The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - From The Stairwell [MP3][320]

From The Stairwell

Label: Denovali Records

Format: CD

Country: Germany

Released: 2011

Genre: Electronic, Jazz, Rock

Style: Dark Jazz, Future Jazz, Experimental

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Finally, a real future jazz with dark essence. One of the best modern jazzists, for sure. This band from Netherlands definitely (and finally) got the meaning of the real dark, well made jazz.

Heavy ambients, disturbing sounds and the best technique working together to provide an incredible experience.

Ripped from pure FLAC to 320Kbps MP3 files.

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With the third full length by the Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, the group pulls us away from the murky depths of Here be Dragons and suspends us in some dark chamber of unknowing and wonder. From the Stairwell takes that title as an idea and pushes it well in the music, with each song throwing you deeper and deeper into a mysterious space within the fabrics of shadow and darkness. By Past Midnight you lose concept of what we see as the world and you are utterly lost within this conundrum of a place.

Starting with the first track we see some of the common ideas of the Ensemble take form once more, but with a fresher perspective. Some of familiar elements soon outline the song; brush stroke drum patterns, enhanced by well timed Dub protection effects, along with the moody bass-lines and various free form and droning electronic elements. Then there is also great piano melodies, muted trumpet wails and the larger use of the beautiful female vocals they started incorporating soon after their debut.

Many of the songs revolve around free and echoing brass and wind melodies that mold smoothly through different moods as the rest of the ensemble expand and contract within chords and phrases. What I also liked was the stronger use of reverb-y and laid back guitar parts that give a soft, hazy sound to the whole group. Cocaine is a standout, starting with about 10 minutes of droning and free form collages of sounds and notes that slowly build in feel and force. The unsettling moods tightens and grows to the point where its overwhelming. Then... it all drops, leaving the deep and relaxed sighs, and a wonderful and calming string section that forms, establishes, and then finishes the song in a fade into utter bliss.

What I like most about this album is the sort of chamber jazz feel that makes its way into each of these bizarre and atmospheric arrangements. The stronger use of the horns and an overall tighter rhythm section gives this a fresh and unique feel, which is something I always liked about all their albums. They are always going for something new. That is so apparent in the other giant track on this album, which is also the album finisher. Past Midnight, being true to the name and idea, is a long epic of swirling sounds and instruments moving through echoing passages and builds. The last part of the song is just straight powerful droning electronic sounds and ominous horn lines as it tries to suffocate you within its atmosphere, as if the music trying its hardest to keep you within its grasp before you can be pulled away back into reality, as the album ends.

Review by Tier

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Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol.2: Judges [MP3][320]

New History Warfare Vol.2: Judges

Label: Constellation

Format: CD

Country: Canada

Released: 2011

Genre: Jazz, Rock

Style: Experimental, Ambient, Minimalist

Most of you friends probably won't like this album. Yeah, this album is dark, sad and claustrophobic.

All files are MP3 320kpbs compressed from pure FLAC.

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Most solo saxophone albums I've heard have two traits in common.  First, they generally pull heavily from free jazz, and, second, they usually play like a single continuous stream (at least within each track).  Colin Stetson's new album, which is largely a solo saxophone album (excepting some guest vocals on a handful of tracks), has neither of these traits.  It's emphasis on trance-like repetition is as far as can be from free jazz, and it's a very dense album.  Every song has numerous layers (not achieved through loops or overdubs), created by Stetson tapping the keys rhythmically, singing into the saxophone, and any number of other unconventional means of playing his instrument.

On the subject of singing into the saxophone, this is responsible for many of the album's most powerful moments, most notably on The Stars in His Head, which builds to a feverish emotional intensity through Stetson's wailing (all while he maintains a steady pulse underneath).

Where guest vocals are present, they are generally quite effective.  Laurie Anderson takes center stage on A Dream of Water, commanding attention with her characteristic spoken word.  Her performance is tense—individual lines are hurried, but are separated by long pauses.  A choice line: "There were strangers and con men."  Behind her, Stetson is appropriate urgent.  On Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes (a stellar cover), Stetson backs up the lyrics, beautifully sung by Shara Worden, by clearly sniffling with his saxophone.  Here, as elsewhere, Stetson brings his saxophone remarkably close to sounding literally human, to riveting emotional effect.

Some people whose musical taste I respect have described this album as messy and aimless.  I see it as very deliberately composed and structured, with a clear arc carrying across the album (but see my note below), so these criticisms have baffled me somewhat.  However, I believe I may have found some attributes of the album that account for it.  Most notably, there is a lot of sound here, doing many different things, all coming from one instrument.  Probably in large part because of inherent limitations of producing all of this sound from a single saxophone, very little is neatly delineated.  Sounds spill out over the sides, bleeding from one function to another.  All of the boundaries are blurry—there is no point where the sounds clearly stop serving one role and start serving another.  The album exists entirely in shades of grey in this respect.  I find the effect quite colorful, but I can see how it would come across as sloppy or messy to some listeners.

The one flaw that I do see with this album is that, by the end (about the final third), it starts to feel a bit repetitive.  The songs that end the album are not particularly of lower quality (though the highlights are congregated toward the beginning), but rather they rely on the very same tools as the earlier songs (see, for instance, how the sniffling effect reappears on the closer, in a less effective context).  These songs don't detract from the album so much as they simply don't add much.  By the end, an otherwise restless album has somewhat disappointingly settled into a static comfort zone.

Review by The_Irrealist

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