Feb 1 2019
Album of the Day: “BEAK” by Jordan Glenn
Artist: Jordan Glenn
Album: Beak
Label: Geomancy Records
Style: Avant-groove
Favorite Track: “Coda 2 – This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”
Music from: Oakland, CA.
What I like about it: I like how catchy melodic fragments disappear into a fog of dissonance and electronic chaos, and how sometimes that chaos is synthesized down to murmurs and slight agitations of motion. I like how much fun this recording is, and how that holds true even when the music intrigues me to the precipice of deep contemplation. Any album with a tuneful persona but so massively wild that it makes me think what the hell is this even the first time I hear it is going to get a write-up.
Your album personnel: Jordan Glenn (conductor), Karl A.D. Evangelista (guitar), Will Northlich-Redmond (guitar, kalimba), Mark Clifford (vibraphone, marimba), Max Judelson (acoustic bass), Robert Woods-LaDue (percussion), Robert Lopez (percussion) and Geneva Harrison (drums).
Available at: Bandcamp
Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.
Be sure to check out the artist’s site.
Artist: François Houle, Alexander Hawkins and Harris Eisenstadt
Every year, without fail, one of the top albums of the year will be in possession of a lyricism that is positively epic, as if existing in some primal state of mythology. It’s the kind of things one can imagine viewed by an ancient community sitting on rock ledges in a makeshift theater on the edge of the forest, as actors orate timeless tales of the gods and their impact on humanity on an otherwise ordinary day. This particular album will hint strongly of a narrative arc. Despite the odds against it, the album will attain a cohesion in the face of its wild nature. A sharp intelligence will act as an undercurrent to implausible plot twists and otherworldly conflicts. The album will conjure up the uncommon magic that lies at the heart of mundane events and seemingly ordinary times.
Feb 2 2019
Album of the Day: Montalban Quintet – “Under the River”
Album: Under the River
Label: Self-Produced
Style: Jazz-rock-pop-etc
Favorite Track: “Under the River”
Music from: San Diego, CA.
What I like about it: I like how this hodgepodge of influences shakes out. The jazz elements present in the mix contribute a supporting role, but no one influence is dominant over the other. I like how the Montalban Quintet leverages that balance to give the melody a fluid persona that gains its motion and its ultimate shape from the shifting tides of expressions. There’s some modern post-bop edginess, some indie-rock tunefulness, some post-rock moodiness, and little bits of ephemera that are the difference between an interesting sound and an engrossing personality. Under the River is what you get when you’ve got bandmembers with varied music interests and separate projects reflecting the diversity.
Your album personnel: Carl Prescott (trumpet), Chris Prescott (drums, vocals, guitar, piano), Jim Weiss (saxophones), Mike Stockalper (piano), Greg Friedman (guitar, vocals), Julie Kitterman (percussion, vocals), Chris Fulford-Brown (piano), Kenseth Thibideau (bass, vocals) and guests: Terrin Durfey (bass, vocals), Marjorie Prescott (cello), J.P. Hewett (congas) and Pete Polansky (violin).
Available at: Bandcamp | Amazon
Listen to more of the album on the artitst’s Bandcamp page.
Be sure to visit the artist site.
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2018 • 0 • Tags: Montalban Quintet, San Diego (CA), Self-Produced