Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch

Absolutely one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. Mingus recognized it, and some say that he pushed even further than Coltrane, I'd say "why bother debating?". This is another one of those who would have changed everything if he had not died young, but he did.

Hella and Me

A few years ago, a good friend turned me on to a band called Hella, then a guitar/drum duo. As a bassist, I immediately felt the need to fill that gap (and test my skills, big time). So I recorded the whole album, except for D.Elkan and Brown Metal, and tried to get it done in as few takes as possible so i left some mistakes in that i liked. Over all i think the bass lines stay true to the songs and add a little something to the harmony and rhythm. Well, there's not much more I can say except that it was a pain in the ass and I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for being awesome.

Hella and me - Hold your horse is

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

The latest from the low flier, this time he brings it with a badass bassist, Thundercat a.k.a. Stephen Bruner. This album shows how much flylo's concept of time has changed in the past few years, with unquantized loops streaming freely over each other, you might get confused at times, but the pocket is ALWAYS there. This reminds me of Zach Hill's (Hella) "hidden pocket" technique, where the beats are not so easy to follow, so pay close attention to where the downbeats are. The impressive thing is that even though some songs are very intricate, they won't let you go.

A mi entender, esto no es un link a cosmogramma.

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

Released in 2008, Flylo returned with sweeter tones and even better progressions. He also lets us know how much he likes his synths. This album sets a darker and more melancholic vibe than it's predecessor.

Los Angeles

Flying Lotus - 1983

Debut album from the nephew of the man himself, John Coltrane. Without putting too much weight on the fact that he is so close to musical genius, Flylo has been known to produce some of the more interesting electronic/hiphop oriented music. I don't know if he has any musical training, but he seems to be able to go much further than the standard for producers of this genre. This is what happens when you soak in lots of music from Koji Kondo's Zelda compositions, Bruce Lee movie soundtracks, 70's orchestral works, Karlheinz Stockhausen's Elektroniche Musik, et cetera.

You might have heard some of his stuff while watching Adult Swim (I always asked myself who made those interludes).

1983

The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity?

Hands down, one of the best recordings ever. The maximum expression of The Bad Plus (and I include Tchad Blake). This is one of the albums that keeps me interested in music. Enjoy.

Esto no es un link ni pal carajo

The Bad Plus - Give

The sophomore album shows how this "jazz" trio (in essence, not so much in the popular term) has grown together and established a signature sound, a large credit goes to Tchad Blake (producer and engineer). In my opinion, by the time Give came out, The Bad Plus had already established themselves as the "revitalizors" of the jazz world, always sending a clear message of what they want to do with music; with covers of Ornette Coleman's "Street Woman", The Pixies' "Velouria", and Black Sabbath's "Iron Man".

The Bad Plus - These are the Vistas

The breakthrough first album from the trio that changed the game up for jazz musicians. Not only are they incredibly well trained musicians, but they make it a point to show their take on major influences with covers from Aphex twin's "flim", Blondie's "heart of glass", and Nirvana's "Smells like teen spirit" ( I would have much preferred "Lounge act", but it is what it is).

Ornette Coleman said there's something special that happens when these guys play together, and I agree.

Triosk meets Jan Jelinek - 1+3+1

The Australian electronic/jazz trio's debut album (2003). Jan Jelinek is a german electronic musician mostly associated with glitches and sampling. The electronic and jazz elements seem somewhat separate on this album, like jazz musicians experimenting within the borders of jazz form with electronic sounds in the background, as opposed to the integration demonstrated in the following albums, this is mostly due to the free drumming technique which was developed after this album. Moment Returns (2004) was released just one year later and already showcased a lot of progress in the concept of time and composition .

This album showcases good musicians interested in evolving and expanding their sound palette, it's a great step in the growth of these musicians, as demonstrated in the following albums.

Triosk meets Jan Jelinek - 1+3+1

Triosk - Moment Returns

Triosk was from Sydney, Australia. Born 2001, died 2007. This trio comes from two musical persperctives, jazz and electronic music (not trance or house, but as in sampling, resampling, and digital signal processing, etc.) and they were definitely good at both. Moment Returns is their second album.

This album has intense textures and fades in and out of beats that can actually be followed, most of the samples aren't in sync or quantized, add to that Laurence Pike's (drummer) ability to play without a time signature (perhaps inspired by Ornette Coleman's free jazz movement) and you've got no back beat to hold on to, it's great. On the other hand, songs like Love Chariot, Two Twelve are heavily rooted in the beat, balancing it out nicely.

Sit back, dim the lights, listen.

Triosk - Moment Returns