Bryan Murray & Jon Lundbom - Beats by Balto! Vol. 2 (November 17, 2021 Chant Records)

Jon Lundbom (Big Five Chord) and Bryan Murray, a.k.a. Balto Exclamationpoint (Bryan and the Haggards) are back for their second Chant Records release. Joined by an all-star roster of accomplices, Lundbom and Murray blend hip-hop-style beat construction with avant-jazz and much more in a collage of sounds from various corners of the musical universe. Beats by Balto! Vol. 2 features performances from Jon Irabagon, Moppa Elliott, Nick Millevoi, and many more. A funky, wild, and adventurous collection of music with virtuosic improvisation and revelous glee, Beats by Balto! Vol. 2 is sure to please adventurous music lovers throughout Planet Earth and beyond. All artists' proceeds to benefit the Jazz Foundation of America's COVID-19 Relief Fund: jazzfoundation.org/covid19fund/.

1. Battalions

2. Beat Like This

3. Big P. (Interlude)

4. Tears and Fists

5. Ex Machina

6. Cap'n Crunch (Interlude)

7. Truck Gun

8. Enter!

9. Weak Sauce (Interlude)

10. Hot Shit

MUSICIANS

Bryan Murray - soprano, alto, c-melody, and tenor saxophones

Jon Irabagon - sopranino, soprano, mezzo-soprano, balto!, and tenor saxophones; alto clarinet

Jon Lundbom - guitar

Matt Kanelos - keyboard

Moppa Elliott - bass

Nick Millevoi - guitar

Richard Mikel - bass

Sam Kulik - trombone

Beats by Balto Exclamationpoint

COMPOSERS

Battalions - Jon Lundbom

Beat Like This - Jon Lundbom

Big P. - Bryan Murray

Ex Machina - Jon Lundbom

Tears and Fists - Jon Lundbom

Cap'n Crunch - Bryan Murray

Truck Gun - Jon Lundbom

Enter! - Jon Lundbom

Weak Sauce - Bryan Murray

Hot Shit - Jon Lundbom

All songs composed to beats constructed by Balto! Exclamationpoint

Recorded across the country, assembled in quarantine at Balto! World Headquarters

Mastered by Louie Lino at Resonate Music

Produced by Bryan Murray and Jon Lundbom

PREORDER

Desertion Trio - Numbers Maker (April 23, 2021 Cuneiform Records)

From the first notes of Numbers Maker, the third album by Desertion Trio, it is clear that the band is leaning into a new direction. While the band has always been a three-piece, Desertion Trio have brought along friends on their previous records — making Numbers Maker their first true trio release and giving the album a distilled and darker edge that hits a little differently.

Although Desertion Trio is following a new musical path, the sound of the band — described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “exploratory, distorted, and warped” — is still recognizable, using angular riffage, tumbling grooves and a debt to the darker side of Miles Davis’ electric bands, Funkadelic guitar-maestro Eddie Hazel, and oblique fisheye references to 1960s spy and surf guitar themes, while the collective always is shooting for the stars with sprawling and effected tones.

In order to celebrate the spirit of a power trio in its natural state, Desertion Trio recorded Numbers Maker in front of a live audience at New Haven, CT’s Firehouse 12 studio. The result is a detailed studio recording that finds the band all-in with no overdubs and no re-takes, capturing the energy of a great live ensemble.

"[Desertion Trio] hits the sweet spot between Neil Young's exploratory Crazy Horse jams and a spaghetti western soundtrack." – NPR

"...the band’s tunefulness and delicate touch—even during its most punishing passages—have a universal profundity that I’ve been unable to resist." – Chicago Reader

1. Albion

2. Powers

3. Buist

4. Taboo

5. Numbers Maker

Nick Millevoi – guitar

Johnny DeBlase – bass

Jason Nazary – drums

Recorded live at Firehouse 12 on October 18, 2019 by Greg DiCrosta.

Mixed and mastered at Menegroth by Colin Marston.

All songs by Nick Millevoi, copyright 2020 Circlesperanto ASCAP, except “Taboo” by Margrita Lecuona and Al Stillman.

Pre-order

Nick Millevoi's Desertion Trio w/ Jamie Saft - Midtown Tilt (SHHPUMA 2018)

Guitarist Nick Millevoi’s (Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band, John Zorn’s Bagatelles) Desertion project has created its second opus, Midtown Tilt. Now using the title Desertion Trio, the band features Johnny DeBlase (Many Arms, Sabbath Assembly) on bass, and Kevin Shea (Mostly Other People Do The Killing, Talibam!) at the drumkit, and follows 2016’s Desertion by also featuring guest Jamie Saft (Electric Masada, The New Standard Trio with and without Iggy Pop) on the organ. Vibraphonist and percussionist Ashley Tini joins on three tracks. Much like Desertion, the formula for Midtown Tilt continues to follow an instrumental country-folkrock mix with elements from jazz, as we would expect from these musicians.

The musicians improvise as if their lives depend on it, but also evoke an imagery that takes listeners through the history of instrumental electric guitar music. Inspired by the town of Wildwood, NJ and the anachronistic clash of re-imagined cultures seen in its motels and amusements, Midtown Tilt is an amalgamation of jazz, psychedelic blues, surf music, and country rock instrumentals, often reminding us of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse scoring a western. Through Saft’s organ, something else is added: traces of the rhythm and blues played by Booker T. & The M.G.’s and of the blues-rock of bands like The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith. The mix is explosive.

1. Midtown Tilt

2. It’s a Hard World for Little Things

3. Numbers Maker

4. Jai Alai Noon

5. The Myna Bird

6. The Carideon

7. Fascination Fadeaway

Nick Millevoi . guitar

Johnny DeBlase . electric bass

Kevin Shea . drums

Jamie Shaft . organ

Ashley Tini . vibes on 3, 5, shakers on 4

Nick Millevoi - Desertion (2016)

Label:

Source: NYC TAPER

Genre: Psych-Jazz-Rock

GAB's Rating: ★★★★★

You may be most familiar with Nick Millevoi as one-half of the two-pronged guitar offensive of the Solar Motel Band. But you may not know that Millevoi leads his own band of psych-jazz merchants, the Desertion Quartet, featuring Jamie Saft (frequent John Zorn collaborator), Ches Smith (whose extensive credits include Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog), and Johnny DeBlase (who also plays with Millevoi in Many Arms). Named for Millevoi’s upcoming album, Desertion, the group’s longform instrumentals oscillate between heavy riffage and and free-jazz freakouts. The Quartet opened up for the like-minded Sunwatchers earlier this month and treated the crowd to a preview of that album, which is due out May 20 on Shhpuma. “Desertion and the Arsonist’s Match” was recently written up by NPR and encompasses the breadth of the band’s range; but for my money it’s the eight-minute noise breadown “The Fire That Partially Destroyed City Hall” that’s most compelling. Either way, the players have the credentials and the songs to make Desertion one of this year’s most anticipated releases.

01. Desertion and the Arsonist’s Match (8:29)
02. Just For a Moment, I Stood There in Silence (6:08)
03. Where They Do Their Capers (7:59)
04. Disneyland in Hamtramck (6:56)
05. The Big Moment is Always Out There Waiting (3:55)
06. The Fire That Partially Damaged City Hall (8:31)

Nick Millevoi - electric and acoustic guitars
Jamie Saft - hammond organ and piano
Johnny DeBlase - upright and electric bass
Ches Smith - drums
Dan Blacksberg - trombone and string arrangements
June Bender - violin 

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