Feb 9 2019

Album of the Day: Lawful Citizen – “Internal Combustion”

 

Artist:  Lawful Citizen

Album:  Internal Combustion

Label:  Self-Produced

Style:  Post-jazz

Favorite Track:  “The Road To Nowhere”

Music from:  Montreal, Québec

What I like about it:  I like how this album is sort of all over the place.  One minute there’s a funereal tone, then suddenly it shifts into high octane excitement, and before long, sails a melody out into contemplative waters.  But I like how the quartet Lawful Citizen strings these wild changes together in a way that suggests a certain logic, and effectively ties the beginning and ends of tunes together in a way that suggests as much care was given to the transitions between pieces as the pieces themselves.  There’s an exuberance that gives the impression that the quartet members were having a blast in the recording studio, and I like how that cheerful feeling gets passed along to the listener.

Your album personnel:  Evan Shay (tenor sax), Aime Duquet (guitar), Antoine Pelegrin (electric bass) and Kyle Hutchins (drums).

Available at:  Amazon | Bandcamp

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

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Feb 8 2019

You deserve some videos. Let’s watch some videos.

 

You deserve a video post.  Yes, you.  And here it is.  Let’s begin…

Oh my god, I love this first video.  It’s from Christoph Irniger Pilgrim and it’s the tune “Improvisation in C Major,” which is on his latest release Crosswinds.  This gorgeous video is shot by Kohei Yamaguchi.  Yes, music world, more videos like this please.  More music like this, too.

This video has all the attributes that veteran readers of this site know I look for:  trains, boats, moody city skylines, seagulls, city street scenes… I’m probably forgetting some stuff, but you get the point.  It’s got it all…

I included Crosswinds in my latest Best Jazz on Bandcamp column, so go check that out and tell them I said hello.

Here’s something a little different from Mikkel Ploug.  It features Ploug’s “A New Logic,” which is a melody transcription of philosopher Alain Badiou.  It also includes dance by Tilman O’Donnell and was filmed at the Århus Rådhus.

Be sure to also check out Ploug’s 2018 release Faroe.

And let’s wrap up today’s column with an in-studio performance of the song “Rue du Jour” from the upcoming new release by Fanny Gunnarsson.  The new album will reportedly be released in March, so you won’t have long to wait to hear more.

The quartet is Fanny Gunnarsson (piano), Karolina Almgren (soprano sax), Kristian Rimshult (bass) and Hannes Olbers (drums).

And be sure to check out Gunnarsson’s 2017 release Mirrors.

 

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Feb 7 2019

Album of the Day: Jonathan Finlayson – “3 Times Round”

 

Artist:  Jonathan Finlayson

Album:  3 Times Round

Label:  Pi Recordings

Style:  Post-bop, New directions

Favorite Track:  “A Stone, A Pond, A Thought”

Music from:  New York City

What I like about it:  It won’t be breaking news for me to report that the magic is in the motion on Jonathan Finlayson’s newest release.  It’s a subject broached previously on his 2016 release Moving Still.  And deservedly so.  The action unleashed by each piece triggered individual narratives like a conjuring trick becoming a new reality.  I like that the trumpeter’s 2018 release begins much the same way, opening with the aptly titled “Feints” and how patterns hinted at in the framework of a piece are revealed as quickly as they’re replaced by a new emergent pattern.  I like how that motion can be particularly thrilling at times, but that is also comes off as methodical in its way, as if a high-speed stratagem devised on the fly.  But what I really like about 3 Times Round are those dramatic moments when the motivation becomes one of melody, rising up over a piece like the sun enveloping a dark landscape in bright, warm light.

Your album personnel:  Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Steve Lehman (alto sax), Brian Settles (tenor sax, flute), Matthew Mitchell (piano), John Hebert (bass) and Craig Weinrib (drums).

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

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Feb 6 2019

Album of the Day: Miman – “Ulme”

 

Artist:  Miman

Album:  Ulme

Label:  Motvind Records

Style:  Nordic snowfall & avalanche

Favorite Track: “Omkring Ilden”

Music from:  Oslo, Norway

What I like about it:  I like how the music shifts from glimpses of melodic tranquility to a wild vortex of improvisation.  I adore how genuinely beautiful the melodic passages are, and how the dissonance is presented as an offshoot of that beauty and not a contradiction.  The members of the Miman trio secluded themselves in a cabin north of Oslo to record their debut, and the final work radiates the intimacy of those days.  Everything about this recording is gorgeous.

Your album personnel:  Hans P. Kjorstad (violin), Andreas Hoem Røysum (guitar, clarinet) and Egil Kalman (double bass, modular synthesizer).

Available at:  Amazon | Bandcamp

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

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Feb 5 2019

Album of the Day: Dakhla Brass – “Murmur”

 

Artist:  Dakhla Brass

Album:  Murmur

Label:  Impossible Ark Records

Style:  Brass

Favorite track:  “Silver and Gold”

Music from:  London, UK

What I like about it:  I like how Dakhla Brass roll out one kind of groove after the next, and the next never sounding like what came before.  I especially like those passages when they let things get a bit introspective without sacrificing a bit of the exuberant motion.  I like how the sextet generates a sound with some gravitas to it, but stays light on their feet, and maintains a flow that never gets caught under the weight of their big sound.  I like how each melody is thoughtfully considered, and care is given to the way it develops under the forces of motion.  These pieces border on catchy, and I find myself a little bit addicted to this recording… and maybe even more than a little bit.

Your album personnel:  Sophie Stockham (alto sax), Charlotte Ostafew (baritone sax), Pete Judge (trumpet), Liam Treasure (trombone), Matt Brown (drums, percussion, marxophone) and Riaan Vosloo (double-bass, synths, vibraphone).

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Be sure to check out the artist site.

Here’s a video from a few years back, when they were a smaller ensemble and supporting an earlier recording.

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