Jazz / Post-Bop; Contemporary Jazz
Recorded: Jan 26, 2006-Apr 8, 2006
Sean Noonan - electro acoustic drumset
Thierno Camara - electric bass, percussion, (5) vocals
Marc Ribot - electric guitar
Aram Bajakian - electric guitar
Jon Madof - electric guitar
Mat Maneri - viola
Abdoulaye Diabate - (2,3,5) vocals
Susan McKeown - (3) vocals
Dawn Padmore - (8) vocals
Jim Pugliese - percussion
Thiokho Diagne - djembe
These stories might be told, but don't think they're easy listening, by any means. Working with a core band that includes Marc Ribot, drummer Sean Noonan doesn't make his music particularly accessible. "Scabies," for example, churns out sharp shards of guitar that are so dense as to be almost impenetrable. But it's an album with many facets, like the Africanisms of "Massana Cisse" or the vocals of Abdoulaye Diabate, who's outstanding on his three cuts, or "Noonbrew" with the delicious voice of Susan McKeown. It's a record that very much pursues Noonan's vision, complex and twisted as it is, and there can be beauty in the chaos, as in the guitar/viola duo on "Dr. Sleepytime," possibly the scariest lullaby ever recorded. Definitely not for casual listeners, it's a record that demands attention from your ears and brain, one that falls outside any definition -- which is a good thing
---Chris Nickson, allmusic |
