Make a Rising – Rip Through
HT005 - Make A Rising
Make A Rising
Rip Through the hawk Black Night
2005 CD, MP3 Download
Make A Rising: Rip Through the Hawk Black Night
Make A Rising - Rip Through the Hawk Black Night
- Look at My Hawk
- Song for Dead Nickie
- When Moving West
- Plastic Giant
- Pun Womb
- I’m Scared of Being Alone
- Lovely it May Seem
- Lonesome in the Skiff
- [download#10#nohits] [download#10#image]
- Partial Thoughts
Features contributions from Nate Hardy, Dan Scofield, Doug Jerelmack, Sharif Abdulmalik, Kelly Kietzman, & Ben Leavitt.
Recorded and mixed by Bill Moriarty at the Old New Planet House.
Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side.
Artwork by Make A Rising and the New Planet Collective. Band photograph by Ryan Collerd.
All songs © 2004 Make A Rising.
Tunneling its way out of the West Philadelphia netherworld, Make A Rising is a band that is beyond unique. The quintet’s debut record is a swirling mix of violin, keyboard, guitars, drums, saxophone, trumpet, bells, whistles, and assorted noisemakers – all swelling together for subversively addictive pop gems. With orchestral crescendos combined with off-kilter vocals and fast-changing tempos, Make A Rising is the sound of chaos, bliss, bravado, nerves and naïveté – avant chamber rock at its most dynamic – like Daniel Johnston singing Beach Boys songs interpreted by Naked City.
Rip Through the Hawk Black Night reflects the wooly environment in which it was created. Rooted in the fertile soil that produced the Sun Ra Arkestra and the Psychadelphia wave of indie rock, Make A Rising is part of a new wave of Philadelphia outsider rock that includes bands like Man Man, An Albatross, and Need New Body. Rip Through... was recorded in the old dilapidated New Planet House by engineer Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Man Man, Buried Beds).
Concealed by layers of exposed innocence and dark humor, Make A Rising is a serious compositional enterprise that owes as much to Henry Cowell as Henry Cow. The band’s unique sound is derived from fusing progressive rock with elements of modern composition and free-jazz abandon. Make A Rising’s unique arrangements and reckless tempo shifting make the band much more exciting than other bands who attempt a similar amalgamation.
Rip Through the Hawk Black Night is a testament to the band’s emphasis on creativity. It’s not invention for the sake of invention, but rather a challenge to themselves to project ideas rather than reflect them. Make A Rising’s vocal/lyric naïveté and atypical instrumentation gives the band a unique combination of both whimsical and creepy, adding to the mysteriousness of the quintet’s product and process.The result is a diverse and challenging concept that invites as much as possible innovation in the fold.
The album-opening “Look At My Hawk” shows Make A Rising in top form. Instruments drop in and out and crescendos come and go – it’s essentially 100 minicompositions held together by a few themes in the music and gloriously layered vocals (that happen to include the lyrics that give the album its title).
The nine other compositions showcase the band tackling new territory at every turn. From the poppy wistfulness of “Expired Planet” to science-fiction-inflected “I’m Scared of Being Alone” to skronky cabaret-meets-hardcore battlefield of “Lonesome in the Skiff,” Make A Rising manages to balance its frenetic impulses with its minimalist inclinations. When a shift or turn is possible, it is taken, but not forced.
An earlier version of this album sold by the band at shows (then known as Battle for New Planet) was named one of the best local CDs of 2004 by the Philadelphia City Paper.
Reviews
PitchforkMedia {Chris Dahlen, Oct 26, 2005}
“Without sounding sloppy, the performance is ramshackle, with plenty of room sound to fade into and acoustic blind spots to jump out of, making your first listen unpredictable: breaks and free passages run longer than you expect, and the melodic, driving sections that follow leave you wary of what’s coming next. Needless to say, that’s what makes it so engaging.”
D.M.G. Newsletter {Michael A. Parker, May 2005}
I’m completely in love with this album. I keep it by my stereo at all times. I could easily write a few pages about this astonishingly original experimental chamber rock pop naive song prog cinema music, but space is limited here, so let’s do the quick-and-dirty name game. My research reveals the following major influences on these young multi-media art eccentrics from Philadelphia: The Beach Boys, The Ruins, Van Dyke Parks, Henry Cow, Cheer Accident (especially “Enduring the American Dream”), 10CC (getting into this band was the major musical turning point in life for one member), Gentle Giant, Van Morrison. “Impossible bedfellows,” you say? That’s why I said “astonishingly original”!! Here’s my best formula after months of analysis: Gastr Del Sol + ELO + Robert Wyatt’s “Rock Bottom”, all noted especially for their extremely unconventional song structure. In fact, this album is like a suite of about 20 different moods and styles in a non-repeating sequence. Though often absent for long stretches, vocals are critical; they’re boyish, charming, and earnest, sometimes accompanied by banjo or piano and sometimes decked out in fabulous harmony parts. Instrumentation in rough order of significance: keyboards, electric guitar, drumkit, bass guitar, violin, banjo, trumpet, saxophone, studio trickery.
They rock out avant-prog style in short bursts here and there, and I want to make special mention of one instrumental track that’s an absolutely orgasmic marriage of RIO and math rock, starting out with something that could almost be from Fred Frith’s “Gravity” and then moving into slashing, dramatic stop-start attacks and cross-rhythms. But that’s a bit of an exception for the album, which is pretty dreamy and drifty overall. Make A Rising is the best thing to happen to experimental pop music since Animal Collective started writing actual songs, and I’d call it the best ambitious song album since Mr. Bungle’s “California”, compared to which it’s homey, introspective, whimsical, and delicate, and without the virtuosity, bombast, quotations, or big-budget sheen, but with the same level of epic, creative, bizarre songwriting.
Time Out: New York {Hank Shteamer, Sept 2005}
“Philly’s Make a Rising can genre-splice with the best of ’em; Rip Through the Hawk Black Night traverses melancholy Beach Boys harmonies, chilly music concrète and clattery prog rock. But that’s not what makes the band special: For all their schizo tendencies, MAR’s songs maintain beautiful, compelling narrative threads that transcend any particular musical style.”
Copper Press {Christian Carey, Fall 2005}
Cooing vocals are set against bumptious piano licks, discordant electronics, and animated drumming in the psych-calliope ambiance … Make a Rising is never so obsessed with eccentricity that they can’t make memorable music along the way.
Washington Post
“The group does work more in movements than songs, and it takes a stab at just about every genre. Classical, cabaret, hardcore, prog, folk — it’s all there.”
Popmatters.com {Jennifer Kelly, Feb 2006}
“This is a beautiful, complicated mess of an album, and it gets more interesting every time you put it on.”
All Music Guide (Greg Prato}
“Picture an amalgamation of Captain Beefheart, Sun Ra Arkestra, the Beach Boys circa Pet Sounds, Radiohead, and the Flaming Lips, and you’d still only be touching the tip of the iceberg. Strap yourself in and get prepared for a wild and wooly sonic ride, especially on such standouts as “Look at my Hawk” and “Lovely It May Seem.” Make a Rising is certainly not your average band, and as expected, Rip Through the Hawk Black Night is not your average rock release.”
LMNOP {Jan 2006}
Five out of Five: “But is this great music…or is it just strange and offbeat? The truth is that…this album is a little of both.”
Named one of the best local albums of the year by Philadelphia City Paper for 2004 and 2005
Arc and Sender: Arc and Sender
Arc and Sender - s/t
- (untitled)
- [download#5#nohits] [download#5#image]
- Semblance
- [download#6#nohits] [download#6#image]
- Perambulations
- Light Pain
- Skinner Box
- Sleep Hope Wake and Then
All compositions ©2005 Arc and Sender.
Features guest appearances by saxophonist Dan Scofield (Shot X Shot, Sonic Liberation Front) and violinist Jennifer Hutt.
Recording by Edan Cohen at Soundgun (2004/05).
Additional recording and mixing by
Eric Carbonara at Nada Sound Studio.
Mastered by Mark Guenther at Seattle Disc Mastering.
Arc And Sender’s self-titled debut includes a range of pieces – from avant-garde interstitials to hard-driving walls of sounds to placid guitar arrangements. Despite being a relatively new band, the trio is earning comparisons to similar adventurous instrumental guitar-based bands like Growing, Tarentel, and godspeed you black emperor as well as guitar experimenters like Glenn Branca and Nels Cline.
Arc and Sender’s primary line-up features Jason Hutt on guitars, Ryan Grove on drums and Greg Pardew alternating between standard guitar and baritone guitar. The result is a density and swiftness that are impossible with the involvement of bass guitar. The album begins with a foreboding introduction before the storm-like crunch of “Hundred-Year Flood” fully introduces the band. The intricacy of Arc and Sender’s cacophony is best heard in this piece as each guitarist improvises freely within the composition’s structure. The guitars swell like waves out of the song’s surface, speeding by like a passing ambulance’s sirens.
Perhaps the most interesting track is “Squares and Circles.” Featuring all three members on prepared guitar, Arc and Sender creates a unique gamelan-type sound that showcases the band’s innovative quest for unique tones and textures. Likewise, “Skinner Box” showcases the band’s ability to construct fully improvisational pieces alongside with fully composed pieces.
While the massiveness of the guitars often sounds like more than two guitars, the only instance of actual over-dubbing is of violin and saxophone. Saxophonist Dan Scofield guests on “Light Pain.” His layered parts (he plays both alto and baritone) give the piece an unorthodox dizzying effect. Similarly, the addition of Jennifer Hutt’s violin on “Perambulations” gives the track more gravity and urgency. Pieces like “Semblance” and “Sleep Wake…” add another dimension to the band. Arc and Sender prove that they can create heavily textured music without the guitar barrage present in pieces like “Hundred-Year Flood” and “Perambulations.”
While the quiet/loud and soft/hard dichotomies are explored by Arc and Sender, it is done unobtrusively and gradually – differentiating the trio from bands often described as ‘math rock’ or ‘post-rock’.
A Cricket in Times Square: A Cricket in Times Square
A Cricket in Times Square - s/t
- [download#8#nohits] [download#8#image]
- 5½-minute hallway(6:11)
- mourning son (5:00)
- everything known about medicines (3:42)
- blood from heaven (4:34)
- outliving your shadow (12:37)
Release Date: November 2, 2004
All compositions ©2004 A Cricket in Times Square.
Recorded February—July 2003 at WMUC Studios.
Recorded and mixed by Sam Chintha, Matt Welch, and ACITS.
Mastered by Mark Guenther at Seattle Disc Mastering.
Artwork by John Wood.
Photography by Michael Tyler.
Despite deriving its name from a classic children’s book, a quick listen should convince you that A Cricket In Times Square is in no way another twee band (and, you’ll note, the acronym ACITS is much tougher sounding). Like the best groups of the shoegaze era, ACITS swathes its pop songs in a substantial, but not obliterating, layer of distortion. With ethereal vocals encircled by caustic, competing guitars, the Seattle quartet’s songs guardedly confront post-adolescent ennui and frustration thru both sullen lyrics and the episodic tension present in the music.
Although the intricately layered sound is thanks to the band’s lengthy recording and post-production efforts, and founders Michael Tyler and John Wood are more than just studio obsessives. Their unique sound is a rather specialized accomplishment (one Kevin Shields fans would surely appreciate), but they may have crafted the best album for attempting to puzzle out lyrics since Murmur.The best example may be the first song, “Careless,” although you may well find yourself hitting repeat even if you don’t feel the need to decipher every word. If you’re looking for “the single,” look no further—this is the most driving, passionate song about apathy you’ll ever hear. Track 2, “5½-Minute Hallway,” and track 5, “Blood From Heaven,” capture everything that made those early Ride releases so excellent- a combination of atmospherics, dynamism and solid songwriting that is increasingly hard to come by. Fans of stateside distortion enthusiasts should find a lot to like as well, as the Galaxie 500 dreaminess of track 6, “Outliving Your Shadow,” builds into Sonic Youth-style guitar heroics, leaving no doubt that ACITS is not just a couple of hacks with a lot of pedals—although they do have a lot of pedals.
As Interpol, British Sea Power, BRMC and Saddam Hussein have shown us, the first Bush administration is culturally relevant again. ACITS, mercifully, manages to evoke the best bands of that era without resorting to slavish copycatting.
Reviews
Rolling
Stone {David Fricke, Jan 2005}
“This twin-guitars band takes its inspiration from the echo-impressionism
of Ride, the Church, and Sonic Youth. The blurred grandeur of this debut
is particularly impressive…”
PennyBlackMusic {Jonjo McNeill, Dec 2004}
“It sounds absolutely
incredible in a way nothing else has ever sounded absolutely incredible.”
MAGNET
{Matthew Fritch, Jan/Feb 2005}
This Seattle band—named after a children’s book(if you can get over
Death Cab for Cutie, you can surely give Cricket a break)—leaves
no guitar-effects pedal untouched on its debut. Coupled with smothered-in-the-fog
vocals, Cricket could easily fall in with the shoegaze ranks; the dizzy-with-distortion
quartet is substantially weirder, however, recalling a more pastoral Spacemen
3 or an even sloppier Galaxie 500.
PitchforkMedia
{Chris Dahlen, Dec 12, 2004}
“Other effects-heavy guitar bands may be more psychedelic, outro or spastic, but by taking a straighter approach to their wall of sound they play to their strength: the gigantic melodies. The band’s pedal fetish doesn’t get in the way of songwriting, and each wash of noise yields a
memorable tune.”
StylusMagazine
{Kyle McConaghy, Dec. 2004}
“Perhaps just as vital as Tyler’s melodies and the unique guitar production, ACiTS reminds us of the value of warm, analog recordings and reaffirm what commonly held true in the seventies—you can create a great album with less than 8 songs and 45 minutes of play time. The
album’s directness and the dazzling musical content combine for an impressive debut release.”
Splendid
{Amir Karim Nezar, Feb. 8, 2005}
“…this debut is a coherent and often magnificent display of craftsmanship
and virtuosic skill.”
Exclaim
{Cam Lindsay, Feb. 4, 2005}
“Their amalgamation
of fuzzbox garage rock, muddled shoegazing and drugged-out hypnotic psych
is as blatant as my description, but they certainly know what they’re
doing because they’ve made it work splendidly.”
A Cricket in Times Square – s/t
A Cricket in Times Square - s/t
A Cricket in Times Square
A Cricket in Times Square
2004 Cd, Mp3 Download
Sonic Liberation Front: Ashé a Go-Go
SONIC LIBERATION FRONT
Sonic Liberation Front - Ashe A Go-Go
ash é a go-go
- [download#9#nohits] [download#9#image]
- pow! (6:17)
- the sirens (7:37)
- init (8:17)
- agua dulce (3:57)
- seize the time (8:07)
- gema oculta (8:07) RAM
Release Date: June 8, 2004
Features:
Kevin Diehl, Chuckie Joseph, Julio Berrios, Andy Gonzalez, Terry Lawson, Adam Jenkins, Dan Scofiel, Kimbal
Brown,
:Venissa Santi, Fabunmi, Madison Rast
all compositions ©2004
Kevin Diehl, except: “Ashé a Go-Go” ©2004 Kevin Diehl & traditional,
arranged by K. Diehl. “The Sirens” ©2004 Adam Jenkins. “Agua Dulce” ©2004
Chuckie Joseph with traditional lyrics arranged by C. Joseph
Producer
– Kevin Diehl
Executive producer – Daniel Piotrowski
Recording engineers – Brendan Krivda & Kevin Diehl
Mixing – Kevin Diehl
Photography – John Hubbard
Art direction & design – eye dog
creative & Tracey Diehl
On Ashé A Go-Go,
the SLF core is joined by a number of guests – including Latin jazz bassist Andy Gonzalez (of the legendary Fort Apache Band, brother of trumpeter Jerry Gonzalez). Gonzalez’s mere presence affirms SLF’s ‘hidden gem’ status, worthy of attention from around the world. Recorded over the course of 2003, the seven tracks of Ashé A Go-Go are incredibly unique entities.
The pieces range in mood, tempo, and style, but create a cohesive album that flows remarkably well. Percussionists Diehl, Joseph, and Julio Berrios lay down a solid foundation for the other musicians to embellish.
The album title alone (ashé means ‘balance’ in Yoruba) invokes a mood of ancient and modern, spiritual and secular coming together as one.
The title track is perhaps the band’s finest accomplishment. “Ashé A Go-Go” starts with a wave of ambient electronics before giving way to powerful bata drumming and ecstatic horn lines. By the time a chorus of Yoruba vocals close out the piece, it’s apparent that the band is an exceptional ensemble. Penned by saxophonist Adam Jenkins, “The Sirens” is a brilliant composition that shows off not only his ability as a writer, but also SLF’s ability to play an inside jazz piece – highlighted by Kimbal Brown’s sangfroid trumpet style – that keeps the percussion wholly relevant.
Pieces like “Pow!,” “Init” and “Seize the Time” show off the variety of song structures SLF can work with. Eschewing repitition in songwriting is a hallmark of the band, and Diehl & Co. take it to new heights on Ashé A Go-Go. “Agua Dulce” takes SLF in a completely new direction. This Joseph original features him unaccompanied on acoustic guitar singing a stirring medley of Lukumi phrases. Although “Agua” is a departure in the course of the album, it speaks to the broad talent and mission of the band. Perhaps, though, SLF saves its most scintillating moments for the end. The album-closing “Gema Oculta” takes the classic rhumba form and inserts an immeasurable breath of vitality via the saxophones of Terry Lawson and Dan Scofield. However, it’s the spine-tingling vocals of Venissa Santi and Fabumni that steal the show.
Reviews
The Wire
{Ben Watson, Aug 2004}
“SLF reject the motifs that have congealed into cliche, and come up with a music where intuitive rhythm and analytical intellect jostle each other and become one… ludicrously superb.”
Village Voice
{Tom Hull, Dec 29, 2004}
“Number 1 Jazz album of 2004: Yin and yang—fierce avant-sax and friendly folk songs united by shifty Afro-Cuban beats.”
Echoes
{Kevin Le Gendre, Sep 2004}
“Imagine incisive and impassioned composition and improvisation threaded around the irrepressibly trance-like pulse of the bata drum… the man-machine hybridity of sound… the sweat of a palm sizzling on AC/DC humidity… Very possibly the album of the year.”
PitchforkMedia
{Chris Dahlen, Aug 13, 2004}
“Exceptionally written and arranged, Ashé a Go-Go runs through compositions that are as terse and muscular as they are diverse, and every new turn fits the band’s voices.”
Village Voice
{Tom Hull, Sep 28, 2004}
“…pays dividends on the ’60s avant-garde’s fascination with pan-Africana by finally getting under its skin.” Grade: A
JazzTimes
{Chris Kelsey, Oct 2004}
“The horn players can’t help but be inspired by the hotness of the rhythm section… Playing free jazz over a grooving rhythm is nothing new, but not many bands do it as well or as uniquely as SLF.”
Prefix
{Patrick Coffee, Dec 2004}
“Ashé A Go-Go is a restrained exercise in contrasting influences, a remarkable listen for anyone interested in modern variations on a timeless style.
Orlando Weekly
{Jason Ferguson, July 1, 2004}
“…everything jells together beautifully, with the sort of pan-global fervor that’s been missing from the jazz scene for a long time now … missing, that is, everywhere but Philly.”
Sonic Liberation Front – Ashe A Go-Go
Sonic Liberation Front - Ashe A Go-Go
Sonic Liberation Front
Ashe A Go-Go
2004 CD, Mp3 Downlaod
Dave Burrell Full-Blown Trio: Expansion
Expansion
- Expansion
- Double Heartbeat
- Cryin’ Out Loud
- They Say It’s Wonderful
- [download#7#nohits] [download#7#image]
- In the Balance
- Coup d’Etat
Dave Burrell — piano
William Parker — bass, kora
Andrew Cyrille — drums
All compositions and arrangements by Dave Burrell (Lanikai Sounds Publishing Co., BMI), except #4 by Irving Berlin (Irving Berlin Music Co., ASCAP), arrangement by Dave Burrell.
Release Date: June 8, 2004
Cover panel photographs from the “West Philadelphia Suite” by Don Camp
Session photographs by Shawn Brackbill
Design by Mariana Reynolds
Produced by Daniel Piotrowski with Dave Burrell and Mark Christman
Recorded by John Rosenberg at Systems Two, live to two-track, Dec. 2003
Mastered by Flam at Mindswerve Studios, Jan. 2004
Recorded during a one-day session in December 2003, Expansion captures the tectonic force realized by the trio on the band’s then-recent fall 2003 tour, but also exposes the introspective sides of the musicians. Featuring a variety of pieces (the band locks into a tight 13/8 time as well as it goes free), Expansion highlights Burrell’s iconoclastic composition style and well as his sensibility for the entire history of jazz.
Burrell penned six new pieces for the session that represent a broad approach to jazz composition. His dynamic range has resulted in a multi-faceted album that showcases his vast skill and style thru its many moods and motifs. The brilliance of the recording isn’t just the variety, but how his kinship with Parker and Cyrille creates a seamless piece of art across the seven tracks.
The title track opens Expansion with Burrell playing stride piano in a composition based on augmented triads. The time shifts in and out 13/8, giving the piece a complex and eccentric elasticity that is extraordinary in modern jazz. For “Double Heartbeat,” Cyrille puts away his cymbals, using only bass drum and toms. The effect is a deep pulsating conversation between Parker and Cyrille, which makes Burrell’s crisp high notes sharp and dangerous. “Cryin’ Out Loud” is a slow, mournful duet between Parker and Burrell. Burrell’s spare notes gracefully match Parker’s bowed bass, creating the lament for the current world political/military situation Burrell intended the piece to be.
After the darkness of “Cryin’,” Burrell’s warmer side appears with a crisp version of an Irving Berlin show tune, “They Say It’s Wonderful.” Burrell reinvents it with his avant-garde approach while retaining the song’s spirit. “About Face” is another composition influenced by recent military conflict. The title is meant by Burrell to represent a turning away from war. Cyrille’s martial beat coupled with the accelerating tempo of the performance creates an overwhelming pleas for peace using the language of warfare – it’s a vision of soldiers running away from battle as fast as they rush in. You can’t much further from the mindset of war than “In the Balance.”
Featuring Parker on kora (a West African harp), the trio creates a calming invocation, accented by Burrell’s understated keyboard dance and the wash of cymbals by Cyrille’s brushes. The title of the album’s closer, “Coup d’Etat” is another allusion to conflict. This time, however, the track’s joyous spontaneity represents a takeover of freedom and exaltation, rather of war and despair.
Reviews
JazzTimes
{Chris Kelsey, Oct 2004}
“Everything works. A terrific album.”
The Wire
{Ben Watson, Aug 2004}
“Burrell’s take on jazz tradition is intelligent and wilful, refusing the categories thrust on it by outsiders… This
is the record to bring Burrell to the attention of all listeners who crave the unmistakable thump of authenticity.”
Village
Voice
{Francis Davis, Dec 29, 2004}
“Number 2 Jazz album of 2004 : The best of the year’s many piano trios, with William Parker and Andrew Cyrille pacing a veteran eclectic whose stride on ‘They Say It’s Wonderful’ is, and whose karate clusters elsewhere persuade you it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that ping.”
Boston
Phoenix
{Ed Hazell, Oct 29, 2004}
“His new trio with bassist William Parker and drummer Andrew Cyrille bridges the entire span of his music and brings it to life with exceptional vibrancy. The whole jazz tradition echoes throughout the collective free improvisation on the title track.”
Village Voice
“A crowning achievement.”
Earshot!
{L. Pounds, Dec 2004}
“Expansion is an outstanding jazz collage of pounding raw piano chord chunks, beautiful sprinting tonal lines, calculated piano flitter meanderings, bottom-end rumbling disjointed-walking jazz bass lines and expressionist/explorative drum work.”