ondarock
Translated from Italian:
“Bill Laswell is back. Before an incredible series of reissues published on their Bandcamp page – including half a dozen collections of lost tracks, always made available in DL format – intrigued those who never stopped following him, even when the only one to publish him was there. ‘friend John Zorn. Then, in recent months, confirmation: it seems that Laswell started recording and producing music at the rhythms of thirty years ago. We will soon return to the volume published last April under the name Against Empire, where the American bassist has put together a stratospheric band of his own, with Pharoah Sanders, Peter Apfelbaum, Herbie Hancock, Jerry Marotta, Chad Smith and others.
At the beginning of 2020 Laswell had also resumed contact with Loud Apartment, an old acquaintance of his. The NYC group had already released a record at the beginning of the 10s, “Get Up Get Down”, a kaleidoscope of soul-funk embellished by the presence on three songs of Bernie Worrell (and Laswell himself). The group had been formed a few years earlier by the obscure Nevaris AC, a musician who plays all types of organ and percussion, and, above all, characterizes all the songs he writes with his liquid and sharp rap.
During the lockdown last spring, the second Loud Apartment album, “Refuge”, was released, containing the recording of a 2017 concert, played by a group of jazz musicians linked to the downtown New York scene. The latest incarnation of Loud Apartment, born in early 2020, is totally different and sees Nevaris and Bill Laswell flanked by DJ Logic (cymbals), Peter Apfelbaum (winds), Will Bernard (guitars) and Lockatron (drums). The recordings of “System Breakdown” began last January, before the closures due to the pandemic, and continued during the lockdown which evidently affected the direction of the album, right from its title.
Mentre iI suono di “RefuGee” è ovattato e poco definito, le otto tracce di “System Breakdown”, suonano decisamente limpide e potenti. La scaletta è una sequenza inarrestabile di groove funk-rap ubriacanti, elegantemente arrangiati grazie al sassofono di Apfelbaum e alla maestria di Laswell, un vero genio quando si tratta di creare un suono che tenga insieme funk, rock, dub, rap e jazz. “No Justification” in apertura di disco sembra l’inno che Michael Franti cerca di scrivere da più di vent’anni: basso e batteria costruiscono il groove, voce e sassofono reggono la melodia, mentre i piatti e la chitarra si muovono in sottofondo creando la sospensione dell’atmosfera del brano.
Il basso di Laswell in tutto il suo splendore risuona sotto il flauto di Apfelbaum sul dub psichedelico di “Enough Is Enough”. Su “Hot Like The Sun” l’atmosfera sembra riportare le lancette dell’orologio alla stagione d’oro del soul-jazz. Ancora il sassofono di Peter Apfelbaum si gioca il ruolo di protagonista con il rap del padrone di casa nel funk-jazz esplosivo di “Restless”. Con “The Thrill Is Good” i Loud Apartment sembrano tentare la carta del pop, grazie a un uncino melodico particolarmente accattivante. Prima del lungo finale di “Dub Enough” c’è spazio anche per il blues futuristico di ‘Gimme Some Love’.”