Zarko

Arc Of The Testimony – Arcana (1997)


GENRES – Jazz, Free Jazz, Fusion

Gone Tomorrow - 9:39
Illuminator - 6:07
Into The Circle - 9:25
Returning - 4:29
Calling Out The Blue Light - 6:37
Circles Of Hell - 7:15
Wheeless On A Dark River - 4:27
The Earth Below - 5:28

Every single time someone asks me who my ‘dream band’ would consist of, I don’t ever have to dream… This is one of the most amazing super groups ever assembled in the same band, and the results are obvious from the get go. Arcana (Not the neoclassical band from Sweden) is the project of bassist Bill Laswell, one of the best experimental musicians of all time, whether it be dub, jazz, rock, electronics, he has put his hand into lot of different styles. As the leader, he gathered some amazing names to back him up. Jazz drummer Tony Williams performs on one of his last ever recordings, and it is a worthy send off for the jazz legend. Pharoah Sanders is also present, performing his free jazz saxophone as great as ever, and Bynard Lancaster, an underrated avant garde jazzist is along for the ride. One of the best additions is early Buckethead. Most who know of Buckethead’s history know that Laswell was one of his first motivators, so its not surprise in reality. They also perform together in PRAXIS I believe. Arc Of The Testimony stands up with these other performers to create one of the best jazz-rock fusion albums ever.

‘Gone Tomorrow’ is an remarkable opening, with a little bit present from everyone. Williams sets the piece in motion with a little ‘ra-ta-ta’ across the cymbals and ever present Laswell dubbing before Buckethead puts the bulk of the song into action. Sander’s enters the fray with a little bluesy sax. This is probably one of my favourite prog-jazz openings ever. Each instrument has its own little set, and its built up into pure fusion goodness. William’s drumming is standout and he delivers awesome free drumming to get the song to its apex. This introduces Sander’s wild side as he whips out aggressive line after line of free sax jazz. As the instruments build up, chaos reigns, but it never loses its underlining beauty, created by an awesome Laswell dub backing. Definitely one for the ages.

‘Illuminator’ is a more hard edge rock song, as obvious by the aggressive drumming and Buckethead’s more pronounced guitar riffs. William’s loses none of his bite, and Buckethead’s psychedelic lines are as good as ever. Laswell lets the Head reign for a while, and the pair really does an awesome job of changing the direction of the album a bit. It gets a bit lost, but that’s not a bad thing. Although I do prefer the jazzier tunes on the album, this at least offers some variety. Another one to go into William’s long term repertoire of ‘must listen to’s’. ‘Into The Circle’ is a darker and ethereal piece, as well as reaching out the psychedelic influences. There is plenty of melancholy, despite the hard edged drumming and saxophone playing; it really does act as a chilled, calm piece. The electronics are used to create a sense of haunting and unearthly beings; some of the mixing changed to sound like some far off screech from an unknown creature. This is assisted by some spacey soundscape’s used in the background. Again, you can’t fault the performance of the instrumentalists, as William’s and Buckethead again steal the show, with some wonderfully eclectic playing. The last additions by Sander’s, deep below a few other layers are also a treat, before he hits his solo territory. He’s trying his darndest to **** up your eardrums.

‘Returning’ reintroduces the raw rock sound. By this time, it doesn’t even feel like you have changed tracks, because is simply a quick and volatile re-offensive on the senses. This isn’t a bad thing by the way, the album flows amazingly well. This time its Buckethead’s turn to try and **** up your ears. Its a very violent track, but still containing some moments of brilliance, particularly when Buckethead breaks out the skills at around 2 and a half minutes. ‘Calling Out The Blue Light’ starts out as a quiet psychedelic calm, with the entire group following suite (Other than William’s of course). It is a lush song covered with layers of dubbing, light guitar riffs, some light saxophone work, that just works a treat. It almost makes me imagine being underwater, surrounded by a reef of colour, and never having to worry about coming up for air. Another track that is better to experience rather than be explained how it makes ME feel. It ends with a beautiful touch from Sanders.

‘Wheelless On A Dark River’ sounds almost ‘too far away’ to full experience, as if it isn’t intended to be fully heard to begin with. Maybe it’s the production or dubbing, I don’t know, but I like that little subtle touch. This is, of course Williams, Laswell and Buckethead go all avant garde on the song. Reminding me fully of a rock version of John Coltrane’s mess of Ascension, the two are all over the place, with little regard for one another. Of course that’s what makes FREE jazz great. Each section is to be marvelled separately, whether it’s the deep acoustic bass of Laswell or William’s aggro drumming. It is truly the freest jazz you’ll get on the album, without any Sanders either. ‘The Earth Below’ brings back the raw rock violence, to assist in the foreboding feeling set by the backing electronics and even just the name. William’s fast drumming is a wonder, I have no idea how he does it, but he continued to produce up until his much too early death. It’s the rock version of ‘Wheelless’ in that it delivers a lot of free aspects, just a bit more structured and a bit more spacey. Its pretty much a competition of who can outdo each other speed-wise between Buckethead and Williams.

The final track, ‘Circles Of Hell’ returns to the fusion sound heard early on the album. It is an amalgamation of a lot of other aspects found on the album. The song true William’s epitaph, a commemoration to his skill as a drummer and his influence on the jazz world. Everyone gets in on the act to make it something special.

Arc Of The Testimony is one of the most perfect prog-jazz albums I have found. It just suited my particular tastes, as it doesn’t attempt the screeching guitar sounds that are present through earlier fusion albums, and it really bites through all the crap that was being produced in the genre to create a true gem. Unfortunately, it is rather unknown. We’re it not for Williams’ untimely death, who knows what this group would go on to produce. Their first outing, ‘The Last Wave’ is more avant garde rock rather than jazz fusion, which makes each of them so special and unique in comparison to one another. The album doesn’t over extend itself either, resting at around 50 minutes; I found it was the prefect length without having to drag much along. I would recommend this album to people who are interested in prog-jazz-rock fusion; however, this would surely disappoint them, as they will never find a greater gem in the genre.

A true beauty that deserves a good few listens. It is a great ending to Williams’ amazing career, brimming with great improvisation and electronics.

TOTAL SCORE

9.3/10

– Gone Tomorrow
– Into The Circle
- Returning

Zarko

NOTE - My supremely dodgy uploads are the ones that just have the titles at the start, and then a pic or two of the artist and the album cover... I am too lazy to make something elaborate, and thats not really the point is it?

jackhammer

Can I just give you a little advice? Try spreading your reviews over a few days. That way more people may be inclined to keep coming back and digesting what you have wrote and also comments can be attributed to that album in paricular and not turn the thread into a mess.

It's a great thread for sure so don't get offended or even take my advice lol Just a tip

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Zarko

Yeah these were just a few older ones I wrote to get the thing started... I'm in no rush, don't worry

But I am bored at home jobless atm, so I have plenty of time to write em.

jackhammer

Oh yeah. Tell me about the jobless bit! Crap isn't it? Have you checked out stuff like Jazz Juice, Moodorama, De Phazz and Nightmares On wax? They are at the more ambient end of jazz electronica but well worth your time.

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Zarko

Yeah I've checked out Moodorama... I wasn't huge on em but they were easy listening.

Another few in the same vein are Skalpel (Who I remember giving to you), Triosk (good stuff), The Necks, Urban Sax (Who I will probably review - More on the jazz side though), The Drift (Post rocky jazz), Kammerflimmer Kollktief...

SATCHMO

Just got A World of Science. Loves it!

jackhammer

Holler if you want anymore. I have 6 albums. Smokers Delight is probably his best.

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Zarko

I think I will post reviews faster if I get less comments. Its a more personal thing anyway.

But I will still give plenty of time for comments if anyone is interested.

Zarko

Inamorata – Method Of Defiance (2007)


GENRES – Drum n’ Bass, Electronic, Jazz, Dub

Ta'wil - 7:56
Humanoid - 4:48
Hidden Killer - 4:55
Amenta - 6:48
Panepha - 4:44
Babylon Decoder - 5:20
Aibi-Virus - 6:41
Anti-Jazz Glitch - 6:39
Black Water - 4:28
Pattern Engine - 4:56
Aether - 5:13
Remains - 6:28

Yet another Laswell project and one of the better pure electronic based ones might I add. If you ever wanted an overly-elaborate group of ‘friends’ to assist in a DnB project, this one has them all. I will list them all at the end, but safe to say, it is one of the larger lists I have seen (I am not too big on the normal DnB scene, so I may be off a bit). The result is mix of pure DnB, some interesting over tones and some well placed beats.

‘Ta’Wil’ stars Pharoah Sanders and Submerged for the opening track of the album. Starting off with a calming sax solo, heavier and instrumentation beats are layered on the song to liven it up into what it become. The core DnB sound is the foundation to the rest of the album, with interesting additions from various artists here and there. Sanders superior sax playing takes centre stage quite a bit. A little more Laswell mixing is added later on in the piece, including some nice wind instrument samples that make it stand out a bit better than it did at the start of the song. Sanders sends the song out is awesome fashion.

‘Humanoid’ starts off as a more hard edged DnB piece with some grand guitar dub depth from Laswell himself before Buckethead offers his own piece of raw guitar strumming. The mix itself is a lot more interesting than the opening track, without any single instrument overriding another. Kondo also offers up some quality trumpet playing here and there, though not enough of it in my honest opinion. The keyboardist also adds a touch of Davis ‘In a Silent Way’ magic, which I love. ‘Hidden Killer’ offers a more distorted dub DnB base, with some unique (To me) mixing from Black Sun Empire. Haynes however, is a standout on his cornet, creating some pleasant depth along with Cosey’s psychedelic guitar lines. I enjoy the more dulled tones and distortion, more so than the other songs so far. Haynes pulls out some near robotic strings of playing, which is a solid contrast to his normal natural style of playing.

‘Amenta’ offers a more worldly and acoustic DnB base compared to the other songs so far. Much of the early drum is on small djembe, whilst the small flute like instrument is another treat. Lancaster takes full control and shakes the piece around, and along with the nice metal drums and djembe, create an earthy feeling around the song, which I find is quite rare in the genre as a whole.

‘Panepha’ introduces one of jazz’s mainstays into the project, to an awesome result. Mr’ Han**** steps up to the plate on keyboard, and his impact is instantaneous. He carries that mystical ‘Silent Way’ feeling I was talking about earlier and makes it into something totally different with the DnB. His playing is eclectic, yet never feels too out of touch with the rest of the instrumentation. ‘Babylon Decoder’ is another interesting piece that molds a few pieces of the puzzle into one tower… Amit’s assistance on the mixing side of things is obvious as he creates a bubbly sort of twangy beat that Buckethead plays against with all his aggression. The piece itself becomes more hostile psychedelic, as the piece is never dragged down to earth by a heavy drum and bass base. The tones and pitch lend itself to create this spacey mood. Laswell’s bass in the background is also a nice addition over the light electronic foundation.

‘Aibi Virus’ begins with quite a few dark samples…. What sounds like someone screaming, someone tortured… It’s pretty freaky when used in conjunction with the dulled drum and bass electronics. John Zorn is present in all his normal ways, pulling out the alto sax and trying to rape your ears. There is a beautiful addition from the Masada String Trio, who rip at their violin strings, trying to fit in as much as possible. We soon hit a ‘calm’ period, where the trio start playing normally, before chaos reigns once again. Its pure noise at times, as you struggle to pick one vein of instrumentation over another. The quiet ending with the Trio once again pulling out their classical influence is a beautiful aspect.

‘Anti Jazz Glitch’ opens with Craig Taborn on his keyboard; giving the impression that perhaps the album has calmed down a bit… This is also a nice contract to the chaos that just reigned a minute ago. The keyboard stays in power throughout, as everything is seemingly altered sound wise by its existence. The keyboard never feels forced to keep up with the DnB speed, instead adding its own impact at its own rate.

‘Black Water’ is a more trip hop sound than anything else on the album. It isn’t the type of down tempo trip hop that makes you fall asleep; it keeps your attention throughout. Lancaster in particular offers up a decent change in terms of instrument tempo, and the actual drumming doesn’t try too much to detract from his performance, until they both decide to step up the pace. Haynes on cornet adds a contrast between the two wind instruments, as they try to outdo each other. ‘Pattern Engine’ is more of what we’ve heard; the DnB electronics are a bit more mechanical compared to the other pieces so far. Liebman shows off his soprano saxophone skills at times, but on the whole, there are far better tracks on the album.

‘Aether’ was the track I was really waiting for, primarily due to the addition of Nils Petter Molvaer on trumpet. The glitchy electronics and earthy drumming is reminiscent of Khmer to a degree, the song is just alto more aggressive than anything Molvaer offered up electronics-wise. Kale on the tabla and drums really steals the show at various points though, and I found myself more interested in what he would do than Molvaer. Molvaer is solid as usual, and perhaps is the best track simply because he has already experienced such genre mixing before on his own albums. It is a solid track, though at times reminding me a bit too much of Khmer and his other outings.

The final track, ‘Remains’ has no special name attached to it as others did instrumentation wise. It is simply Laswell and Corrupt Souls child specifically as they offer up a high pitched all guns blazing DnB track. For that reason it isn’t nearly as interesting to me as other tracks are, because I am not huge on the DnB genre anyway.

The album really takes a lot out of you to listen to, and even more so to review. I am not a huge fan of the brum and bass electronic genre, the closest example being Amon Tobin who offers up enough trip hop and down tempo songs to contrast well over an album to not make it so daunting a listen. I found it hard to sit through in one, but there were moments of greatness around the place. I can imagine myself loving this were I a bigger DnB fan, however that is not the case. It is definitely one of the more interesting Laswell projects however.

TOTAL SCORE

6.5/10

- Amenta
- Panepha
– Aibi Virus