matana roberts: 'coin coin' and other things

Cool, that sounds great! I'm going to try and go.

I just got hip to "Coin Coin" in the last few months, probably becuz if you had told me that one of the best jazz records in recent memory was coming out on Constellation my eyes would have rolled so hard they would have fallen out of my head and out into the street where they would have tripped people, but so the record is amazing.

https://dpi.studioxx.org/en/no/31-music-and-politics/other-side-coin-coin-matana-roberts’-river-run-thee

Chapter 4 coming in October.

I saw Matana in a church in east London yesterday evening. It was mostly a modular synth set with a few bits of organ and some (not enough!) bluesy sax. It wasn't entirely successful: the bed she set up wasn't that interesting and the weird sound mix meant we couldn't really hear her. Some of this was intentional 'drowning' of voices (I think) but it was an odd set-up. There was a section where she started a call-and-response, with the audience intoning 'our souls'; this being east London, it quite quickly became 'arseholes', which detracted from the mood a bit. Who knows - perhaps it was meant to be a Derek and Clive tribute?

Short version: lovely venue, a pleasure to be in her company, not entirely successful.

https://matana-roberts.bandcamp.com/album/coin-coin-chapter-four-memphis

friday!

I like what I've heard from it

so ready for this!

I'm listening to Gris Gris by Dr. John for the first time in a while and I'd forgotten just how much Coin Coin Chapter 1 calls back to this record. "Danse Kalinda Ba Doom" is the obvious one but there are bits from "Danse Fambeaux" in there as well.

I'm listening to Gris Gris by Dr. John for the first time in a while and I'd forgotten just how much Coin Coin Chapter 1 calls back to this record. "Danse Kalinda Ba Doom" is the obvious one but there are bits from "Danse Fambeaux" in there as well.

I'm not going mad right - the references are pretty obvious?

I’ll be able to give a close listen once the long weekend is over…

It's not an exact quote, but I think you're right that 'I Am' refers to Kalinda- it makes too much sense to be a coincidence.

Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden... is coming out at the end of this month and it's fucking incredible.

https://matana-roberts.bandcamp.com/album/coin-coin-chapter-five-in-the-garden

Pretty stunning list of personnel:

Matana Roberts (composer / horns / harmonicas / aux percussion / vocal / wordspeak)
Mike Pride (drums / aux percussion / vocal)
Matt Lavelle (alto clarinet / pocket trumpet / tin whistle / vocal)
Stuart Bogie (bass clarinet / clarinet / tin whistle / vocal)
Cory Smythe (piano / vocal / tin whistle)
Mazz Swift (violin / vocal/ tin whistle)
Darius Jones (alto sax / tin whistle / vocal)
Ryan Sawyer (drums / aux percussion / vocal)
Gitanjali Jain (text collage)
Kyp Malone (synths)
Jaimie Branch (Courage 1983-2022)

I can't even describe it. Listening to it on headphones is like having your brain hijacked and hearing someone whisper their (nightmarish) story directly into your mind. I'm including it in my Stereogum column though it is in no way a "jazz" record — it's ultra complex theatrical art that has a few saxophone solos.

It's a stunning record, perhaps the best in the series to date. To declare an interest, I wrote the promotional copy, so I had the privilege of hearing it early and talking to Matana in depth about it. But I can honestly say that it's an incredible piece of work. The interplay between Matana and Darius Jones is incredibly powerful - he brings the really raw, expressive stuff, while Matana is more lyrical. It's interesting you say it's not a jazz record as such. Matana was keen to emphasise its roots in new music practice, the influence of Cage, Cunningham, Amacher et al. Hopefully that's something that they'll get to elaborate on in forthcoming interviews.

can't wait

Love their new album and loved the Tone Glow interview: https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tone-glow-108-matana-roberts