Matt Ulery's Loom - Wake An Echo - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Special limited edition of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers most popular album issued on 180g red vinyl with front and back cover photos by Jean-Pierre Leloir (1931-2010), who captured some of the most iconic images of jazz life in France during the 1950's and 1960's. Moanin' marked both a homecoming and a fresh start Art Blakey's return to Blue Note after several years of recording for several other labels. The first choice had been to have the LP self-titled, but the instant popularity of pianist Bobby Timmons Moanin', which was the album's first track, led to it's becoming known by that title. The composition became a jazz standard and an iconic representative of the hard bop genre and covered to this day by countless other musicians. It is also a definitive work by this all-star aggregation of Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

The sprawling expanse of the American heartland is many things picturesque as it is desolate, familiar as it is alien. Very few settings manage to capture such contrasting characteristics in equal measure, so it's no wonder that the endless roads and forgotten towns of the deep countryside are practically synonymous with the general concept of a Inchpost-apocalypseInch. Although there's a bleak horror to the rural decay of InchFlyover Country,Inch there's a tragic beauty in it's stillness, something which OKC noise rockers Chat Pile and Texas-raised, Oklahoma-based fingerpicking guitarist and composer Hayden Pedigo masterfully capture on the collaborative LP- In the Earth Again. Despite their works occupying what seems like completely opposite ends of the genre and tonal spectrum, Hayden Pedigo and Chat Pile's Captain Ron, Luther Manhole, Raygun Busch, and Stin radiate a genuine synergy with one another that extends far beyond their music. Rather than alternating between moments where either the quartet's signature sludgy beatdown of noise rock and Hayden's Fahey-esque guitar soundscapes individually shine, In the Earth Again sees both Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo explore latent yet previously untapped aspects of their sounds. For Chat Pile, this meant an opportunity to explore moodier arrangements, indulge in sample and tape manipulation, and pen among the most sincere and personal lyrics in their entire discography. In Hayden's case, this collaboration enabled the visionary guitarist to translate the masterful craft of his typically tranquil, deep country soundscapes into something more sinister, tinged with a visceral, metallic grit that is no less evocative on a sensory level than their solo material. In the Earth Again presents a portrait of societal decay, characterized by the brutality of the active apocalypse and the eerie stillness that follows in it's wake.

Matt Mitchell - Vista Accumulation [COMPACT DISCS] date 10/16/2015