We can finally see the horizon on Cryptogramophone's upcoming Summer 2007 releases: Spinning the Circle from pianist/Goatettee David Witham and The Nels Cline Singers Draw Breath from...oh, you know. The drop date for both is JUNE 26th.
With barely two weeks left, we've already pre-released tracks from the new Nels Cline CD -- "Caved-in Heart Blues," "Mixed Message," "Recognize II" and "Confection" -- on Nels' MySpace page and the Crypto homesite. We also decided to get a jump on the reviewers and offer "pre-reviews" of both for your dining and dancing pleasure. [WARNING: Mixed metaphors will be used]
First up is THE NELS CLINE SINGERS DRAW BREATH (CG132)
"CAVED-IN HEART BLUES" Probably the one most Nels/Singers fans are already familiar with, as it was the first track from the new record that we leaked a few weeks ago. Nels once told me he wasn't sure he would be able to even fit it on the album, which would have been -- in his words -- "tragic and heartbreaking" considering it was the emotional centerpiece. And what a centerpiece! A slow, lumbering, doom-laden funeral march up the side of a mist-covered mountain -- at least that's how it starts out. (We even rented Werner Herzog's Aguirre: Wrath of God and watched that spectacular first shot while listening to "CIHB" on headphones -- it works perfectly!) Drum Scott Amendola provides a sternum-rattling pulse over Nels' simple but hypnotic riff. Then Devin Hoff comes in with some punchy, forceful contrabass lines, after which comes a rainstorm-wash of sinister film-noir loops and delays. I have no idea what mood Nels was in when he wrote this, but it must have been a humdinger. He was kind enough to provide us with some further notes on the song: "Caved-in Heart Blues" was written while I was sitting around the Wilco loft in Chicago, playing with a lot of reverb. The title is actually literal. It IS a blues, but only one trip through 1-4-5-4-1. As for the caved-in heart part, well, I am pretty sure that most humans can get a feeling or idea about that image/sensation. I play my beloved Jerry Jones baritone guitar on the main body of the piece, and the psych blues collage is lap steel and 6-string electric looped, reversed, delayed, etc., along with Scott's electronics and Devin's arco bass harmonics and textures. I think of this as being in the mood and tradition of the work song. Our version, anyway.
"ATTEMPTED" A but of a shock to the system after the dirge-like "CIHB," this track begins tumbling jazz guitar workout followed by an intense roaring build, where Amendola's drums sound like strategically placed gravel-on-cymbals and Hoff's plucking sound like four thumbs going at once. The tune turns from whimsical to pissed-off as quickly as changing the channel, and devolves into a whirligig of fuzz.
"CONFECTION" Wow, the most "rock" tune on the record, we think. (Could Le Wilco have rubbed off on our lad?) Has a great melody that the Foo Fighters or Television would love -- you may actually find yourself humming it in the car! Devin Hoff's bowed bass solo is underscored by Nels and Amendola's clock-ticking pulses during a midsong "break." If played live, "Confection" could bring the first mosh pits known to Improvised Music. Nels provides further insight: "Confection" is perhaps, as its title suggests, a bit of a trifle. Written quite at the last minute, it falls in with my penchant for 'instrumental hit'-style writing, and is really just an excuse to rock out. Note nod to Deerhoof. Enjoy!
"AN EVENING AT POPS'" This is the track that will stop many Wilco fans dead in their tracks. (The "Pop" in the title is actually drummer Scott Amendola, who recently become a father.) Blips, bow squeaks, angry fuzz, collapsing percussion -- it sounds like hobgoblins loose amidst fiberoptic cables. Fifteen minutes and fifty-nine seconds of unsettling but liberating Noize, with a primeval sludgy Black Sabbath riff growing out of the primordial ooze like some marching zombie army. We'd tell you more but we don't want to spoil the end!
"THE ANGEL OF ANGELS"/ "RECOGNIZE I" / "RECOGNIZE II" This trio of hushed pieces are parts of a mood-changing whole. "AOAA," dedicated to the bewitching visual artist Angela Decristofaro, who did the artwork for Draw Breath, starts off this part of the record; it's a delicate, contemplative piece that unspools like smoke and demonstrates the Singers' acuity with ballads (or, as close to "ballads" as they get). Of course, there's weirdness aplenty -- like the ghostly backward-looped guitar during the song's coda. The "Recognize" two-fer is dedicated to Nels' parents, Don and Thelma Cline, who played an invaluable role in encouraging their scary-talented twin sons to pursue their musical horizons. It is Nels at his most expressive, and acolytes can get a good assessment to the man's acoustic-picking acumen. "R1" is a moonlit bauble of near-flamenco flourishes and whispering brush drums, while "R2" recalls Michael Hedges at his most subtle or Gustavo Santaolalla's work for The Motorcycle Diaries and Brokeback Mountain. Nels elaborates on "R2": "It is a little chamber piece, and is actually in a major mode -- a rarity for me. Both "Recognizes" are rubato with tiny passages in tempo, or allusions to time. Devin [Hoff] and Scott [Amendola] really GOT these pieces -- their simplicity is misleading -- and I am so lucky to be able to play with them.
"MIXED MESSAGE" Whoa! Back to the free jazz, 'Trane style. The Singers are woodshedding this one with a few handicaps. Nels explains: The opening is meant to directly reference late-period Coltrane, and supplies the band with only a set of five chords to "blow" on, followed by an ascending line and grand pause in a set of three. Then, the murky middle feature for Scott [Amendola's], with the built-in limitation that he must not use actual drum sounds or pre-load his looping devices, but rather grab the last gasp of air/sound form the end of the first movement and utilize it as the basis for his "solo," or improvisation. Devin and I play a low/slow clustery 3/4 part with periodic pauses. Then it's off to the rock 'em, sock 'em conclusion, which is -- YES -- rather like King Crimson circa '72-meets-Husker Du or something. I am actually uncharacteristically pleased with my solo here, which is comprised of only a tidbit of soloing then a series of loops and loop modifications, all done "live." As for the title, like most of my titles that may be cliches of speech or one word, it is meant to have more than one meaning.
"SQUIRREL OF GOD" The last but not very least track, taken with "CIHB" and "MM", makes us think this has got to be the Singers' most "tribal" record to date -- all three sound like they were etched out on the walls of caves. Converse to the drums beginning the primitive pulse of the song on "CIHB", it is Hoff's bass that starts off the time-keeping, devolving into woozy bowing that is quickly dusted with junkyard percussion by Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche. Then, Nels' strumming takes up the pulse as an acoustic guitar joins it, building to a ending with Kotche's sparkling flourishes of glockenspiel. Given the dark portents of the opening cut, this is almost like ending on a high, hopeful note.
STAY TUNED...Our "pre-review" of pianist David Witham's Spinning the Circle, as well as an exclusive multi-part interview with Mr. Witham, who's currently on the road with George Benson and Al Jarreau. Check out the Crypto Tour Page for more info.
