As technology evolved over the decades, recorded music changed from being a documentation of an event in real time to the manipulation of sounds made at different times and places. It no longer became necessary to assemble a group of musicians in the same setting to move from nothing to a finished product. Mark Dresser pioneered the use of what he termed “telematics,” the interface of performance, communication networks and computers to provide, in his words, the “ability of musicians to perform live together despite geographical separation.” That’s one way to collaborate remotely. Another method involves transmitting digital music files to build an album in what amounts to an extension of overdubbing and remixing in an improvisational context. A number of pandemic-related duos and trio projects made by this method have been released in 2021. Here’s a look at some of them ...
First up is Three-Layer Cake, the name that guitarist Brandon Seabrook, electric bassist Mike Watt, and percussionist Mike Pride have given to their new project, with each musician recording at home. Seabrook was in Brooklyn, Watt was in San Pedro, California, and Pride, who mixed the music, was in Chester, New York, during the October-December 2020 period when Stove Top was put together. The RareNoise label lives up to its name with this collection of fractured grooves, gonzo guitaristics and trippy banjo stylings, along with sprinklings of glockenspiel and organ. The brash unpredictability of the music is no surprise at all, considering that all three players have boldly ignored genre limitations throughout their careers. Bassist Watt started out in the Minutemen (1980-1985), worked with Nels Cline in the late Nineties, and joined Iggy Pop for a decade, among many other projects. Most recently he was part of the crew that recorded A Love Supreme Electric - A Salvo Inspired by John Coltrane in late 2019. String-man Seabrook made his recording debut with a John Zorn project in 2003, and has gone on to play with the likes of trumpeter Peter Evans, bassist Ben Allison, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and the collective Mostly Other People Do The Killing. His duo with pianist Simon Nababtov was recently issued by Leo Records in England. Percussion whiz Pride has made music with a wildly varied cast of characters, including Anthony Braxton, Jason Stein, Nels Cline, political punk band Millions of Dead Cops, his own bands (including From Bacteria To Boys, Drummer’s Corpse, and I Hate Work), and a couple of coop trios, Pulverize the Sound, with Peter Evans and Tim Dahl, and Period, with Charlie Looker and Chuck Bettis. These guys are insanely busy, at least in normal times, and it took Watt’s podcast to make this collaboration happen. After Pride appeared on The Watt From Pedro Show, where the two really connected, the drummer proposed a project for them to work on together. Pride brought Seabrook into the picture, and Three-Layer Cake was born. Most of the pieces began with Pride recording drum tracks for Watt to play over, with Seabrook adding his own special spice on top. The guitarist was the instigator on the luminous Shepherds, with shimmering glockenspiel and a spacious bass line from Watt. The bassist took the lead for Ballad of the Gobsmacked, which closes the disc with two minutes of mysterious stop-and-go rhythms. There’s never a dull moment on Stove Top and plenty of musical twists and turns for your extended pleasure. Recommended.
RareNoise RNR0128 (CD)/RNR128LP (green vinyl); Brandon Seabrook (g, bjo, tapes) Mike Watt (el b) Mike Pride (d, glock, bells, org); Brooklyn, NY (Seabrook), San Pedro, CA (Watt) & Chester, NY (Pride), October-December 2020; Beatified, Bedraggled, and Bombed/ Big Burner/ A Durable Quest/ Shepherds/ Tiller/ Primary Fuel/ Luminous Range - Anxious Valve/ Ballad of the Gobsmacked; 40:06. www.rarenoiserecords.com
No comments:
Post a Comment