Entries associated with the tag "Jason Roebke":

A couple months ago local improviser Brian Labycz, who plays electronics and koto, launched a new CD-R label called Peira with a pair of releases, both packaged in hand-printed sleeves adorned by lovely, minimalist artwork (one by former Reader designer Nadine Nakanishi).

It's so cheap and easy to release music yourself these days that I sometimes dread the appearance of a new CD-R label, especially one that specializes in totally improvised material--there are so few barriers to enter the marketplace that people don't have to care whether they're selling something anybody wants to buy. So far, though, Peira is off to a terrific start--the quality of its releases implies that some kind of curatorial discretion is standing in for those market forces. The music isn't for everyone, and Labycz knows it: each title comes in a numbered edition of 100. But if you're interested in deep exploration of sound informed by split-second decision making, take heed--these discs are as good as anything I've heard on that front in the past couple years.

I suppose the "high profile" Peira release is the trio recording by trumpeter Nate Wooley and percussionist Tim Barnes, both from New York, and Chicago bassist Jason Roebke, but the album that really knocked me out was the duet by Roebke and Labycz. They create an austere, almost desolate soundscape, where a terse thwack or string scrape carries startling force, but the greatest pleasure is in their interactions in the pin-drop delicate passages between those gestures. It's no longer enough for contemporary improvisers to make the listener wonder who's doing what and with which instrument--although this pair certainly manages that. Roebke and Labycz's heavily tactile utterances masterfully underline the physicality of their instruments, which must be struck, rubbed, or touched in some way to function, but their interplay is so sensitive and engrossing I found myself not caring a whit about what was making the sounds.

Today's playlist:

Toni Iordache, Sounds From a Bygone Age Vol. 4 (Asphalt Tango)
Mika Vainio, Revitty [Torn] (Wavetrap)
Oh No, Dr. No's Oxperiment (Stones Throw)
Charles Ives, Symphony No. 3 (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken) (Col Legno)
Teiji Ito, Tenho (Tzadik)

Cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm originally formed what is sometimes called the Valentine Trio back in 2000, when the group paid homage to pioneering jazz cellist Fred Katz for a gig at the Empty Bottle jazz festival. The trio has taken on a life of its own over the years, and its just-released third album (billed to the Fred Lonberg-Holm Trio), Terminal Valentine (Atavistic), is the first to feature all original material. Still, Lonberg-Holm uses this particular vehicle to indulge his interest in dark pop music—the second album included songs by Syd Barrett, Jeff Tweedy, and Cat Power, among others—but that doesn’t stop the group, rounded out by bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Frank Rosaly, from pushing and pulling in any direction they want.

The cellist has created simple yet elegant melodies, which the trio wastes little time tearing to pieces. Yet even while the improvisations seem to dispense entirely with the chord patterns and rhythmic feel, some element of the original structure—a bass line, groove, or melodic shadow—remains, giving the listener something surprisingly accessible to grab on to. In particular, Lonberg-Holm delivers a gorgeous mix of lyric extrapolation and coloristic depth, unleashing elaborate constellations of bowed notes thick with the feel of string on string.

The Valentine Trio celebrates the release of Terminal Valentine with a gig on Thursday, May 10, at the Velvet Lounge. The same three musicians will play in strict free improv mode a night earlier, performing with the Italian reedist Gianni Gebbia at the Hideout.