Mostrando postagens com marcador Firehouse 12 Records. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador Firehouse 12 Records. Mostrar todas as postagens

9.9.24

MARY HALVORSON'S CODE GIRL — Artlessly Falling (2020) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Artlessly Falling is the second album by Mary Halvorson's Code Girl. Its core remains Halvorson on guitar; Tomas Fujiwara on drums; Amirtha Kidambi on vocals, and Michael Formanek on bass. Trumpeter Adam O'Farrill replaces Ambrose Akinmusire, and Maria Grand is added on tenor saxophone and voice. The date also includes three vocal cameos by Robert Wyatt. A primary influence on Halvorson, she composed these songs especially for him. Her lyrics throughout reflect not only detailed attention but a methodology in which each poem strategically conforms to its accompanying musical construct. Artlessly Falling showcases deeply focused, expansively articulated, abstract musical languages that remain warm and welcoming, even amid dissonance.

"Lemon Trees" is a nearly exotic mutant waltz introduced by Halvorson's circular guitar pattern as Kidambi and Grand wordlessly vocalize behind Wyatt, who delivers the lyrics in a lithe, world-weary tenor. O'Farrill fills in behind him until the stanza ends and he solos as Fujiwara and Halvorson support. The feel is buoyant and airy. Kidambi's wordless groan meets Formanek's dark bassline in "Last-Minute Smears" before Fujiwara's snare and beer-can percussion frame an elliptical melody articulated by Halvorson's striated chords. O'Farrill's serpentine trumpet and Grand's tenor emotively entwine themselves around one another before Kidambi includes a particularly venomous and vengeful quote from Justice Brett Kavanaugh, providing a bewildered sense of dislocation and primeval conviction. While "Walls and Roses" is introduced by Fujiwara's cymbals and Halvorson's fingerpicking under Wyatt's vocal; it erupts in under a minute as the guitarist unleashes distorted shredding. Kidambi calms her on the second stanza, but Halvorson shakes loose here, and between each succeeding exchanged stanza, as Fujiwara and Formanek brace her screaming lead lines. The amorphous structure of "Muzzling Unwashed" is a set highlight as trumpet, guitar, bass, and drums create an exotic backdrop for Kidambi's languid delivery. "Bigger Flames" commences with Halvorson's playing simulating an electric ukulele amid a shimmering snare cascade from Fujiwara, bittersweet horn lines, and slippery time signatures. Backing vocals enter and leave at odd junctures, while Halvorson interjects loudly over Wyatt as the tune turns in on itself. "Mexican War Streets (Pittsburgh)" and "A Nearing" each clock in at over ten minutes. The former balances form and abstraction with lyrical playing from the soloists until Halvorson whomps on a Black Sabbath-like power riff that sends the band toward free improv. The latter, introduced by a long solo from Formanek, offers detailed ensemble playing a complex melody that is expanded by Kidambi and the guitarist with help from O'Farrill. When it cuts loose, powerful soloing from the horns and guitarist stridently engage dissonant post-bop. The title track begins like an indie folk tune, highlighted by Kidambi's tender singing. A minute in, Halvorson's slide guitar ushers in shapeshifting changes and kinetic exchanges between players. The tune sends Artlessly Falling out with dramatic, emotional resonance. This remarkable album cannot be quantified, only experienced. Mary Halvorson's Code Girl are so mercurial in method and content -- and mystifying in execution -- they actually deserve their own genre.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    The Lemon Trees 7:15
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Voice – Robert Wyatt

2    Last-Minute Smears 8:58
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Percussion [Beer Cans] – Tomas Fujiwara

3    Walls And Roses 3:33
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Voice – Robert Wyatt

4    Muzzling Unwashed    10:51
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
5    Bigger Flames 5:15
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Voice – Robert Wyatt

6    Mexican War Streets (Pittsburgh)    10:40
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
7    A Nearing    10:32
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
8    Artlessly Falling    7:15
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Credits :
Bass – Michael Formanek
Drums – Tomas Fujiwara
Guitar – Mary Halvorson
Tenor Saxophone, Voice – Maria Grand
Trumpet – Adam O'Farrill
Voice – Amirtha Kidambi
Written-By – Mary Halvorson

30.1.23

ANTHONY BRAXTON — 3 Compositions (EEMHM) 2011 (2017) 3CD | FLAC (tracks), lossless

3 Compositions (EEMHM) 2011 features the first studio recordings of Braxton’s Echo Echo Mirror House Music—the latest conceptual innovation in Braxton’s five-decade career. With his Ghost Trance Music, Braxton created a framework for his musicians to freely explore his entire compositional output in each concert; with his Diamond Curtain Wall music, he brought his own interactive electronics into his improvisational palette. Now with Echo Echo Mirror House Music, Anthony Braxton brings these ideas to the next level. In this ensemble of longtime collaborators, all the musicians wield iPods in addition to their instruments, while navigating scores that combine cartography and evocative graphic notation, creating a musical tapestry combining live performance and sampled sound from Braxton’s extensive recorded discography.
Impeccably recorded at Firehouse 12’s state-of-the-art studio, the music is available in two formats: a traditional three-CD box set and a 5.1 Surround Sound audiophile Blu-ray disc. “As a culture, we are slowly moving away from target linear experiences that are framed as stationary constructs that don’t change on repeated listening, to a new world that constantly serves up fresh opportunities and interactive discourse,” Braxton says. “American people have made it clear that the new times will call for dynamic inter-action experiences.” https://firehouse12records.com
Tracklist :
1-1    Composition No. 372    57:54
2-1    Composition No. 373    59:26
3-1    Composition No. 377    58:14
Credits :
Artwork [All Images By] – Anthony Braxton
Bass, Bass Clarinet, Electronics [iPod] – Carl Testa
Composed By [All Compositions By] – Anthony Braxton
Cornet, Flugelhorn, Brass [Trumpbone], Electronics [iPod] – Taylor Ho Bynum
Guitar, Electronics [iPod] – Mary Halvorson
Percussion, Vibraphone [Vibes], Electronics [iPod] – Aaron Siegel
Producer [Produced By] – Anthony Braxton
Sopranino Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Electronics [iPod] – Anthony Braxton
Tuba, Electronics [iPod] – Jay Rozen
Viola, Violin, Electronics [iPod] – Jessica Pavone

2.1.23

ANTHONY BRAXTON - 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (2007) 9CD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
CD1-1    Composition No. 350 Part 1    12:57
CD1-2    Composition No. 350 Part 2    15:30
CD1-3    Composition No. 350 Part 3    17:14
CD1-4    Composition No. 350 Part 4    9:48
CD1-5    Composition No. 350 Part 5    14:38
CD2-1    Composition No. 351 Part 1    11:25
CD2-2    Composition No. 351 Part 2    17:15
CD2-3    Composition No. 351 Part 3    17:45
CD2-4    Composition No. 351 Part 4    22:56
CD3-1    Composition No. 352 Part 1    17:17
CD3-2    Composition No. 352 Part 2    12:17
CD3-3    Composition No. 352 Part 3    22:38
CD3-4    Composition No. 352 Part 4    15:23
CD4-1    Composition No. 353 Part 1    13:54
CD4-2    Composition No. 353 Part 2    14:25
CD4-3    Composition No. 353 Part 3    14:26
CD4-4    Composition No. 353 Part 4    21:11
CD5-1    Composition No. 354 Part 1    11:10
CD5-2    Composition No. 354 Part 2    18:56
CD5-3    Composition No. 354 Part 3    14:47
CD5-4    Composition No. 354 Part 4    17:55
CD6-1    Composition No. 355 Part 1    11:51
CD6-2    Composition No. 355 Part 2    17:57
CD6-3    Composition No. 355 Part 3    16:47
CD6-4    Composition No. 355 Part 4    17:15
CD7-1    Composition No. 356 Part 1    17:43
CD7-2    Composition No. 356 Part 2    18:24
CD7-3    Composition No. 356 Part 3    23:45
CD8-1    Composition No. 357 Part 1    16:57
CD8-2    Composition No. 357 Part 2    16:43
CD8-3    Composition No. 357 Part 3    12:15
CD8-4    Composition No. 357 Part 4    17:15
CD9-1    Composition No. 358 Part 1    14:13
CD9-2    Composition No. 358 Part 2    21:07
CD9-3    Composition No. 358 Part 3    26:26
Credits :
Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Piccolo Flute, Voice – Nicole Mitchell
Alto Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone – Steve Lehman
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Bass Clarinet – James Fei
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone, Clarinet, Clarinet [Eb Contralto] – Anthony Braxton
Bass, Bass Clarinet – Carl Testa
Bassoon – Sara Schoenbeck
Cornet, Flugelhorn, Trombone, Bass Trumpet, Piccolo Flute, Percussion [Shells] – Taylor Ho Bynum
Electric Guitar – Mary Halvorson
Euphonium, Toy [Toys], Other [Mutes] – Jay Rozen
Percussion, Vibraphone – Aaron Siegel
Soprano Saxophone, Saxophone [C-melody], Clarinet – Andrew Raffo Dewar
Trombone, Flugelhorn, Cymbal [Cymbals] – Reut Regev
Viola, Violin – Jessica Pavone

26.12.22

ANTHONY BRAXTON - Quartet (New Haven) 2014 (2019) 4CD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Throughout his six-decade career, one of the most distinctive character traits of musical and philosophical polymath Anthony Braxton has been his unpredictability. Early on he revealed that while firmly committed to the bleeding edges of avant-garde jazz as both composer and multi-instrumentalist, he loves the Second Viennese School of classical composers, boppers like Charlie Parker and Lennie Tristano, melodic West Coast saxophone virtuosos including Warne Marsh and Paul Desmond, and free-form rock noisemakers such as Captain Beefheart and Wolf Eyes. That said, this four-disc box from Firehouse 12 should register surprise even from Braxton's fans and devotees. It features the saxophonist and composer alongside longtime collaborator cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline (whose improvisational and jazz chops are also well-documented), and Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier. Each of the four discs comprises a single improvised piece running about an hour and respectively dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, James Brown, and Merle Haggard.

The four met by chance while traveling their separate ways to a European music festival. Braxton and Ho Bynum heard Cline and Saunier play as a duo. They came up with a plan to improvise and record with the pair on the spot after returning to the States. Cut over two days at Connecticut's Firehouse 12 performance space, the instrumentalists execute these improvisations with the volume on stun (it's easily one of Braxton's loudest recordings). Cline's guitar is edgy like a dull razor; it pierces throughout (even when playing acoustic), while Saunier offers no quarter to "proper" jazz drumming; he hammers, flails, shuffles, and feints with unbridled energy and wide-open ears. "Improvisation One (for Jimi Hendrix)" is untamed, with Cline's blazing psych rock drones, jagged ostinatos, string bending, and scattered noise, as Braxton and Bynum dialogue with one another and Cline plays above Saunier's prattling tom-toms, woody rim shots, and thudding kick drums. The "now-you-hear-it-now-you-don't" quotes from the spiritual "Wade in the Water" and Hendrix's own "Third Stone from the Sun," and "Isabella" flit by in an instant, leaving sensory impressions on the evolving jam. The Joplin piece is reflective though not bluesy. Its use of conversational timbres, angular lyric lines, and rangy dynamics cast a momentarily shadowy and filmy glance at them before a new form of conversation occurs in tonal queries from the horn players. The third improv for Brown is not at all funky, but Cline and Braxton occasionally go head-to-head in syncopated improv throughout the last half of the work. The Haggard piece finds Braxton on contrabass sax. Cline's playing is alternately limpid and complex -- even nebulous -- as he comps in widening cycles with a tense, dark, alluring character in sharp, contrapuntal engagements with the horns. Saunier's drums find a shuffle for a few moments in his illustrative rolls, accents and slamming fills that dance like Milford Graves' freest drumming. Like most of Braxton's work, it isn't advisable to try to take Quartet (New Haven) 2014 at once. Each piece should be heard in its own separate listening session, as each respectively provides ample doses of playfulness, boundless imagination, poignant inquiry, and canny dialogue.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1-1    Improvisation One (For Guitarist / Composer Jimi Hendrix)    59:01
2-1    Improvisation Two (For Vocalist / Composer Janis Joplin)    1:04:09
3-1    Improvisation Three (For Vocalist / Composer James Brown)    58:30
4-1    Improvisation Four (For Guitarist / Composer Merle Haggard)    57:14
Credits :
Cornet, Flugelhorn, Piccolo Trumpet, Bass Trumpet, Performer [Trumpbone] – Taylor Ho Bynum
Drums – Greg Saunier
Electric Guitar – Nels Cline
Executive-Producer – Anthony Braxton
Sopranino Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Bass Saxophone, Contrabass Saxophone – Anthony Braxton

ESBJÖRN SVENSSON TRIO — Winter In Venice (1997) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Esbjörn Svensson has stood not only once on stage in Montreux. He was already a guest in the summer of 1998 at the jazz festival on Lake Gen...