Colin Stetson - New History Warfare pt 2: Judges

it has tons of melodic and rhythmic repetition, in a way that should definitely make sense to anyone with electronic/dance music ears

Damn

Yeah this is cool.

this is great stuff, just heard it for the first time last week, it gets better and deeper with each listen

new one: so far, so good

find it strange that nobody's commented on this already, but then ILM's shift to house and rap exclusivity is almost complete so I barely expect anything else

here's yer stream: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/21/177495625/first-listen-colin-stetson-new-history-warfare-vol-3-to-see-more-light?sc=fb&cc=fmp

I'm interested, just been too busy to check it out yet. Thanks for reminding!

super super competent
but can't help but feel a bit let down on this one, on my listens so far.

only a matter of time until 'brute' ends up in some manic dubstep mix.

I didn't listen to this cuz the idea of all the celebrity guest vox turned me off

the laurie anderson guest spots are pretty cringey, but it really doesn't take up much of the record

oh lol wait so there's a new one? nm

hmm so yeah this first track -- who is that singing? I don't hate this, but I'm a little tired of the abundance of exuberant close harmony singing I've been hearing lately in indie stuff

this is good though. I think he belongs much more to steve reich/bang on a can and to the new agey end of noise than he does to jazz or free jazz.

the singer is the bon hiver guy unfortunately

was intrigued by the prospect of a new stetson LP until I heard that bon iver was doing vocals on some songs. maybe I'm awful, but there it is.

W/e I will still listen to it. I have never knowingly heard a note of BI

I listened to it a lot when NPR was streaming it and really enjoy it. I wouldn't say that I love the vocals but I didn't see them as a problem at all. The Bang on a Can comparison makes sense to me. I hadn't seen this thread before. I had no idea that people compared him to Evan Parker. That comparison seems pretty wrong to me, unless Parker has some more pattern-based work that I'm unfamiliar with.

heard this in other music the other day and ended up buying it; the first time i've bought a record due to hearing it in a shop in years. didn't notice any evan parkerisms.

this is real raw/feel good shit, the new one. i think bon iver is only on a couple tracks. it reminds me of phillip glass, but sort of a blues take. kinda mono-themed. it sounds nothing like evan parker

some of the saxophone stuff sounds like an upright bass. i don't know if he close-mics parts of the instrument, or if there's extra-instrumental layering or what, but at times it recalls a cello sound or something deep, bowed. think of john cale's electrified viola, loose, looping repggios driving the tunes.

err, repggios

the bon iver dude sounds like tv on the radio or some shit. generic. fuck, fleet foxes, all that shit blends in. i guess bon iver got a signature sound or whatever, but i don't recognize it. sorry, bad tangent.

there's some resonant, affecting, hear my train-a-coming shit on this new one. or maybe that's thom yorke

I should probably get into this dude.

The big criticism of Stetson isn't that he sounds like Evan Parker but that he's using the same techniques to do something 'less interesting' or 'less valid' (ie free improv). The trouble with this attack on Stetson is that it ignores his real innovation, which is in recording and mixing the multiple channels from a single take by the use of lots of contact mics - which are placed all over his instrument, him and the room. This is how he ends up with such a massive sound on what is, ostensibly, a solo live saxophone album with a guest vocal. But some critics are all too happy to ignore this because it stands in the way of what they feel they have to do, which is to sneer at an 'indie guy' doing it all wrong.

The Bon Iver guy ruins the new one for me though.

waaaaaaaay too much bon iver. i feel like i'm slighting stetson by being so dismissive, but that guy's fey voice is such a turnoff for me. not so much on that song where he screams, but his voice is just incapable of doing the same kind of heavy-lifting as a laurie anderson or a shara worden.

http://youtu.be/Tu9Qj1ZekSI

i think it's stetson on "brute" ... not sure if that's the song you're referencing tho

it's bon iver on "brute". i think his voice works really well on that one, possibly because i'd never have known it was his voice if i hadn't read it on the sleeve.

Listened to this yesterday and I think I prefer it over pt2. Amazed at how diverse it is, but I also find it kind of painful to listen to - not because of the skronking sounds (I quite like those) but because I know playing like that must surely and slowly be killing him. As such sometimes listening to this guy is like listening to the sounds of an abattoir where animals are slaughtered for the sake of food (that may well be delicious all the same).

huh, i didn't even notice bon iver on this one - thought it was all the better off for having fewer guest spots than the last one and spotlighting his incredible ability as a player instead.

This reminds me of the Holden album in terms of the size of the sound and the textures it explores.

Is playing like this going to "surely and slowly be killing him"? At all?

colin's hale and healthy as hell. does lots of yoga. very disciplined. looks after himself.

Yeah, he looks pretty damn well.

I saw him play back in June, he looked gooooood.

It is super hard on him, though. Wouldn't be surprised if this is him at "the height of his powers" but that we've got up to ten more years at this level

Haven't heard anything else by him, but Judges astounds me!

http://devonrecordclub.com/2013/09/30/colin-stetson-new-history-of-warfare-volume-2-judges-round-54-toms-selection/

holy shit volume 3 is heavy, the singing parts maybe not so much

Yesterday I had the pleasure of transcribing all of Bon Iver's parts on vol. 3 for a children's choir. Today I have the dubious pleasure of having those parts stuck in my head

If I was to produce a Colin Stetson record there would be no guest vocals

i dunno, is diamanda galas still doing thing?

Laurie Anderson's vocals on volume 2 were excellent.

otm. it's not the presence of vocals that bugs so much as the vocalist chosen.

It might delight you to learn that Mr. Stetson just paid me for my work with two pounds of deer meat

Haha! Did you raise the possibility of producing his next one or even collaborating? A man can dream

I can well imagine Stetson fitting some kind of sonic amplifier to his sax & heading out into the snowy wilds in search of prey

If I was to produce a Colin Stetson record, I'd write "no guest vocals" on a chalkboard, fire myself and hire those able people he normally works with (Hecker, Ismaily, Frost)

so you're bon iver is what i'm getting from this

Not to pop the joke, but we can only yearn for a world where Bonny Bear took such a principled stance

Me, I like Justin's contributions. Transcribing his vocal parts I'm blown away by the timbre of his voice-- so many overtones! he sings like a C3-- and also a looseness to his phrasing. Obv I'm a big stan for Laurie and Shara. My desire for "no guest vocals" is greediness on my part, want an uninterrupted 45 minutes of nothing but Colin's own singing and blowing, maintain a unified sonic world, something that reflects the ascetic, disciplined nature of his practice