Held on the Tips of Fingers, Polar Bear, 2005, :42
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Never heard of this album or the band; apparently bandleader and drummer Sebastian Rochford is a big deal in jazz circles. If Tom Waits were a jazz drummer, he’d make this album. It’s the musical equivalent of a carnival barker. Hints and riffs of Kurt Weil, middle eastern ragas, and metal slide in and out in turn. It’s all horns and percussion, out-of-time clonking and wailing and frenzied crashing. Dave Brubeck might wonder at what he hath wrought. There is at times a good deal of histrionic screeching. But I like histrionic screeching; others may not. Adventurous, eclectic, surprising, and reveling in it. It’s not all wonderful; the five-minute “Fluffy (I Want You)” is a bunch of weird creaking noises. I don't particularly like weird creaking noises; others may. Favorite track: “Beartown.”
