Seabrook Trio: In The Swarm

  Guitarist and banjoist Brandon Seabrook has enlivened sessions with boldly imaginative artists like trumpeter Peter Evans, Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra, bassist Ben Allison, Mostly Other People Do the Killing, and percussionist Tomas Fujiwara, among many others. In the Seabrook Trio, with Cooper-Moore on the one-stringed diddley bow and the wizardly Gerald Cleaver on drums and electronics, he seems to have found his ideal setting. The trio’s music on In The Swarm, their second release, forms a bridge between the raw country sound of the diddley bow and the effects-enhanced modern electric guitar. It’s a wild ride of gonzo guitaristics, thunderous drumming, rubbery diddley bow bass, plenty of overdubs, waves of unexpected electronic treatments, and a general air of barely controlled chaos. This kind of musical madness is right up my alley. From the spooky organ-like sounds of the title track that opens the disc to Of the Swarm, the one-minute rave-up that ends the program, this is a trip like no other. Cleaver’s super-sensitive drum parts and Cooper-Moore’s imperturbable presence on the diddley bow provide a mighty cushion for Seabrook’s rapid-fire licks and the many different sounds he coaxes from his array of pedals and effects. Particularly fine are Vibrancy Yourself, a rather deranged piece of modern funk, the rhythm-heavy Crepuscule of Cleaver, featuring Seabrook’s brashly processed guitar, and Adrenaline Charters, with Seabrook’s expressive and original banjo style out front. Definitely worth checking out. Turn it up! 

Astral Spirits (limited edition vinyl & digital album); Brandon Seabrook (g, bjo) Cooper-Moore (diddley bow) Gerald Cleaver (d, elec); Woodhaven, NY, July - September 2021; In the Swarm/ Subliminal Gaucheries/ Vibrancy Yourself/ Crepuscule of Cleaver/ Adrenaline Charters/ Seething Excitations/ Aghastitude/ Of the Swarm; 43:51.  astralspirits.bandcamp.com

Three-Layer Cake: Stove Top (Pandemic duos and trios, #1)

  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

Brandon Seabrook & Simon Nabatov: Voluptuaries

  The on-line Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Voluptuaries as people “whose chief interests are luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites.” Those “sensual appetites” surely include the deep pleasures of making purely improvised music, and Brandon Seabrook & Simon Nabatov take a day of recording at Köln’s well-regarded LOFT to prove the point. Since his 2003 debut on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, guitarist Seabrook has recorded with a broad range of sonic explorers, including trumpeter Peter Evans, alto saxophonist Jeremy Udden, bassist Ben Allison, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. Pianist Nabatov, who made his first record in a trio with bassist Ed Schuller and drummer Paul Motian back in 1986, when Seabrook was just a couple of years old, has an impressive résumé that includes work with the likes of clarinetist Perry Robinson, trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti, trombonist Nils Wogram, and many others. There’s a relatively calm core to the pair’s improvisations for the first few pieces, as they grow accustomed to one another. The combination of Seabrook’s biting and unabashedly electrified guitar sound with his penchant for angular leaps between notes and plenty of silence gives an improvising partner plenty to work with - or against. By the time the raucous Squalid Simplicities rolls around, the sparring is aggressive and noisy. The ebb and flow of Foam is a highlight, as a detuned Seabrook and a pumped-up Nabatov chase one another in sound. The pianist takes the lead on Grosbeak with expansive chords and lush harmonies. Seabrook joins the fray with clipped tones and bursts of pure noise with plenty of pedal effects. As the disc proceeds, it’s obvious that Seabrook and Nabatov are thoroughly attuned to one another. Their quick reaction times and a shared sense of forward motion mean that the music always sounds like a genuine duet and not merely two players side by side with very little interaction. While it’s not the kind of music where the details will stay with you afterwards, it’s a thorough delight to listen to, from the fragmented call and response of Daggers to the startlingly beautiful title track that concludes the disc. Happily recommended. 

Leo CD LR 894; Brandon Seabrook (g) Simon Nabatov (p); Köln, Germany, November 4, 2019; Daggers/ Who Never Dies/ Dust Storms/ Fresnel Lenses/ Squalid Simplicities/ Foam/ Grosbeak/ Spirit of the Staircase/ Diamonds and Dust/ Vex Me/ La Femme Makita/ Voluptuaries; 48:37. www.leorecords.com