Dan Weiss / Trevor Dunn / Ben Monder / Matt Mitchell / Craig Taborn: Starebaby [Vinyl 2LP]

Avant Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 07.08.2019,
Wydawnicto Audiofilskie
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: Gatefoldowe etui
opis:
multikulti.com * * * * 1/2:
Amalgamat awangardowego jazzu, prog-metalu i post-rocka w mocarnym zwarciu.
Kolejna po dwóch znakomitych płytach Dana Weissa („Fourteen” Pi Recordings 2014, „Sixteen: Drummers Suite” Pi Recordings 2017) porcja ożywczej, rześkiej i ponadgatunkowej muzyki prosto z Nowego Jorku. Na CD i podwójnym LP
Rzut oka na skład zespołu i od razu poszukiwacz zakręconych dźwięków czuje miłe mrowienie pod czaszką...
Poza liderem w zespole grają, znany ze współpracy z Zornem i Pattonem Trevor Dunn na elektrycznym basie, Ben Monder na gitarze (członek ostatniego zespołu Davida Bowie'go - Blackstar, obecnie nagrywa dla ECM Records) i dwóch klawiszowców - Matt Mitchell i Craig Taborn, bez nich trudno sobie wyobrazić współczesny jazz. Jeśli dodamy do tego znanego ze współpracy z Sonic Youth i Soundgarden producenta płyty - Rona Saint Germaina i bezpośrednie nawiązania do onirycznej, surrealistycznej narracji filmowej Davida Lyncha otrzymamy prawdziwy dream-team polistylistycznych wyjadaczy.
Taki skład to obietnica "jazzowego poranka", czy na "Starebaby" przepowiednia się ziściła?, każdy powinien sobie odpowiedzieć samodzielnie. Jednak recenzje w światowej prasie są bardzo pozytywne.

JazzTimes pisze o płycie "Osiem doom-metal-jazzowych utworów przynosi solidną dawkę niesamowicie potężnych brzmień, ale nie jest to pusta demonstracja siły. Weiss jest zbyt uporządkowanym architektem i muzycznym myślicielem, by zajmować się artystycznymi pozorami. Od samego początku mamy do czynienia z oryginalną, niepowtarzalną tkanką, cicho absorbująca gitara Ben Mondera wprowadza w „A Puncher’s Chance” mieszankę ciężkich i nieoczywistych dźwięków. „Depredation” w pełni zasługuje na swój tytuł, z zagadkowymi tropami, zaskakującymi zwrotami przywodzi na myśl coś na kształt alfabetu Morse'a, którym muzycy z wielką biegłością się posługują, jest tu miejsce także na chwile nieskrępowanej wolnej formy..."
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Downbeat * * * *:
Brooklyn-based jazz drummer Dan Weiss has an uncommonly wide musical purview, having studied Indian classical music, along with moonlighting in metal bands. He also has become an ambitious composer, whether fronting the large ensembles of his previous two albums or the high-impact, genre-defying quartet Starebaby. Weiss has cited David Lynch’s surrealist TV series Twin Peaks: The Return as inspiration, and one can hear that in the album’s darkly alluring, funhouse-mirror vibe. Musically, the album’s a blend of metallic jazz, prog- and post-rock that melds deep sophistication with visceral impact.

Weiss has ideal partners in guitarist Ben Monder, bassist Trevor Dunn and keyboardists Craig Taborn and Matt Mitchell, each having intrepid interests from art-metal to experimental electronica. Mitchell and Taborn’s electronic keyboards color the picture vividly or buttress Dunn’s growling bass. But it’s cool-toned acoustic piano that carries much of the melodic information on “Annica.”

Weiss, thinking like a composer rather than just a drummer, favors subtlety in his expressive accents and solos. He merely heightens the loose-limbed groove when the rest of the band drops away in “Badalamenti,” the song title an homage to Angelo Badalamenti, who wrote the ethereal music for Lynch’s Twin Peaks. That said, Weiss’ work on “Episode 8” bursts with kinetic virtuosity. The recording by Ron Saint Germain (engineer for the likes of Sonic Youth and Soundgarden) captures the drummer’s compositions beautifully, in all their dynamic, hooks-galore intensity.
By Bradley Bambarger

All About Jazz * * * *:
It is always interesting when a musician's newest release zigzags away from previous works, making an abrupt change of course. Often it happens at the request of a producer or record company, and probably because his/her previous disc was not well received. This in no way explains Starebaby by drummer Dan Weiss. Sixteen: Drummers Suite (Pi Recordings, 2016) and Fourteen (Pi Recordings, 2014), both larger ensemble recordings, composed and arranged by the drummer were critical successes. He could easily have continued down the same path.

Not a chance. He assembled a cast of superstars; keyboardists Craig Taborn and Matt Mitchell, guitarist Ben Monder, and bassist Trevor Dunn to create a jazz-meets-doom metal power lunch at the corner of electro and acoustic street. A piece like "The Memory of My Memory" hits as hard as anything by the band Blind Idiot God, where massive hulking bass line and thunderous drums follow a dream sequence of echoey synth notes and a guarded piano. The music was inspired by David Lynch's TV show Twin Peaks and "Badalamenti" is dedicated to Angelo Badalamenti who wrote the soundtrack for that show. Eerie doesn't begin to describe the music. Painted at night, the music is propelled by Weiss' varied pulse. He draws from his background in Indian drumming and his association with the sludge metal band Bloody Panda to propel this session.

Please don't get the wrong impression. This recording is as thoroughly composed and orchestrated as his large ensemble recordings. Weiss brings that same musicianship to this heavy metal plus outing. Where a metal band might be a one trick pony, Weiss has the talents of Mitchell and Taborn to create elaborate piano and synthesizer confections. Both work in pulse and dissonant effects, as does Monder, whose guitar work ranges from chamber music to chainsaw shredding. With Trevor Dunn on bass, Weiss has circled back to the days of Fantômas and Secret Chiefs 3, but with a mutated DNA that allows for stronger melodies and more compelling instrumental interactions.
By MARK CORROTO
Editor's info:
Starebaby is the upshot of drummer/composer Dan Weiss’s long-running dream to bring together some of the most accomplished players on the jazz scene to play music that combines the improvisation nature of that music with the power of heavy metal and electronic new music. One of the most in-demand drummers in jazz, Weiss performs with such disparate artists as Rudresh Mahanthappa, Chris Potter, John Zorn and Jen Shyu, evidence of the breadth of his artistry. As with his two critically-acclaimed previous releases — Fourteen, which was named one of the best releases of 2014 by The New York Times, and Sixteen: Drummers Suite, — Starebaby is a decidedly original work that is largely without precedence, reflecting the power of conviction coming from a single, brimming wellspring.

Weiss has wanted to put this particular project together for over a decade. As with his prior output, it reflects his catholic taste in music, where jazz improvisation, doom metal, electro-acoustic music, Indian beat cycles, and innumerable other influences are all compounded into an outpouring of personal expression completely beyond musical boundaries. Starebaby, though, definitely tilts towards the heavy, and Weiss, in particular, cites as influences metal bands such as Meshuggah, Burning Witch, High on Fire, Gorguts, early Metallica, Wormed, and Confessor; electronic and electro acoustic composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bernard Parmegiani, and Luc Ferrari; and every type of jazz ranging from Sidney Bechet to Threadgill. It is also inspired by Season 3 of the television show Twin Peaks, whose surreal, ominous emotional landscape helped shape the overall feel of this music. The music ebbs and flows, surging to thundering swells of foreboding doom before tempering to quiet reflection, finding a deep space where brutal aggression meets ghostly vulnerability. The expansive soundscape ranges from fortissimo to pianissimo, grave to presto, and dense, roiling dissonance to exquisite, pellucid melodies.

All of the musicians: Craig Taborn and Matt Mitchell on keyboards, piano, and electronics, Ben Monder on guitar, and Trevor Dunn on bass, along with Weiss – some of the heaviest hitters in the jazz/improvised music scene – share a love for heavy metal. It’s an astonishment to hear them play in this distinctly different setting, but perhaps the absolute authority they display should not be a complete surprise. Weiss played with the doom metal band Bloody Panda a dozen years ago and Dunn was a member of the experimental rock bands Mr. Bungle (with Faith No More singer Mike Patton) Fantômas (also with Patton), and Secret Chiefs 3. Weiss’s thundering gestures and Dunn’s shuddering, sludgy bass serve as the backbone of this music. Mitchell and Taborn are well known for their adroit experimentation on electronics, and they deliver to the music a huge variety of swirling textures and color. Monder’s own music usually tilts toward the spacious, so it’s somewhat of a surprise to hear him outright shredding with overdriven distortion. Together, they perform this music with complete conviction, melding meticulous precision, prodigious power, and masterful improvisation.

According to Matt Mitchell: “One thing I admire about Dan’s composing it’s how he manages to transcend stylistic issues. Although heavy music is undoubtedly the primary inspiration for this batch of material, I notice here many updated examples of forms that I associate with Dan’s composing: strong, direct melodies; long cycles allowing for building towards ecstatic climaxes; multiple instruments asymmetrically orbiting each other. Unique to this project is the combination of a very strong and distinctive compositional voice and extensive contribution from each of the musicians. Although this is Dan’s music through-and-through in a very specific way, he asked for a lot of input, especially regarding timbre, and he provided many novel spaces in which to improvise or act as a sonic free agent. All these qualities taken together result in an extremely powerful and multifarious musical message, one in which it is a privilege to take part.”

muzycy:
Dan Weiss: drums, compositions
Trevor Dunn: electric bass
Ben Monder: guitars
Matt Mitchell: piano, Prophet-6, modular synthesizers
Craig Taborn: piano, Fender Rhodes, synthesizers

utwory:
A1. A Puncher's Chance 3:10
A2. Depredation 5:32
A3. Annica 9:05
B1. Badalamenti 6:54
B2. Cry Box 6:20
B3. The Memory of My Memory 10:18
C1. Veiled 4:23
C2. Episode 8 14:29

total time - 60:08
wydano: 2018-05-04
nagrano: Recorded At Systems Two, NY

more info: www.pirecordings.com
more info2: www.danweiss.net