Tuesday, June 12, 2007

TODAY ON PTW

THE NELS CLINE SINGERS
"Confection"
from Draw Breath (Cryptogramophone)
The Nels Cline Singers have no singer; they’re, at least based on this evidence, a power trio with a thousand faces. Nels Cline’s shredding, Sharrockian reimagining of John Coltrane’s Interstellar Space (a duo with drummer Gregg Bendian) is perpetually fantastic, and 2006’s New Monastery, his tribute to recently deceased pianist Andrew Hill, was brilliant too. His work with Wilco pays the bills I bet, but it ultimately sounds and feels like sideman work. In any case, this latest Singers disc frequently brings Cline’s noisy side way out in front, as upright bassist Devin Hoff slaps and bows along beside him and drummer/electronics guy Scott Amendola whips the living shit out of his kit when he’s not emitting hums and buzzes and throbs like some kind of malevolent robot. [Read the rest here.]

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