Gearbox Records – Queen City Sounds and Art

Chihei Hatekayama and Shun Ishikawa Unite Summery Tranquility With Wintry Introspection in the Ambient Soundscapes of “M6”

Japanese ambient artist Chihei Hatekeyama and jazz drummer Shun Ishikawa released the album Magnificent Little Dudes Vol. 1 on May 24, 2024 via Gearbox Records to great acclaim. The second volume in the series is due out later in 2024 but for now you can hear the sprawling, meditative single “M6.” The impressionistic, drifting piano work against the backdrop of a harmonic tonal shimmer sounds simultaneously like an expression of droplets of sunlight on the ocean on a bright and calm summer day and of drifts of blowing snow catching the light of a full moon. That dual atmospheric resonance manifests as a sound both tranquil and tactile, soothing and enigmatic. It feels more iterative than simply repeating like a loop and that is what catches your attention without interrupting your thoughts. Listen to “M6” on Spotify.

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Binker & Moses Process Maximalist Free Jazz Into Minimalist New Dub Ambient on “Accelerometer Overdose”

Binker & Moses, band photo from Bandcamp

“Accelerometer Overdose” finds London-based jazz duo Binker & Moses not only laying out some kosmische free jazz instrumental interplay but the processing of the performances throughout sends you even further out. Loops of sax and some processing on drum signal and low end brought back in as processed samples both makes you wonder where you are in the music but also engaged to want to follow where it goes before it fades into space. The process transforms maximalism into minimalism, tangible concrete and organic musical forms into an electronic ghost of those living on like a crumbling fractal hologram and giving the meaning of the music a different dimension of meaning than when it first starts out as though saying that the illusion of perfection, of virtuoso performance can be cooler when it is built to break down in ways not entirely under anyone’s control into the chaos of infinite decay. It is the free jazz equivalent of when Mission of Burma would perform live and Martin Swope would take part of the live show into a tape machine and feed it back through the P.A. and warped dub style including an echo of the final notes into analog signal slow burnout taking the audience out of regular time. Listen to “Accelerometer Overdose” on YouTube and connect with Binker & Moses at the links provided. Look for the new album Feeding The Machine due February 25, 2022 via Gearbox Records.

Binker & Moses on Bandcamp

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“Feed Infinite” by London Jazz Group Binker & Moses is a Modal Act of Resistance to Today’s Spirit of Malaise

London jazz duo Binker & Moses brought in honorary third member Max Luthert to reassemble raw acoustic recordings of sax and drums in the studio. Saxophonist Binker Golding and drummer and composer Moses Boyd went in with no planned material and after Luthert’s treatments of the exercise in spontaneous composition the resulting track “Feed Infinite” (out now on Gearbox Records) comes off focused and fluid. It’s reminiscent of mid-60s post-bop, free jazz in the ways Boyd accents the beat and keeps the rhythm flowing with both contemplative minimalism and maximalist urgency later in the song. Golding brings a light touch to his tonal figures early in the piece as well before launching into elaborate and energetic modal passages with an expressive flourish to match Boyd’s pacing. It’s a beautifully synergistic piece that when assembled this way takes advantage of electronic touches and sounds that help bring out a contemplative mood that can turn quickly to a spirit of creative rebelliousness and resistance to the doldrums and resignation to mediocrity in life under late capitalism. The energy of the performance is the opposite of the malaise one might understandable feel these days. While tapping a bit into older jazz traditions the aesthetic is well placed in modern electronic music and the avant-garde with micro-dynamics that flow and evolve in a manner suggestive of free association. Listen to “Feed Infinite” on YouTube and connect with Binker & Moses at the links below.