A couple of records featuring Bill Frisell in his role as excellent sideman, a bunch of Tim Motzer releases, and some new faces.
Cuong Vu 4-Tet Change in the Air [Rare Noise]
The latest collaboration between the trumpeter and Bill Frisell (with Ted Poor, drums and Luke Bergman, bass), features some of the modern guitar icon’s most creative playing in a band context in recent memory. His interaction with the other players and breadth of ideas is stunning. A must have for fans.
Andrew Cyrille Lebroba [ECM]
After his 2016 release, The Declaration of Musical Independence, Andrew Cyrille once again works with Bill Frisell, this time adding Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet, recalling the intimate interaction of the Paul Motian trio.
Ricarda Cometa Ricarda Cometa 2 [Bandcamp]
Peruvian guitarist Jorge Espinal and drummer Tatiana Heuman combine prepared guitar with Latin American rhythms for afresh take on the modern guitar/drums duo.
Robert Poss Frozen Flowers Curse The Day [Trace Elements]
The Band of Susan’s guitarist layers drones, arpeggios, mandolin-style strumming, distorted, and clean guitars to create insistent textures that make you long to see the dance pieces for which he composed some of the tracks.
Ari Chersky Fear Sharpens The Dagger [Bandcamp]
Chersky on electric guitar, synthesizers, organ, Mellotron, toy piano, ukelin, electric bass, voice, percussion, loops, effects, and programing is joined by others playing vibraphone, viola, cello, upright bass, and drums for a set of ambitious compositions echoing the density of Eivind Aarset’s early electro-acoustic efforts, but with a voice of their own.
A trio of recordings by Tim Motzer came across my desk recently:
Tim Motzer Luminous and Soak [1krecordings]
Luminous is the third in a trilogy of live solo recordings from concert broadcasts at WLFR-FM, Stockton University (New Jersey, USA), following the releases of Unseen Universe (April 2017) and Soak (November 2017). These three albums offer an opportunity to hear Motzer’s mastery of textural solo guitar, looping, and compositional improvisation. Motzer has developed a unique language over years of working primarily with prepared acoustic-electric guitar, bow, and electronics.
Tim Motzer & Markus Reuter Rapture [1krecordings]
Recorded in February of 2018 it features Motzer on acoustic-electric guitar, and electronics, and Reuter on AU8 touch guitar, electronics, and laptop.
Record Picks is a periodic offering from Guitar Moderne: a listing of recordings brought to my attention that I feel are worthy of being brought to yours. These are not reviews. Feel free to submit recordings, but they must be purchasable worldwide, reflective of modern guitar (subjective to be sure, but no blues, classic rock, be-bop, country, etc.) and on a par with the ones above to rate a mention. Many of these are available from DMG in NYC. If you have already sent me a recording, feel free to remind me.
