Wednesday, May 3, 2017

The Iconic Sylvia Bennett Releases For You (KARI-ON PRODUCTIONS 2017)


IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sylvia Benentt: For You

“Man, the lady can sing! Her magic gets to the ears and the hearts of the audience.” – Lionel Hampton

She’s one part jazz, one part pop, and one part sultry. If you like Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, and Rosemary Clooney, you’ll LOVE Sylvia Bennett.

She’s a Grammy nominated international recording artist and song–writer who has performed at Presidential Inaugurations and opened for such renowned artists as Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Jackie Mason, Dizzy Gillespie, Barry Gibb and David Brenner. Discovered by the legendary Lionel Hampton, she has since captivated audiences and critics alike with her sultry, honeyed tones and seductive blend of jazz and pop. She’s the inimitable, unforgettable Sylvia Bennett.

Sylvia and Lionel Hampton first worked together on the Grammy nominated Sentimental Journey. A second project, There Will Never Be Another You, was a CD/DVD tribute she dedicated to her beloved mentor and would be followed by six more CDs: Songs From the Heart, It’s Christmas Time, Smile, Sonríe, C’est Si Bon, and Best Love Songs. Sonríe was inspired by her passion for Latin music and culture, realizing one of her most cherished dreams: a Spanish–language recording of beloved classics, along with “Por Tí,” a love song she wrote for her husband. The album has been dubbed” an irresistible Latin seduction, a tropical concoction as intoxicating as a first kiss.” Sonríe’s critical acclaim encouraged Sylvia to continue reaching for international frontiers, and C’est Si Bon, was conceived. This French–language album transports you to “a world of enchantment where romance reigns, fancy takes flight, and Paris beckons.” 

Sylvia’s last release, Best Love Songs, is a compilation of her fan’s favorite songs. It includes classics from the American songbook like “Embraceable You,” “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” among many others. All of Sylvia’s music can be found on iTunes, Amazon.com, CD Baby and other online retailers. 

In November 2013, Sylvia took her art to a whole new level with the introduction of the first product, It’s Christmas Time, in the Sylvia Bennett Gift Collection. She then followed it with From the Heart and Something to Make You Smile. These “all–in–one” CD greeting cards combine the gift of music and a card that lasts forever. This unique presentation can be used for any occasion from personal gifts like birthdays, anniversaries and holidays (Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents’ Day, etc.) as well as corporate gifts, hostess gifts, party favors, and even fundraising!

In addition to recording and creating new products for the Sylvia Bennett Gift Collection, she loves to perform in front of a live audience and has created a range of shows that cover everything from Broadway to pop and from swing to international. She sings in English, Spanish, and French – but regardless of the language her goal remains the same: to bring people joy through music and song! 

Sylvia Bennett continues her journey into smooth original music… her brand-new album FOR YOU, delivers another successful set of contemporary, sensuous songs from the Grammy-nominated, Miami-based vocalist and songwriter. On the heels of IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE, which climbed up to #24 in 2016 on SmoothJazz.com’s Top 50 Album Airplay Chart. The new release features the successful collaborative combo with Ms. Bennett’s longtime producer and writing partner, Hal S. Batt. The renowned Miami producer and After Hours studio owner has worked with some of the biggest names in Miami recording history including Ricky Martin, Julio Iglesias, Regina Belle and many more. Also, this go around, Sylvia invites Hungarian violinist and bandleader Peter Ferencz, from the Smooth Jazz Pop ensemble, Peet Project. Modern love songs, jazzy chilled arrangements, heart string-tugging vocals and sophisticated musicianship… FOR YOU is for all of us!


CD Title: For You Label: Out of Sight Music, Inc 
Produced by: Hal S. Batt 
Release Date: April 21, 2017 
Catalog #: OSM1721 
UPC: 888295554008

Tracks: 
For You
Stay With Me
Two Hearts One Soul
I Never Thought
Fly Me To The Moon
Smile Loving You
Look Of Love
Make Someone Happy
Glad To Know
Smile



Linda Calise is Happy To Be Loving You (KARI-ON PRODUCTIONS 2017)


IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Linda Calise: Happy To Be Loving You



Linda Calise gets back to hear roots with an EP of co-written and classic covers. Her range of voice, style in execution is that of epic proportions. Calise, truly has the range, command and versatility to sing in any style, and many are exhibited in this delightful offering Happy To Be Loving You. It features Trombonist, Jeff Galindo (MD Esperanza Spalding) and on Trumpet, Doug Woolverton (Roomful of Blues) as well as the smooth vocals of Rhode Island based R&B singer Frank Rossi on the duet version of Suit & Tie. This delightfully smooth offering is a “SUN-sational” summer bump.


“Thankfully there are artists like Linda Calise who are still interested in doing a combination of their tunes and ones by other artists that they reinvent and put their own spin on. One such great artist of the past was Joe Cocker, he could take a song that was a hit by another artist and instantly with his golden voice make it uniquely his own. Calise similarly has the ability to create a fresh and creative version of a tune we already know and love, and she allows us to dig deeper and look in a captivating new way. Happy to Be Loving You is Linda Calise’s third album and she combines songs we know, with her originals.” -Amad Franaquer Hassan, All About Vocals

"As a vocalist, Linda Calise's style crosses the genre from Classic to R&B to Pop to Jazz...Few deliver these songs better." -Grady Harp- Amazon.com Hall of Fame- Top 100 Reviewer-Vine Voice

"Calise is a well traveled jazz singer that has worked with loads of first call names...A solid, sophisticated gal that isn't afraid to show emotion and knows there's more to it than just hollering." -Chris Spector, Midwest Records


Happy to be Loving you is Calise's third album. It is a Smooth Jazz EP with a Neo Soul flavor featuring several of Calise's favorite cover songs as well as a couple songs Co-written by Calise herself. Produced by award winning Italian Composer/Producer Mauro Colangelo (Happy to Be Loving You, Midnight Lover, Suit & Tie) and Producer Alex Krepkikh of AlexKProduction of Providence RI (Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, Butterflyz).

Track Listing:
Happy to Be Loving You
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
Midnight Lover
Butterflyz
Suit & Tie

Personnel: Mauro Colangelo: keyboard, drums; Jhony Keys; keyboards, bass, harp; Background vocals; Frank Rossi, Chuck Wansley, Mauro Colangelo; Ben Ablert: piano; Joe Calise: bass; Mike Casano: drums; Alex Krepkikh: guitar; horns; Jeff Galindo: trombone; Walter Platt: trumpet; Trevor Kellum: sax; Doug Woolveton: trumpet; John Vaughan: bass, Frank Rossi: gues vocalist, horns; Chris Pratt: trumpet; Metro Narcisse: sax.



New Single From Cristina Morrison "Just One of Those Things"


New Single From 
Cristina Morrison
"Just One of Those Things"

Cristina Morrison
“Just One of Those Things”
New arrangement by Misha Piatigorsky
(CD Single Jazzheads Records JH1221)
Street Date: May 5, 2017

More than “Just One of Those Things”: Vibrant new CD single release from vocalist Cristina Morrison is super-fun, super-fresh and super-funky.

Singer-songwriter/actor and producer, Cristina Morrison may wear a lot of hats in her busy career, but they all fit her beautifully. Excellent proof can be found in just one listen to her new single, “Just One of Those Things.” Cristina lends her lively voice and appealing phrasing to a standard penned by the great Cole Porter, and brings this familiar tune into new era with her engaging energy and unique point of view. 

Cristina points out that the song has a totally up to date message. “What the tune talks about could happen to anyone, any day, so we should be able to be light-hearted about life, receive things as they come, and just flow with it. As the song says, it was just one of those things.”

Cristina’s interpretation of the standard is a study in delightful contrasts: sophisticated and earthy, sexy and cool. With its supple rhythm and amazing tenor sax solo by Joel Frahm, “Just One of Those Things” is rooted in the jazz tradition, but right at home in the 21st century.

The vocalist is quick to share the credit with her long-time colleague, pianist, producer and arranger Misha Piatigorsky: “Misha and I have a vibe going on: We have the same vision, same taste, same style. His arrangement is so funky with such good rhythm, it was a natural fit for me.”

Cristina Morrison is a New York-based American-Ecuadorian with a couple of full-length CDs, I Love and Baronesa, to her credit. She has extensive international touring experience, sharing stages with the likes of Arturo Sandoval and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Cristina has garnered recognition and rave reviews for her music and acting, including two nominations for the Independent Music Awards, the USA Songwriting Competition, and and Independent Theatre Artists Award (ATI). Her film Nobody’s Watching premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival this month; another of her films, Translucid,  was shown at the Havana Film Festival in New York earlier this spring. The multi-talented Morrison has been a TEDx Galapagos speaker and part of the sales of her records support an educational program through the arts, Arteducarte, in the public schools on Isabela Island, Galapagos. 





Media Contact

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services
Ph: 845-986-1677 / jim@jazzpromoservices.com

"Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.”

Chris Washburne's Rags and Roots: Album Release Celebration - May 11 at the Greenwich House Music School and May 13 at the Bard Fisher Center


Dear Friends, 
I am so excited to announce the release of my newest project Rags and Roots on ZOHO records. I hope you can make the New York City celebration on Wednesday May 11! Or for our upstate friends, Friday May 13 at Bard’s Fisher Center! Details below!

Chris

Chris Washburne's 
Rags and Roots: Album Release Celebration with
Evan Christopher (Clarinet), André Mehmari (Piano), Sarah Elizabeth Charles (Vocals) and Martina DaSilva (Vocals), Dominick Farinacci (Trumpet), Hans Glawischnig (Bass), and Robbie Ameen (Drums)


at Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street
New York City 10001
Showtime: 8pm

Chris Washburne's Rags and Roots celebrates the release of their debut recording on ZOHO Records. Developed through the Catskill Jazz Factory and making it's New York City debut, Rags and Roots is a bi-hemispheric ragtime revival, covering a century's worth of compositions from New Orleans, New York, Haiti, Cuba, Mexico and Brazil. By reimagining ragtime and the roots of jazz, Washburne has created a path for new audiences to discover this quintessentially American music. This album, his second ZOHO release after the critically acclaimed Low Ridin' of 2015, embraces and sounds out the remarkable cultural diversity that contributed to the emergence of jazz.

The Catskill Jazz Factory presents:

Celebrating 100 Years of Jazz with Chris Washburne’s Rags and Roots and special guests

Saturday, May 13, 2017  8:00pm  10:00pm
Bard College
Richard B. Fisher Center
60 Manor Avenue
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504

Trombonist Chris Washburne joined by Catskill Jazz Factory all-star musicians from Sao Paulo, New Orleans, Austria and beyond, explore one hundred years of Jazz across cultures, continents and generations. This retrospective addresses the international roots and influences from traditional folk songs to early American jazz pioneers such as Joplin, WC Handy, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. 

Following the world premiere and album recording of Ragtime & the Birth of Jazz, commissioned by the Catskill Jazz Factory in 2016, this ensemble reunites to celebrate and embolden audience’s recognition of the jazz genre. 

Featuring a dynamic ensemble including Creole clarinetist Evan Christopher (“one of the world’s major clarinetists,” Wall Street Journal); vocalists Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Martina DaSilva and Vuyo Sotashe; pianists André Mehmari and Dan Tepfer; trumpeter Dominick Farinacci; saxophonist Caleb Curtis; bassist Hans Glawischnig; and drummer Robby Ameen.  

Tickets from $25; individual benefit tickets to this concert are available for $100. 



Ragtime occupies a foundational position in the evolutionary roots of jazz, and Scott Joplin is its high priest. Rags and Roots is a bi-hemispheric ragtime revival that marks the centenary of both Joplin’s passing and the first noted jazz recording. By reimagining ragtime and the roots of jazz, Chris Washburne has created a path for new audiences to discover this quintessentially American music.

His Rags and Roots is both a tribute to and triumph of ragtime and a sounding out of the truly global roots of jazz. This album embraces and sounds out the remarkable cultural diversity that contributed to the emergence of jazz.


01. MAPLE LEAF RAG Scott Joplin 5:35
Maple Leaf Rag: The album opens with the profoundly influential composition by Scott Joplin (1867 – 1917) that has become the embodiment of ragtime. Washburne transforms Maple Leaf Rag into a multi-stylistic romp that pivots effortlessly between modal and Dixieland elements, exploring the contours of the original using musical forms that may owe their existence to Joplin’s pioneering genius. The rarely sung lyrics, which Sarah Elizabeth Charles sings on this track, describe a poor man from the country dressed in rags who finds himself in an elegant dance club with higher-class patrons—an establishment Joplin played in the mid 1890s in Missouri called the “Maple Leaf Club.” His prowess at the new dance called “the Maple Leaf Rag” incites violence among the men and intrigue among the women in attendance. Washburne’s expansive arrangement sails along, reinforcing the energetic arc of the narrative.

02. ST. LOUIS BLUES/THE PEANUT VENDOR WC Handy, Moises Simons 4:50
St. Louis Blues/El Manicero (The Peanut Vendor): The seminal St. Louis Blues, which was written by the legendary W.C. Handy (1873 – 1958) in 1914, uses the Cuban habanera, or tango, bass line and rhythm, and demonstrates the Latin American influence on early jazz. El Manicero was written in 1928 by Moises Simons (1889 – 1945) and is credited with fueling a decade-long “rumba” craze in the U.S. and Europe, introducing the world to authentic Cuban rhythms, and launching what would become known as “Latin Jazz.” 

In 1931, Los Hermanos Castro, considered the original Cuban big band, combined St. Louis Blues with The Peanut Vendor to create one of the first cross-stylistic mash ups in Latin jazz history. In Washburne’s artful reimagining of the piece, The Peanut Vendor is given more weight than in the original, and in the process, the two-chord vamp of the Simons tune is transformed into the blues-montuno. 

03. BAMBOULA Louis Moreau Gottschalk 5:55
Bamboula: Although Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829 – 69) is regarded as an American composer and musician, he spent most of his working career outside of the US, traveling throughout the Caribbean between 1853 and 1862. He was also one of the first to transcribe African slave music. Bamboula was a racy slave dance named for the bamboo and skin drums used to keep the beat during its performance, which occurred frequently in New Orleans’ Congo Square in the years leading up to emancipation. Evan Christopher’s jubilant interpretation acknowledges both the cultural origins of the music and Gottschalk’s classical spin on its themes, combining virtuosic piano solos with playful brass and woodwind riffs tethered to pan Caribbean and New Orleans rhythms.

04. HERE'S ONE Traditional 6:01
Here’s One: Pioneering Harlem Renaissance giant William Grant Still (1895 – 1978) is referred to as the Dean of African American composers. Yet Still’s legacy as a prolific and skillful arranger is equally impressive, having worked with the likes of W.C. Handy, James P. Johnson, Paul Whiteman, Artie Shaw, and Dmitri Tiomkin. Still was also an early champion of the spiritual as a serious musical art form, and his arrangements of traditional songs like Here’s One helped foster wider recognition of their cultural significance. Washburne’s delicate arrangement showcases the simple power of the melody and provides ample space for Vuyo Sotashe’s emotionally charged vocal performance.

05. SOLACE (A Mexican Serenade) Scott Joplin 4:32
Solace: (A Mexican Serenade): Written in 1909, Solace is one of Joplin’s most beautiful melodies, and its subtitle and melodic feel demonstrate the composer’s appreciation of the diverse cultural traditions that underlay early jazz styles. Even in solo piano renditions of the song, one can hear the mariachi trumpets that are so prominent in Mexican music and which were making their presence felt in turn of the century New Orleans. Washburne gives full scope to the song’s pan-cultural dimensions, creating what is a serene ballad paired with a vibrant Cuban groove.

06. ODEON Ernesto Nazareth 3:51
Odeon: Though ragtime was fundamentally North American, similar musical traditions emerged simultaneously elsewhere in the New World. Ernesto Nazareth (1863 – 1934), who has been called the “Joplin of Brazil,” was perhaps the greatest composer in the Brazilian style called tango brasileiro. Like Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag, Odeon was inspired by a venue familiar to the artist, in this case the Odeon Cinema; Nazareth had performed in the waiting room of the luxurious theater, drawing great crowds, and this became one of his most famous compositions.
Picture of Her Face: Joplin the internationalist is on display in this rag that was written as a traditional Irish folk tune, both in terms of its melody and lyrics. Washburne’s arrangement reveals the somber Irish soul behind the original song’s ragtime jauntiness by slowing the tempo and emphasizing the plaintive vocal element.

07. PICTURE OF HER FACE Scott Joplin 4:54
Picture of Her Face: Joplin the internationalist is on display in this rag that was written as a traditional Irish folk tune, both in terms of its melody and lyrics. Washburne’s arrangement reveals the somber Irish soul behind the original song’s ragtime jauntiness by slowing the tempo and emphasizing the plaintive vocal element. 
Mildly Entertained: As popular as Scott Joplin’s music had been during his lifetime, it was Marvin Hamlisch’s recording of “The Entertainer” and five other Joplin ragtime classics for the soundtrack of the blockbuster 1973 movie The Sting that kindled a lasting appreciation both of ragtime and of its master practitioner. Using “The Entertainer” as a launching point, Washburne adds his own original composition to the Joplin template that suggests ragtime with a contemporary jazz aesthetic.

08. MILDLY ENTERTAINED Chris Washburne 4:25

09. ALA COTE GEN FANM Gerard Dupervil 4:55
Ala Cote Gen Fanm: Early jazz traveled quickly throughout the world with many locally inflected unique styles. In Haiti, jazz was combined with rhythms from Rara and Voodoo traditions and was known as Voodoo jazz. Composed by Gerard Dupervil (1933 – 1994) and made famous by the group Jazz Des Jeunes, the original lyrics were typical of Rara music in their misogynistic outlook, but for this arrangement were adapted by Candice Hoyes and Sarah Elizabeth Charles to embrace a female perspective. The result is a feminist anthem, sung in Haitian Creole, which is a reverent nod to the original musical styles involved and an acknowledgment of the many obstacles faced by the founding mothers of jazz on their climb to artistic equality.

10. LISETTE P.D. 3:54
Lisette: A Haitian Creole song composed by a white planter around 1790, during the Haitian slave uprisings, and was possibly inspired by his love for one of his slaves. Remarkably, the piece gradually evolved into a popular folk song associated with black culture, and its irresistibly poetic lyrics are credited with helping sway the decision to make Creole the official language in Haiti. Washburne’s free interpretation renders the melody as a trio for piano, clarinet, and trombone.

11. CREOLE BELLES Jens Bodewalt Lampe 4:51
Creole Belles: Composed in 1900 by Jens Bodewalt Lampe (1869 – 1929), a Danish-born American composer of ragtime, Creole Belles quickly became one of the biggest hits of its day, especially after John Phillip Sousa recorded it in 1902. Evan Christopher chose a traditional arrangement as a celebration of New Orleans culture and of the soundscape from which early jazz emerged.

12. STRANGE FRUIT Abel Meeropol 4:39
Strange Fruit: Abel Meeropol (1903 – 86) was an English teacher from the Bronx who wrote Strange Fruit in 1937 after seeing a disturbing photograph of a lynching; the song was made famous by Billie Holiday’s 1939 recording and was included on this album as a tribute to the many jazz luminaries whose lives and careers were impacted by racism. As Washburne puts it, “Their choice to transform ugliness into beauty is the inspiration that keeps me playing and composing jazz.” -- Kabir Sehgal

Kabir Sehgal is a GRAMMY & Latin GRAMMY Award winning producer.



Chris Washburne trombone, vocals
Alphonso Horne trumpet, vocals
Evan Christopher clarinet, vocals
Andre Mehmari piano, vocals
Hans Glawischnig bass, vocals
Vince Cherico drums, vocals
Sarah Elizabeth Charles vocals # 1, 2, 7, 9, 12

Recorded at: Second Story Sound in New York City on September 23rd and 24th, 2016. Engineer: Jeff Cook. Production Assistant: Beth Pratt. Mixed at: Avidon Audio Labs by Dev Avidon. Mastered at: Engine Room Audio by Andy VanDette. Liner Notes: Kabir Sehgal. Art direction and package design: Jack Frisch. Producers: Chris Washburne, Kabir Sehgal. Executive Producer: Joachim “Jochen” Becker.


Miriodor - Signal 9 (CUNEIFORM RECORDS May 12, 2017)


Progressive Vets Miriodor Send an Otherworldly Message on Signal 9


Miriodor
Signal 9

STREAM/SHARE: "Venin"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube

Cat. #: Rune 438, Format: CD / Digital Download
Genre: Rock / Avant-Progressive
Release Date: May 12, 2017


"Metaphorically, we could say that Miriodor is a planet, with aliens communicating in their mysterious ways with planet Earth," says Miriodor's keyboardist, Pascal Globensky. In that sense, the long-lived Montreal band's ninth album, entitled Signal 9, could simply be considered the ninth set of musical messages from that exotic heavenly body.

It's been more than three decades since Miriodor sent out its first signal with the release of Rencontres. Since then, they've established themselves as premier practitioners of the RIO (Rock In Opposition) movement, a wing of progressive music pioneered by the likes of Henry Cow, Art Zoyd and Univers Zero that embraces the avant-garde in its agenda of challenging convention at every turn.

The Miriodor discography, most of which has been released on U.S maverick institution Cuneiform Records, has been building strength upon strength with each successive album. The band combines jazz, classical, rock, and international influences for an arresting, idiosyncratic sound that eludes description but remains immediately identifiable as Miriodor.


Picking up where the most recent coded message from planet Miriodor, 2013's Cobra Fakir, left off, Signal 9 arrives like an invitation to an otherworldly voyage. Each track marks another twist and turn in a journey across strange, captivating landscapes populated by creatures, crafts, and constructions whose like has never been glimpsed outside the band's idiosyncratic ecosystem.

Globensky, drummer Rémi Leclerc, and guitarist Bernard Falaise have expanded Miriodor to a quartet with the addition of bassist Nicolas Lessard as a full-time member. Accordingly, the band works like a one eight-handed, four-brained organism here, operating more organically and collectively than ever.

And while Miriodor often forges some of their heaviest sounds to date over the course of Signal 9, the album is also loaded with off-the-wall humor and some beautiful, contemplative melodic moments. The combination makes for some crafty contrasts, frequently flipping back and forth drastically from one mood to another multiple times within a single composition for a jarring-but-thrilling effect.

The album's opening track, "Venin" (French for venom), begins with what sounds very much like some sort of alien craft revving up for takeoff. The trip begins in earnest with a series of knotty, hard-hitting riffs that alternate with quieter passages and woozy seesaw-ride evocations, for a schizophrenic feel that's right in keeping with Signal 9's sense of dizzying sonic delirium.

The herky-jerky stabs of melody and rhythm that begin "Peinturé dans le coin" are followed quickly by a muscular but jazzy groove not a million miles from the dark, heavy Zeuhl style popularized by French prog legends Magma. "Transit de nuit à Jakarta" stretches strange, electronically manipulated sounds tersely across a syncopated sort of futuristic funk feel.

On "Portrait-robot," a King Crimson influence seems to come to the fore, via crushing guitar and bass riffs slamming up against a backdrop of orchestral-sounding keyboards. But the album's characteristic tongue-in-cheek humor comes into play when these ominous doings give way to a sudden onslaught of what could only be called circus music.

"Déboires à Munich" combines discordant guitar stabs with a hurtling rhythm, punctuated by shards of wordless, highly processed vocals and wobbling keyboards. Everything but the kitchen sink gets thrown into "Chapelle lunaire",  from doomy, apocalyptic throbbing to amiable jazzy ambles that recall U.S. jazz-rockers The Muffins, and some feverishly intense, intricate interplay between the men of Miriodor.

By the time the journey progresses to "Chapelle lunaire", all the sharp, unexpected transitions should come as a given. But that still doesn't prevent a touch of scintillating surprise when the track's lambent, jazzy guitar and keyboard lines rub up against markedly more arch, angular sonic tapestries. And the proceedings reach an apogee of idiosyncrasy with the twisted carnival sounds of "Gallinule d'Amérique," coming off like a circus band jamming with Frank Zappa and The Residents in a strobe-lit hall of mirrors.


After the relatively low-key respite of "Douze petites asperges," with its gentle, almost Tortoise-like post-rock textures, Signal 9's strange, stirring trip takes its final turn, as the ship starts coming in for a landing. The album's final track, "La ventriloque et le perroquet," opens up with what sounds like a pool of bubbling lava before leading into keyboard-led lattices of inviting weirdness, ultimately collapsing into a tower of Babel were manipulated voices become instruments on a pointillist canvas.

Once you return to your everyday life after emerging from the alternative universe of Signal 9, the whole album seems like some kind of fever dream you've just emerged from. But the big difference is that it's a dream you're eager to leap right back into again.

Once captivated by the music on Signal 9, you’ll not want to miss seeing this amazing band live. Miriodor will celebrate Signal 9’s release by touring Europe in September 2017, where they’ll perform at the Rock in Opposition Festival in Carmaux, France ; on a double-bill with Yugen in Milan (Italy), and at the FreakShow Art Rock festival in Wurzburg (Germany) in addition to playing at other European venues. Following its return to Canada, Miriodor will be performing in its Montreal hometown.


PRE-ORDER LINKS

ARTIST WEB SITES

MIRIODOR - TOUR DATES: 2017

Cap D'ecouverte
Le Garric 81450, France

September 22 IT La Casa di Alex
Milano, Italy

September 23-24      DE  Freakshow Art Rock Festival
Wurzburg, Germany

CHEER-ACCIDENT - Putting Off Death (CUNEIFORM RECORDS May 12, 2017)


Chicago Avant-Prog Pioneers CHEER-ACCIDENT 
Return After a Six-Year Hiatus with Putting Off Death,
a Predictably Unpredictable Celebration of their
Unlikely Longevity and Tireless Originality


CHEER-ACCIDENT
Putting Off Death

STREAM/SHARE: "Immanence"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube

Cat. #: Rune 446, Format: CD / LP / Digital Download
Genre: Rock / Avant-Progressive
Release Date: May 12, 2017

Bands, like the human beings that comprise them, are mortal. Whether a group of neighborhood kids banging on instruments in their parents’ garages or iconic rock stars selling out the world’s largest arenas, their time on the planet is finite, their demise assured.

Against all the odds, in the face of an unstable record industry that never embraced their restless experimentation, Chicago avant-rock pioneers CHEER-ACCIDENT have survived to release their 18th album, Putting Off Death. More than 30 years after first joining forces, fellow eclecticists Thymme Jones and Jeff Libersher have faced down the inevitable and returned with a new set of songs that’s as unpredictable, exploratory and viscerally compelling as anything they’ve released over the course of their erratically evolving career.

Putting Off Death, with Libersher’s evocative cover painting, may suggest a sense of whiling away the hours until the final curtain falls, but sonically it’s more like a game of three-dimensional chess with the Grim Reaper.

The music is action packed and filled to the brim with living, breathing humanity. The band’s continuing hunger bleeds through in the music’s immediacy. As Jones says, “There's still something to prove.”

The band’s third release for Cuneiform follows in the elusive, meandering trajectory of their earlier work, which is always instantly identifiable if never quite definable. They’ve managed to conjure a unique collage of intricate prog, lush pop and experimental noise, drawing on the disparate influences of Pere Ubu, King Crimson, Can, Art Bears, Wire, early Genesis and Yes, and the more Baroque leaps of the Beatles and the Beach Boys without ever settling on a sound that could be definitively traced to any of them in isolation.

Following their previous release, No Ifs, Ands or Dogs, after a gap of six years, Putting Off Death is on the one hand simply an assertion that “We’re still here” from a band that never expected to be. CHEER-ACCIDENT continues to make vital, adventurous music after three decades despite - or maybe because of? - a revolving cast of collaborators (more than a dozen musicians are featured), a notoriety in uneasy balance with an accompanying obscurity, and a fair share of the kind of tragedies that have ended lesser (and maybe a few greater) bands, most notably the sudden death of guitarist Phil Bonnet of a brain aneurysm in 1999.

“I remember asking Jeff at that time how long he saw doing this,” Jones recalls. “I was kind of floundering and didn't really see us as having a band at that point, but he said, ‘It’s a till I die kind of thing.’ That inspired me to keep going, and it’s been a series of little moments like that, where we realize it’s still worth it somehow, ever since.”

In the unusually long span since the band’s last release, the music industry has undergone seismic changes, which led CHEER-ACCIDENT to question whether traditional albums were still the ideal platform for their music. In the meantime, they continued to write music until the seven songs that make up Putting Off Death revealed their thematic and musical coherence and virtually demanded to become an album.

Listening to the singular blend of invention and accessibility, challenge and chemistry throughout the new album, another meaning for Putting Off Death emerges. Complacency can be its own kind of death, one that CHEER-ACCIDENT defiantly laughs in the face of. Seeing too many so-called “progressive rock” bands become calcified by life-squelching technical perfectionism and virtuosity for its own self-congratulatory sake, Jones and Libersher have adhered to the forward-thinking definition of the term “progressive” while subverting and diverting from the genre with cleverness and abandon.


“Progressive rock has become really boring to me since it’s become a genre with a lot of rules,” Jones says. “Back when it first excited me there were a lot of questions being asked, and I like music that asks questions rather than just feeding people predigested styles like it was created in a lab. Even if something is musically complex, I need there to be a lot of humanity in it.”

The album’s epic opener, “Language Is,” presents the CHEER-ACCIDENT sound in microcosm, constantly shifting and transforming throughout its 11-minute length, frequently disarming the listener without ever becoming aggressively alienating. In its early moments it’s a lovely, lyrical piano ballad that becomes gradually complicated by staggered rhythms before erupting into an angular freneticism. That resolves into a droning, agitated ambience which veers briefly into an off-kilter approximation of jazz improvisation that coheres into a tense, stabbing horn fanfare that is finally corrupted in a static burst of aural entropy.

The song’s lyrics croon a theme that became inadvertently central to the album: the elusiveness of capturing the richness and complexity of the human experience through language, the inadequacy of words to communicate the full breadth of emotion. “Language is only the sound of what is no more,” Jones sings, a sentiment made even more potent in “Hymn,” which asserts that “Hemingway never wrote about shooting metaphors into his mouth.”

The lyrics for the latter song were written by keyboardist and vocalist Amelie Morgan, who doesn’t actually perform on the album – which points to a distinguishing characteristic of CHEER-ACCIDENT: there seem to be multiple, parallel incarnations of the band at any given time. One is a tight live group, which in its current incarnation has featured Morgan and bassist Dante Kester for the last several years; while the other is a more amorphous studio concoction, able to realize a more densely layered idea of what the band is.

“People who are used to a certain idea of what a band is might quickly get very frustrated with this approach,” Jones admits, “but it’s really been working well for the last decade or so. On stage we have a real band dynamic, but then there’s another stream of activity happening simultaneously.”

That more expansive definition of what a band can be also encompasses Scott Rutledge, who has been CHEER-ACCIDENT’s chief lyricist for more than 25 years. Rutledge co-wrote four of the new album’s seven songs with Jones, who calls him “a key figure in the CHEER-ACCIDENT world. I can’t imagine what it would be like if we hadn’t been working with him for all these years because I get too attached to the sound of a syllable and can’t write actual, meaningful words. We definitely consider him to be a member of the band.”

Rutledge’s contributions include the lively, dramatic “Immanence,” featuring the fervently alluring vocals of Carmen Armillas, the lyrics of which gave the album its title; the percussive “More and Less,” which sounds like the folk music of some alien tribe combined with an example of the band’s unique take on math-pop; and the jangling “Lifetime Guarantee,” a collision of rock anthem and Zappa antics. Jones’ “Wishful Breathing” is a further elaboration and abstraction of the Beatles’ tape-manipulation psychedelia, while “Falling World” tosses the band onto jagged shores lined with barbed-wire guitar.

As Jones suggested, these are songs that ask questions, ones that can only be answered in the mindspace of the receiver. Putting Off Death, he says, is “not a complete thought. It's a question awaiting an answer. It requires an audience with which to interface. Others' ears and minds are required to complete the story.”


CHEER-ACCIDENT have performed at numerous rock and progressive music festivals worldwide, including the acclaimed Rock in Opposition Festival (2013) in France. They recently shared the stage with Tortoise, and this summer they’ll perform two Chicago shows with Free Salamander Exhibit, who consist of former members of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (whom CHEER-ACCIDENT frequently played with in the past). To support Putting Off Death, CHEER-ACCIDENT’s Summer 2017 tour schedule will include numerous shows throughout the USA, including concerts in Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and other Midwest cities, in addition to a tour of the East Coast. They’ll also be performing in Europe; on Sept. 15, 2017, CHEER-ACCIDENT return to France to perform again at the Rock at Opposition Festival.

PRE-ORDER LINKS

ARTIST WEB SITES

CHEER-ACCIDENT - TOUR DATES: 2017

June 16 USA Dreamland
Louisville, KY

June 17 USA The Pilot Light 
Knoxville, TN

June 20 USA Infinite Room
Columbia, SC

June 21 USA Nightlight
Chapel Hill, NC

June 22 TBA
June 23 TBA

June 24 USA Rhizome
6950 Maple St NW
Washington, DC

July 29 USA Shafly Tap [with Yowie]
St Louis, MO

July 30 USA Record Bar [with Free Salamander Exhibit]
Kansas City, MO

July 31 USA Beat Kitchen [with Free Salamander Exhibit!]
2100 W. Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60618

August 1 USA Radio Radio
Indianapolis, IN

Cap D'ecouverte
Le Garric 81450, France

September 16 FR TBA
Lyon, France

September 17 FR TBA

September 19 FR Mora Mora 
Orleans, France

September 20 FR TBA
Metz, France

September 22 DE Freakshow Art Rock Festival 
[with Poil and Le Silo]
Würzburg, Germany

September 23 CH OFF
Basel, Switzerland

Bubblemath - Edit Peptide (CUNEIFORM RECORDS May 26, 2017)


Fifteen Years in the Making, Minnesota Eclectic Prog / Avant-Pop / Technical Metal Quintet BUBBLEMATH’s Sophomore Sequence Edit Peptide
Proves a Worthwhile Wait with its Frankenstein’s Monster-Formula of Lively Textures, Wacky and Virtuosic Musicianship, Hypnotically Robust Vocals, and Charmingly Astute Attitudes.


Bubblemath
Edit Peptide

STREAM/SHARE: "The Sensual Con"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube

Cat. #: Rune 434, Format: CD / Digital Download
Genre: Rock / Eclectic Prog / Avant-Pop / Technical Metal
Release Date: May 26, 2017

Radical yet refined composer and songwriter Frank Zappa once remarked, "Progress is not possible without deviation,” and if he were alive to hear them, he’d almost certainly agree that Minnesota fivesome Bubblemath exudes his philosophy (and daring spirit) with every unconventional rhythmic change, off-the-wall timbre, and multilayered melody. Like 2002’s debut LP, Such Fine Particles of the Universe, the band’s long-awaited second sum, Edit Peptide, equates to a masterful medley of artful aural arithmetic. Blending the in-your-face intricacy of Between the Buried and Me and The Mars Volta with the eccentric experimentation of Mr. Bungle, the dense and poppy harmonies of Umphrey’s McGee and Echolyn, the symphonic vibrancy and tongue-in-cheek foundation of Beardfish, and the forceful fluidity of Bent Knee, The Dear Hunter, and Emanuel and the Fear, Bubblemath ensures that the sequence builds upon itself with enough intriguing discipline to make Fibonacci proud (you know, if he listened to this kind of thing).

The current Bubblemath line-up (vocalist/keyboardist Kai Esbensen, vocalist/drummer James Flagg, vocalist/guitarist Jon Smith, guitarist/keyboardist Blake Albinson, and bassist Jay Burrit) came together in 1998. Naturally, they recognize that having so many years between albums could be—as Esbensen jokes—“[an] advantage or a detriment. Maybe both!” He reflects that the group originally thought it’d be “a breeze” to follow-up Such Fine Particles of the Universe, an album that won them 86,000 MySpace followers and Minnesota Music Academy’s "2002 Best Eclectic Recording” award. However, a series of setbacks, ranging from "broken equipment, to broken promises, to loss of funding, to loss of partners and pets and parents, to incompatible mix engineers, to extended sabbaticals, to extended medical emergencies," made it difficult to accomplish that ambition. Add in the fact that "for several years, [they] were only able to commit about three hours a week to working on the album," as well as various issues regarding engineers and recording quality, and it's easy to see why Edit Peptide gestated for so long. In reaction to the skepticism of devotees, Esbensen jovially declares, "We absolutely weren't crying wolf! We wouldn't wish this kind of delay experience on our worst band-enemies. Not that we have band-enemies. But if we did, we would not wish it on them!" Ultimately, the lengthy hiatus did prove positive, though, as it allowed "all five of [them] to become better musicians" who are capable of yielding a more striving, unpredictable, and colorful collection. They couldn't be prouder of it.

Cleverness has always been a cutting part of the Bubblemath brand, and Edit Peptide keeps the blade sharp. Just as their moniker “is a tip of the hat to the branch of physics that deals with the mathematics being the surface tension of bubbles,” the name of the LP “relates to the idea that music and ideas can modify body chemistry through emotion.” Esbensen adds, “We like the name because we have a penchant for chemistry and physics . . .also, it’s a palindrome, which ties into our penchant for recursion and wordplay.”



Along the same lines, several of the track titles contain subtle wordplay, and while Esbensen doesn’t want to reveal the best ones yet (“We want to give people a chance to discover it for themselves”), he’s happy to give a few hints. For instance, "Routine Maintenance" toys with its common connotation by making “routine” a noun instead of an adjective to conjure both “the maintenance of routine itself, and the importance of being attentive and taking action in order to maintain one's sanity throughout the ebbs and flows of the daily grind.” Later, "Perpetual Notion" tells the tale of “a man who is always falling for investment scammers . . . peddling a perpetual-motion / free-energy machine,” while “Making Light of Traffic" examines “people who gather to observe a shimmering light that appears nightly on a heavily forested horizon.” Without actual investigation, they proffer all sorts of explanations—such as it being “a ghost . . . [or] alien technology”—while skeptics undermine those inferences by “putting forth equally untested claims of rare natural phenomena.” In the end, though, it turns out to just be car lights driving down a far-off highway. In this way, Bubblemath evokes the elaborate storytelling of, say, Camper van Beethoven. 

Such concepts need extremely fitting lyricism to soar, and luckily, Edit Peptide is bursting with it. Throughout the disc, the quintet channels the various social commentaries of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club with lines like “Routine, where there’s no distinction between the unwholesome and unholy motions of the everyday machine” (“Routine Maintenance”) and “See the perfect people in that ad. They leave you longing for the things you lack. That artificial wish’ll drive you mad.” Elsewhere, they provide subtly smart quips like “Can’t we all just get a lawn? No, we’re not gonna take any mower” (“Get a Lawn”) and “Sell out, compromise, hacking each human right down to size. Trespass, intervene, shut your eyes to what you’ve never seen” (“The Sensual Con”). From beginning to end, Edit Peptide captivates with its words alone.

Of course, the arrangements are arguably the most important part of any record, and Bubblemath “edits the hell out of all your peptides” by fashioning one of the most complex yet alluring sequences you’ll ever hear. Pieces like “Routine Maintenance” and “Perpetual Notion” explode with the biting riffs of Metallica and the grandiose zaniness of Native Construct, never letting up as they shift movements with an array of gripping melodies and timbres (including flutes, pianos, and miscellaneous effects), keeping your ears glued and your jaw dropped. In contrast, “Avoid that Eye Candy” and “A Void That I Can Depart To,” while still immensely decorative, are lighter in tone, focusing mostly on luscious yet quirky interlocking harmonies (although the latter piece also incorporates some ‘80s synth vibes and death metal vocals, a la Haken’s recent Affinity). There’s even a warm jazz-fusion aesthetic to “Making Light of Traffic” (thanks mostly to spurts of saxophone and a major sense of freeform playfulness), plus a staggering amount of rhythmic dexterity and dynamic temperamental deviations throughout “Destiny Repeats Itself.” (Seriously, just try to count all of the time signature changes.) As clichéd as it is to say, there’s not a dull moment on Edit Peptide, as each second offers an exuberantly exhaustive sonic pool in which to swim.

It's not often that a band releases a new album after such a long hiatus—we’re looking at you, Tool—let alone something that exceeds expectations beyond fans’ wildest dreams (still looking at you, Tool!). Somehow, though, Bubblemath has done just that with Edit Peptide. By conducting so many divergent styles, refining their songwriting and compositional skills, and most of all, sticking to their guns when it comes to crafting highly challenging and adventurous, but also quite hypnotic and welcoming, tunes, the quintet proves just how perfectly a band can fuse the familiar and the fresh. As rewarding as any record by any of the aforementioned analogous acts, Edit Peptide also stands as its own idiosyncratic statement of purpose and possibility, making it an invaluable tool to conquer both the stagnancy of mainstream music and the absurdity of the world around us.


PRE-ORDER LINKS

ARTIST WEB SITES

BUBBLEMATH - TOUR DATES: 2017
June 10 USA The Nest
715 W St. Germain St
Saint Cloud, MN