Crypto Musings

Via Chicago

Hey, take a look at this Giant Pin review from the Chicago Tribune:

No single album contains the breadth of guitarist Nels Cline's talents, but "The Giant Pin" makes an excellent introduction to the solo work of Wilco's newest member. Cline has been making records since Wilco's leader Jeff Tweedy, was in grade school, and he can dish out straight-ahead jazz, tooth-powdering rock, corroded country and western, and amorphous ambient soundscapes with equal facility.

The latest effort by his ironically named instrumental trio is an impressive work that weds jazz's harmonic sophistication to rock'n'roll's physical impact without short-changing either genre.

If that last line doesn't make it in to the promotional brochure, then slap my ankles and call me Mandy.

Liebig: He's No Turkey

In the spirit of the season, we'd like to give thanks to Greg Burk, reviewer, critic, advisor and musical gadfly at the LA Weekly. The man has chosen a good four Cryptonight concerts as "Jazz Pick of the Week" in the last few months, far out of proportion with the visibility and well-knownness of our humble series, and just this week he published a lengthy feature on resident composer / improvising contrabassguitarist / dad-of-kids-with-cool-names, Steuart Liebig. Click here to read the article.

Has anyone noticed that Burk is usually the go-to guy for either jazz or heavy metal? I guess certain subgenres do share SOMEthing...If you think about it, if you gave Ornette Coleman a distorted guitar and three packs of cigarettes a day, he'd basically be the excellent metalcore act Dillinger Escape Plan...

We didn't even have to ask...

This just in: Cryptogramophone is the featured label in download.com's music November 17th newsletter! Click here to read what the editors have to say about seven of our flagship artists, and download free, full-lenth mp3s. It's worth a visit just to see the picture of Scot Ray with a toilet plunger on his head.

And by the by, I'm going to hear Nels Cline play with Wilco tonight. Anyone with me? We can have a tailgate party in the Wiltern parking lot and blast The Giant Pin from our car stereos. 

International Relations

I recommend Darek Oles as the new Secretary of State. He is an emblem of the contemporary globalized world, a white Polish man with a profound love and respect for an art form created by African-Americans. He is the Barack Obama of jazz, or at least the Arnold Schwarzenegger. And initial reports from France's RCV 99 fm demonstrate that the rest of the world is embracing Darek as one of their own--the radio station recently added "Time Cafe," a duet with Brad Mehldau on the new Cryptogramophone album Like A Dream, to their playlist. Keep in mind, the track was sandwiched inbetween Jeff "Tain" Watts and Anthony Braxton, a few tracks after Grant Green, and a couple tracks before a John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman duet. On French airwaves, at least, Darek Oles is ranked alongside the greats. Will we be able to say the same thing about Condi?

Darek gives Downbeat a beatdown

Now that Yasir Arafat is dead, there's a golden opportunity for the Palestinians and Israelis to work together to find a solution beneficial to both. If we are to believe the most recent issue of Downbeat, the Knesset and the PA could do much worse than to emulate Darek Oles and Brad Mehldau's duo performances on Oles' new album Like A Dream. According to Downbeat reviewer John Ephland, "the simpatico between Mehldau and Oles is palpable." When's the last time you heard a report like that from the Middle East?

View the review as a jpg by clicking right here.

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Pitchfork sticks it to Nels

I am a CD review junkie, and today I took a massive hit as soon as I woke up: two of my favorite discs of the year, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's Of Natural History and the Nels Cline Singers' The Giant Pin were reviewed positively on my favorite online review site, Pitchforkmedia.com. Finally, the new disc will receive exposure from the indie types...Pitchfork fans will approach the disc expecting to hear more from Wilco's new guitarist, and they will end up thinking of Wilco as the new band featuring that guitar player in the Nels Cline Singers. Multi-platinum status in 5...4...3...

Check out the Pitchfork review here, and also do yourself a favor by checking out the Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, with occasional Nels mate (and current violinist for the Tin Hat Trio) Carla Kihlstedt.

Moving to Canada

As if I needed another reason to move to Canada now that the elections are over, Canadian radio station CFBX 92.5 FM included The Giant Pin in its list of top 10 jazz records. Based out of Kamloops, British Columbia, CFBX is one of a growing rank of stations falling in line. Be prepared for the radio onslaught, coming to an airwave near you in mid-January...

VOTE!!!! (Then buy)

An update on the neverending Nels Cline ass-kissing parade: there are two new reviews of the Nels Cline Singers' The Giant Pin, one from industry warhorse Billboard Magazine and the other from industry warpony One Final Note. If you would like to read the reviews, go back one sentence and click on the links that I provided. For those with less time on their hands, here's a synopsis: the new Nels Cline Singers album is good. Buy it from your local fine jazz emporium, or get it online here or here.

Thou shalt vote.

Please.