Paradiddle

"what's left of the neo-left" ~ collective calls (urban) 1972 Very much looking forward to this. Kevin Gray cut, RTI press. Natural Information Society with Evan Parker Descension (Out of Our Constrictions) eremite mte-74/75 x2 LP release date 2021-04-16 LP pre-orders eremite.com digital pre-orders bandcamp video by Lisa Alvarado & JA Joshua Abrams guimbri Lisa Alvarado harmonium & effects Mikel Patrick Avery drums Evan Parker soprano saxophone Jason Stein bass clarinet Rich in musical associations yet utterly singular in its voice, joyous with an inner tranquility, the music of Natural Information Society is unlike any other being made today. Their sixth album in eleven years for eremite records, descension (Out of Our Constrictions) is the first to be recorded live, featuring a set from London’s Cafe OTO with veteran English free-improv great Evan Parker, & the first to feature just one extended composition. The 75-minute performance, inspired by the galvanizing presence of Parker, is a sustained bacchanalia of collective ecstasy. You could call it their party album. This was the second time Parker played with NIS. Joshua Abrams: “Both times we played compositions with Evan in mind. I don’t tell Evan anything. He’s a free agent.” The music is focused & malleable, energized & even-keeled, drawing on concepts of ensemble playing common to musics from many locations & eras without any one specific aesthetic realization completely defining it. “The rhythms that Mikel plays are not an exact reference to Chicago house, but that’s in there,” Abrams says. “I like to take a cyclic view of music history, can we take that four-on-the-floor, & consider how it connects to swing-era music? Can we articulate a through line? I dee-jayed for years in Chicago & lessons I learned from playing records for dancing inform how I think about the group’s music. The listener can make connections to aspects of soul music, electronic music, minimalism, traditional folk musics, & other musics of the diaspora as well. It’s about these aspects coming together. I don’t need to mimic something, I need to embody it to get to the spirit, to get to the living thing.” For jazz fans, the sound of Parker’s soprano & Jason Stein’s bass clarinet might evoke Coltrane & Dolphy, even though they didn’t necessarily set out to do that & they play with complete individuality. Abrams sees a bridge to the historical precedent, too. “Since we first met in the 1990s, one of the things that Evan and I connected on was Coltrane’s music,” he says. “I hoped that we would tap into that sound world intuitively. In this case, I think that level of evocation adds another layer of depth, versus a layer of reference.” Indeed, this is a performance in which the connections among the ensemble & the creative tension between improvisation and composition build into a complex mesh of associations & interactions. While the band confines itself to the territory mapped out by Abrams’ composition, they are remarkably attentive & responsive, making adjustments to Parker’s improvisations. When Parker’s intricate patterns of notes interweave with the band, the parts reinforce one another & the music rockets upward. Sometimes, Parker’s lines are cradled by the group’s gentle pulse & an unearthly lyrical balance is struck. Drummer Mikel Patrick Avery is locked-in, playing with hellacious long-form discipline, feel & responsiveness. Jason Stein’s animated, vocalized bass clarinet weaves in & out with Lisa Alvarado’s harmonium to state the piece’s thematic material; the pulsing tremolo on the harmonium brings a Spacemen 3 vibe to the party. Abrams ties together melody & rhythm on guimbri, a presence that leads without seeming to. Like his bandmates, he shifts modes of playing frequently, improvising & then returning to the composed structure. “As specific as the composition is, the goal is to internalize it & mix it up,” Abrams says. “The idea is to get so comfortable that we can make spontaneous changes, find new routes of activity, stasis & byways every gig. It’s like a web we’re spinning. If someone makes a move, we all aim to be aware of it, make room for it. Experiencing & listening is what it’s about, & Evan supercharges that.” & “supercharged” is the word for this album. With Parker further opening up their music, descension (Out of Our Constrictions) is the sound of Natural Information Society growing both more disciplined and freer, one of the great bands of its time on a deep run. x2LP, mte-74/75, pressed on premium audiophile-quality vinyl at RTI from Kevin Gray / Cohearent Audio lacquers. Mastered by Helge Sten, Audio Virus, Oslo. Liner Notes by Theaster Gates. First eremite LP edition 1200 copies. CD edition & EU x2LP edition available thru our new EU new partner, Aguirre records (Belgium). FTFY

The Ballad Album.....? Ballads and blues. The perfect title when someone asks: What are you listening to?

WTFDYW? Trost....prost!

The best "audiophile" upgrade I ever made for under $200 was to go to my Audiologist and get custom musicians earplugs made by Westone/Etymotic Research based on impressions they take of your ear and canal. I've got 10 and 20 db filters and a "full block" filter for those Wolf Eyes/Braxton concerts. They are comfortable and completely linear in their level reduction so you don't have to sacrifice sound quality. Highly recommended! RE: Atlanta, it's Fred Hopkins, recorded just months before his death. That alone makes it essential, IMO of course. I've got #094 of the first pressing. The graphics are cool and the vinyl is heavy but mine took two runs through the RCM, it was a mess. Hopefully the pressing quality is better now.

Thanks, Clifford I only picked up a few individual CDs from that box - I think a Globe Unity and the Schlippenbach Live @ Quartier Latin with Kowald, Parker & Lovens. I missed the DLAD CD. I wonder if it compares favorably with the great Little Birds Have Fast Hearts 2 volumes.... Don;t forget the DLAD with Roy Campbell on Eremite. Nice one - the 10 minute encore section is stunning but the main portion of the recording doesn't touch the band with Kondo. Campbell is/was a fine energetic trumpeter but Toshinoro Kondo on those 2 discs is a genius level improvisor. Yup, have you checked him out with the "Hairy Bones" project? I think that is the band with PNL, isn't it? No I havn't heard them. I am still working my way through coming to grips with the Long Story Short box. The large band without the charts is still a challenge for this listener and I miss Drake in the chair next to Michael Zerang. Fwiw, I love the long side with Laswell, Ghania (sp?) and Drake. Almost worth the $75 I paid for the box set. That's the one, worth checking out when you get a chance. And....you're talking to a Hamid acolyte, so right on! I love that Ghania track as well, and the Nasheet Waits trio is a nice one, hell the entire box is good and made my "Best Of 2013". Speaking of Okka, mini lp's and Brotzmann/Ghania/Drake:

Thanks, Clifford I only picked up a few individual CDs from that box - I think a Globe Unity and the Schlippenbach Live @ Quartier Latin with Kowald, Parker & Lovens. I missed the DLAD CD. I wonder if it compares favorably with the great Little Birds Have Fast Hearts 2 volumes.... Don;t forget the DLAD with Roy Campbell on Eremite. Nice one - the 10 minute encore section is stunning but the main portion of the recording doesn't touch the band with Kondo. Campbell is/was a fine energetic trumpeter but Toshinoro Kondo on those 2 discs is a genius level improvisor. Yup, have you checked him out with the "Hairy Bones" project?

Big fan of Okka's service here too. In my experience, over many purchases an years, it ships transatlantic very reasonably and speedily which may be a factor for erwbol. I'd've thought that the European label releases found on Catalytic may be available at comparable cost to a European buyer nearer to home once you've factored in the shipping. Obviously Catalytic is a great source of the US labels they feature. used Catalytic Sound just the once and that was Ok if a bit slow Agreed, on both accounts. Although, in defense of CS, I was waiting for a week to hear back from Steve Marquette recently, who runs the site, and was getting antsy. When he finally got back he explained he was on tour with KV. So, no excuse but definitely a co-op operation with everyone wearing many hats. Correct, it was not a "numered limited edition" but those Okka mini-lp's did not last forever and were very nice productions IMO. I was talking specifically about the two Brotz releases. This is weird, if I respond to a post and post it, then respond to another it tacks it onto the previous post. Is that always the case? Apologies for any confusing amalgam of responses.

Thanks, Clifford I only picked up a few individual CDs from that box - I think a Globe Unity and the Schlippenbach Live @ Quartier Latin with Kowald, Parker & Lovens. I missed the DLAD CD. I wonder if it compares favorably with the great Little Birds Have Fast Hearts 2 volumes.... Don;t forget the DLAD with Roy Campbell on Eremite.

Would love to read that interview. Definitely an underrepresented talent. Agreed about the site now as well. No fair! The only reason I bought those in the first place was the guarantee that they were "Limited Edition". Who would actually listen to that stuff? I've heard that DKV was recorded in Kenya.

I received an alert stating you "quoted" my post, my first notification here actually. There was no attempt to delete my portion of your quoted text so how is one to know it was not directed at me as well? I simply wanted to further qualify it.

We are at the point now where it's totally a non-issue for the general populace. You just don't pay for music. It's as natural as breathing. You are not any less of a man if you don't pay for music. I don't even know anymore (as in, with regards to this topic, not in a throwing my hands up at humanity thing). All i'll say is that i like CDs and i'll keep buying them as long as they keep making them. I like having a hard copy and the convenience to rip it as i please. I also like using Spotify to check stuff out, and i can see myself using it more down the line for the convenience of it, but there's just something hardwired in me that i need to own the CD. If/when it gets to the point where the artists that i follow offer download/streaming only then i'll adjust, as there will be no other option. As long as there is a CD then i need the CD. If/when it does get to the point where everything is in the cloud and it's all a big stream, i think i will only stream new stuff, it seems pointless to pay for downloads. My listening/collecting life will be divided into a CD and post-CD era. I guess that's kind of redundant to say, but it kind of helps me to be at peace with it. I'm the opposite, I haven't bought a CD in years. I see no sense buying a CD I'm simply going to rip and put on my already bursting CD rack and never touch again. But, I also don't use a streaming service. I will preview the odd album on Spotify, but then I either buy it, or never listen to it again. In the last year (since I was first turned on to Spotify), I've probably logged less than ten hours on the service. And BTW, before we start shaking our heads and muttering about "goddamn kids these days", we all grew up listening to the radio. Far as I recall, we didn't pay for that either. So let's not act as though listening to music for free is some strange, new phenomenon. Amazing how one can post ~600 words sharing their personal aesthetic when it comes to the OP and, in support of not only streaming services but the need for musicians to get paid (does anyone really have an issue with that?) and yet someone can glom onto 5 or 6 words out of that 600, possibly in an attempt to negate the validity of the entire post? I'm still trying to find the quote where "goddamn kids these days" was used. I don't consider someone who is a professional and 32 years old a "kid". How do you know I'm not 30 and talking about my peers? The point, in case it was lost by the mention of someone's age in order to offer context, is that streaming services can indeed help the "industry" and the musicians as long as someone is getting remunerated for their efforts. If we all just stopped paying for music how is that sustainable in the long term? Sure, we all listen/listened to terrestrial radio but the purpose of radio broadcasting music and songs was, wait for it.....to sell music, and ads of course. But who wants to be continually bombarded with inane screaming ads all the time? Call 1-800-No-Thanks now! Ultimately, someone has got to get paid. I hope it's the musicians, artists and engineers. I witnessed the so-called "death" of the professional recording studio during the late 90's and 2000's, when the mega-labels were no longer giving big advances and paying for bands to "lock-out" a studio for a month to work on and record an album. Many big studios failed, but now, not only have many returned, but there's an influx of new facilities being built, albeit with a slightly different business model, more diversified in many cases. Here's hoping that the next wave of James Farbers, Jim Andersons, and Jan Erik Kongshaugs have a job, and all those "goddamn kids today" who are in their garages woodshedding and studying can support themselves and their families while they bring us their artistry.

Best I could find was his EFI page: http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mcarter.html

They were just on NPR, good segment: http://www.npr.org/2014/07/13/329849052/the-new-thing-in-jazz-revisited

That Carter caught my eye as well: Lacy, SME, his own trio and.....

Wow, December? I'd try two things. First, do they have a US distributor? If so, I'd contact them. Second, often times some one will leave a company, especially in small niche companies, and no one will be tasked with taking care of the previous employee;s emails and such. I see they have a phone number on their site. I'd ring them up ASAP, been way too long.