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This archeological find from turn of the 21st century America
is called a Compact Disc. From 2001 to be exact and the band
is actually from what was once called Great Britain. Four
musicians play trumpet, guitar, saxophone, bass, and drums
on this music recording. As we can note from the art work
on the disc, this group was mindful of past forms, in this
case, the immortal American idiom of free jazz. The cover
art also happens to be a graphic reference to a crime film
from the mid 20th century, Anatomy Of A Murder, directed
by Otto Preminger if my sources are correct.
From the short intro track, "Last Stop", Woe sets out to
tear a groove into the listener. This is what I like to hear:
mixing of old and new ideas, genres that are still in utero.
In other words, there is hybridity. All these beats are heavy
and the players dig in for a Miles Davis-esque romp
through dissonant fusion. Like a fall down the stairs that
you enjoy at the end because: 1) it was so surprising 2) you
don’t think anything is broken and 3) the silvery stars you
are seeing in the corners of your eyes are really quite beautiful.
Death and danger are themes in these instrumental pieces.
Makes me want to buy a motorcycle and a bunch of helium balloons
and ride over to your ex-girlfriend’s house, knock on the
door and then let the balloons fly up into the air and then
leave without saying a word. Or maybe it makes me want to
go to the pet store where they keep the mice for feeding to
snakes and buy some and set them free in the park. Yes, it’s
inspiring in a polymorphically perverse way.
Minor chords and diminished sevenths with syncopation make
this a mildly gloomy album, yet not gloomy enough to save
for post-break up listening. It’s gloom for any day. There
are no riffs, and rhythm plays the lead rather than harmony.
Last Stop is not for the tender-eared. What more do
you need than some broody jazz to simmer about your love life
over? Pure sonic catharsis, can you dig it? I dig it and I
fully recommend it if you can comprehend it.
- Joseph Martinez
Track Listing:
- Last Stop
- Reason Gets Paid Back
- Minutes To Go
- Incident At
- Ceiling Sniffing
- The Shake
- Cut Up
- The Big Lean
- I’m Coming Straight Down
- White Stick
- This Sound Will Break Your Heart
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