The RockerTsktsking

It may seem hard to believe, but there was a time when this blog didn’t spend most of its time posting badly-written reviews of Richard Skelton albums. A few years ago, this blog specialised in badly-written reviews of Chris Corsano gigs. I probably saw a dozen of his shows in little over a year; his drumming was a real revelation for me, I couldn’t drink enough from this bottomless well of improvisational inspiration. Then he decamped back to the US, probably because of the weirdo with the bad haircut who was stalking him at gigs in London (and Bristol! I even went to Bristol for a show. Christ, no wonder he fled). Never less than prolific, and never afraid to throw himself into new challenges, the last twelve months have seen him release several fine duo albums; here he follows his ecstatic dulcimer-driven drone jazz freakouts with Mick Flower with another pair of first-rate collaborations.

Heather Leigh Murray’s shrieking guitar on “Brought Down” from the Jailbreak record The Rocker reminds me a lot of what Flower brings to his duo with Corsano, huge high-pitched waves of sound for the drummer to get in amongst. Corsano is typically hyper-kinetic, loose-limbed, swimming amongst ferocious psych-squall, with Murray screaming wordlessly in the background. On “Sugar Blues” Murray spirals off from one slow bluesy phrase into a whole other realm of noise and distortion, Corsano dropping out momentarily to let her tear up an epic feedback-drenched solo, before thundering back in like John Bonham on fast-forward. Family Vineyard have previously released a number of Corsano releases (his solo The Young Cricketer and duos with Paul Flaherty are absolutely essential), and this face-melter is a worthy addition to that canon. I should add that Heather Leigh Murray’s Jailhouse has also just had a long-overdue reissue on Not Not Fun. All in all, not a bad few weeks for her. She should buy a lottery ticket.

It was actually released late last year (and given my admiration for the two men involved I bought it on first sight) but I must admit that it took me a while to get into the John Edwards / Chris Corsano double bass and percussion record on Dancing Wayang. The first time I played it, it sounded remarkably alien to me, something felt missing. Was it the fact that I couldn’t see these two wrestling with their instruments? Or was it just the combination of instruments? I don’t own a great deal of bass/drums duets, and I found myself instinctively reaching for the settings on my stereo, trying to fill the huge void where my brain seemed to be expecting something. Volume, mainly. Despite being the work of two individuals famous for (amongst other things) playing very loud, “Razed And Razed Again” starts with almost nothing, just the creak of a ghost in a rocking chair. Soon enough they are off though, Corsano in hot pursuit of some rampaging bass from Edwards, before someone makes a noise which sounds like a train slamming on the brakes. They are both using the full range of their instruments and then some; you can hear one gasp from either surprise or just sheer exertion as the piece reaches a frantic conclusion. Actually, maybe it was me. The rest of the album combines the rhythmic assaults I’d been expecting with an unexpected number of quiet, intense, and even melodic passages, Edwards sculpting themes and ideas before passing them to Corsano for closer interrogation. My version of this came with an excellent bonus 3″ CD made, or so it sounds, mainly of splintering wood. (“Vanishing Point” in particular is a little gem). Suffice to say, after some perseverance, this dynamic record is really clicking with me now.

Both The Rocker and Tsktsking were readily available from the wonderful Second Layer last time I dropped by.

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