The Squid's Ear Magazine


Seabrook / Cleaver / Cooper-Moore: In The Swarm [VINYL] (Astral Spirits)

The second album from guitarist Brandon Seabrook's Trio with Gerald Cleaver on drums & pulsating & punctuating electronics, Cooper-Moore providing massive and unconvential bass sounds on his Diddley Bow, and Seabrook himself playing banjo in inexplicably rapid and staccato runs or electric guitar with eccentric effects; rip-roaring, sometimes surreal, absolutely superb!
 

Price: $18.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

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

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Brandon Seabrook-guitar, banjo

Gerald Cleaver-drums, electronics

Cooper-Moore-Diddley Bow


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




Label: Astral Spirits
Catalog ID: AS193LP
Squidco Product Code: 32355

Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: USA
Packaging: LP
Recorded at Menegroth, in Queens, New York, in July, August and Septe,ber, 2021, by Colin Marston.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Few bands in improvised music seem to generate more palpable sonic friction than Brandon Seabrook's trio with Cooper-Moore and Gerald Cleaver. The group produces a seriously tactile, almost psychedelic sound: the gut-punch of drums, the rumbling twang of diddley-bow, and the slashing, brittle crunch of electric guitar. On Exulations, the trio's 2020 debut album on Astral Spirits, these sounds coalesced into gritty, propulsive improvisations possessed of an almost three-dimensional physicality.

Those rhythmic and melodic fragments came together with puzzle-piece logic, like an aural Rubik's cube, but one that never stopped moving. On the trio's hotly anticipated follow-up In the Swarm, the group has broadened its timbre with Seabrook's banjo and Cleaver's electronics, and they've upped the ante with some thrilling post-production maneuvers that either further expand the sonic palette or turn the modus operandi upside down."-Astral Spirits



"With electictic instrumentation including a banjo and a diddley-bow (the primitive one-string contraption that sat at the heart of early blues), you might expect this session to be some kind of front-porch country-folk jam. YouÕd be wrong Ð unless the locale in question was famous for its backwoods psychedelics lab and experimental FM radio station. The opening title track announces the trioÕs wayward intentions with Seabrook coaxing crystalline tones from the banjo with a bow before hunkering into crabbed, brittle fretwork full of crazed detail, while Cooper-Moore (usually known, of course, as a pianist) supplies a wonky, lumbering diddley-bow bass line and Cleaver rides an insistent rim-shot rhythm. Add clouds of rumbling electronics and weÕre a long way from Kansas, Toto.

On ÔVibrancy Yourself,Õ Seabrook switches to electric guitar Ð treated with a weirdly muffled modulation Ð chopping out jagged gashes that lead the Ôbow and drums into a discordant, Beefheartian clatter. ÔCrepuscule of CleaverÕ digs even deeper, hocking up a sickly yellow puddle of robot vomit while the rhythm section flails in jerky, stop-start abandon. Proof, if any were needed, that all three musicians are among the most daring and versatile currently operating in creative music."-Daniel Spicer, JazzWise


Get additional information at JazzWise

Artist Biographies

"Described by Spin Magazine as "An apocalyptic, supersonic general of the banjo..." Brandon Seabrook has made a name for himself in the New York avant-garde music scene as an explosive guitar and banjo performer, relentlessly committed to immediacy and precision.

Seabrook honed his terror-inducing riffage skills at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He has since performed extensively in North and South America, Mexico and Europe, as a solo artist, bandleader and collaborator. He has been summoned by the likes of Anthony Braxton, Elliot Sharp and Joey Arias for his unpredictably spiked approach to improvisation and impeccable caterwauling. He has been profiled in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Magnet Magazine, Fretboard Journal, NPR and The Wire.

Seabrook Power Plant, the nuclear trio donned "a manic clusterfuck of merciless banjo torture" by the Village Voice, is Brandon's brainchild, blending the brutal energy of punk-rock with the intricate execution of through-composed avant jazz. The band has released two albums to much critical acclaim. Time Out New York praised the band's eponymous debut as "not only one of the most baffling experimental releases of the year... also one of the best."

Brandon is an accomplished solo artist, named Best Guitarist in New York City by the Village Voice 2012. In 2014, New Atlantis Records released his first solo album titled Sylphid Vitalizers. Noisey called the album a "dissonant guitar army...(with) mind-blowing prog-rock complexities - all at mind-numbing breakneck speed."

Brandon is currently working on two new albums with his noise-prog trio, Needle Driver and a new sextet featuring immoral, percussive compositions under the name Die Trommel Fatale. This recent work is a poly-rhythmic exploration of the dark side of the drum, layering cello, bass, electronics, voice and guitar against dichotomous drummers."

-Brandon Seabrook Website (http://www.brandonseabrook.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

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

"Gerald Cleaver (born May 4, 1963) is an African-American jazz drummer from Detroit, Michigan. Cleaver's father is drummer John Cleaver Jr., originally from Springfield, Ohio, and his mother was from Greenwood, Mississippi. Gerald had six older siblings. Cleaver joined the jazz faculty at the University of Michigan in 1995. He has performed or recorded with Joe Morris, Mat Maneri, Roscoe Mitchell, Miroslav Vitous, Michael Formanek, Tomasz Sta ko, Franck Amsallem and others.

Under the name Veil of Names, Cleaver released an album called Adjust on the Fresh Sounds New Talent label in 2001. It featured Maneri, Ben Monder, Andrew Bishop, Craig Taborn and Reid Anderson and was a Best Debut Recording Nominee by the Jazz Journalists Association. Cleaver currently leads the groups Uncle June, Black Host, Violet Hour and NiMbNl as well as working as a sideman with many different artists."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Cleaver_(musician))
3/13/2024

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

"As a composer, performer, instrument builder/designer, storyteller, teacher, mentor, and organizer, Cooper-Moore [b. August 31, 1946] has been a major, if somewhat behind-the-scenes, catalyst in the world of creative music for over 40 years. As a child prodigy Cooper-Moore played piano in churches near his birthplace in the Piedmont region of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. His performance roots in the realm of avant jazz music date to the NYC Loft Jazz era in the early/mid-70s. His first fully committed jazz group was formed in 1970 - the collective trio Apogee with David S. Ware and drummer Marc Edwards. Sonny Rollins asked them to open for him at the Village Vanguard in 1973, and they did so with aplomb. A studio recording of this group was made in 1977, and issued as Birth of a Being on hatHut under Ware's name in 1979 (re-mixed and re-issued in expanded form on AUM Fidelity in 2015!). Following an evidently rather trying European tour with Ware, Beaver Harris, and Brian Smith in 1981, Cooper-Moore returned home and completely destroyed his piano, with sledgehammer and fire, in his backyard. He didn't play piano again until some years after, instead focusing his energies from 1981-1985 on developing and implementing curriculum to teach children through music via the Head Start program. Returning to New York in 1985, he spent a great part of his creative time working and performing with theatre and dance productions, largely utilizing his hand-crafted instruments. It was not until the early 90s, when William Parker asked him to join his group In Order To Survive, that Cooper-Moore's pianistic gifts were again regularly featured in the jazz context. In the early 'aughts the group Triptych Myth was his own first regular working jazz group in decades and together they blazed some trails and released two albums: one rich formative, and one exquisite. A destined creative re-union with David S. Ware in the Planetary Unknown quartet, the Digital Primitives trio with Assif Tsahar & Chad Taylor, and continued work with William Parker followed. Cooper-Moore's creative life continues well-strong and unabated into the present day. He will be/was the Lifetime Achievement Honoree at the 22nd iteration of Vision Festval, NYC on May 29, 2017."

-Aum Fidelity (http://www.aumfidelity.com/cooper-moore.html)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. In The Swarm 5:25

2. Subliminal Gaucheries 5:10

3. Vibrancy Yourself 5:11

4. Crepuscule Of Cleaver 5:16

SIDE B



1. Adrenaline Charters 6:03

2. Seething Excitations 5:29

3. Aghastitude 10:08

4. Of The Swarm 1:09

Related Categories of Interest:


Vinyl Recordings
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings
Guitarists, &c.
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
Astral Spirits.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Three-Layer Cake (Mike Pride / Mike Watt / Brandon Seabrook)
Stove-Top [GREEN VINYL]
(Rarenoise Records)
Circumventing pandemic lockdowns, the trio of Brandon Seabrook on guitar, banjo & tapes, Mike Pride on drums, marimba, glockenspiel, bells & organ and Mike Watt on bass recorded their contributions in separate studios and file-shared to create this genre-merging album of free improv, rock, experimental and inexplicable forms; an inspired and seriously unique album of challenges overcome.
Seabrook, Brandon
brutalovechamp
(Pyroclastic Records)
Looking to create a sound realm that would reflect more life and less process, NY guitarist/banjo player Brandon Seabrook takes his 8-piece ensemble Epic Proportions on a truly epic journey through "lyrical melodies, dynamic improvisations and manic counterpoint", showing great evolution and development as a contemporary composer and player; "Brutal is beautiful".
McLaughlin, Elijah Ensemble
III [VINYL w/ DOWNLOAD]
(Astral Spirits)
The third album in Chicago 6- & 12-string guitarist Elijah McLaughlin's numbered album series of original compositions, rich flowing works of lyrical textures augmented with environmental field recordings and tape loops, performed with Jason Toth on upright bass, Katinka Kleijn on cello, effects, Joel Styzens on hammered Dulcimer and Adler Scheidt on piano.
Mazurek, Rob & Exploding Star Orchestra
Lightning Dreamers [VINYL]
(International Anthem)
Led by trumpeter Rob Mazurek with Damon Locks (Black Monuments Ensemble), Jeff Parker (Tortoise), Nicole Mitchell, Gerald Cleaver, Angelica Sanchez, Mauricio Takara and Craig Taborn, this compact version of Exploding Star Orchestra performs Mazurek's deep space and wide-ranging electric jazz compositions, including a side-long, immersive journey evoking spirits past, present and future.
Three-Layer Cake (Mike Pride / Mike Watt / Brandon Seabrook)
Stove-Top
(Rarenoise Records)
Circumventing pandemic lockdowns, the trio of Brandon Seabrook on guitar, banjo & tapes, Mike Pride on drums, marimba, glockenspiel, bells & organ and Mike Watt on bass recorded their contributions in separate studios and file-shared to create this genre-merging album of free improv, rock, experimental and inexplicable forms; an inspired and seriously unique album of challenges overcome.
Cleaver, Gerald
22 / 23 [VINYL VIOLET OPAQUE]
(Positive Elevation / 577 Records)
A journey through a diverse set of genres and styles of electronica, influenced by the New York drummer & composer Gerald Cleaver's native Detroit upbringing, bringing out elements of techno and house music tempered by his improvisational, experimental and avant work; 11 tracks with solid rhythmic foundation in both propulsive and contemplative approaches to electronic composition.
Trujillo, Juanma / Kenneth Jimenez / Gerald Cleaver
Contour
(Clean Feed)
Recording in Brooklyn, the trio led by Venezuelan guitarist Juanma Trujillo, with Costa Rican bassist Kenneth Jimenez and New York drummer Gerald Cleaver, merge avant jazz, heavy rock grooves with a Sonny Sharrock flavor, and abstract almost chamber jazz, a fascinating combination of contrasts that keeps the boundaries of their contours flexible and masterfully unpredictable.
Novoa, Eva
Novoa / Kamaguchi / Cleaver Trio - Vol. 1 [VINYL CLEAR]
(577 Records)
Spanish pianist based in NYC Eva Novoa has since 2017 led this international but definitely NY-oriented piano trio of Japanese bassist based in NY Masa Kamaguchi and drummer Gerald Cleaver, here in her first album on 577, her sixth as a leader, presenting eight Novoa compositions of restlessly probing, dynamically interactive and inherently melodic free improvisation.
Cleaver, Gerald / Brandon Lopez / Hprizm
In The Wilderness [VINYL]
(Positive Elevation / 577 Records)
Drawn from an experimental improv performance by drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Brandon Lopez at 577 Records' 2019 Forward Festival, electronic artist and producer Hprizm of the Antipop Consortium took those recording to reconstruct twelve works of illusory and often surreal music, from active beat-based electronica to hazy dreamlike ambience.
Moten, Fred / Brandon Lopez / Gerald Cleaver
S/T
(Relative Pitch)
Fred Moten, prolific poet, theorist, critic, English Professor and 2020 MacArthur Fellow, provides the insightful and incisive text fueling the improvisation of New York drummer Gerald Cleaver and contrabass player Brandon Lopez, the synergy of Moten's words reminding of Gil Scott-Heron or Amiri Baraka; issued on LP by Reading Group, this CD edition adds two tracks.
Mela, Francisco feat. Cooper-Moore / William Parker
Music Frees Our Souls, Vol. 2 [VINYL]
(577 Records)
The second volume of Music Frees Our Souls, the trio of Francisco Mela on drums, Cooper-Moore on piano and William Parker on bass, recording in the studio in Brooklyn two extended, far reaching and powerful collective improvisations of music performed under the influence of Mela's work with, mentorship by and encouragement from pianist McCoy Tyner.
Ibarra, Susie / Tashi Dorji
Master of Time [VINYL]
(Astral Spirits)
Commissioned for the Tang Museum's "The Second Buddha: Master of Time", the duo of percussionist Susie Ibarra and guitarist Tashi Dorji envision the legendary figure Padmasambhava, who brought Buddhism to Tibet, through two extended improvisations of close communication and tight interaction, including gamelan-like percussion and unusually tuned guitar abstractions.
Blaser, Samuel
7th Heaven
(Between The Lines)
Based in New York at the time of this recording, Swiss trombonist and composer Samuel Blaser's quartet with Thomas Morgan on double bass, Gerald Cleaver on drums and Scott Dubois on guitar explore rhythmic and tonal approaches to improvisation, bridging modern compositional forms with traditional jazz in energetic playing of an engagingly relaxed mood.
Flying Luttenbachers, The
Imminent Death [VINYL 2 LPs]
(God Records)
The ever-shifting lineup of jazz/no-wave/avant/aberrant improvisers The Flying Luttenbachers, anchored by drummer Weasel Walters, brings multi-reedist Matt Nelson, two guitarists (Brandon Seabrook & Henry Kaiser), bassist Tim Dahl and Brad Laner on synth for an aggressively informed and excitingly unpredictable album of superb playing and possibly bad intention; recommended!
Tullgren, Lina / Alec Toku Whiting
Unfamiliar Ceilings
(Astral Spirits)
The duo of improvisers Lina Tullgren on violin and Japanese koto player based in Boston Alec Toku Whiting, joined on one track by Ted Reichman on synthesizer & pedals, Reichman also recording these studio sessions, as the duo apply unsual techniques with an ear toward sonic assault and unexpected twists & turns, particularly some especially aggressive interaction on "Polly Chainsaw".
Carter, Daniel / Matthew Shipp / William Parker / Gerald Cleaver
Welcome Adventure! Vol. 2
(577 Records)
The 2nd of two studio albums from the quartet of Daniel Carter on saxophone & flute, Matthew Shipp on piano, William Parker on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums, recordings from the same sessions as the 1st volume with five shorter works, as the long-time collaborators and friends show their nearly telepathic rapport in adventurous and masterful modern jazz.
Cooper-Moore & Stephen Gauci
Conversations Vol. 2
(577 Records)
The second of two volumes from legendary Downtown NY pianist Cooper-Moore and saxophonist Stephen Gauci, recorded after a seven-month residency at Happylucky No. 1 Gallery in Brooklyn, allowing the two players to develop a natural dialog of unique and idiosyncratic approaches to their instruments, resulting in these seven solid recordings freely improvised in the studio.
Cleaver, Gerald
Griots [VINYL]
(577 Records)
Drummer Gerald Cleaver continues his explorations in electronic music, taking his compositions of modular electronics, synthesis, FM tones, and muted drum machines into intricate and wide-ranging territory, compelling through the solid and natural rhythms he imparts to each piece, many of which are titled for musicians who have influenced him.
Hprizm
Signs Remixed [BLACK VINYL]
(577 Records)
577 Records' experimental, electronic sub-label Positive Elevation releases this remix of Gerald Cleaver's Signs album, itself an innovative album of synthetic rhythms and sonic landscape, here reworked by producer Hprizm, aka High Priest of Antipop Consortium, channeling Cleaver's work into dream-like territory that re-thinks and re-paces the original.
Abrams', Joshua Cloud Script
Cloud Script [VINYL]
(RogueArt)
Double bassist Joshua Abrams provides the compositions for this studio album performed with Ari Brown on tenor sax, Jeff Parker on guitar and Gerald Cleaver on drums, an exceptional quartet of master improvisers who balance lyrical and soulful playing with explorative impulse, fueled by an empathetic responsiveness that only a long history of collaboration can engender.
Cooper-Moore / Stephen Gauci
Conversations Vol. 1 [VINYL]
(577 Records)
The first of two volumes from legendary Downtown NY pianist Cooper-Moore and saxophonist Stephen Gauci, recorded after a seven-month residency at Happylucky No. 1 Gallery in Brooklyn, allowing the two players to develop a natural dialog of unique and idiosyncratic approaches to their instruments, resulting in these 6 commanding recordings freely improvised in the studio.
Carter, Daniel / Matthew Shipp / William Parker / Gerald Cleaver
Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1 [VINYL]
(577 Records)
After decades playing together, the quartet of Daniel Carter on tenor sax, trumpet & flute, Matthew Shipp on piano, William Parker on bass, and Gerald Cleaver on drums, release the first of two planned studio albums, with two extended and remarkably warm collective excursions bookending a shorter "Scintillate", in an exceptionally solid album of masterful modern jazz.
Seabrook, Brandon (w/ Cooper-Moore / Gerald Cleaver)
Exultations
(Astral Spirits)
The title aptly describes the intense excitement and exhilaration of NY guitarist Brandon Seabrook's second trio album on Astral Spirits, performed with rhythm giants Cooper-Moore on Diddley Bow (a single-string bass) and free jazz drum legend Gerald Cleaver, the two creating a percolating interactive foundation for Seabrooks powerfully expressive and investigative playing.
Cleaver, Gerald
Signs [VINYL + DOWNLOAD]
(577 Records)
Taking his cues from the electronic music of his Detroit roots, free jazz drummer Gerald Cleaver presents an album of synthetic rhythms and sonic landscape, each piece composed in detailed arrangements of compelling and adventurous structures, from propulsive grooves to sinuous soundscapes, a surprising and exciting twist showing Cleaver's strong compositional skills.
Flying Luttenbachers, The
Imminent Death
(ugEXPLODE)
The ever-shifting lineup of jazz/no-wave/avant/aberrant improvisers The Flying Luttenbachers, anchored by drummer Weasel Walters, brings multi-reedist Matt Nelson, two guitarists (Brandon Seabrook & Henry Kaiser), bassist Tim Dahl and Brad Laner on synth for an aggressively informed and excitingly unpredictable album of superb playing and possibly bad intention; recommended!
Digital Primitives
Lipsomuch & Soul Searchin' [2 CDs]
(Hopscotch Records)
The trio of saxophonist Assif Tsahar, drummer Chad Taylor and multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore in the 3rd Digital Primitives release, rhythmic and soulful improvisation with an inventive New York attitude.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC