Ah, Radiolarians III is about to hit us! I’ve been waiting. Ever since reviewing the second installment of this three part project, the taste of thumping, swisssshing, jazz has been on my lips. Medeski, Martin, & Wood are prepared to drop yet another dose of their magic on us Tuesday, and this one is rich and wonderfully made. I shocked myself listening to Radiolarians II – shocked with how accessible it was, how very prog-rocky it felt (!), how they made a strange place like jazz so comfortable for a girl like me.
Since early 2008, this trio has been focused on this project of turning the music business on it’s head. Writing, touring, then recording for each installment has meant that hours and hours have been spent with the tracks before their “authorized” form is recorded and released. This final record of the series, Radiolarians III reflects that process, as a whole, in that, as a record onto itself, it feels complete. It feels whole. It reeks of something akin to finality but without that lifeless quality we think of when we say “final.”
There is nothing lifeless about Radiolarians III. From it’s opening track, “Chantes Des Femmes,” stretching from electronic to traditional jazz riffs, to “Gwyra Mi,” a bass-heavy, syncopated affair (with a drum track that I really wish to see performed live), this record will easily make my short list for favorite albums of 2009. Each song plays off the other, but not necessarily in a way that demands they be heard in their order. The tingly piano beginnings of “Kota” are so achingly beautiful. While “Won Ton” is particularly reminiscent of what I expected jazz to be before I listened to it: fingers flying across the keyboard, drum rolls galore, and a repeating bass line to keep it all in place, ending with a crash. A smile spread across my face at the dramatic opening of “Broken Mirror,” waiting to see where they’d take it. Hoping for irony, I was disappointed in heavy organ-sounding keys and it wasn’t until a bit after the 2:00 minute mark that things began to unravel nicely, …but not enough, I’m afraid. It is the only track that I felt just wasn’t “young” enough. “Undone” shows just how creatively they can build layer after layer around an idea, making you wonder if the ending was there in their heads all along or if it just evolved and was cemented in time for us. Peppered throughout Radiolarians III are surprise changes and switchbacks, “Walk Back” startles me a bit in the middle, evening out again and then ending with that bit of heaviness that teased and surprised me. “Jean’s Scene” is so very close in sound to “Amber Gris” off of Radiolarians II but also so turned inside out that I love hearing them both, even right up next to one another. Yes, there is a definite theme, a riff running through this entire project and tracing how Medeski, Martin, & Wood weave that theme in and out of each track, in and out of each record is the task of the listener, … Tart stating the obvious, I know.
When listening to an album like this (nuanced – falling and rising in great big waves of sound with layers of drum and guitar and bass) I am convinced you have to imagine the difference between the sound of it in your speakers or headphones versus how it must sound in a concert hall. About a month after reviewing their second record of this series, I had the great pleasure of attending a show by the Marco Benevento trio. Now I’m not going to compare the two; that would be silly and pointless (and I do hope that all parties consider it a compliment to be thought of at the same time!) However, in my limited experience with jazz it is my only point of reference. And that experience, of hearing Marco play piano, bouncing off his wonderful drummer and bassist, in that great big room was honestly a highlight of my concert-going life. So now that I hear this album, Radiolarians III, I sit in awe of my imagination of what it must be to hear this as it is intended, … played, performed, given to you for your pleasure, and your appetite, in the flesh. To devour this record would be more than magic. It would be an exhilarating experience and one that I envy all of you who have or will have had it.
Tour Dates
09.11.09 – The Mann Center – Philadelphia, PA
09.12.09 – Boykin Ball – Acme, PA
09.13.09 – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
09.15.09 – The Cannery Ballroom – Nashville, TN
09.16.09 – Bijou Theatre – Knoxville, TN
09.17.09 – Workplay Theater – Birmingham, AL
09.18.09 – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA
09.19.09 – Neighborhood Theatre – Charlotte, NC
09.20.09 – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
10.02.09 – Austin City Limits – Austin, TX
very special thanks to Sneak Attack Media
