Cool review from Clifford Allen..... Chicago and the Bay Area might not be as far apart in terms of musical geography as one might expect. Both have developed fascinating levels of hybridization - in Oakland, this is steeped from the multi-disciplinary environment bred at Mills College. Chicago is equally cross-disciplined, with musicians exploring the meld of electronic/digital sound environments, psychedelia, noise-rock and composition to a remarkable degree. Multi-reedist/electronic artist Aram Shelton relocated from Chicago to Oakland in 2005 to study at Mills, primarily within the electro-acoustic realm, researching real-time alteration of improvised phrasing as a structural conceit, an approach that bleeds into his acoustic music as well. Stratic is one of his more recent collaborations, formed in 2010 with drummer Alex Vittum and keyboardist Michael Coleman. Both Coleman and Shelton employ electronics and live processing across a suite of nine untitled pieces on their self-titled and self-released debut. The final movement and the longest piece is a fine example, with damped percussive fragments splaying out into a cavalcade of frenetic breakbeats, limned by electronic glitches and oscillation from Coleman’s keyboards. Shelton’s alto enters thin and gritty, smeared and split apart through processing so as to be nearly unrecognizable. The trio drops out to leave Coleman unaccompanied in dusky keyboard repetitions, soon joined by Shelton’s splintered buzz. In the first movement, his fluttering curlicues are met by clicks and digital glitches, aggressively piling and contrasted by lilting whines before the trio arrives at incisive, stuttering motion. Vittum’s dry whorl is the key ingredient that shoves Stratic away from concept and into a funky, trippy freedom. On the third piece, he switches to singing gongs, their resonance altered to make a bent and quiet meditation, in concert with fuzzy, cool alto and Rhodes accents. Electronics and acoustic improvisation aren’t always the easiest of bedfellows, but Stratic makes an engaging cooperative case for the possible strength of this medium. Clifford Allen, New York City Jazz Record - Sept. 2013
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 00:42:40 +0000
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