Dok ([info]cyberinsekt) wrote,
@ 2007-12-31 10:31:00
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Nels Cline Singers - Lowered Boom
For ages, I paid no attention to Nels Cline. It wasn't a conscious decision. It was just - well, he's in a fairly popular band, he's not going to make any interesting music. I'm not so proud a man that several months after the fact, on a day when few people are likely to be reading, I can finally break the bad news that perhaps I was wrong about that. Whatever your thoughts on Wilco might be, as a solo artist he's done some great stuff.

Here's Lowered Boom, from the 2002 album Instrumentals by the Nels Cline Singers. If you're hoping for descriptive truth from one of those, I'd suggest going with the album name rather than that of the band. Lowered Boom is a thundering piece of avant-blues. It contains what the popular musical press refer to as "sweet guitar licks" over some grimy industrial metal bass. It's a sound so dirty you'd think you were on the train leaving north from Birmingham. Or maybe not. Maybe you don't have that frame of reference. In that case you'll probably just think that this is excellent, or something like that. I don't know.

Nels Cline Singers - Lowered Boom



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godoggo
(Anonymous)
2007-12-31 03:16 pm UTC (link)
Well, I've been following Nels since 1993 when I used to drive across town every week to see him host "New Music Monday" at the Alligator Lounge in Santa Monica. I'd been aware of his work with the Oregon-like Quartet music which I thought was pleasant enough (odd to recall that he used to play almost nothing but acoustic guitar), but one night I got wacked upside my head by a Nels Cline Trio track on the radio, headed to the Lounge the next Monday, and was hooked.

I like the Singers fine, but it's not really my favorite format for him. His discography is pretty daunting (http://nelscline.com/discog.html - hmmm, last updated 2-05, I see, so I guess you need to continue here: http://nelscline.com/news.html), and I'm not really familiar with his recordings, for all the counless times I've seen him play live, but I'd say some key recordings under his own name are his 2006 Andrew Hill tribute, New Monestary; Interstellar Space Revisited: The Music of John Coltrane with drummer Gregg Bendian (see a performance here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=TcjAy3VtMVU http://youtube.com/watch?v=AszbNtYlrBU); Destroy All Nels Cline, and his multi-guitarist noise extravaganza. Really, I like him best as a sideman, though, especially with the Jeff Gauthier Goatette (which includes several old Quartet Music mates), and with Vinny Golia, leastwise the stuff after Nels started playing that wacky electric.

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godoggo
(Anonymous)
2007-12-31 03:19 pm UTC (link)
Usual sloppy typing, I see. To clarify, if it isn't clear: New Monestary and Interstellar Space revisted are 2 different albums, whereas, Destroy All Nels Cline and "his multi-guitarist noise extravaganza" are one and the same.

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godoggo
(Anonymous)
2008-01-01 08:26 am UTC (link)
OK, there was another good Cline album that I was trying to remember what it was called, which I finally did: "The Inkling."

Happy new year.

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Re: godoggo
[info]cyberinsekt
2008-01-01 11:00 am UTC (link)
I enjoyed New Monestery. These days it's got to the stage that I'd give anything on Cryptogramophone a listen just on past experience and reputation. And with a title like Destroy All Nels Cline, I don't see how that album could be anything less than fascinating.

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godoggo
(Anonymous)
2008-01-01 06:11 pm UTC (link)
OK, a little more...
This page has a few tracks from The Inkling:
http://www.cryptogramophone.com/index.php?module=Crypto&func=album&id=105
What makes this recording special for me is Billy Mintz's Elvinish drumming. Nels works with lots of fine drummers of course (not least of them his twin brother Alex), but this kind of groove is especially pleasing to me.

Cryptogramophone has a great blog:
downbeast.com/

Finally, one of my favorite Crypto artists, who hasn't got nearly as much attention as I think he deserves is bassist/composer Steuart Liebig. I especially like his Delta and Pomegranate albums.
http://stigsite.com/

That is all.

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