A Sacramento resident and founding member of spazz rockers Hella, Hill is among the most accomplished and prolific drummers in the avant-rock community.  Yet before August, he had not achieved two of his oldest goals: transitioning into a bandleader and releasing a solo album.

With the release of Astrological Straits on Ipecac, Hill begins this new journey. Borne from a vision that dates back to when he picked up sticks, this solo life finds Hill changing how others view the role of drummers — as capable of being more than a melody-free cog in the musical wheel.  With Astrological Straits, Hill pushes the boundaries that other drummers-turned-leaders have set before him, and he does so in the form of a demented tech-pop oeuvre.

“Drummers don’t normally put out solo records unless it’s just drums, improvisation, or avant things,” he says.  “But in the sense of being a bandleader in the spirit of Frank Zappa or any of the great jazz bandleaders, it’s really not that common.  Very early on, a goal of mine was trying to achieve something like that.”

And though Astrological Straits is rife with high-profile guests — Les Claypool, Chino Moreno, and Marco Benevento are among them — Hill is the overriding force behind its direction, responsible for vocals, keyboards, guitars, basses, horns, and drums.

The hour-long opus, with a 33-minute freeform bonus disc, is an epic space-math conception. It draws from visionary artists like Devo and Captain Beefheart, laying warped, warbling, alien vocals over the majority of tracks, and employs squeaky effects evocative of electronic artists like Dan Deacon.

Its springing synth sounds, tweaked guitars, fuzzy bass, and convulsive drums lay a strange foundation for bits of classic instrumentation; notably, the saxophone and piano on “Tick On,” the penultimate track, result in one of the album’s most interesting stylistic convergences.

Yet despite Hill’s lengthy instrumental credits, listeners may be surprised to find that his influences are spawned primarily from non-drummers.

“There are so many amazing drummers that I’ve learned from, but I relate to the emotion of certain guitarists or composers,” Hill says.  “The emotion that they can convey through their instruments, I envy so much.  That stuff strikes such a deeper chord with me, but I’m a drummer.  There’s a certain lyrical quality to a more melodic instrument.”

That inspiration led Hill to experiment with harmonics on his drums, creating “inaudible” melodies around which he wrote other melodic parts.  And for as experimental as Astrological Straits is, it stands in stark contrast to Church Gone Wild, his solo effort as part of Hella’s 2005 double-disc release.  For Church Gone Wild, Hill penned a 59-minute, single-track noise jam; for Astrological Straits, which he jokingly refers to as “Church Got Dialed,” Hill scaled back the frantic freeform moments.

“In the past, if there was some crazy shit or some real alien thing going on, I would have been looser about it and more careless,” he says.  “On this album, I was very hands-on and particular about what I wanted to hear.  There are a lot of the same ideas, and in some ways I have a sound of my own, but I feel that I’ve refined [the sound] and what I’ve wanted it to be.  [Astrological Straits] is really intense, but dynamically, it’s a lot broader and a lot smarter of a record.  It’s a lot more advanced.”

And it’s that dichotomy that causes Hill to struggle with his musical creations.  His trademark free-spazz beats come naturally when he’s behind the kit, but when he’s pulled outside of his musical world, he often finds himself listening to more straightforward or poppy albums.  So for his proper debut album, he opted to make something to enjoy when he’s not that obsessive, zoned-in drummer — when he’s simply riding his bike or doing normal activities.

“It’s weird,” Hill says.  “Sometimes the way that I express myself isn’t parallel to the kind of music that I like to hear.  My personal taste is much different than 70% of the records that I’ve ever made.  It’s bizarre, because everything that I’ve made I love and I’m super proud of, but it doesn’t necessarily line up to my tastes.”

Thus Hill’s confliction between id and ego may ultimately define his legacy as a solo artist.  Known for his dozens of experimental projects and collaborations, and with another proper band in the works, the drumming prodigy plans to maintain his other efforts.

But he is already planning for his second solo recording, which could begin as early as the end of his summer/fall tour, set to feature the Astrological Straits material.  To be orchestrated with a live band that uses samplers, sequencers, and keyboards to fill in the blanks, that tour could captivate audiences with its unorthodox presentation.  More importantly, however, it could redefine Hill as an artist.

“Horn players and guitarists — people like Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, and Ornette Coleman — are so expressive,” he says.  “That goes back to that attitude when you start playing the drums: ‘No, you have to stay in this small fucking box, just chopping wood out there so that other people can do their thing.’

“There’s so much to do with [drums] that hasn’t been done yet; the roles can be reversed.  You can’t do anything outside of the box on the drum set — or go freeform in a pop-structured song — without someone going, ‘Drum solo!’  But if you’re a guitar player or a horn player expressing yourself in free time while others are holding it down, it’s some brilliant shit.  In my mind, that just equates to brainwashed propaganda.”

Bob Log III

For 15 years, Bob Log III has knocked out fucked-up, floor-stomping rhythms for adventurous show-goers, performing in full-body cannonball suits with a telephone-receiver mic fastened to a motorcycle helmet.  His one-man-band MO consists of crazy blues riffs, drum-machine beats, solo kick-drum rhythms, and steel-stringed slide guitar.

True to form, My Shit is Perfect is quintessential Bob Log with elements of stop-start timing, lighting-fast picking, and mostly incomprehensible lyrics.

Gouseion: More Friends for the Fire EP (Run Riot)

Electronic producer Cassidy DeMarco returns with another release as Gouseion, purveyor of buzz-saw synthesizers and big beats.  For this EP, DeMarco stresses backing harmonies and scales back the power of his drum samples, resulting in a dancier mix whose appeal reaches beyond raves.

Released less than six months after his last full album, Nijikon, this EP is a digital-only release.

Gouseion: "We're in High School"
Gouseion: \"We\'re in High School\"

Bushman's Revenge: You Lost Me at Hello (Rune Grammofon)

Led by the down-tuned riffs of Even Helte Hermansen, the guitarist for the outstanding Norwegian prog-jazz group Shining, Bushman's Revenge filters a heavy rock trio through the lens of an improvisational jazz outfit.

The group cites inspiration as much from Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix as Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler, and You Lost Me at Hello oddly sounds a bit like all of it, even if it leans on the first two.  Boundless free jazz meets structured rock and roll on the album, which comes recommended for fans of both styles.

Pulling Teeth: Paradise Illusions / Paranoid Delusions (Deathwish Inc.)

Punching in at five songs and 23 minutes, this doubly themed release takes hardcore group Pulling Teeth in a crushing and despairing direction.  The group's full-throttle tempos, speed picking, push beats, and wailing solos are still present, but the final product is a more-complete, ominous concoction that adds a few melodic breakdowns.

Rahim AlHaj: Ancient Sounds (UR Music)

Iraqi political refugee Rahim AlHaj found asylum in the USA in 2000, finally free of the torture and imprisonment that he suffered at the hands of Saddam Hussein for aligning himself with anti-Hussein groups.

A master of the oud, AlHaj now lives in New Mexico, where he was able to vote last November for the first time in his entire life.  His beautiful Arabic style, full of microtones and complex rhythms, has taken small elements of Western structure over the years, although this duet recording with sarod master Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is rather traditional.

Stinking Lizaveta: Sacrifice and Bliss (At a Loss)

Splashing together prog rock, math rock, stoner/psych rock, and bits of Eastern flavor, Stinking Lizaveta accomplishes quite a bit for having a semi-standard rock-trio lineup.  Guitarist Yanni Papadopoulos shines with his technical and diverse creations, and he adds keyboards and theremin as sonic supplements.  Sacrifice and Bliss comes strongly recommended for instrumental-tech-rock geeks.

Jazz bassist Melvin Gibbs is an extremely diverse musician, and this musical diversification is exemplified by his new project, Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity.

Hailed by some as the "best bassist in the world," Gibbs expands his palette further on his forthcoming record, Ancients Speak, including tastes of Brazilian hip hop and African Yoruba culture.

In a conversation with contributor Joe Kurowski, Gibbs discusses Brooklyn's influence on his music, the effects of a trip to Brazil, and his time as the world-music buyer at Tower Records.

You grew up in Brooklyn. Tell me how you started making music.

Essentially, I started to make music with this guy who lived next door to me. I always wanted to play bass or percussion, or be a DJ, but he told me that there was no money in DJing and that I needed to learn to play an instrument.

There was this place I played at called The Muse, which was kind of like a cultural center where I met Reggie Workman, who played with Coltrane. I met Vernon Reid (Living Colour) in one of the practice rooms at Medgar Evers College through a mutual friend, and that's how I ended up joining Vernon's free-jazz band. Then I ended up in a band playing with Alphonia Tims. We'd rehearse over at Ornette Coleman's loft and he would sit around and critique us.

Then there was The Mama Theater, which was on the Lower East Side on 3^rd Street. There were always musicians in there that you could just go and jam with. I met Joe Bowie there, and it was through him that I met James Chance. I had a little "try-out" with him, and that's where The Contortions came from. And later that turned into Defunkt.

What was the Defunkt scene like?

There is a whole part of history in the '80s that they left out. There were a whole lot of scenes, but ours is usually skipped over.

Actually, the person who introduced me to Vernon Reid was my roommate and one of the very first graffiti artists in New York. He went by the tag name WG. One of my other friends was the head of these ex-vandals, not really a gang, but this organization with all the graffiti artists in Brooklyn.

For a while in the late '70s, there was a loft jazz scene. A bunch of people would get together at someone's loft and we'd have little shows. Any jazz musicians that would come through town would always come and play with us. Warren Smith had some places where we would go and jam. James Chance used to go to these jazz lofts.

What was one album growing up that influenced you to start writing music?

In Brooklyn at that time, I obviously came up listening to funk. I was big into the DJ culture, into the remix guys and all that. I was a big avant-garde head, listening to Ornette Coleman, Pharoah Sanders, and what ended up becoming acid jazz, like The Blackbirds.

There was this one record store that I used to walk by everyday, and one day I was walking past and heard a record and just flipped out. I was like ‘Who is that?!' It turned out to be a Fela Kuti record.

This guy imported all of the African records, and I spent a lot of time in that store. I probably bought out the guy's whole catalogue. (Laughs) It's hard to pick one, because they're all good. But I'd have to say The Gentleman is probably my favorite Fela Kuti album.

1. Books to Give for the 2008 Holiday Season

Covering politics, comic books, nude self-portraits, futuristic architecture, and humorous basketball profiles, ALARM lists five awesome books as gift ideas for your musically, artistically, or culturally interesting friends.

2. Commentaries on the Golden Path: The Allure of Belonging to America

Columnist Andrew Williams analyzes his love of American creations and how they often conflict with his sociopolitical ideology.

3. DIY Venue Spotlight: The Dayton Dirt Collective

ALARM's ongoing series exploring the best grassroots, non-traditional music venues profiles The Dayton Dirt Collective, a punk/experimental establishment situated near a local porn shop and church-supply outlet.

4. Lollapalooza 2008, Day 1: A Diverse Collection of Garbage

With pie chart in hand, publisher/editor Chris Force breaks down the whack hip hop, corny music for alt-jocks, sleepy singer/songwriters and more from Day 1 of last year's Lollapalooza.

5. Q&A: East Coast Avengers Discuss War Obsessions, 9/11, and Fox News

Following national notoriety for the release of "Kill Bill O'Reilly," politically outspoken hip-hop trio East Coast Avengers spoke with ALARM online editor Scott Morrow just before the historic 2008 election.

6. Q&A: God of Shamisen's Shredding Cultural Collisions

Led by Tsugaru-shamisen master Kevin Kmetz, Santa Cruz's God of Shamisen creates cultural collisions in the form of shredding, Japanese-infused progressive metal.

7. Q&A: Grails Guitarist Discusses Creating Album Art for Doomsdayer's Holiday

Fusing Indian music, 1970s film noir, and psychedelic sounds into heavy acoustic and electric rock, Grails is a wonderful anomaly. Publisher/editor Chris Force recently spoke with guitarist Alex Hall, who created the artwork for the group's new album.

8. Tim Fite: Tears of a Clown

Genre-defying folk rapper Tim Fite discusses the making of his most recent creation, Fair Ain't Fair, an album of violent regrets recorded during one of the lowest emotional points in his life.

9. Tinariwen: Malian Rebel Rock and Roll

Members of the nomadic Tuareg ethnic group, Tinariwen sings of independence from the Malian government. And despite a lengthy international touring schedule, the group's songs still tell the stories of its home — bleak tales of survival and cautious hope, desperation, and escapism.

10. The Top 10 Cover Songs by The Bad Plus

Hard-hitting jazz trio The Bad Plus knows how to pen pieces of proprietary gold. But its three members are also known for their genre-leaping renditions of rock songs, propelled by the chops of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer David King.

11. The Top 10 Parts of The Shape of Punk to Come

Just prior to an acrimonious breakup, Swedish hardcore group Refused released its magnum opus, The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts. It was as much an assault on capitalist philosophy as it was a striking stylistic evolution, and it did its best to advance hardcore in the way that its titular influence, Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come, did with jazz.

12. The Top 10 Songs by Faith No More

Faith No More didn't revolutionize the rock landscape, but for much of its tenure, its members created some of the genre's best mainstream songs while courting radio success. Along the way, Mike Patton and crew peppered other styles into their expanding repertoire, wedging lounge sounds, incoherent squeals, and even an angelic choir into songs that ran alongside pummeling rock tunes.

Hard-hitting jazz trio The Bad Plus knows how to pen pieces of proprietary gold. But its three members are also known for their genre-leaping renditions of rock songs, propelled by the chops of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer David King. Here are the group's ten best covers (in order of release).

1. Nirvana: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (These Are the Vistas)

This cover of Nirvana's massive hit features super-scaling runs and occasionally dissonant harmonies from Anderson in one of the final choruses. It ends brilliantly with the quick piano tinkling of Cobain's famed bridge: "And I forget just what it takes, and yet I guess it makes me smile. I found it hard; it's hard to find. Oh well, whatever…never mind."

2. Aphex Twin: "Flim" (These Are the Vistas)

The original version of "Flim" caught some listeners off guard on the Come to Daddy EP, what with its pretty piano line that evoked thoughts of Willy Wonka's "Pure Imagination." This rendition brings Richard D. James' IDM beats to life under the melodic synchronization of Iverson and Anderson.

3. Ornette Coleman: "Street Woman" (Give)

Coming as a rare occasion, The Bad Plus cover a fellow artist in its genre – and a revered one at that. Originally from Coleman's 1971 album Science Fiction, "Street Woman" is bouncy, heavy, cheerful, and threatening – all while skillfully alternating rhythms.

4. Pixies: "Velouria" (Give)

If you're not looking at the track listing to Give, you'll have no idea that you're hearing a Pixies song until near the two-minute mark. This version begins soft and somber, spreading out Charles Thompson's melody over King's distant jingling and tapping. After the early minutes of building, King breaks into a rock beat for some of Iverson's mean improvisation.

5. Black Sabbath: "Iron Man" (Give)

After you hear The Bad Plus' rendition of "Iron Man," you won't go back. Far heavier than the original, this version cracks into full gear when Iverson's low notes thunder over his down-trickling scales, which come raining ominously from the intro. Iverson again grabs the attention over King's heavy beats, layering together chordal harmonies of Tony Iommi's famous progression. For the outro, the group employs a gentle quarter-time interpretation of the original's awesome ending.

6. "(Theme From) Chariots of Fire" (Suspicious Activity?)

Anderson's grooving bass line clashes nicely as Iverson brings in the song's inspirational melody. A free-jazz breakdown follows before Iverson resumes the theme over wildness from the rhythm section.

7. Radiohead: "Karma Police" (Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads)

Soft brush strokes from King lay a delicate setting for the trio's homage to Radiohead. After some loose rhythms under the main melody, the song gets huge when the piano returns with Thom Yorke's "for a minute there…I lost myself" vocal theme. Iverson also handles the original's walking bass line while King plays freeform beats.

8. Rush: "Tom Sawyer" (Prog)

The poster child for radio-friendly prog rock, "Tom Sawyer" gets one of the most "authentic" replications from The Bad Plus. Iverson and Anderson trade off handling Geddy Lee's vocals on their respective instruments, but they can't hold out forever – like clockwork, the tune punches in an improvised break before resuming its course.

9. Burt Bacharach / Hal David: "This Guy's in Love With You" (Prog)

Faith No More also presented a live cover of this chart-topping Herb Alpert song, and though this can't quite compare to one with Mike Patton's emotive vocals, it's just as sensitive as both versions. Randomly, it closes with a quick reprise of the main rhythm from "Physical Cities," an original Bad Plus tune that comes earlier on Prog.

10. Neil Young: "Heart of Gold"

Without a released recording of Neil Young's classic hit, The Bad Plus saves "Heart of Gold" for concertgoers. It often begins with an abstract intro and ends with the three joining together for a harmonized a cappella chorus.

– Scott Morrow

The Bad Plus: www.thebadplus.com
Heads Up International: www.headsup.com

Just prior to an acrimonious breakup, Swedish hardcore group Refused released its magnum opus, The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts. It was as much an assault on capitalist philosophy as it was a striking stylistic evolution, and it did its best to advance hardcore in the way that its titular influence, Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come, did with jazz.

Here are the album's best moments, in (loose) chronological order:

1. The spoken-word intro

Something special is evident from the disc's opening words: "They told me that the classics never go out of style, but…they do. They do. Somehow, baby, I never thought that [we would] too." The quote is indirectly expanded in the album's liner-notes manifesto (see #10), in which the group expounds that "we all need to recognize that style in contradiction to fashion is necessary to challenge the conservatism of the youth cultures placed upon us."

2. The incensed anti-capitalist lyrics of vocalist Dennis Lyxzén

The album's foreword states that "ideas can be expressed over any soundtrack," but the enraged screams of Lyxzén, in conjunction with Refused's pummeling rock sound, work best for this type of expression. If you've listened to this album with any frequency, you're bound to long remember lines like "I took the first bus out of Coca-Cola city" and "rather be forgotten than remembered for giving in."

3. "Worms of the Senses / Faculties of the Skull"

Yes – the whole song(s). The guitars are huge, the drums at the end of the "Faculties of the Skull" portion are massive, and the electronic interlude before "Liberation Frequency" is one of many genre overlaps to follow. Lyxzén declares, "I got a bone to pick with capitalism — and a few to break."

4. The upright-bass breakdown in the middle of "The Deadly Rhythm (of the Production Line)"

The whole song is great, but this breakdown typifies the type of fusion that makes the album what it is.

5. "Bruitist Pome #5"

A heavily reverberated marimba or vibraphone plays a brief but entrancing melody over synthesizers and electronic beats. The 85-second spell softens listeners for the album's celebrated single, "New Noise."

6. "New Noise"

"Can I scream?"  This is the question that Lyxzén discharges after a high-toned, palm-muted intro builds and eventually settles into an electronic reverie.  Lyxzén’s question then leads an explosion, a fiery rock riff that propels his proclamation that "we lack the motion to move to the new beat."

After another trancelike breakdown, the song eventually erupts with the sound of cheering throngs behind the band.  Lyxzén repeatedly calls for "the new beat" as a means to reshape art and music.  "New Noise" is then followed by a rejoinder of sorts — "The Refused Party Program," a concise, raucous "anthem" that converts the lyrics of its predecessor into heavy sonic grooves.

7. The drum beat that begins "Protest Song '68"

It's simple, catchy, and sets the foundation for clean, palm-muted guitars and spoken-word vocals. Naturally, the song erupts into heavy chords and screams before the beat and its complements resurface.

8. All the guitar riffs on "Refused are Fuckin' Dead"

This isn't to say that the accompaniment is lacking; in fact, the wah pedal and distortion on the bass are vivid augmentations, and the flanger effect on the drums to close the track is a nice touch. The guitar riffs, however, are top notch on an album of standout riffs.

9. The reverberated violin intro and melodica/cello outro on "Tannhäuser/Derivè"

Gorgeous and melancholy, the intro performed by guest musician Torbjörn Näsbom is easily one of the best pieces of musicianship on the album. It sets the table for the rest of a crushing eight-minute track, which is capped by a harmonized melodica, cello, and upright bass.

10. The liner-notes manifesto

Despite being wrought with internal conflict, The Shape of Punk to Come levels a seemingly unified charge at capitalist culture. An assailing manifesto, though disjointed at moments, accompanies the lyrics to accuse capitalism of leading to the literal and figurative loss of life, of removing political messages from mainstream music and art, of stealing creativity, and of forcing boredom upon its subjects.

An excerpt reads:

"With dry wits and knuckles dragging the ground, co-operations claim that profit is rightfully theirs and that the blood squeezed out of Africa, South America, Burma, the Baltic states, and South Asia is nothing but market interest and public craving. Their products are death and they are salesmen of corruption and power abuse. They are the slave dealers of our time."

Then, in its conclusion, it offers a solution tried by past radicals:

"So as we sit tight and enjoy the soap operas that are designed to keep us bleeding out of our eyes and keep us nodding and sighing, there is still hope in the petrol bomb and, in it, the revolution."

– Scott Morrow

Refused: www.burningheart.com/refused
Burning Heart Records: www.burningheart.com

The album, Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra (Thrill Jockey), begins with “Entrances,” a Dixon piece. There are two distinct versions of “Entrances” on the record, which Dixon arranged through spontaneous conduction. Mazurek’s creation, “Constellations for Innerlight Projections (for Bill Dixon),” separates the two pieces. It was originally written as a video score, given to seven of the Orchestra’s members on laptops. The other artists responded at will to the conduction and direction, creating a fantastic, unique piece.

The opening monologue in “Constellations” is Mazurek’s manifesto of sorts, beginning, “When you push from the center, you create your own universe.” Damon Locks of The Eternals lends his voice for the narrative, continuing, “You play the notes. The notes are a reference. This is your constellation. You can make it anything you want.” All three of the pieces are filled with chaos and wonder, or as Mazurek describes it, “spontaneous, precise composition.”

The pieces were originally played for the Chicago Jazz festival and recorded almost completely acoustic, without any post-production. Describing the new record, Mazurek says, “It was the first attempt at a video score rather than composed music, although there is some composed music. It was quite a battle to play the ideas that were fairly abstract in my head. Bill’s music was unique to the group, as it is the first time we were directed by an outside source. And what better outside source is there than the great Bill Dixon?”

When free jazz hit New York City in the 1960s, there was great debate about it. Could it be considered music? Was it all randomness and spontaneity, or a real advance in the culture of music? It was radically different and unique. Dixon is a seminal figure of that movement. The trumpeter, pianist, and flugelhorn player has spent a lifetime exploring new and uncharted territories of music and sound.

Dixon organized the October Revolution in Jazz in 1964, and soon after co-founded the Jazz Composers Guild. After retiring from teaching at Bennington College in Vermont, he continued working and advancing the movement. His profession as a teacher and his unwillingness to compromise his artistic value led to relative obscurity among contemporaries like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. Dixon’s musical output may be small comparatively, but he is so respected and influential that many look to him as a pioneer and leader in free jazz.

Mazurek grew up around Chicago, rooted in the hard bop jazz of the town. The cornetist began conducting and organizing projects in the 1990s, developing into a cherished improviser. His most recent project began as an invitation by the Chicago Cultural Center and the Jazz Institute, who approached Mazurek about putting together an avant-garde jazz ensemble for a Chicago concert. The celestial entity that formed was Exploding Star Orchestra, a group of over a dozen musicians that first released We Are All from Somewhere Else (Thrill Jockey) in 2007.

That same year, Mazurek met Dixon at the Guelph International Jazz festival and soon discussed collaborating. “He attended my Sao Paulo Underground concert and was excited about the sound we were making,” says Mazurek. This led to discussions of collaboration. “I secured a spot at the Chicago Jazz festival, which made it financially possible to go ahead with the idea. Bill composed a piece and I composed a piece for this. It was quite magical.”

Mazurek is like a boy meeting his hero. He talks of Dixon with revere and awe. For him, Dixon is a living legend, above mere mortals. His trumpet is a thing of beauty, full of voice and character. Dixon is one the most lyrical musicians in the free jazz movement. His sound comes deep from within, reaching out like fingers in the dark, exploring areas that few have dared.

Mazurek calls Dixon “a true artist, who never sacrificed integrity for a lower form of artistry. I know of his music and writings and art. I will say that every time I hear even one note from Bill, it is a lesson in sound and life.”

As for Mazurek, his music is alive. It grows and exists purely on its own terms. It fills him and drives him further every day. Mazurek defies categorization simply by ignoring it. His music is essential to his way of life, and that comes through especially strong on “Constellations.” “[I find] my own abstract melodic ideas,” he says. “[They are] my own way of building chord and sound structures that don’t necessarily correspond with the so-called correct way of doing things.”

The true value of the music, for Mazurek, is the truth and candor that music creates. Mazurek seeks structures and ideas that let performers interpret sounds in their own unique way, with as much freedom as possible within the given framework. “I like to create pieces that project life, and perhaps push the boundaries a bit to find something else,” says Mazurek. “Risk plays a large part, but perhaps a rehearsed and exacting risk is more the point.”

Mazurek’s next risk? “I want to form the Exploding Star International, and have musicians from all over the world participate.

“I took my four favorite musicians and pulled them into the same room,” Rosenberg says. Robair, the drummer, adds, “None of us knew what it was going to be. There’s no way we could’ve conceived it; it had to happen spontaneously. It could have easily been a disaster given the people and the personalities.”

The resultant debut album is the mutant progeny of Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Faust, and Ruins. It’s a sprawling twelve-song marriage of psych, prog, krautrock and freeform jazz that is fueled by a synergistic array of influences. “There is this crazy, messy overlap,” says Bruckmann, who provides analog synths for the group. “But we come from subtly different generations in terms of musical obsessions and things that blew our minds at impressionable ages. While making that record, we’d listen to a track and Gino would say, ‘That reminds me of King Crimson,’ and Sam would say, ‘I was thinking Sabbath.’ I’d say, ‘It sounded like the Butthole Surfers to me.’”

The group is currently working on a new album that promises to be a darker, more epic effort than the first. “There’s this strange grandeur to it that I’m really excited about,” says Bruckmann. “Some of the songs are definitely longer and it’s more prog if anything.” Rosenberg explains, “The last album was more improvised; there is more editing with this one. Kyle went to town on the improvs and made larger structures out of them, as opposed to the last record where the structures were all generated spontaneously.”

Keyboardist/vocalist Coomes adds that the members' individual influences are coming to the fore during tracking sessions, but Rosenberg is quick to dismiss the notion that members subconsciously bring elements from their other bands into the fold. "The number one way to get an idea vetoed is to bring something that sounds like one of your other bands," Rosenberg laughs. "The weaklings are killed. Only the strong survive."

-Frank Parisi