The Flying Luttenbachers - Negative Infinity (July 2021 ugEXPLODE Records)

Roaring out of the gates is the 15th full-length album by no wave/punk jazz/brutal prog iconoclasts The Flying Luttenbachers, led by founding member and main composer Weasel Walter. There's a few special twists this time, friends. The last two albums, "Shattered Dimension" and "Imminent Death", both epic double-length affairs released in 2019, focused on open ended, improvisational approaches more so than heavily structured ones. "Negative Infinity" is a sort of return-to-form in a regard, featuring 6 tightly scripted doses of what they call "Brutal Prog" - the tag Weasel coined in the early 2000s to describe an elite breed of intense, complex bands who emphasised harshness and intensity over the typical prog-rock flutes and fairies positivity. This is prog for THE APOCALYPSE, not your uncle.

The merciless opening track sets the tone for the album - "Fury of the Delusion" is a through-composed, neck-snapping whirlwind of a number where an unrelenting, hair-raisingly harmonized line spat forth in unison by saxophone and duel guitars is investigated, turned upside down and transformed into a deadly musical cyborg. Oh yes - the other big surprise is that Weasel doesn't provide his usual hyperactive drumming on this release. The chap has switched to guitar. He feels that it will be easier to drip sweat on the punters that way.That's right. Close your eyes. That's Sam Ospovat on the drums. Doesn't he sound great? We bet you won't even miss the Weez! Dark overlords Tim Dahl (bass) and Matt Nelson (saxophone) return once again and newest member Katie Battistoni plays the other guitar parts.

The closing number, "On The Verge Of Destruction" is a monolithic side-long extrapolation off of Albert Ayler's bizarre '66/'67 "marching band on acid" musical suites. The group is shuttled through an exacting sequence of berserk rollercoaster melodies and the whole front line takes turns spewing outrageous solos. The structure coils up the band to release a climactic orgy of noise before the piece goes back to the beginning and winds down. 

The rest of the tunes may invoke fragant whiffs of old Mayhem sturm und drang, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks sonic terrorism, the jigsaw puzzle logic of the Rock In Opposition bands and, ahem, even '90s Flying Luttenbachers style varsity team punk-jazz ("Demonic Velocities II" appears here as a meta-sequel to the old chestnut first performed by the group as early as 1993). The core tenets of The Flying Luttenbachers remain: Dissonance, Speed, Aggression, Weirdness, Singularity. This is perhaps the finest chapter of the three-decade saga so far . . . 

1. Fury Of The Delusion 04:47

2. Demonic Velocities II 06:57

3. A Depraved Heart 04:37

4. Omnicide 05:19

5. Mass Manslaugher, Ma'am 03:44

6. On The Verge Of Destruction 19:11

Weasel Walter (left guitar)

Matt Nelson (tenor saxophone)

Katie Battistoni (right guitar)

Tim Dahl (bass guitar)

Sam Ospovat (drums)

recorded at Mighty Toad Studios, Brooklyn, NY on November 30, 2020

recording engineers: Craig Dreyer, Lucas Haas

mixed by Weasel Walter

mastered by Colin Marston

band photo by Dominika Michalowska

all compositions by Weasel Walter / Sedition Dog Music (BMI)

copyright 2021 ugEXPLODE Records

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Barker Trio - Avert Your I (ASTRAL SPIRITS 2018)

"Avert Your I" is the second release from the Barker Trio (after 2015's self released & self titled affair) and finds veteran drummer Andrew Barker leading his free jazz trio into a deeper and more intense direction. After releasing Barker's duo with Daniel Carter "Polyhedron" a few months ago, it seemed like a good idea to issue a different side of Barker's playing to give a fuller picture. 

Barker rounds out his trio with one of our favorite NY saxophonists (and also no stranger to Astral Spirits) Michael Foster and electric bassist Tim Dahl who is probably known more for his playing with Lydia Lunch, Child Abuse, Pulverize the Sound, GRID and more. 

While the Barker/Carter duo showed us a more "classic" free jazz side of Barker's playing, "Avert Your I" hits out of the gate with the 17 minute title track that never lets up. Barker leads the trio from behind the kit with a disjointed yet propulsive style that only gets more intense throughout the entire album. Foster and Dahl keep pace and push the whole affair into more out-rock territory but somehow keep a solidly free jazz sensibility. 

Sure, it's loud. But this is loud in the "Fuck de Boere" sense. Even when they're quiet, the Barker Trio are intense, and that's the best way to summarize this record. It's intense in the best way possible. 

Michael Foster - tenor and soprano saxophones, electronics

Tim Dahl - bass

Andrew Barker - drums, synthesizer, electronics

1. Avert Your I 16:34

2. Ageist 07:32

3. Spacial Needs 04:59

4. Enthusiasm Gap 12:36

5. Outer-Body Image 09:05

6. Circus Bender 07:36

Chris Pitsiokos: CP Unit - The Silver Bullet in the Autumn of Your Years (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2018)

Chris Pitsiokos is indeed what everybody says about him: the most representative face of a new generation of musicians commited to change the New York jazz scene. Or the New York rock scene, because he is positioned somewhere among those genres, also incorporating aspects of contemporary classical music in his compositions and improvisations. Here again, we find him expanding the possibilities of his instrument, the alto saxophone, under the influence of Ornette Coleman’s harmolodics, noise music, and the timbral explorations of Stockhausen. The CP Unit includes a regular companion, Tim Dahl (Child Abuse, Lydia Lunch Retrovirus, Pulverize the Sound) and musicians Sam Lisabeth (Samuel Boat, Guerilla Toss), Henry Fraser (The Full Salon, Brandon Seabrook Trio, Brandon Seabrook’s Die Trommel Fatale), Jason Nazary (Little Women, Bear in Heaven) and Connor Baker (No Name, Michael Foster’s The Ghost). While Pitsiokos is firmly rooted in the melodic vocabularies of his forbears Charlie Parker and Ornette Coleman, his structural, harmonic and timbral ideas propel him into the future and beyond. Always included are the personal contributions of his partners, opening himself and the music to their visions. The result is astonishing.

1. Improvisation 8 00:46

2. Dalai Lama's Got that PMA 01:44

3. Once Upon a Time Called Now 07:04

4. Orelius 07:02

5. Improvisation 27 01:00

6. Positional Play 06:06

7. Silver Bullet in the Autumn of Your Years 06:07

8. The Tower 07:03

9. A Knob on the Face of a Man 04:15

10. Arthropod 11:34

Chris Pitsiokos  alto saxophone, wind controller, sampler, analog synthesizer

Sam Lisabeth  guitar

Tim Dahl  electric bass on tracks 4, 6, 9, 10

Henry Fraser  electric bass on tracks 1-3, 5, 7, 8

Jason Nazary  drums and electronics on 4, 6, 9, 10

Connor Baker  drums on 1-3, 5, 7, 8

All music except improvisations composed by Chris Pitsiokos

Recorded at Seizures Palace, Brooklyn, NY, by Jason Lafarge on May 28th and November 6th, 2017 | Mixed and Mastered by Philip White

Produced by Chris Pitsiokos | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Album artwork by anna ekros