Antiblas - SECURITY

[JSngry]

The Bastards do not exaggerate, but if you buy it, buy it from a link throught the board, ok?

An incredible leap forward for Antibalas -- a record filled with bolder sounds and deeper grooves than ever before -- and one that even tops the already-great sound of their previous albums! The mix of modes here is really amazing -- some of the group's familiar Afro-Funk at the core, but also a much wider range of influences too -- bits of dub, choppy Latin guitar, Sun Ra-like organ lines, and gamelon-styled metal bits -- all wrapped together in a groove that has some particularly hypnotic undertones! The set was produced by John McIntire, who's no doubt a big influence on the sound here -- and the record really shatters any expectations you might have from the group -- proof that they're way more than just another Afro Funk combo. Titles include "Beaten Metal", "Filibuster X", "Sanctuary", "Hilo", "War Hero", "ICE", and "Age".

Imagine Fela & Ra being in their prime right now & coming together to address the state of today's America. Just imagine that. Whether or not this is what it would sound like, I don't know, because this is now and they're both dead (which is kinda past anybody's prime), but even if it would or wouldn't sound like this, it would probably have a vobe like this, so hey.

Highly recommended, even if I don't have a clue who John McIntire is just yet.

[Larry Kart]

Here be who John McEntire is ( I assume they spelled the name wrong above, because the rest of McEntire's background fits; he's also a producer/engineer):

http://www.trts.com/history/history.html

I've heard one member of Antibalas, tenor saxophonist Stuart Bogie, in another setting. He was excellent.

Edited March 31, 2007 by Larry Kart

[(BB)]

John McEntire is a Chicago based percussionist, he sometimes shows up playing synthesizer as well. You can find him on most of the Tortoise & The Sea & Cake sides. And they are all on Senior Clementine's most very favorite label ~ Thrill Jockey.

Thanks for the heads up on this one I will try and check it out.

[JSngry]

Can't say that McEntire's role here is at all intrusive or otherwise cause for concern (and I don't know the whole Torotise thing at all, and only know Thrill Jockey through Ed Wilkerson), just that if he's done anything "hands on", he's done it in such a way that it plays to what the band's natural/organic tendencies are/were anyway, and gotten a DAMN fine record out of them as a result.

I mean, I've been digging Antibalas for a while now, if only as a kind of "cool modern day" example of Fela Fetishism Done Well. But this album opens up the field considerably, and it's really speaking to me (especially "Fillibuster X") in a different way than their past work has. I'm digging it big time.

[Stefan Wood]

If this is as good as you say, JSngry, I'm picking this up! I have listened to their work since their first cd -- I think they had an album as the Daktaris on a funk label in the late 90's? Loved the funk and the NuYoriquan influences on the Fela vibe, but always thought they were enthusiasts of Fela's music, and not making their own sound. See them live though and they are a different band.

[JSngry]

Loved the funk and the NuYoriquan influences on the Fela vibe, but always thought they were enthusiasts of Fela's music, and not making their own sound.

Same here, and those factors are still at play. But it sounds/feels as if their whole game's been bumped up a notch or two, and that has definitely caught my ear.

[J Larsen]

Tortoise are kind of like what you would be left with if you took out everything that was good about the Soft Machine. Sea and the Cake are even worse: poppy with a really annoying, pretentious sounding singer. But I've talked with McIntire before and he does have some pretty good taste in music; so I wouldn't be alarmed just because he is the producer. I'll check this disc out.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Well, I'll think about this in a couple of months. Right now I'm easing off for a splurge on real African music in Paris.

MG

[J Larsen]

I like about some of the Gastr del Sol stuff, but I was never gah-gah over them like a lot of people were.

I'm going to give this Anitibalas disc a try though, unless I can check them out live first (I see that they are local).

[WD45]

Gonna see em on the 23rd for the third time. I skipped the last studio LP, but thisone has gotten stong recs all around, so I might spring for it. Wife loves those records.

When I saw them last the bari player /semi-leader came out and played Ayler's Ghosts for a few seconds solo. Then the whole band kicked in on one of the bulletproof toons.

[clifford_thornton]

I like about some of the Gastr del Sol stuff, but I was never gah-gah over them like a lot of people were.

I'm going to give this Anitibalas disc a try though, unless I can check them out live first (I see that they are local).

Bastro are fine, but if you ever have heard Rhys Chatham's tune "Drastic Classicism," ya got all ya need right there - and without any hammer-hurling...

Apparently there was an all-girl punk band in the '90s from Louisville called Rastro, which I find quite funny.

Fuck Tortoise, the Sea and Cake, hell, fuck Slint too (overrated).

CA

bitch magnet

[clifford_thornton]

That Exploding Star Orchestra is the cross-pollination of McEntire and Vandermark sensibilities, from what I understand. Be afraid - be very afraid!

[.:.impossible]

McEntire is a recording engineer as much as he is anything. His print is all over this thing if you ask me. Personally, I don't understand the criticisms here, but that's not really an issue.

John McEntire just recorded and mixed my brother's band this winter for a Spring release. I think he does a hell of a job.

He also recently engineered the new Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake album, From the River to the Ocean, also featuring Harrison Bankhead on bass, cello and piano (!), Josh Abrams on bass and guimbri, and Jeff Parker on guitar.

Whatever y'all have against him, Fred don't.

[.:.impossible]

That Exploding Star Orchestra is the cross-pollination of McEntire and Vandermark sensibilities, from what I understand. Be afraid - be very afraid!

Is that right? I was under the impression that Mazurek was the one who was commissioned for this piece. McEntire does play on this album, but Vandermark doesn't, does he?

[Larry Kart]

Apparently there was an all-girl punk band in the '90s from Louisville called Rastro, which I find quite funny.

Speaking of all-girl punk bands and their names, the-soon-to-be wife of one of my son's bandmates in

Crush Kill Destroy was in a now defunct but in its time locally (i.e. Chicago) popular all-girl punk band

named Twat Vibe, referred to here:

http://chillmag.com/july06/features_office.html

I always felt that Twat Vibe had a certain ring to it.

[J Larsen]

I like about some of the Gastr del Sol stuff, but I was never gah-gah over them like a lot of people were.

I'm going to give this Anitibalas disc a try though, unless I can check them out live first (I see that they are local).

Bastro are fine, but if you ever have heard Rhys Chatham's tune "Drastic Classicism," ya got all ya need right there - and without any hammer-hurling...

Apparently there was an all-girl punk band in the '90s from Louisville called Rastro, which I find quite funny.

Fuck Tortoise, the Sea and Cake, hell, fuck Slint too (overrated).

CA

bitch magnet

My quote didn't make any sense - I was trying to say that I like some of the Gastr stuff but am not wild about any of it. I guess I feel the same way about Bastro - it's fine enought, but it's hard to see what the fuss is about. I'd take Rhys over either band any day, but I have to say I'd never really seen a connection there. Slint are probably overrated, but that's not their fault. I've always liked them (since the days when Tweez was a 10" record).

[J Larsen]

McEntire is a recording engineer as much as he is anything. His print is all over this thing if you ask me. Personally, I don't understand the criticisms here, but that's not really an issue.

I realize that, but the problem I have (and that a couple others around here *may* have) is that it is really difficult for me to seperate how he has produced records in the past from the content of the records he has produced in the past. Maybe Bright Eyes has an outstanding producer, but it would be really hard for me to hear that given my distaste for his music.

[.:.impossible]

re: Antibalas, I think they killed it on MMW Univisible. Scotty Hard dubbed the funk out of that horn section. I'd like to hear him engineer an Antibalas album.

[clifford_thornton]

That Exploding Star Orchestra is the cross-pollination of McEntire and Vandermark sensibilities, from what I understand. Be afraid - be very afraid!

Is that right? I was under the impression that Mazurek was the one who was commissioned for this piece. McEntire does play on this album, but Vandermark doesn't, does he?

No, Vandermark doesn't play on it. I was referring to an earlier post.

J, I was quoting you to concur...

And btw, the earliest version of Tweez that I had was the 12" on Jennifer Hartman. Didn't realize there was anything before that.

Edited April 2, 2007 by clifford_thornton

[J Larsen]

I didn't really think we were disagreeing.

I won't claim to be a Slint discography expert, but I know I had a 10" version of Tweez in about 1990, which I sold (I think to Stoopid records) in the late 90s for an amount that blew me away at the time.

Sorry for the multiple derailments of the thread - I was bored out of my mind reading an offering memorandum at work.

Any idea if Antibalas is going to be playing out anytime soon?

(Edit: after a little quick web research, I suppose I could be conflating the Hartman LP of Tweez and the 10" single on T&G, which, to my knowledge was never rare - my memory plays tricks like that on me sometimes - but that would really bug me, because I do very clearly remember owning and selling a 10" version of Tweez. I guess things like that can happen when you've owned way too many records and you have a questionable memory for detail in the first place, though.)

Edited April 3, 2007 by J Larsen

[Noj]

eMusic has them...

I'll be checking them out end of the month!

[clifford_thornton]

I didn't really think we were disagreeing.

I won't claim to be a Slint discography expert, but I know I had a 10" version of Tweez in about 1990, which I sold (I think to Stoopid records) in the late 90s for an amount that blew me away at the time.

Sorry for the multiple derailments of the thread - I was bored out of my mind reading an offering memorandum at work.

Any idea if Antibalas is going to be playing out anytime soon?

(Edit: after a little quick web research, I suppose I could be conflating the Hartman LP of Tweez and the 10" single on T&G, which, to my knowledge was never rare - my memory plays tricks like that on me sometimes - but that would really bug me, because I do very clearly remember owning and selling a 10" version of Tweez. I guess things like that can happen when you've owned way too many records and you have a questionable memory for detail in the first place, though.)

To continue the derailment, I had that 10" posthumous release on T&G, and thought it was pretty good. No singing, and singing now bothers me way more than it did then - at least on those kinds of records.

Stranger things have happened than a 10" on Jennifer Hartman, but I've never seen it - that's all I'm saying. My last copy of Tweez was a T&G repress, and I wasn't feeling it anymore...

Then again, I always get reamed for liking Rodan, and I really do like Rodan a lot. Still.

Edited April 3, 2007 by clifford_thornton

[J Larsen]

I liked Rodan back then (Retsin, too). Last time I listened to Rusty it lost me after the first song. I was pretty into June of 44 when they first came out, too. From about 1989 - 1998 or so, I pretty much only listened to indie, hip hop, and the most well-known avant-garde jazz. I think the internet ruined indie, and while I'm sure there is still good hip-hop being made, I don't have the time to seek it out, so I've pretty much just been a jazz dude for the last several years.

[JSngry]

That Exploding Star Orchestra is the cross-pollination of McEntire and Vandermark sensibilities, from what I understand. Be afraid - be very afraid!

Not necessarily. I like it quite a bit. Like I said, I don't really know McEntire, and am lukewarm at best about KV, but Exploding Star worked for me just fine.

[JSngry]

And ok, I'm about a week into this Antibalas side, and am still digging it heavily.