Jairus Sharif, 36?, and Midnight Peg
Jairus Sharif
Water & Tools // Telephone Explosion Records
Calgary is known for many things, some of them good, many of them bad - but cutting-edge jazz is certainly not one of them. Jairus Sharif has burst on the scene to prove otherwise with his latest offering Water & Tools. Following a promising debut, W&T confidently affirms Sharif’s status as a pioneer on the new frontier of experimental jazz. The sounds of Robert Glasper and Ornette Coleman lay the groundwork for Sharif’s undefinable brilliance as he unspools grief and celebrates newfound lucidity.
Water & Tools opens with foreboding, gentle horns that are buoyed by droning electronics that sound like an ocean of glass crashing onto a beach - eventually, tension gives way to chaotic catharsis, like a dam of grief breaking and giving way to anger. Later still, the rushing river of anger dissipates to a peaceful stream, samples of chirping birds, and keys humming with hopeful harmony as the optimism of dawn breaches the horizon. This opening gives a good introduction of what is yet to come. As Jairus unpacks the loss of one of his mothers, he grapples with grief and finds anarchic emancipation. Despite the chaos, W&T is not the sound of frenetic fog, but cathartic lucidity.
Throughout its 9 tracks, W&T maintains contradictory characteristics. It is untamed and wild, and yet, somehow, grooves worm their way through the cracks and pin down the otherwise frenetic thrashing of horns and percussion. The title track is a shining example of W&T’s ethos – strained and brilliant expressions are grounded by undeniable grooves. Electronics do a great deal of the heavy lifting as they buzz, drone, pulse, and wail. Its immense textural richness gives it the stature to carry a thematic message, and Sharif’s ability to deliver a message through chaotic floundering is something few can achieve. Water & Tools is a momentous effort from an inspired mind, and I’m afraid that it could float under the radar despite its brilliance. Jairus Sharif is going places, and Water & Tools is not to be missed.
- Clay Geddert
36?
Naturally // North Pole Records
Calgary weird-pop ensemble, 36?, deliver their fifth commercial album to date in the form of Naturally. Lyricist, producer and omni-instrumentalist, Taylor Cochrane, conceptualizes the record as a reflection on creative authenticity and integrity in the face of attention – this is compared to given principles in quantum physics: “They say that electrons behave differently the moment that they are observed, I believe the same can be said for artists”. Such meta-musings are surely a tall lyrical order to fill but Naturally not only attends to this topic, it does so as an art-rock fireworks display, sky set ablaze to shine down on Cochrane’s often deeply pained and introspective writing.
The first song of the record, eponymously “Natural”, wastes no time in getting into arcane contemplation. Cochrane bellows to us over plunky guitars, stating that they have been “drifting along”, wondering if one day their internal experience might play host to some kind of “universal appeal”. In 36? fashion, the chorus is rendered in an intensity on par with something like an anime theme – a myriad of instruments and samples all banging and driving to multiple monolithic crescendos. This is also the case for “Samuel”, potentially the most fevered song of the record, with distorted guitars and ray-gun synths firing on all cylinders before parting like theatre curtains for its tender balladic refrain. “After A While” highlights 36?’s penchant for creative instrumentation and production, featuring a rhythm guitar part that sounds as if it was sampled and replayed on a MIDI keyboard, and yet another grandiose chorus section playing host to a wash of guitars, synths, and velveteen vocal harmonies. “Isolated” follows this, a short and tight power-pop cut in which 36? potentially exercises a certain pop-punk influence.
Naturally really changes lanes with “Changes”, a precious acoustic cut courting vintage folk or 60s glam rock, adorned with fantastically lush choral harmonies and a swirling section of synth accompaniment. From this point forward the record trims its cacophony a bit and allows Cochrane’s sweetly sung lead vocal to have the spotlight for a while. “Sunken Shrines” comes as a personal highlight. Beginning quiet and intimate, Taylor seemingly crooning to someone experiencing some given psychological deterioration, the song suddenly explodes - group vocals shattering into presence. Here a trumpet section, there a shuddering synth, now a bang-bang-banging guitar chord. This juxtaposition between shy and theatrical is tightly managed (recollections of Bowie’s Rock and Roll Suicide seem permissible) making for a cathartic listening experience as you surf the figurative emotional waves 36? achieves here.
It’s no understatement to say that Naturally is a musical cornucopia. It is mad and frenzied, genre-bending, conceptual, frequently epic – on its surface it is undoubtedly a highly creative artistic feat, as sweeping and ornate as any famous canonical art-pop opus. But beyond this, the album is also a meditation on the relationship between identity and art. Its final song, “Natural (Reprise)” sees Cochrane deliver a short farewell message over a solemn piano arrangement before repeating the first stanza of “Natural” to us again. Taylor is clearly intent on probing whether the artist can maintain their integrity when under the pressure of a viewership. And despite this concern Naturally, as a record, feels natural. It registers as a creative expression adequately echoing an artist’s truth. It seems safe to say that something like it, in all its colourful and intricate patchwork, couldn’t have come from anywhere else.
- Nikolas Barkman
Midnight Peg
Horn Colic // Self Released
Midnight Peg. Horn Colic. Where to start?. Where to start! At the start!!
Horn Colic opens on "Gachis de Feet" quickly, like a bright, clean essential statement. Raquel (Rocky) Mann’s voice slices clearly: "Gimme what you don't want, let me take your pain". As if to say, Let us concentrate on what is vital and essential. All else is extraneous.
The music easily mirrors the cover art by Virgil Crude, a black on white, line pen drawing, with minimal understated shading. "Haute Suture" also cuts as a scathing commentary on the bullshit that is fashion and consumerism. Clean production and gang vocals capture and keep your attention. "Drain", a fun little ditty call out. I can't make out the references, but it sounds like an ill-respected supervisor. Ouch. "Horn Colic" reads as a very personal call out. I'd hate to be that person. They sound lame. "Callous Callus", a self diagnosing of a troublesome oral fixation? I don't know! Put your spin on it!?! "Maculate Conception", in the bands own words: “The song shares the story of Mary Toft, a woman in the 17th century, the dismembered rabbits she birthed, a disgraced royal surgeon and a pissed-off king. At the heart of it, it is the tragedy of a woman who, in a world that had no place for her profound, post-miscarriage pain,was driven to gruesome measures to cope.” “Turn Victim (Odds Plut and Her Nails)", Holy, another personal call out, plenty of frenemies I suspect. "Head Tick" is another scathing rip on consumption equating our lives and existence as head lice on the planet. Fair, fair… hurtful, but true!
Midnight Peg have captured a unencumbered sonic slice of their start as a band. Horn Colic was recorded, mixed and mastered by Rob Lawless at The Physics Laboratory in Sherwood Park, Alberta. On Horn Colic they are unafraid to let the songs breath with space. This is not music for delicate sensibilities. It should be a staple diet for no-nonsense realists with punk sensibilities. It slices, it dices, it feels vital. It feels great. Like a welcome slap to the face. You know you needed it.
- Drew Cox
