance exercise disrupted by a prolonged gust of noise pollution, “Stop Watching” proposes outlandish conversations with plenty of effects, crisscrossing ostinatos, rusty chords, and distorted notes that can be pulled into harmonics or fall into a downward spiral.

Closing out the album, “Fathom” incorporates atmospheric fingerpicking to conceptualize a noir country-ish scenario with occasional bluesy haziness. The music then metamorphoses, exposing electric guitar sounds, in its distorted and pointillistic modes, over a braindance backdrop.

Sidestepping conventions through uncompromising manipulations of sound, this is an intriguing project that will mainly appeal to open-minded listeners.

Favorite Tracks:
03 – In Difference ► 05 - Stop Watching ► 06 - Fathom