Self-Produced

Feb 22 2020

Best of 2019 #02: Aaron Novik – “The Fallow Curves of the Planospheres”

 

This is less an album and more a sonic event.  Aaron Novik brought together five different ensembles and countless inspirations to capture the essence of his travels in France, Italy, Rotterdam, Berlin, and New York City.  The sounds range from sparse and introspective to joyful and bountiful to dissonant and transitory, and they are embodied in the five recordings The Hotel of 13 Losses, Rotterdamn, Berlin, O+O+, and No Signal.  The Fallow Curves of the Planospheres is a compilation of those recordings.  Selected music from the five recordings snaps right into place with one another, and Novik has curated the pieces as one might choose just ten photos from hundreds taken while on an extended journey… just enough to represent the spirit and experience of it all.  As a stand-alone recording, The Fallow Curves of the Planospheres is a magnificent work of music.  In that way a work of art can be representative of something much larger, of experiences and concepts far grander, it represents one of the very best projects of 2019.

There will be much more discussion about this project soon, during the So… About 2019 wrap-up column series.

This Self-Produced recording was released on Avant LaGuardia.

Music from France, Italy, Rotterdam, Berlin, New York City, and San Francisco.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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Feb 10 2020

Now up: January’s Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations

 

And here we go.  Okay, so before entering the homestretch of the #Bird2019 Best of 2019 countdown, lets take a brief interlude and put the spotlight on some excellent recordings that made their mark in the first month of the new year.  Just now, my latest Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations posted on The Bandcamp Daily.  This monthly installment covers albums for January 2020.  There’s ten primary recommendations in total, plus some bonus recommendations, to boot.  The new year is off to a great start, so don’t go thinking that all of your budget is going to be obliterated by my Best of 2019 list.  You’re just getting started on a whole new year of great music.

On that note, let’s begin.

Follow this LINK to read those recommendations and listen to music from each album.

Check out past recommendations by running through my contributor archives.

Have fun going through the list!

Cheers.

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Jan 31 2020

Best of 2019 #17: Camila Meza & the Nectar Orchestra – “Ámbar”

 

The surprising thing about Camila Meza and her new recording Ámbar is that this really shouldn’t be that surprising.  And yet, it is.  In fact, it’s stunning.  The vocalist-guitarist made a huge impression with her contributions to Ryan Keberle’s Azul Infinito and Fabian Almazan’s Alcanza, her voice shining like a sun at the center of all things.  And she was a light who illuminated every other musician on the recording as brightly as she herself, and made it inconsequential who belonged to the orbit of the other.  That ability to be at the center of things while equally and inextricably connected to every other element of the music is an enviable balance for a vocalist to strike.  Her own recording, the 2016 Traces on Sunnyside Records, further displayed Meza’s talent for an arresting delivery that makes one snap to attention while also conveying a soothing comfort.

But even here, Ámbar seems like a plateau achieved more audacious than anything reasonably anticipated for her next recording.  The strings arrangements of her Nectar Orchestra melt into the firm embrace of both jazz ensemble and Chilean folk, except during those passages where the strings say to hell with staying grounded in rhythmic patterns, let’s go soaring.  This is an album of many great proclamations and big statements, yet never seems far removed from a poignant melody and soft touch.  Inspired renditions of songs by Elliot Smith, Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays, Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes, and Milton Nascimento snap right into place with Meza originals, and come off sounding like they’d all been meant for this project on exactly this very day.  It’s one of the very best recordings of 2019, and, in the context of Meza’s recording career, it wholly decimates all measures of what could and should be expected next from her.

Your album personnel:  Camila Meza (vocal, acoustic & electric guitars); Eden Ladin (piano, juno, celesta, keyboards), Noam Wiesenberg (bass, arrangements), Keita Ogawa (drums, percussion), Tomoko Omura (violin), Fung Chern Hwei (violin), Benjamin von Gutzeit (viola), and Brian Sanders (cello).

The Self-Produced album was released on Sony Masterworks.

Music from New York City.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Amazon

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Jan 31 2020

Best of 2019 #18: Laughing Bastards – “Unanimal”

 

There’s a pretty big statement made when you drop your own original compositions into the mix with those of Carla Bley and John Lurie, and they fall in with the crowd like family.  The quintet Laughing Bastards clearly subscribe to the idea of strange and beautiful music, and hold the sentiment that collisions of melodic ideas are the best kind of dissonance.  There’s a curious allure to these pieces by the Belgium-based ensemble, an attraction that isn’t immediately attributable to one particular quality or characteristic.  But then, and quite suddenly, one of those jumbled melodic concepts become a concrete vision, and it’s as gorgeous a spectacle to behold as gold sunlight breaking through the deepest clouds of grey.  I have no idea how this album flew under the radar of so many, but it’s a shame that it did, because it’s one of the most beautiful things to hit the shelves in 2019.

Your album personnel:  Michel Mast (tenor sax), Jan-Sebastiaan Degeyter (guitar), Anneleen Boehme (double bass), Marcos della Rocha (drums), and Eline Duerinck (cello).

The album is Self-Produced, and released as Ham Records.

Music from Ghent, Belgium.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Amazon

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Jan 29 2020

Best of 2019 #23: Graham Costello’s STRATA – “Obelisk”

 

On his debut album, Graham Costello attains a massive sound.  Each time I’ve listened to this album over the course of 2019, inevitably I shake my head in disbelief that it’s merely a sextet that generates this much energy.  But it’s more than just a big sound that distinguished Obelisk as something special; it’s the melodic intensity, and how it remains focused over a duration of nearly an hour and fifteen minutes of music.  Each piece clocks in, on average, at ten minutes in length, and there’s never a moment where the drummer’s STRATA ensemble wavers or meanders off or takes their eye off some distant spot on the horizon that represents the tune’s endpoint.  It’s driven music, and while the melody changes under this constant pressure, it’s never so much that it deviates from its original voicing.  It’s a remarkable feat just by way of this accomplishment, but how it lends to a dramatic listening experience is what elevates this recording up to a higher esteem.  I ended my write-up for The Bandcamp Daily by saying, “And drummer Graham Costello doesn’t let up for the entirety of his debut; the unrelenting waves of cinematic imagery accrue an intensity that never seems to level off, even after the last note has faded.”  And, really, that’s the best way to end it here, too.  This album has been in constant play on my stereo, and the impact of the music hasn’t lessened, not even a little.

Your album personnel:  Graham Costello (drums), Harry Weir (tenor sax), Liam Shortall (trombone), Fergus McCreadie (piano), Joe Williamson (guitar), and Mark Hendry (bass).

The album is Self-Produced, and released as BPQD Records.

Music from Glasgow, UK.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Cover art by Graham Costello.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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