JOYFULTALK - Familiar Science - I canât resist description like âa rousing feast of noise-tinged polychrome electronic avant-jazzâ
JOYFULTALK returns with its third album for Constellation; another vibrantly divergent stylistic take on the analog materiality and sensibility of electronic composer-producer Jay Crocker, whose previous two records forged trance-inducing polyrhythmic intricacy, each from a distinct angle and sound palette, each enlisting a single instrumental collaborator. Familiar Science rallies contributions from a larger cast of musicians into a looser, cosmic recombinant comboâstill shot through with JOYFULTALKâs singular mixing desk kinetics, but this time deep-diving into gnarled and twisted, spliced and diced out-jazz. Crocker draws inspiration from 1980s M-Base music and Ornette Colemanâs harmolodic funk period, while his own prior history as an improv guitarist also resurfaces for the first time in many yearsâan element in this polyvalent artistâs chemistry set that hasnât appeared prominently in his own music for over a decade. Familiar Science finds Crocker folding time (as lockdown will do), immersed in his present-day kaleidoscope of solitary art and music practices in rural Nova Scotia, while channeling his former life as a bustling jazz collaborator in Calgary, Alberta. Building outwards from roiling resampled acoustic drums, Crocker extracted additional sonic and rhythmic textures, then formed the head of each song using dusted-off archival recordings and his own bass, keys and midi sequencing. Albertan percussionists Eric Hamelin (Ghostkeeper, Chad Vangaalen) and Chris Dadge (Lab Coast, Alvvays) provided improvised drum tracks to be chopped and harvested; Nova Scotia-based Nicola Miller (Ryan Driver, Doug Tielli) laid down resplendent excursions on saxophone and flute; Crockerâs own dexterous guitar appears on several cuts. Familiar Science also poignantly features samples from live recordings by the late Calgary saxophonist-iconoclast Dan Meichel, catalysing some of the albumâs heaviest contortions. Crocker weaves all these raw materials into exuberant compositions that blur the line between sizzling corporeal combo and sampledelic futurist jamz, variously conjuring (leftfield) Flying Lotus, (later) Tortoise, BADBADNOTGOOD and Squarepusherâs Music Is Rotted One Note. The rubbery hyper-compression of boom-bap opener âBody Stoneâ initiates the sĂŠance, and the album offers a panoply of skittering grooves and soaring melodic pathways thereafter, through quags of heady jazz alternately streaked with dayglo delirium and other more vaporous states of revelry. Crockerâs own wordless stacked vocals are the giddy secret sauce on several cuts, and his lead guitar work (in kinship with the lean progressions of Mary Halvorson or Jeff Parker) features on âTake It To The Graveâ, âStop Freaking Out!â and the albumâs title track. More honeyed passages on songs like âBlissed For A Minuteâ and âBallad In 9â center around Nicola Millerâs buoyant alto sax and flute. Familiar Science is a rousing feast of noise-tinged polychrome electronic avant-jazz: richly harmolodic compositions teeming with intersecting textures and turbulences; exploratory, exhilarated and indeed joyful. Thanks for listening. Jay Crocker ⢠Guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, electronics and vocals Eric Hamelin ⢠Drums Nicola Miller ⢠Alto saxophone, flute Dan Meichel ⢠Tenor saxophone Chris Dadge ⢠Drums Kyle Cunjak ⢠Upright bass
