The sound of Joe Morris' electric guitar, with distortion
pedal set on stun and wah-wah pedal fully engaged, colliding with Jamie Saft's
droning, microtonal organ and Mike Pride's thunderous free drumming approach to
the kit creates a mind-numbing maelstrom on The Spanish Donkey's RAOUL, the
improvising trio's debut on RareNoiseRecords.
A follow-up to XYX, their 2011
album, which was released on Northern Spy Records. The album consists of three
throbbing tracks -- the brutal 32-minute title track "Raoul" the
22-minute "Behavioral Sink" and 16-minute Echoplex piano feature
"Dragon Fly Jones" -- that showcase The Spanish Donkey's remarkable
group-think as well as the individual player's uncanny intuition on their
respective instruments. More intensely cathartic, startlingly original and
compelling than anything you've ever heard -- imagine a mash-up of John
Coltrane's Interstellar Space and Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music -- RAOUL
stands as a hellacious manifesto by one of the most formidable improvising
trios around today.
"We're
not trying to sound like anything that anyone expects," says Morris.
"We're trying to come up with something that surprises us and fulfills the
musical expectation that we have for ourselves. So in that whole realm of big
loud screaming guitar, what we do sounds unique."
"To
me, The Spanish Donkey is deeply rooted in the blues," says Saft. "In
terms of my concept for going into the studio for this record, it really was
this idea of creating a monolithic, microtonal blues vibe and having Joe react
to that. Joe is one of the few musicians that can really work within a deep microtonal
environment. He is on such a high level with his intuitive approach to
microtones and improvising within that space, creating in that 'glacial time
feel,' as he puts it. And so this record essentially is us applying that
microtonal blues thing to our free improvising path, and trusting that path
completely."
Drummer
Pride, who has collaborated with saxophonist-composer Anthony Braxton, Millions
of Dead Cops and the Boredoms, is the perfect complement to Morris' caustic
intensity and Saft's microtonal explorations on RAOUL. "For me, Mike also
has a freedom and a level of trust in the path that is unique," says Saft.
"He is able to shape these larger form compositions while still staying
deeply involved in the micro levels of rhythmic division and harmonic color. In
the smaller trio format with these particular improvisers it's much easier to
create something that's loud and brutal while keeping the intensity going
throughout an entire 32-minute tune. There are not many musicians in this world
that can keep that intensity of focus for that long. Mike is certainly one of
them and Joe is a master at that. It's something that you only find in a really
rarefied group of musicians. So I feel incredibly fortunate to play with
musicians like that."
Morris
describes his modus operandi on RAOUL: "In The Spanish Donkey, I blend a
lot of different effects together and actually improvise with effects. I don't
usually set effects like a rock guitar player; I improvise with a whole sonic
palette. So I am constantly switching effects on and off, whether it's delay,
fuzz, ring modulator or whatever. There are a lot of different things going on
but it's a very narrow range that we're working in, in terms of time and
harmony. It's trying to do a lot with very little. It's about making a very
intense thing happen with a slow time feel and a very tight tonal range."
As a
guitarist, Morris, who turns 60 this year, is a legend within free jazz or new
music circles, having released over 40 records as a leader since 1983 and
appearing as a sideman on another 50 or so albums. He has previous collaborated
with keyboardist Saft on the RareNoise Records Plymouth, Red Hill and Slobber
Pup's Black Aces. Morris describes his approach to playing the guitar over the
past three decades of recordings. "I try to be as legitimate and sincere
and as through and outrageous as I can with every one of them. And sometimes
being outrageous means that you don't do things that are flashy or what anybody
else expects. I'd say that's all I've ever tried to do on guitar. I never
wanted to be a fusion guitar player or a jazz guitar player or country guitar
player or heavy metal guitar player. Every time I pick up the thing, I'm trying
to be myself, no matter what the situation is. And that means I have to follow
very closely to what my knowledge is of everything and to try to always be
completely sincere in the way that I deal with everything."
Says
Saft, "Joe is able to deal with the fluidity of time, pitch, harmony,
tonality, tone color in a way that very few guitarists I've ever heard can do.
It's something really special. And so, for me, to put that in a blues context
with this sort of strong tone center that we focus on for each tune and build
around, and then apply all those same ideas of the micro levels of pitch, tone,
rhythm to putting together our tracks, this is something unique and seldom
heard. That's really the approach to the composition, in my mind. And there's
nothing that really needs to be spoken between us, because when you play with
people like Joe Morris, you're playing with a master. I don't need to say
anything to him. He can react immediately to all these little shadings in a way
that few other musicians can."
From
track to track, Morris, Saft and Pride defy all expectations with their balance
between complete abandon and refined control on RAOUL. "I'm trying to make
what I think is unique music, and that's not easy," says Morris. "You
have to work really hard and sometimes you have to make decisions that draw
people in in a new way rather than play to what they expect. Some people might
listen to this record and say, 'You're just playing to the energy and it's out
of control.' But it's a really delicate process, almost like sculpting marble,
to get that kind of intensity there. And I think that's one of the things that
Spanish Donkey does really well is that we can hold to this very, very tight
precision and keep it there. And to go there and keep it there requires a
tremendous precision and, above all, listening."
"The
world doesn't need more free-wanking records," adds Saft. "And I
think this record is actually the furthest thing from that in that it's a very
carefully crafted monolith, large form improvisation based in the microtonal
blues world. You have to be open to finding something new, and you hear that
search in this record. Joe is redefining what the blues guitar could even
conceive of being on this record. It's not just something that you see and you
grab and you put on the tape, it's something that you're constantly looking
for. To borrow Joe Morris' term, it's the 'perpetual frontier'."
The
Spanish Donkey explores that sonic frontier with an uncanny balance between
abandon and precision on RAOUL, their RareNoise debut.
TRACKS
Raoul
Behavioral
Sink
Dragon
Fly Jones
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