The Squid's Ear Magazine


Mostly Other People Do The Killing : Disasters Vol. 1 [VINYL] (Hot Cup)

Each of the compositions from bassist Moppa Elliot for this trio version of MOPDTK with Ron Stabinsky on piano & synthesizer and Kevin Shea on drums & synthesizer, is named after a Pennsylvania town that has experienced a disaster, including floods, fires, nuclear meltdowns, &c, re-imagining each event through complex and surprisingly lyrical compositions.
 

Price: $15.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 24.00 units


EU & UK Customers:
Discogs.com can handle your VAT payments
So please order through Discogs

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Ron Stabinsky-piano, synthesizer

Moppa Elliott-bass

Kevin Shea-drums, synthesizer


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Liner notes by "Leonardo Featherweight"

Label: Hot Cup
Catalog ID: 201
Squidco Product Code: 31618

Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: USA
Packaging: LP
Recorded at Oktaven Studios, at Mount Vernon, New York, on June 18th, 2020, by Ryan Streber.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Each day, the earth generates numerous destructive and creative events, many of which go by unnoticed by humankind. Volcanoes erupt beneath the sea, glaciers advance and retreat, microorganisms mutate and adapt, yet only when these events disrupt our lives do we call them disasters. A disaster is an anthropological event measured in its human impact, avoidability or inevitability, and our response. Disasters lay bare our values and risk-acceptance: it is a choice to live in a flood zone, to extract natural resources, to rebuild, to make a free-jazz album... Mostly Other People Do the Killing has chosen to do just that: make audible the experience of disaster.

The partial meltdown of reactor number 2 at Three Mile Island in 1979, immortalized in the film masterpiece X-Men Origins: Wolverine by Gavin Hood, looms large in the high-cultural fabric of Pennsylvania. Bassist and composer Moppa Elliott's nuclear re-engineering of the bugaloo is audible in the contrapuntal melodic lines and finely honed electronic sounds, anticipating a future of [nuclear] fusion. Rather than explain the disaster, Elliott's composition imagines the event backwards, starting with the chaos and high-energy radiation of a nuclear meltdown and slowly achieves containment, as in the "bombs-in-reverse" sequence of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-5.

The epic quest for fossil fuels and disregard of human safety in order to procure them rarely has had more dire results than the total catastrophe of the Knox Mine Disaster in Exeter, PA, in 1959. Just days before Miles Davis would record his masterpiece, Kind of Blue, in New York City, miners deep beneath the Wyoming Valley edged too close to the bed of the mighty Susquehanna River and blasted a hole in it, not only flooding the mines, but ultimately ending anthracite coal mining in the region. As the river water rushed into the mine, forming a giant whirlpool, workers resorted to dumping entire train cars into the void in a futile attempt to simulate a bathtub plug. The absurdity and tragedy of this underground Icarus event leap to melodic life in Elliott's tune -- a film-noir dirge evoking the search for survivors in the subterranean darkness and murk before fading to black.

The violent meeting of two oil tankers in the waters of the Delaware river near Marcus Hook caused a Cleveland-esque fire on the surface of the bay, released thousands of barrels of fuel into the water, and engulfed many innocent bystanders. The submarine consequences of just such a toxic spill have been previously explored by Talibam! in their seminal opera, Discover AtlantASS, providing drummer Kevin Shea a second opportunity to explore this crude theme. Elliott first states the languid melody, evocative of the laggard progress of the great ships, before giving way to a hymn-like requiem for the oil industry itself and drawing parallels to other disastrous, interpersonal collisions and conflagrations.

Wilkes-Barre, the childhood home of pianist Ron Stabinsky, was dealt a tragic double-blow by fate. A few years after the mine flood in nearby Exeter, hurricane Agnes brought a second, above-ground deluge to further decimate the city. The floodwaters, after breaching the levee system and completely submerging the city, left high-water marks on buildings fifteen feet up that remain visible decades later. The members of MOPDtK achieve similarly high marks for their rollicking performance of Elliott's complex composition. Like a cloudburst, the music begins in media res, flows through several thematic sections evoking the trauma of the event, and ends with Stabinsky's plaintive cries as he yearns to return to his childhood innocence.

In the funeral march, "Boyertown," we can imagine the procession of mourners returning to the Rhodes Opera House where a fire consumed so many members of their community in 1908. An audience expecting to be awed by a performance including a stereopticon found itself trapped when the lighting equipment ignited and emergency exits were not accessible. The fuel for MOPDtK's burning tune comes from Elliott's arco bass melody and the orchestral percussion orchestrated by Shea evoking not only Chopin, Berlioz, and Waits, but the jazz funeral parades of New Orleans, habanera rhythms of Cuba, and the ponderous acceptance of their fate by the Pennsylvania townspeople.

The ongoing mine fire smoldering beneath Centralia, PA, since 1962 has served as the basis of numerous films and video games, the artistic media of our century. The five remaining residents of the town, unfazed by the inferno raging beneath their feet, live amidst the pungent, acrid fumes that constantly seep from the ground. Rather than dwell in the Alighierian aspects of the fire, Elliott's "Centralia" is a celebration of escape, as though the trio were triumphantly leading the evacuation from a collapsing Appalachian mining town while fire, brimstone, and economic despair rain down around them.

Disasters often leave loneliness and isolation in their wake, evoked here by the cosmic sound-scape created by Shea and Stabinsky while Elliott serves as a lone voice calling out in the darkness. Johnstown, PA, has been destroyed by flood three times in its history, and in the face of all reason, rationality, and learning, residents still return, drawn by its natural beauty and the possibility that this time might turn out differently. With an average of 44 years between the previous floods (the last occurrence took place in 1977) is the city is due for another?

We expect coal and oil to burn, but when our tap water turns out to be flammable, there has been a terrifying paradigm shift. The hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" in and around Dimock, PA, created just that situation, documented in the film Gasland, in which a homeowner lights the water coming out of a kitchen faucet. Like hydrocarbons suspended in solution just waiting for a spark, the members of MOPDtK explode and burn through a series of melodies so familiar that they may have been present in the bedrock of music for eons. The half-time section that ends this composition clearly bids the audience farewell with the hope that you have enjoyed Mostly Other People Do the Killing's disastrous new album!"-Leonardo Featherweight, May 2021


Liner notes by "Leonardo Featherweight"

Artist Biographies

"Ron Stabinsky recently released his debut album, Free for One, the culmination of more than a decade of evolving his improvised solo language. In addition to continuing to pursue his ongoing interest in solo piano improvisation, he enjoys working on music in a stylistically diverse array of situations throughout the United States and Europe with many other musicians and ensembles, including free-improvising saxophonist Jack Wright, bass trombone virtuoso David Taylor, Meat Puppets bassist Cris Kirkwood, and NEA Jazz Master David Liebman. Recent festival appearances include Newport Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Moers Festival (Germany), Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Austria), Outreach Festival (Austria), and Jazz and More Festival Sibiu (Romania). He is currently a regular member of the band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the new music ensemble Relâche, the Charles Evans Quartet, and the Peter Evans Quintet."

-Ron Stabinsky 10/11/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"A short biography from the artist:

I was born on September 13, 1978, the first son of David and Carolyn Elliott in Scranton, Pa. Incidentally, they named me Matthew Thomas Elliott, not Moppa. My parents are both college instructors and intense music lovers, so I was able to hear a lot of music growing up. After a brief introduction to the piano, I started to play the trombone in the sixth grade, and after deciding a few years later that I wanted to also play an instrument with strings, I was given an electric bass. When I was about 17, I fixed up my father's old acoustic bass in order to audition for a summer program. I then began to study the bass seriously with Pocono resident Tony Marino. In the fall of 1997, I enrolled in both Oberlin College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music majoring in biology and Jazz bass performance in Oberlin's double-degree program. While there I was able to record my first CD, Pinpoint and to gain some experience playing in Cleveland OH for about 3 years. I was also fortunate enough to teach at the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts for four summers. I finished school in the winter of 2001, and moved to New York City the following summer. Here in New York, I have been able to play and record with some great musicians and to continue teaching at St. Mary's High School."

-Moppa Elliott Website (http://www.moppaelliott.com/who.html)
10/11/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Kevin Shea is valued as being a vital and original artist in the contemporary music scene. Shea's originality is manifested not only by his personal approach to his instrument, but also throughout his constant search for new musical horizons unifying all the bands he has been involved in despite the parameters set for musicians by genre definition, or by historical icons.

The plurality of rigorous artistic aspirations and creative engagement that distinguish the discography of Kevin Shea are not the product of chance or merely taking advantage of opportunities -- but the result of labor, strong convictions, and a strong conceptual support -- a deliberate search for transitional territories away from the dogmas of boring and unnecessary conventions.

Shea's artistic interests are rooted in reevaluating what a band/music, musician/performer, artist and audience can and should be. Splitting the difference between passion and song, Shea plays multi-dimensional utopian sound in which opposing musical forces integrate to form a new sustainable recipe for sound and social implication. Remaining devoted to his belief that the application of sonic diversity is paramount to the appreciation of human diversity, Shea's ultimate goal has been to wed disparate ideologies through proficiency, controversy, inquiry, and compassion -- an approach perpetuating audiences, listeners, and sometimes fellow band members, to face, question, define, and attempt to defend their own level of tolerance and compassion head-on, no-holds-barred.

Through this carefully planned direct method in the round, Shea's sonic investigations emphatically traverse the mobius strip highway of refurbished canticles, perpetually climaxing between Sadean semelparity and Platonic resurrection. At the heart of Shea's dialectical core, unabashed artifacts of rhythmic iconoclasm conjoin with anthemic melody gestures and modern memory loss to create a vital force that gives us bittersweet contemplation and empathy.

As a youth, Shea moved throughout the States many times, transforming any of his formal expectations into a joyous foundation of constant flux. He learned that intuition and customs had to be constantly re-evaluated and negotiated rather than held as sacred. This process of questioning is central to Shea's music. To him, sound is a result of a broader process rather than formulas tied to notions of predictable emotional response. Shea sees sound and music, not as a prize, but a simple aspect of banal daily life.

Kevin Shea has over 25 years of experience as a professional drummer, composer and performer. He has recorded on over 120 albums in a mish-mash of contexts and has performed in over 40 countries. His training started in public elementary school and continued steadily through his college years at Berklee College of Music."

-Kevin Shea website (http://www.kevinshea.info/)
10/11/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. Three Mile Island 03:24

2. Exeter 04:27

3. Marcus Hook 05:22

4. Wilkes-Barre 05:26

SIDE B



1. Centralia 05:34

2. Johnstown 04:37

3. Boyertown 04:48

4. Dimock 05:05

Related Categories of Interest:


Vinyl Recordings
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings
Piano Trio (Piano Bass Drums)
Melodic and Lyrical Jazz
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions
Friends of Squid

Search for other titles on the label:
Hot Cup.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Nevai, Nandor
The Walls Of Song
(Psykomanteum)
A through-composed album of "Popular Brass & Military Songcraft" from composer, drummer and vocalist Nandor Nevai, in 9 original songs of cinematic vocals to the duo of bass trombones and a tonal percussion configuration including pedal timpani; and the world premiere of a previously unrecorded Krzysztof Penderecki instrumental conducted by Ron Stabinsky.
Nevai, Nandor (w/ Peter Evans / Tim Dahl / Matt Nelson / Ron Stabinsky)
Classified Maths
(Psykomanteum)
An unusual quintet of prominent New York improvisers--Peter Evans on trumpet, Tim Dahl on bass violin, Matt Nelson on tenor saxophone, and Ron Stabinsky on bass--performing Nandor Nevai's compositions: two Quintets and the two part "Sap Gloves"--Nevai performing on tenor sax, voice and conducting, blurring modern improv, chamber jazz and bizarre spoken word moments; outstanding and unsettling.
Nevai, Nandor / Peter Evans / Steve B / Ron Stabinsky
Trigesisextet for Brass + Gospel Power Walls
(Psykomanteum)
Two large-scale compositions from "Through-Composer of Brutal Classical" Nandor Nevai, scored for 35 brass players and a vocalist, accomplished through 10 layers of Peter Evans (trumpet, piccolo trumpet), 9 of Steve B (tenor trombone), 7 of Ron Stabinsky (bass trombone) and 10 of Nevai himself on tenor trombone & voice; plus "Gospel Power Walls" for a chorus of 5 (bad) people.
Lafkas, Andrew
Two Paths with Active Shadows Under Three Moons and Surveillance
(Sacred Realism)
Composer Andrew Lafkas' large ensemble piece with performers including C. Spencer Yah, Ron Stabinsky, Barry Weisblat, Sean Meehan, Ben Owen, &c. is a meditative work intended for live performance, this album the 2nd of 3 performances, a brooding and resonant rendering of rich and subtle detail that evolves over 70 minutes, carrying its listeners in a profound revery.
Millevoi's, Nick Desertion Trio (w/ Jamie Saft)
Midtown Tilt
(Shhpuma)
Leaning more towards rock than jazz, but blending compelling blues-based improv, NY guitarist Nick Millevoi leads his Desertion project through a look at Wildwood, NY, the core of the trio as bassist Johnny DeBlase (Many Arms, Sabbath Assembly) and drummer Kevin Shea (Mostly Other People Do The Killing, Talibam!), with Jamie Saft on organ throughout.
Mincek, Alex
Torrent
(Sound American/Pleasure of the Text Records)
NY Composer and Zs founder Alex Mincek's first release since 2011 also launches Sound American's Young Composer Portrait series, presenting 4 chamber works--"Pendulum VII"; selected movements from "Harmonielehre"; "Pneuma"; and "Torrent"--performed by Wet Ink Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, and Yarn/Wire, in a deluxe hardcover book package with interviews and notes.
Evans, Peter Quintet
Destination: Void
(More Is More)
The second release from NY trumpeter Peter Evans Quintet with Ron Stabinsky on piano, Tom Blancarte on bass, Sam Pluta on live electronics, and Jim Black on drums, an epic and amazingly sophisticated album based on Frank Herbert's novel of the same name.
Other Recommended Releases:
Nevai, Nandor / Peter Evans / Steve B / Ron Stabinsky
Trigesisextet for Brass + Gospel Power Walls
(Psykomanteum)
Two large-scale compositions from "Through-Composer of Brutal Classical" Nandor Nevai, scored for 35 brass players and a vocalist, accomplished through 10 layers of Peter Evans (trumpet, piccolo trumpet), 9 of Steve B (tenor trombone), 7 of Ron Stabinsky (bass trombone) and 10 of Nevai himself on tenor trombone & voice; plus "Gospel Power Walls" for a chorus of 5 (bad) people.
Elliott, Moppa
Jazz Band / Rock Band / Dance Band [2 CDs]
(Hot Cup Records)
An unusual conglomerate of styles across 2 CDs from bassist Moppa Elliott, featuring three bands: Advancing on a Wild Pitch, his jazz band with Danny Fox, Christian Coleman, Sam Kulik & Charles Evans; Unspeakable Garbage, his rock band with Jon Irabagon and Nick Millevoi; and the 9-piece "dance" band Acceleration Due To Gravity with Nate Wooley, Ava Mendoza, Mike Pride, &c.
Evans, Peter Ensemble (w/ Swift / Stabinsky / Lorenzo)
Horizons [VINYL]
(More Is More)
After a few years of working, touring and one-off performances in New York City with Mazz Swift (violin & voice), Ron Stabinsky (synthesizers) and Levy Lorenzo (percussion & electronics), trumpeter Peter Evans recorded this incredible album, a new direction in his work with small ensembles, incorporating electronics into his exceptional compositions for creative improvisation.
Nevai, Nandor (w/ Peter Evans / Tim Dahl / Matt Nelson / Ron Stabinsky)
Classified Maths
(Psykomanteum)
An unusual quintet of prominent New York improvisers--Peter Evans on trumpet, Tim Dahl on bass violin, Matt Nelson on tenor saxophone, and Ron Stabinsky on bass--performing Nandor Nevai's compositions: two Quintets and the two part "Sap Gloves"--Nevai performing on tenor sax, voice and conducting, blurring modern improv, chamber jazz and bizarre spoken word moments; outstanding and unsettling.
Mostly Other People Do the Killing
Paint
(Hot Cup)
The first release by the piano trio configuration of Mostly Other People Do the Killing features bassist/composer Moppa Elliott, pianist Ron Stabinsky, and drummer Kevin Shea, with each composition named after a small town in Pennsylvania that contains a color, and the town of "Paint, PA" lent its name to the title, with one apt Duke Ellington cover.
Lundbom, Jon & Big Five Chord
Jeremiah
(Hot Cup Records)
Guitarist Lundbom expands his Big Five Chord of Jon Irabagon (sax), Bryan Murray (sax), Moppa Elliott (bass) and Dan Monaghan (drums) to include Sam Kulik on trombone and Justin Wood (sax & flute) for a dynamic album of power jazz named after the prophet Jeremiah.
Mostly Other People Do the Killing
Slippery Rock
(Hot Cup Records)
Claiming to have been inspired by smooth jazz, the 6th MOPDTK album is a remarkable achievement of forward-thinking free jazz with a bizarre sense of humor and an irresistible love of poking fun at form while simultaneously paying homage.
Talibam! & Sam Kulik
Discover AtlantASS [CD & Graphic Book]
(Belly Kids)
NY's Talibam! team up with artist graphic artist Sam Kulik to tell the absurd and fantastic story of a young teen named Franklin who gets abducted by a revolutionary jazz fish into the undersea world of Atlantis.
Evans, Peter Quartet
Live in Lisbon
(Clean Feed)
Trumpeter Evan's Quartet with Ricardo Gallo, Tom Blancarte and Kevin Shea at the 2009 Jazz em Agosto Festival brilliantly restructuring jazz standards into collective compositions.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Swell / Tokar / Kugel
For The People Of The Open Heart
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
A meeting in Dortmund, Germany between the working trio of three masterful improvisers--New York trombonist Steve Swell, also on flute; Ukrainian double bassist Mark Tokar; and German drummer Klaus Kugel--recording 6 collective, spontaneous improvisations and Swell's "Child's Play", extending the concepts of the bass, drum and trombone trio.
Jones / Lash / Wastel
Meditating With The Father, Son, And Holy Ghost
(Confront)
An interpretation and reimagining of the opening track of Coltrane's Meditations, from the UK trio of Ed Jones on tenor & soprano saxophones, Dominic Lash on double bass and Mark Wastell on tam tam, gongs, cymbal & percussion, performed live at Cafe OTO in London in 2023, transforming the original recording's density into a slowly opening, evolving work of beauty.
Aspyrian (Porter / Gillen / Parkinson)
To Explore (Vol. 1)
(Hidden Threads)
A compelling and lyrical debut from the London-based trio Aspyrian of Robin Porter on tenor & soprano saxophones, Jack Gillen on guitar and Matt Parkinson on drums, the band name from Old English translating to "To search, explore, trace, discover, explain", which the band does with ebullient dexterity through seven original compositions from Porter and Parkinson.
Sun Ra And His Arkestra
Saturn XIII [10-inch VINYL]
(Presspop)
A collection of Sun Ra recordings from the 1970s to 80s, from a small pressings on Sun Ra's own Saturn label and now public for the first time - "Just Friends" live (alongside an unreleased, intimate living room solo recordings of the same), plus "Under the Spell of Love" from the Just Friends album, and a previously unissued and Sun Ra's only known recording of "Cherokee".
Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
Spirit Gatherer - Tribute to Don Cherry (DELUXE EDITION) [VINYL 2 LPs]
(Spiritmuse Records)
A tribute to jazz trumpeter & composer Don Cherry--a spiritual world traveler and influential free jazz trumpeter--performed by Chicago's equally spiritual Ethnic Heritage Ensemble led by percussionist Kahil El'Zabar with Corey Wilkes, Alex Harding, Dwight Trible, and the son of Don Cherry, David Ornette Cherry; sadly also an unexpected tribute to David Ornette's sudden passing in 2022.
Acrylic Rib, The (Albert Cirera / Olie Brice / Nicolas Field)
As Far as November
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Two intensely explosive and exciting improvisations captured live at AMR Geneva in Switzerland, 2021, from the trio of Albert Cirera on soprano & tenor saxophones, Olie Brice on double bass and Nicolas Field on drums & percussion, a masterfully controlled concert of ecstatic and extended free jazz frenzy that takes the trio far beyond this November concert!
Natural Information Society Community Ensemble
Since Time Is Gravity [VINYL 2 LPs]
(Eremite)
Expanding the rhythmically exuberant Natural Information Society led by Chicago bassist & guimbri player Joshua Abrams with core members Lisa Alvarado (harmonium), Mikel Patrick Avery (drums) & Jason Stein (bass clarinet), are Hamid Drake (percussion), Josh Berman & Ben Lamar Gay (cornets), Nick Mazzarella & Mai Sugimoto (alto sax & flute), Kara Bershad (harp) and Ari Brown (sax).
Archer, Martin (w/ John Jasnoch / Sarah Farmer / Lee Boyd Allatson)
Wasp Honey
(Discus)
After participating in the Birmingham Improvisors Orchestra, wind improviser Martin Archer, bass guitarist John Jasnoch and violin & electronic musician Sarah Farmer were joined in the studio by drummer Lee Boyd Allatson to record this mix of compositions, graphic scores and free improv, merging AACM-style free jazz with contemporary chamber-oriented improv.
Disorder At The Border w/ Tobias Delius (D'Agaro / Maier / Kaucic)
Kataklisma
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
The long-established trio Disorder At The Border of Zlatko Kaucic on drums, Giovanni Maier on bass and Daniele D'Agaro on saxophone & clarinet invitee multi-reedist Tobias Delius to perform this extended free improvisation, Kataklisma in four parts, captured live at the Brda Contemporary Music Festival, in Šmartno Goriska Brda, Slovenia in 2017.
Copland, Marc Quartet (w/ Gress / Verheyen / Ferber)
Someday
(Inner Voice Jazz)
Bringing together veteran bassist Drew Gress with younger generation players, Belgian-American saxophonist Robin Verheyen (Bram De Looze) and drummer Mark Ferber (Gary Peacock, Ralph Alessi), pianist Marc Copland's new quartet presents a lyrical album of original compositions and standards; virtuosic, energetic and sensitively interpreted works of modern jazz.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC