Robert Wyatt - Old Rottenhat

Recorded in the mid-eighties, Old Rottenhat is one of Robert Wyatt's most stripped down albums. All that is heard besides vocals are keyboards (mostly cheap Casio-ish synthesizer with occasional piano) and percussion, and occasionally a drum machine. All played by Robert himself. Being a member of Communist party, the album also presents Wyatt's political side quite heavily. Wyatt is not known for being prolific and thus, Old Rottenhat serves as his first proper full length since Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard in 1975. Musically the record is rather slow and minimalist, especially in the texture. His melodies are still jazzy and the chord progressions are unusual. Wyatt has also developed interesting drumming technique using just the arms, having been paraplegic since 1973. The former Soft Machine drummer hooligan has evolved into a percussionist capable of subtlety, while driven by necessity, but still an interesting listen. Some of the political commentary might be too heavy handed (such as "Alliance" or "East Timor"), but nonetheless, Old Rottenhat displays a lot of stripped down charm from Robert Wyatt.

Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

Atlas Sound is a solo project of Bradford James Cox of indie-rockers Deerhunter, where he plays all the instruments and makes all the sounds (using Ableton Live) himself. Cox aims to realize ideas that are difficult to execute within conventional rock band format and Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel shows that the results are successful. Stylistically, Cox uses elements of ambient electronica (album opener "A Ghost Story" that samples a child telling...yes, a ghost story), electronic kind of indie ("Quarantined", "On Guard"), shoegaze-inspired post-rock ("Recent Bedroom") and psychedelia ("After Class", "Atavan"), crossing these stylistic bounds from song to song and often combining the stylistic elements freely and fruitfully. Everything is held together by warm melodicism and melancholic emotionality with a sense of tragedy. The result is quaint, introverted, introspective and empathically atmospheric ambient-rock album. One of the most accomplished works in that field.

*This review was published in Estonian in a journal called Postimees. This is the English translation

Yochk'o Seffer - Adama

On Adama Yochk'o Seffer played all the instruments himself. On most of the tunes he plays all seven saxophones as designed by Adolphe Sax: sopranino to contrabass saxophones. This was recorded approximately in the mid-1980s and the record actually led to the creation of a saxophone septet to play these pieces in the live setting.

Adama is a worthwhile record, because it offers a chance to hear an otherwise soprano- and tenor-centric saxophonist Seffer to whip it out on the lower-toned saxophones. The title track showcases Seffer's mastery and finely honed improvisation on the bass saxophone. It's not a pure saxophone track as tranquil piano appears in the mix half-way in (followed by additional chords via seven soprano sax overdubs). "La danse des ferrailleurs" is, as the title indicates, a dance number written for low saxes. By contrast, "Lumiere Primitive" has lower saxes relegated to servile status compared to sopranino sax and these eventually drop out leaving the high-pitched sax unaccompanied. On "Polyglotte" the combined textures of all seven saxes sound oddly beautiful and so rich in their orchestral qualities, comparable to the sonic lushness of a string quartet. Dense composed harmonies alternate with unaccompanied baritone, soprano and tenor (in that order) solos.

There is one exception to the pure saxophone (with occasional piano) music of other tracks: "Trablair n°1" where Yochk'o goes for a dissonant avant-garde experiment where he plays six of his sonic sculptures (basically, self-invented, home-made reed instruments), while adding solo sopranino sax and his own voice to the mix. Musically the sound is akin to avant-garde sonic collage, even though it's hard to tell if Yochk'o merely multitracked his self-invented instruments or also went for some auxiliary tape editing. An earlier free-jazz band version was recorded on Perception's Mestari in 1973. A later reissue of this album is called "Adama Ima", with a 22 minute "Ima" added, which is yet again an avant-garde experiment consisting of sonic sculpture drones, sax and vocal harmonies, but more meditative. It was recorded at an entirely different time period, it actually combines the title tracks of Ima from 1977 and Ghilgoul from 1978.

Musically the album's overall style is generally some kind of a fusion of modern classical and avant-garde jazz combining elaborate multi-tracked harmonies and rhythms with free flowing solo improvisations. If Bartók would have composed Third Stream music for a saxophone ensemble, would this have been the result? While not as accessible as his more jazz rock oriented work with Zao and Neffesh Music, this record nonetheless confirms that Yochk'o Seffer is an instrumentalist and a composer with unique singular vision and a drive to do something different every time.

John Surman - Upon Reflection

John Surman, known for his baritone sax prowess, is also pretty good on soprano sax and bass clarinet. This is one of his solo recordings, where he plays all of these reed instruments, in addition to synthesizer. Most of the pieces are multi-tracked, with the exception of a few unaccompanied moments like "Caithness to Kerry" for solo soprano sax. Several tracks contain a lush, yet minimalistic and meditative synthesizer bed upon which layers of horns are added, to provide harmonic structure, melody or counterpoint. The opening track "Edges of Illusion" as well as the album closer "Constellation" are fine examples of jazz-tinged minimalist music with trippy synthesizer motives and languid low reed tones along with a more penetrative soprano sax voice. This isn't clichèd stuff at all, this isn't your usual New Age muzak with a cheesy soprano sax over waves of a cheesy Korg Triton, we're dealing with multi-layered, complex and quirky interaction between reeds and a keyboard. Some of the pieces like a jaunty "Prelude and Rustic Dance" are performed entirely on reeds. Surman is great on baritone sax and bass clarinet, and his soprano sax playing is a welcome alternative to all the smooth jazz triteness that is associated with higher pitched saxes. John Surman is not only a master on his several reed instruments, but he also has a unique and singular musical vision that is truly inventive.

Mice Parade - Mice Parade

This record is NY multi-instrumentalist and Bubblecore record label founder Adam Pierce's seventh under his Mice Parade moniker. MP initially started out as a one man band, but later on developed into a full blown ensemble including dual drumkits and mallet percussion along with various string and keyboard instruments. MP's repertoire has also altered throughout the years, the lengthy instrumentals of Mokoondi era are replaced by succinct song-oriented material. While the last record was dominated by the Mùm girl singer Kristin Valtysdóttir, who also appears here in one song; the majority of the record is sung by Pierce himself. While his baritone-bass voice is fairly limited, it has character and it works well with the compositions. He also gets to duet with Laetitia from Stereolab on "The Tales of Las Negras" and it's stunning. Compared to previous MP work we have less bossanova influences and more rock elements. Fuzz-toned guitars sit alongside acoustic instruments and the drums have a more overdriven sound than ever. It is tempting to consider this eponymous nine-song 35 minute album as Pierce's singer-songwriter albums. The songs he sings and writes, however, are still more multi-layered and nuanced than one would expect from such classifications. Nonetheless, this is another effort of interest from the eclectic Mice Parade.

This review was published in Estonian journal called Eesti Ekspress. Here's the English review.

Robert Wyatt - Comicopera

British progressive music veteran (known for his drumming and vocals in Soft Machine and Matching Mole, along his prolific solo career) Robert Wyatt's new album "Comicopera" is divided in three acts. First act, "Lost In Noise" is where Wyatt sings about personal topics and relationships with others. "Just As You Are", the second song from the act, is about betrayed love. This particular song is also Wyatt's melodicism at its best. The second act, "The Here and The Now" takes on the more political topic, in which Wyatt's disillusionment with the Anglo-American culture is blatantly apparent. Particularly alienating is the warmongering politics, which have planted all his everlasting hatred in Wyatt's heart, as he sings in the eerie "Out of the Blue". In protest to all the stupidity of British culture, the final act "Away With The Fairies" is sung in Spanish and Italian, rather than English.

As for the music itself, Comicopera is easily more accessible than the previous Wyatt albums. As with the two previous records, this album is defined by colorful instrumentation, personnel that is no less colorful (including his friends and other musicians from various countries) and eclectic brew of jazz, folk, pop and experimental music. It all sounds warmer and livelier than before. Easily up there with Wyatt's other masterpieces like "Rock Bottom".

*This review was published in Estonian in a journal called Postimees. This is the English translation