The debut CD by this Brooklyn-based skronk jazz trio will appeal to fans of No Wave/"brutal prog" outfits like the
Flying Luttenbachers as well as the work of players like
Marc Ribot or
Sonny Sharrock. The instrumentation -- twanging electric guitar, tenor or soprano saxophone, and drums -- is stripped to the bone, and the arrangements are part rockabilly, part out jazz/free improv, and part noise-rock. Bandleader Alban Bailly's guitar tone is somewhere between
Ribot and
the Minutemen's D. Boon, while Dan Scofield knows every way to make the soprano saxophone pierce the listener's eardrums (and he's not bad when he picks up the tenor, either), and drummer Eli Litwin clatters and thuds in the back. The mix gives each player more or less equal space; the sound is raw and dynamic, with the drums a meaty thwack and the guitar and saxophone battling for dominance. At the midpoint of "Hardi," things get so furious it sounds like the music is going to distort into waves of static, but the band hovers just shy of the brink of total abandon. The only downside to the record is that the compositions are pretty monochromatic and samey; it's hard to distinguish one piece from the next, and while 10 or 15 minutes of this stuff is bracing, 48 minutes may be more than most listeners need. ~ Phil Freeman