FRED FRITH TRIO - Another Fucking Day In Paradise
Intakt Records Intakt CD267
Fred Frith: guitar, voice; Jasson Hoopes: electric bass, double bass; Jordan Glenn: drums, percussion.
Recorded Sharkbite Studios, Oakland, January 2016.
Of course this was recorded at Sharkbite...where else would you expect Frith to fetch up? Frith continues to delight in making an intelligent racket, which he’s been doing since his time in the band Henry Cow. I always find it amazing that Frith is not on lists of the truly great guitar players, given his continued exploration of the possibilities, and willingness to push the boundaries, of the electric guitar. This set more or less picks up where his trio, Massacre, left off. That trio had Bill Laswell on bass and Fred Maher on drums in 1980, and then Charles Heywood (from This Heat!) when they reformed in the ‘90s. At times, there is a residue of the earlier music, but less from Massacre and more from the avant-rock of This Heat! What is really interesting is how, despite some similarities in approach, this trio sounds so different from Massacre. In part, this is due to the richness of bass playing that Hoopes brings, which gives the music so much depth. There is a sophistication in his playing here, in both acoustic and double bass, that provokes Frith into ever deeper explorations of his playing. Glenn pummels the pieces along with abandon and finds rhythmic complexity in even the darkest corners of each piece.
Several of the pieces run to only a couple of minutes, in which the trio find a theme and blow it apart. The longer pieces, track 6 ‘Yard with Lunatics’ and track 7 ‘ Only light and shadow’ create richly satisfying noise sculptures, in which guitar sounds are like tweeting birds, screeching cats and rumbling traffic. On track 3, Poor Folly, Frith adds some ‘vocals’ in a peculiar language that sounds like a mixture from several Eastern European countries and which seems to be a grumbled meditation on the album’s title. I don’t think that this set is cause for complaint, but rather an exhilarating and explosive kicking against the doors of improvised music. As Frith says in his sleeve notes ‘Anything can happen. Really. It’s a bloody great feeling.’ As a listener, it is a privilege to be invited to share this.
Reviewed byChris Baber
Intakt Records Intakt CD267
Fred Frith: guitar, voice; Jasson Hoopes: electric bass, double bass; Jordan Glenn: drums, percussion.
Recorded Sharkbite Studios, Oakland, January 2016.
Of course this was recorded at Sharkbite...where else would you expect Frith to fetch up? Frith continues to delight in making an intelligent racket, which he’s been doing since his time in the band Henry Cow. I always find it amazing that Frith is not on lists of the truly great guitar players, given his continued exploration of the possibilities, and willingness to push the boundaries, of the electric guitar. This set more or less picks up where his trio, Massacre, left off. That trio had Bill Laswell on bass and Fred Maher on drums in 1980, and then Charles Heywood (from This Heat!) when they reformed in the ‘90s. At times, there is a residue of the earlier music, but less from Massacre and more from the avant-rock of This Heat! What is really interesting is how, despite some similarities in approach, this trio sounds so different from Massacre. In part, this is due to the richness of bass playing that Hoopes brings, which gives the music so much depth. There is a sophistication in his playing here, in both acoustic and double bass, that provokes Frith into ever deeper explorations of his playing. Glenn pummels the pieces along with abandon and finds rhythmic complexity in even the darkest corners of each piece.
Several of the pieces run to only a couple of minutes, in which the trio find a theme and blow it apart. The longer pieces, track 6 ‘Yard with Lunatics’ and track 7 ‘ Only light and shadow’ create richly satisfying noise sculptures, in which guitar sounds are like tweeting birds, screeching cats and rumbling traffic. On track 3, Poor Folly, Frith adds some ‘vocals’ in a peculiar language that sounds like a mixture from several Eastern European countries and which seems to be a grumbled meditation on the album’s title. I don’t think that this set is cause for complaint, but rather an exhilarating and explosive kicking against the doors of improvised music. As Frith says in his sleeve notes ‘Anything can happen. Really. It’s a bloody great feeling.’ As a listener, it is a privilege to be invited to share this.
Reviewed byChris Baber
