15-11-2011 JAZZ.MiX # 33 jazz tracks on the the JAZZ_line 2015-2021 (3h 22m)

15-11-2011 JAZZ.MiX # 33 jazz tracks on the the JAZZ_line 2015-2021 (3h 22m)# Stanley Clarke, Bireli Lagrène, Jean-Luc Ponty, Mike Dillon, Tobias Meinhart, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Antonio Sanchez, Mary Halvorson, Makaya McCraven, Wildflower, Todd Marcus, Muriel Grossmann, Mike Dillon, Ron Miles, Bremer/McCoy, Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter

J A Z Z   M U S I C (3h 22m)

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2015-2021

Stanley Clarke - Bireli Lagrène - Jean-Luc Ponty 

Blue Train (John Coltrane) 6:15

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Joe Zawinul) 6:33

from D-Stringz 2015

The occasion for this trio to work together was a 2010 concert that celebrated violinist Jean-Luc Ponty's 50th anniversary as a recording artist. Both the violinist and Stanley Clarke had collaborated before (a previous electric trio set with Al Di Meola, The Rite of Strings was issued in 1995), but neither had collaborated with French jazz guitarist Biréli Lagrène prior to that evening...

Vibraphonist, percussionist, and songwriter Mike Dillon is an eclectic, highly adventurous musician with a sound steeped in post-bop jazz, funk, and avant-garde rock. Drawing upon such wide-ranging influences as Harry Partch, Thelonious Monk, Tom Waits, and Frank Zappa...

Mike Dillon 

Half Right 3:51

Christian Brothers 5:20

Bachelor Pad 3:24

from Functioning Broke 2016

As idiosyncratic as Mike Dillon's work has been with Critters Buggin' and Garage a Trois, it's well-nigh impossible not to fall under the spell of the music he creates all by himself on Functioning Broke. A deep dream-like quality emanates from his musicianship, most resonant in the warm glow of vibes that open "Half Right" and continues virtually unabated... Mike Dillon played all the instruments here himself, a total of eleven according to the credits. Nevertheless, he restrains himself from becoming too busy on a number like "Christian Brothers:" by the self-discipline that allows the ethereal tones of vibes, marimba, xylophone and bells, among others, to sustain and hang in the air until followed by the next instrumental sound... so as much as Functioning Brokesuspends the passage of time for those who hear the album, it'd seem Mike Dillon too is caught up in the spirit of the moment(s),

A gifted German-born saxophonist, Tobias Meinhart plays harmonically sophisticated post-bop jazz. He first garnered attention performing in Europe in the mid-2000s, and gained wider recognition following his move to New York in 2010. He has played often with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, with whom he recorded 2015's Natural Perception and 2017's Silent Dreamer.

Tobias Meinhart 

Fighting Your Fears 5:37

Silent Dreamer 5:51

Ghost Gardens 6:54

from Silent Dreamer 2017

...Tobias Meinhart  had racked up a host of awards in Europe before moving to the United States to study with some of New York's top saxophonists. He now resides in Brooklyn and works with a variety of groups. His fourth album, "Silent Dreamer," is not only a vehicle for his bold tenor style, it's also a showcase for his adventurous compositions and gorgeous arrangements.

The album is also brimming with superb solos and group playing by some familiar players, like trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and bassist Orlando Le Fleming, and some less familiar but equally powerful musicians. Yago Vazquez is excellent on piano, and Justin Carroll makes the synthesizer wail. Charles Altura crosses over into rock-fusion territory on every guitar solo, and Phil Donkin and Jesse Simpson are a formidable rhythm section on acoustic and electric bass and powerhouse drums.

"Time Party" #103 ALTER.NATION.MiX - weekly favtraX 05-10-2020

ALTER.NATION #103

Hen Ogledd, Sleeper & Snake, Sylvan Esso,  Sad13, Marie Davidson, L'Œil Nu, Los Blenders, Mint Field,Thurston Moore, Wax Chattels, The Ocean, Will Butler, Makaya McCraven

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"Time Party"

Constantly evolving collective from Northern England that grew from scattered improvising into a tight electropop act.

Hen Ogledd - Free Humans / Time Party

With their 2018 album Mogic, Hen Ogledd evolved from the amorphous improvisations of their earliest phases into something resembling a more traditionally molded pop band. They didn't completely shake the wooly weirdness that initially defined the project, but incorporated it into structured songs that pitted hopeful melodies against noisy electronics and heady lyrical themes. If Mogic was Hen Ogledd dipping their toes into pop, its successor Free Humans is the band diving in headlong. The ambitious double album finds Hen Ogledd further refining their take on pop sounds, presenting neatly produced tunes that offer straightforward hooks, anthemic choruses, and a generally less cluttered rendering of the band's maximal aesthetic...Both precisely calculated and boundlessly imaginative, Free Humans creates an expansive world in which Hen Ogledd can continue to sculpt their bizarre brand of pop music.

Sleeper & Snake are an Australian duo built around the talents of two very busy musicians, Al Monfort and Amy Hill. The group's lo-fi, homemade sound, as evidenced on 2020's Fresco Shed, touches on indie pop, noise-pop, and jazz with a gentle, experimental feel.

Sleeper & Snake - Fresco Shed / Lock Up the Loose

Sleeper & Snake combine the talents of Al Monfort and Amy Hill, multi-instrumentalists who played in multiple Australian indie rock bands of note (including Dick Diver, Primo, and Total Control) and worked together in TERRY. This project leans toward the more avant-garde side of the indie pop equation; the duo sprinkle their jaggedly melodic songs with saxophone bleats, found sounds, squiggly keyboards, and sawing strings. Their debut album, 2019's Junction and High, worked as a fine introduction to the band, while 2020's Fresco Shed is more focused and tuneful. The sparse nature of the recording brings to mind classic groups like Young Marble Giants, the experimental approach has the lo-fi appeal of Tall Dwarfs, and the pair's homey vocal harmonies fit into the Flying Nun continuum nicely...

Electro-indie folk collaboration between Amelia Meath of Mountain Man and electronic producer Nick Sanborn.

Sylvan Esso - Free Love / Ferris Wheel

The follow-up to 2017's Grammy-nominated What Now, Free Love sees Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn deliver another compelling collection of sweetly fractured electronic indie pop... Detractors will rightfully point out that Free Love utilizes the same sonic architecture as its predecessors, but it's a fairly idiosyncratic template and one that Meath and Sanborn have shown great skill with over three albums now. Besides, the world always needs more dance music for introverts.

The subversively catchy solo project of Speedy Ortiz's Sadie Dupuis, Sad13 (pronounced "sad thirteen") takes her literate lyrics, empowering viewpoint, and skillful musicianship in further-flung directions than with her band. 

Sad13 - Haunted Painting / Take Care

With Haunted Painting, Sadie Dupuis may have outgrown the confines of what her solo project Sad13 was originally designed to do -- and that's a good thing. Dupuis made most of her debut album Slugger's subversions of mainstream pop in her bedroom and they (proudly) sounded like it. This time, she tops her homemade recordings with additional tracking at studios such as Elliott Smith's former haunt, New Monkey, and with instrumentation that ranges from trash to an eight-piece orchestra...

Montreal-based artist who records hypnotic, intimate techno and minimal wave as a solo artist and as one half of Essaie Pas. / Marie Davidson-fronted trio combining influences such as folk, French pop, jazz, and disco.

Marie Davidson / L'Œil Nu - Renegade Breakdown / Just In My Head

...Having already named an album Adieux au Dancefloor, Davidson announced her absolute retirement from club music in 2019. She formed the trio L'Œil Nu with frequent collaborators Pierre Guerineau (her husband and partner in the duo Essaie Pas) and Asaël R. Robitaille (aka Bataille Solaire) with the intention of writing pop-inspired songs, drawing from formative influences like Fleetwood Mac, Billie Holiday, and French soundtracks... Even though Renegade Breakdown intentionally lacks the club energy that drove much of Davidson's best-known material, it's at least as inventive and exploratory.

Mexican garage rock band Los Blenders mix and match the punk aspects of garage, the reverb-heavy twang of surf music, the trippy textures of psychedelia, and some of the modern punch of bands like the Strokes.

Los Blenders - Mazunte 2016 / Depresión Tropical

Mexico City's Los Blenders lashed down a firm spot in the garage rock underground with their early noise-damaged singles and gradually more mature albums. 2017's Ha Sido showed the group starting to give their raucously bouncy sound some depth by slowing down the tempos and recording everything with some clarity. 2020's Mazunte 2016 furthers the maturation process, taking the band another step or two away from the garage by upping the production values, experimenting with sound, and writing some seriously hooky pop songs... Mazunte 2016 is modern garage rock at its best, and Los Blenders have firmly established themselves as leaders of the pack.

Mexican trio producing ethereal dream pop with nods to Krautrock and ambient, utilizing fuzzy guitars and heavenly vocals.

Mint Field - Sentimiento Mundial / Contingencia

Originally a duo consisting of Estrella del Sol Sánchez and Amor Amezcua, Mexico City-based dream pop group Mint Field made their full-length debut with 2018's Pasar de las Luces, a remarkable record that artfully expressed the tumultuous emotions of one's young adult years. After making the album, Mint Field toured throughout North America and Europe, released an EP (Mientras Esperas), and shifted their lineup, losing Amezcua and gaining bassist Sebastian Neyra and drummer Callum Brown (Ulrika Spacek). Second album Sentimiento Mundial was recorded in London with producer Syd Kemp (also of Ulrika Spacek), and it finds the band stretching their sound in a few different directions, dialing down the shoegaze elements a bit and trying out new textures and ideas...

Alternative rock icon for his work in Sonic Youth, and a tireless champion of D.I.Y. culture and frequent solo artist.

Thurston Moore - By the Fire / Cantaloupe

One of the things that made Sonic Youth such a powerful entity was the supernatural chemistry of the bandmembers. At various peaks of their collective powers, each player brought a distinctive voice that rose to an even more elevated form when combined with the others. Extracted from that chemistry, Thurston Moore's solo material gives a better view of his conflicting tendencies, with seventh proper solo album By the Fire embracing both noisy, chaotic tangents and the blurry impressionistic poetry that has long been the core of his songs. The record begins with the kind of layered, intricate guitar figures and steady rock rhythms that have been Moore's calling card since the early '90s... By the Fire isn't a drastic shift, but as Moore goes deeper into the sounds he's been exploring for decades, he uncovers new magic.

New Zealand trio making confrontational, guitar-less post-punk. With their guitar-free lineup and songs ranging from anti-consumerist manifestos to homages to sci-fi heroes, Wax Chattels put their own bracing spin on post-punk traditions.

Wax Chattels - Clot / No Ties

On their self-titled debut, Wax Chattels put their own stamp on the lineage of arty yet rough-edged post-punk, touching on Suicide and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as well as the darker side of New Zealand's musical legacy along the way. To follow it up, the Auckland trio bring the different strands of their style together for an even bigger impact on Clot. Working with producer James Goldsmith and engineer Ben Greenberg -- who knows a thing or two about making noise from his work with the Men, Uniform, and Destruction Unit -- Wax Chattels give their second album a sound that's cleaner but also heavier. Where their debut felt like a recording of a particularly inspired practice session, Clot's sonic precision lets Wax Chattels target their onslaughts with better aim and bridge the gaps between post-punk, industrial, and noise seamlessly...

German extreme metal collective led by Robin Staps whose sound encompasses prog, sludge, and atmospheric metal.

The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic/Cenozoic / Oligocene

In 2018, European progressive extreme music outfit the Ocean Collective released Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic, the first half of a sprawling concept offering based on paleontology. Its companion, Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic, closes the evolutionary cycle that spans all periods during the Phanerozoic Eon. The first album documented the Cambrian explosion that ended with the pre-Triassic extinction event. This chronological sequel begins at the dawn of the dinosaurs, then continues in the present epoch. Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic garnered acclaim for its relentless heaviness and straightforward musical progression. Phanerozoic II is far more experimental and eclectic. Its sounds, words, and atmospheres are pursued in ever-expanding circles, employing varied tempos, abundant electronic textures, melodic compositional frames, and selective orchestration to create something that borders on the exotic, yet remains heavy as hell... The cinematic instrumental "Oligocene" offers organic drums atop treated, electronic beats, gated synths, and majestic, ringing guitars -- it doesn't remotely sound like the Ocean, but it works as a bridge between the album's thematic halves...

Singer/songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and core member of spirited indie rock collective Arcade Fire.

Will Butler - Generations / Outta Here

With his first solo album, 2015's Policy, Arcade Fire member Will Butler reawakened some of the electricity and chaos that defined his well-loved band in their earliest days. The rawness and spontaneity that the Arcade Fire lost on more neatly primped later records surfaced on some of Butler's solo songs while others were softly rendered. Five years after Policy, second solo album Generations finds Butler offering up another set of passionate songs rich with complex but understated arrangements... 

Chicago-based drummer, composer, and producer whose highly original creative music fuses jazz, hip-hop, rock, and global rhythmic traditions.

Makaya McCraven - Universal Beings E&F Sides / Everybody Cool

On the most basic level, Universal Beings E&F Sides is the soundtrack for Pallman's film. But nothing in McCraven's world is basic. This music, performed and recorded during the tour, was left off the original album. Upon revisiting it for the film, McCraven registered surprise at the leftover material's quality. He dug in and constructed a fresh score from the remnants. But this is not merely a set of extras; it's an ear-opening, first-rate companion offering... McCraven calls it "organic beat music." As is now de rigueur on his outings, the music -- though diverse in harmonic, dynamic, and tonal articulation -- still grooves... Universal Beings E&F Sides is, therefore, not only a fine follow-up, but a visionary outing of its own that also stands as required listening for post-millennial jazz fans.

Hen Ogledd, Sleeper & Snake, Sylvan Esso,  Sad13, Marie Davidson, L'Œil Nu, Los Blenders, Mint Field,Thurston Moore, Wax Chattels, The Ocean, Will Butler, Night Shop, Makaya McCraven

072 ALTER.NATION.MiX weekly favtraX 08-02-2020

ALTER.NATION #72

Shopping, Homesick, Cheerleader, Arbor Labor Union, Stone Temple Pilots, Khruangbin & Leon Bridges, Gil Scott-Heron / Makaya McCraven, Antibalas, Sepultura, Shmu, Jorja Chalmers

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"All or Nothing"

London trio following the post-punk traditions of prickly sounds and left-wing politics.
Shopping - All or Nothing / All or Nothing
...The uniformly breathless quality of the album belies the breakneck pace of its creative process. Recorded during a ten-day window between London and Glasgow, All or Nothing pushes Shopping's sound into a more electric and elastic airspace. Whereas earlier albums hewed closely to the demo version of each song, bassist Billy Easter explains that "in the spirit of the album title," the band decided to lean into the kind of pop production they've "always dreamed about."...

Dutch indie band who meld springy noise pop and post-punk with a playfully eccentric bent.
Homesick - The Big Exercise / I Celebrate My Fantasy
Making their Sub Pop debut are the Homesick, a trio of Dutch sonic explorers from the Frisian town of Dokkum whose idiosyncratic indie rock traverses Motorik post-punk, neo-psychedelia, and lean Baroque pop. The Big Exercise follows three years after the band's slightly grittier 2017 missive Youth Hunt, which introduced their signature blend to mostly European audiences and scored them a fair amount of critical buzz, not to mention an American record deal. Brandishing a youthful mix of confidence, creative intelligence, and chutzpah, members Elias Elgersma (guitar), Jaap Van der Velde (bass), and Erik Woudwijk (drums) have landed on a surprisingly distinctive sound, one that contains enough melodic warmth to engage listeners but packed with complex song structures and played with taut precision...

Dreamy psychedelic pop from a Philadelphia group led by songwriter Joe Haller.
Cheerleader - Almost Forever / Non-stop
Following touring in support of a 2015 debut album that blended the hazy textures of dream pop with a buoyant, anthemic pop, Philadelphia's Cheerleader went on an indefinite hiatus. Founding member Chris Duran parted ways with the group, and though bandleader Joe Haller began writing songs again in time, he did so for himself without any intention of them serving Cheerleader. However, he eventually did present some of the darker, more reflective material to bandmates, who ultimately embraced the not-so-subtle tonal shift. Recorded with producer Chris Coady (Beach House, Foals), the resulting Almost Forever is a spaced-out, psychedelic outing that still puts a premium on glistening atmospheres but moves them into a more introspective setting.

Georgia-based rock band combines philosophical trippiness with stoner rock firepower; formerly known as Pinecones.
Arbor Labor Union - New Petal Instants / Crushed By Fear Destroyer
After changing their name from Pinecones to the even-greener Arbor Labor Union, this Georgia four-piece debuted on Sub Pop with I Hear You, a peculiar mix of stoner rock, post-punk, and psychedelia with a just a touch of twang. The album introduced the group's core guitar duo of singer Bo Orr and fellow axeman Brian Adams who, when not chugging mightily at a middling pace, were prone to writing spry and intriguing circular riffs that spun neatly throughout the songs. It's the latter of those two tendencies that comes to the foreground on New Petal Instants, the band's eccentric 2020 follow-up...

Spacious and exploratory indie rock built out of looped field recordings, dream pop guitars, and the vocals of Annabel Alpers, formerly of Bachelorette.
Hamerkop - Remote / We Can Wing
After closing shop on Bachelorette in 2011 after a brilliant three-album run, Annabel Alpers started work on a new project with drummer Adam Cooke playing music that was as expansive as her previous band while also being more intimate and more intricately crafted. The first Hamerkop album, Remote, began life as a series of field recordings Alpers made around the world and at home, capturing noises as diverse as the clatter of pots and pans and the gentle hum of the great outdoors. When manipulated, looped, and paired with lush layers of synths, fuzzy dream pop guitars, and Cooke's steady drumming, the combined sound provides a rich backdrop for Alpers' expressive lead vocals and imaginative harmonies...

Multi-platinum hard rockers who brought grunge to the stadium crowd, thanks to Dean DeLeo's guitar talents and the melodic flair of Scott Weiland.
Stone Temple Pilots - Perdida / I Didn't Know the Time
After a decade bookended by just two album releases and capped off with a pair of tragic deaths, Stone Temple Pilots press pause on their usual big rock sound to process grief with their back-to-basics acoustic eighth album, Perdida. Titled after the Spanish word for "loss," this introspective set is weathered, weary, and surprisingly beautiful, an intentional therapy session for a band that's experienced its fair share of tragedy and drama. As such, loss is the central theme for much of the album, but instead of being weighed down by sadness and misery, Perdida does its best to find hope in the darkness...

Khruangbin (Thai for airplane, or literally "engine fly") are a jet-setting trio from Texas whose smooth, mainly instrumental music is heavily inspired by Thai rock and funk from the '60s and '70s, as well as a multitude of other influences ranging from surf rock to dub to Iranian pop.
Leon Bridges' first strides as an R&B artist prompted comparisons to legends like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, but the native Texan quickly came into his own with the remarkably refined Coming Home (2015) and Good Thing (2018),
Khruangbin & Leon Bridges - Texas Sun / Texas Sun
The formulation of this short romantic detour from Leon Bridges and Khruangbin began, appropriately enough, on the road. After the fellow native Texans toured together, Khruangbin -- a trio of instrumentalists who mix deep soul, funk, and rock with grainy, psychedelic finesse -- recorded a track they thought would suit Bridges, an old soul with a fresh and personal perspective on traditional R&B. They met up in Houston and knocked out four songs with Bridges always at the fore, a change for the band who have previously used vocals only for shading. They begin by unfurling a couple lazing grooves...

One of the most important progenitors of rap music, Gil Scott-Heron's aggressive, no-nonsense street poetry is equal parts politically conscious activism, cultural awareness, polemic and social commentary, inspired a legion of intelligent rappers. 
Drummer, composer, and producer Makaya McCraven uses the 21st century tenet of genre-blending creative music to push at the boundaries of sound and rhythm in pursuit of forging new musical directions.
Gil Scott-Heron / Makaya McCraven  - We're New Again: A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven / Me and the Devil
It's astonishing to consider that nearly ten years after the death of poet, songwriter, novelist, and polemicist Gil Scott-Heron in 2011, much of his work is unavailable. Released in 2010, I'm New Here was Scott-Heron's first album in nearly 15 years... Russell approached drummer, composer, and conceptualist Makaya McCraven to rework the album for its tenth anniversary, and he did just that: he reimagined the entire album as We're New Again... The redo of the cover of Robert Johnson's "Me and the Devil" owes a nod to Frank Zappa's "Peaches en Regalia" in the horn intro; while the mix is still beat-centered, McCraven layers so much into it that Scott-Heron's testifying vocal offers a tragic truth as a daily occurrence. The woozy mix, Parker's deft, sharp, and meaty guitaristry, a ticking snare, hi-hat, ambient effects, and tape manipulation emerge with what amounts to a more resonant and ultimately harrowing reading...

Eclectic Afrobeat collective from Brooklyn that have earned a diverse following.
Antibalas - Fu Chronicles / Amenawon
With a globetrotting 20-year career renowned for being a voice for the people across four decades of political and societal upheaval from the late ‘90s to today, Antibalas celebrates its 20th Anniversary with a stark return to their Williamsburg roots on its latest Daptone Records studio album, Fu Chronicles. Pre-gentrified Williamsburg serves as the backdrop for Fu Chronicles–voyaging back to the early days of when Antibalas and Daptone Records spawned out of lead singer Duke Amayo’s kung fu dojo. A senior master of the Jow Ga Kung FuSchool of martial arts, Duke Amayo along with Antibalas founder/baritone saxophonist Martín Perna guide listeners through an epic journey of where kung fu ingeniously intersects with Afrobeat on Fu Chronicles.

Legendary Brazilian metal act that forged a rich, powerful sound, full of speed, aggression, anger, and a surprising dose of melody.
Sepultura - Quadra / Fear, Pain, Chaos, Suffering
Quadra is a concept album that, like its 2017 predecessor, expresses the delineated nature of society and the power of money. The album is so titled because its 12 songs are divided into four groups of three songs each. Each grouping showcases a different aspect of the band's musical persona. Exquisitely produced by Jens Bogren, its first section offers the band at its most aggressive in a short set of thrash metal... Closer "Fear, Pain, Chaos, Suffering" offers a richly atmospheric finale, including wonderful vocal assistance from Emmily Barreto, from Brazil's Far from Alaska. Quadra is Sepultura's first album to actually stand on equal qualitative footing with their classic trilogy. It offers a series of tough, meaty, adventurous songs, that abundantly indulge raw power and emotion.

Kaleidoscopic, free-form meta-pop project of Austin-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sam Chown.
Shmu - Pure Bliss / Tomorrow Will Never Come
Sam Chown records kaleidoscopic meta-pop as Shmu when he isn't making neo-prog as part of the duo Zorch or touring as the drummer for artists such as Vinyl Williams or Botany. He's been making music for almost his entire life, actually, and has recorded hundreds of albums' worth of material. Pure Bliss is his first full-length for French label Requiem Pour un Twister (also home to Vinyl Williams), and it's the album he's spent the longest time working on -- songs from this album date back to 2004, when Chown was still a teenager, and the bulk of it was written and recorded a decade later...

Australian musician and songwriter who plays saxophone and keyboard in Bryan Ferry's live band, and records haunting, ethereal pop on her own.
Jorja Chalmers - Human Again / Red Light
Australian-born, London-based musician Jorja Chalmers gained international recognition as the show-stealing saxophonist and keyboard player for Bryan Ferry's live band, which she's been an integral part of since 2007. While constantly busy touring throughout the world, she's been writing and recording her own songs, and following a string-laden 2016 EP, Human Again is her synth-heavy full-length debut. Fitting squarely within the Italians Do It Better aesthetic, this is a rich, haunting set of dream pop tunes and cinematic instrumentals that seem to emerge out of a misty late-night haze...

Shopping, Homesick, Cheerleader, Arbor Labor Union, Stone Temple Pilots, Khruangbin & Leon Bridges, Gil Scott-Heron / Makaya McCraven, Antibalas, Sepultura, Shmu, Jorja Chalmers