Dub Trio, IV (2011)

Dub Trio is back with their fourth and most powerful album to date - IV - an overwhelming blend of sounds, styles and ideas that come out swinging, and hit harder than ever. Can metal coexist with dub's bass heavy riddims? Dub Trio's newest album proves that not only can such incongruities coexist, but that in the right hands they flourish! With IV the band succeeds dramatically at emphasizing the theories, emotions, sounds, and concepts of their current musical exploration. IV finds the members playing multiple instruments, tweaking, turning & torturing knobs, cutting and chopping the audio itself, and shaping the compositions to create their own unique interpretation of “dub” as an art form.

“IV” was recorded in June 2010 after touring for 2 and a half years with Mike Patton promoting our last album Another Sound Is Dying,” explains bassist Stu Brooks. “It” had been the longest duration of time in between releases. By the time we hit the studio, we were extremely hungry to put down the ideas. Most of the record was written while we were on the road. One of the most memorable and prolific sessions was in a small commune town in Brittany, France, outside of Rennes. One church, one bakery, and a cafe. We had a week there before a European tour and we were in virtual isolation. It was good for us to focus solely on writing. Some of the songs we performed over the course of the next year or so while honing in on the right parts, feels, tempos etc. We really got to know these songs before hitting the studio. We were able to record the songs in one to three takes. I feel like we maintained our live sound in the studio this way. I believe it captures the character of the band better than editing everything so it sounds like a sequence. We then brought the basics to Studio G in Brooklyn, where we've done all our dub trio records. That's where the real fun begins. Where we start the dubbing process. Being that it's our fourth Dub Trio record with producer Joel Hamilton (Sparklehorse, Blakroc, Jolie Holland) we've really learned how to work together in efficiency. We had a lot of fun, making moves in the dubbing process that were totally unexpected and spontaneous. It's really satisfying to hear portions of the record that sound very patient. There are parts of the record that are literally painful, evil, aggressive and at times disturbing. And other parts that are beautiful, emotive and chilling. It was a goal to touch on as many emotions as possible. I haven't been more excited about a record before and can't wait to share it with Dub Trio listeners.” (http://www.roir-usa.com/artists/dubtrio.php)

1 En Passant 4:44
2 Noise 2:23
3 Swarm 4:18
4 Control Issues Controlling Your Mind 4:32
5 Ends Justify The Means 6:02
6 Words 8:16
7 Patient Zero 3:04
8 1:1.618 3:17
9 Thousand Mile Stare 9:16

Stu Brooks: Bass, keys, dubs
DP Holmes: Guitar, keys, dubs
Joe Tomino: Drums, keys, dubs



info |
http://www.roir-usa.com/artists/dubtrio.php
http://www.discogs.com/Dub-Trio-IV/release/3158606
http://www.rockaxis.com/vanguardia/cdaxi/dub-trio---iv/
http://www.theholyfilament.cl/noticias/dub-trio-retuerce-cerebros-con-su-nueva-placa-iv/

David Lynch, Crazy Clown Time (2011)

The David Lynch faithful have spent the last half-decade reconciling the skewed visionary who directed Blue Velvet and Wild At Heart with the Transcendental Meditation cheerleader who directed Inland Empire and, well, not much else lately. While Lynch is certainly no stranger to music—his films have always been indebted to ominous musical moods, and his collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti and others have yielded exceptional results—the new Crazy Clown Time asks an awful lot of fans; namely, to accept Lynch as a singer. Thought his pinched and wheezy delivery on Inland Empire’s “Ghost Of Love” was baffling? How about an entire album of Lynch whispering and muttering?

Not that Clown is rough sailing from the get-go. The jaw-dropping opener “Pinky’s Dream” is as accessible as it is triumphant, featuring Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O purring her way through a deeply thrilling and dangerous slab of goth-rock. The remaining 13 tracks, however, are given over almost entirely to Lynch and his off-kilter vocal stylings. But the Lost Highway-esque bait-and-switch pays off in unexpected ways: “Good Day Today” casts the director as a heavily processed electro-pop prodigy, while the melancholy “These Are My Friends” finds him channeling the nasally talk-sing voice of Jad Fair.

Co-written and performed with producer Dean Hurley, Clown bears all the marks of past Lynch collaborations—“The Night Bell With Lightning” seems to have been piped in directly from Twin Peaks’ Red Room—while still sounding decidedly out-of-time. There’s even room for the transgressive silliness of “Football Game,” during which Lynch sounds as if he’s in the middle of eating a sandwich. (Or perhaps a pair of panties.) Still, Crazy Clown Time never succumbs to the weight of its own novelty, and fits in nicely with Lynch’s untidy and constantly evolving body of work. (http://www.avclub.com/articles/david-lynch-crazy-clown-time,64705/)

01. Pinky’s Dream
02. Good Day Today
03. So Glad
04. Noah’s Ark
05. Footbal Game
06. I Know
07. Strange and Unproductive Thinking
08. The Night Bell With Lightning
09. Stone’s Gone Up
10. Crazy Clown Time
11. These Are My Friends
12. Speed Roadster
13. Movin’ On
14. She Rise Up



info |
http://davidlynch.com/
http://www.discogs.com/David-Lynch-Crazy-Clown-Time/release/3206517

King Crimson, The Power To Believe (2003)

King Crimson guitarist/founder Robert Fripp's famous quote that "King Crimson is a way of doing things" has seldom seemed truer than on THE POWER TO BELIEVE. The group's second studio album as a quartet in the wake of old hands Tony Levin and Bill Bruford's departure fits fully into the ever-shifting but consistently regenerative Crimson continuum. "Level Five" and the multi-part title track are pounding, counterpoint-filled tunes that hark back to Crimson's oft-revisited touchstone "Larks Tongues in Aspic."

Along the way, Fripp, Adrian Belew and company also manage to venture more fully than ever into the Balinese Gamelan sound they first began exploring on 1981's DISCIPLINE, and drummer Pat Mastelloto throws in some electronic flavors that nod to drum-and-bass and garage beats. The dark, intense angularity that is a Crimson trademark is offset by a couple of ethereal, ambient electronic soundscapes, but there's plenty of hard-prog thrashing for those who were turned on to the band by their tour with heavy rockers Tool. And naturally, there's plenty of intricate musical invention for the longtime fans who expect nothing less.

01.The Power To Believe I: A Cappella
02.Level Five
03.Eyes Wide Open
04.Elektrik
05.Facts Of Life: Intro
06.Facts Of Life
07.The Power To Believe II
08.Dangerous Curves
09.Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With
10.The Power To Believe III
11.The Power To Believe IV: Coda

Adrian Belew: Vocals, guitar
Trey Gunn: Guitar, fretless bass
Robert Fripp: Guitar
Pat Mastelotto: Drums, programming
Tim Faulkner: Spoken vocals
Machine: Programming



info |
http://www.king-crimson.com/
http://kingcrimson-mp.com/

James Carter Organ Trio, At The Crossroads (2011)

At the Crossroads, saxophonist James Carter's third disc for the Emarcy, is the first for the label with his Organ Trio, which has been together since 2004. Produced by Michael Cuscuna, it's an indelible portrait of Detroit's historic jazz scene, envisioned in the present while looking ahead. All trio members -- Carter, organist Gerard Gibbs, and drummer Leonard King, Jr. -- either reside or come from there. This disc also showcases Carter's development from his earliest days shedding in the Motor City to his current status as a jazz virtuoso.

Numerous guest appearances -- from Detroit and elsewhere -- underscore this. It kicks off in true B-3 grit-and-gravy mode with a twist on "Oh Gee," a knotty bop burner that is one of several tracks with guitarist Bruce Edwards; its head is played at a breakneck tempo, the trio's interplay and Carter's solo in the middle move in and out of the honking and bar walking tradition of Detroit's Hastings Street clubs, but pushes it into its post-bop terrain. "JC Off the Set," by Gibbs, is a ballad written in response to Carter's earlier composition "JC on the Set," and the organist is impressive with his innovative arpeggios and his sense of swing. King's "Lettuce Toss Yo' Salad" is the wildest cut here; a variation on straight-ahead hard bop, it takes intense turns by Carter squawking and squalling with King, making his cymbals and snare sound simply greasy with Gibbs' sprinting bass runs and instinctive fills. Big Maybelle's "Ramblin' Blues" is one of three vocals by veteran Detroit singer Miche Braden. With Carter playing flute and alto in addition to tenor, fellow Detroiter Vincent Chandler on trombone, and trumpeter Keyon Harrold, Braden gets her soul-blues on. She also shines on the gospel nugget "Tis the Old Ship of Zion," and reveals her shining jazz chops on "The Walking Blues." Other highlights (though there isn't a weak moment here) include a reading of B-3 jazz innovator Sarah McLawler's tune "My Whole Life Through," which is shimmering, pure blues-jazz with some gorgeous work by Gibbs and King; Jack McDuff's "Walking the Dog," and the closing read of Julius Hemphill's "The Hard Blues," which features guitarist Brandon Ross. Nocturnal, funky, and and slow for a long cut -- it clocks in at nearly ten minutes -- the interplay between Carter and Ross with Gibbs' rumbling bass notes is exciting before things get really wild. When the tune moves outside, King holds it down tight as the other three try to send it over the cliff. At the Crossroads delivers what its title promises: a portrait of the Organ Trio at the point where they look back at B-3 jazz history and move it ever forward.

01.Oh Gee
02.JC Off The Set
03.Aged Pain
04.The Walking Blues
05.My Whole Life Through
06.Walking The Dog
07.Lettuce Toss Yo' Salad
08.Misterio
09.Ramblin' Blues
10.Come Sunday
11.Tis The Old Ship Of Zion
12.The Hard Blues

James Carter - saxophones
Leonard King Jr. - drums, vocals (10)
Gerard Gibbs - organ

Guests
Miche Braden: Vocals
Brandon Ross: Guitar
Bruce Edwards: Guitar
Keyon Harrold: Trumpet
Vincent Chandler: Trombone
Eli Fountain: Tambourines



info |
http://www.emarcy.com/
http://jamescarterlive.com/
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40545

Ken Vandermark & Tim Daisy, The Conversation (2011)

It is free and it funks. It is jazz in its purest form : two artists enjoying the fun of lyricism interacting with rhythm, conjuring up emotions of happiness, but also of sadness. The subtlety is not only in the finesse of the emotional or sonic shadings that you get with lots of new music today, but also in the straightforward improvisation, with the subtlety being fully present in both musicians' maximal use of their skills, with ear-candy to boot.

1. Pasfoto
2. 4 North
3. Impasto
4. Anthology Moves
5. Fifty Cent Opera

Tracks 1, 3 and 4 at the Velvet Lounge, Chicago, IL on May 6, 2010
Tracks 2 and 5 at Elactic, Chicago, IL on March 3, 2011

Tim Daisy: Drums, percussion
Ken Vandermark: Bb and bass clarinet, tenor saxophone



info |
http://www.kenvandermark.com/
http://timdaisy.wordpress.com/
http://www.multikulti.com/go/_info/?id=34476

Mike Patton, The Solitude of Prime Numbers (2011)

The Solitude of Prime Numbers is director Saverio Costanzo's rather odd cinematic adaptation of the novel of the same title by Paolo Giordano. Mike Patton's soundtrack contains all of the music used in the film, and more that was rejected by the director; it also contains music inspired directly by Patton's reading of the book in the original Italian and in the English translation. All 16 titles on the disc are numbered by primes (it begins with "Twin Primes," as track two) and ends with "Weight of Consequences," as track 53) -- though all the numbers are ordered sequentially, with the non-titled selections flying by in silence in intervals of a few seconds each. Musically, this score is utterly unlike Patton's previous efforts at the form, for the films A Perfect Place in 2008 and Crank High Voltage in 2009. The feel that runs throughout this score is quite conventional by contrast. These cues represent the movement of the narratives; film and novel follow the same story line but in very different ways, and Patton is the bridge from one to the other. Hints of classical music, both choral and instrumental, are tempered by a colorful palette of taut dynamics, dizzying atmospherics, ambiences, ambitious textures, and even somewhat conventional harmony. Assembled together, the soundtrack and incidental music comprise a unique work that stands on its own as a listening experience. Individual cues, particularly "Contrapositive," "Radius of Convergence," and "The Snow Angel," have, in spite of their more formal compositional narratives, sections that even resemble songlike structures. Fans of Patton's more extreme quirkiness might feel this is an altogether too restrained work, but that's their problem. The Solitude of Prime Numbers is not only unique to his catalog, it is a singular work that testifies to his growth not only as a composer and recording artist but as a conceptual one, whose expansive vision has evolved to include discipline and refinement as well as ambition. (http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-solitude-of-prime-numbers-r2301716/review)

1 [Untitled]  0:04
2 Twin Primes 1:55
3 Identity Matrix 0:51
4 [Untitled] 0:04
5 Method of Infinite Descent 2:13
6 [Untitled] 0:04
7 Contrapositive 2:51
8 [Untitled] 0:03
9 [Untitled] 0:04
10 [Untitled] 0:04
11 Cicatrix 1:58
12 [Untitled] 0:03
13 Abscissa 1:28
14 [Untitled] 0:04
15 [Untitled] 0:04
16 [Untitled] 0:03
17 Isolated Primes 1:38
18 [Untitled] 0:04
19 Radius of Convergence 4:12
20 [Untitled] 0:03
21 [Untitled] 0:04
22 [Untitled] 0:04
23 Separatrix 0:39
24 [Untitled] 0:04
25 [Untitled] 0:04
26 [Untitled] 0:04
27 [Untitled] 0:04
28 [Untitled] 0:04
29 The Snow Angel 1:37
30 [Untitled] 0:04
31 Apnoea 1:09
32 [Untitled] 0:04
33 [Untitled] 0:04
34 [Untitled] 0:04
35 [Untitled] 0:04
36 [Untitled] 0:04
37 Supersingular Primes 0:41
38 [Untitled] 0:04
39 [Untitled] 0:04
40 [Untitled] 0:03
41 Quadratrix 0:57
42 [Untitled] 0:04
43 Calculus of Finite Differences 2:52
44 [Untitled] 0:04
45 [Untitled] 0:04
46 [Untitled] 0:04
47 Zeroth 1:05
48 [Untitled] 0:04
49 [Untitled] 0:04
50 [Untitled] 0:04
51 [Untitled] 0:04
52 [Untitled] 0:04
53 Weight of Consequences (QuodErat Demonstrandum) 7:05



info |
http://www.ipecac.com/artists/mike_patton
http://www.myspace.com/mikepattonofficial

Ozric Tentacles, Paper Monkeys (2011)

Paper Monkeys is the new studio album from UK underground legends, Ozric Tentacles. It is the band's follow-up to 2009's The Yum Yum Tree.

That album proved that despite being over 25 years into their career the band were still a force to be reckoned with Classic Rock Prog stating, 'There are enough moments of brilliance here to make this the best thing the band have committed to tape since Jurassic Shift in 1993.'

One of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK's festival scene, the Ozrics combine ambient and ethereal landscapes with freeform dub trips, virtuouso rave grooves and psychedelic-tinged progressive rock.

An exploration of music and the soul.

1. Attack Of The Vapours
2. Lemon Kush
3. Flying Machines
4. Knurl
5. Lost In The Sky
6. Paper Monkeys
7. Plowm
8. Will Of The Wisps
9. Air City

Ed Wynne: Guitars, Synths
Ollie Seagle: Drums 
Brandi Wynne: Bass 
Silas Wynne: Synths



info |
http://www.ozrics.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ozrictentacles
http://www.madfishmusic.com/ozrictentacles/papermonkeys/
http://www.burningshed.com/store/madfish/product/273/3267/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozric_Tentacles