On Sundays I try to at least quickly note some of my favorite listening from the week prior — things I would later regret having not written about in more depth, so better to share here briefly than not at all.
▰ Apparently the Fire and Water Quintet, led by jazz pianist Myra Melford, originated as a project inspired by Cy Twombly, and the late artist remains the group’s source of orientation. Their new album, Sure Grand Out, is their third outing, and this track is my (current) favorite on it. Amazing lineup, with Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ingrid Laubrock (saxophones), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Lesley Mok (drums — seat originally filled by Susie Ibarra, who exited after the first album).
▰ Percolating synth stuff from Devonwho (Devon Fox is, I believe, his full name). The video (by Bryant Rutledge, aka Low Limit Vision), all these surveillance/quotidian snippets stiched together, is great, too. This (titled “high beams”) is from the forthcoming album TV2, on Leaving Records, a consistently excellent label. It’s due out in October.
▰ Expansive 45-minute excursion into dense, constantly shifting drone material from Shimmy-Disc label founder and former Bongwater member Kramer, aka Mark Kramer, here as Bonner Kramer. That’s Music for Pianos & Oceans, just out on August 28:
