Locus Solus: 50th Birthday Celebration

by Sean Westergaard Locus Solus was the name of John Zorn's improvised rock trio, which featured a rotating cast. For Zorn's 50th birthday celebration (the entire month of September 2003 at Tonic), the trio of Zorn on alto, Anton Fier on drums, and Arto Lindsay on guitar and vocals got back together for a hot set of crazed rock improvisations. Arto Lindsay is a truly unique guitar player, almost never coming close to an identifiable riff or conventional technique. However, if you listen to the interactions and musical conversation involving these three, you realize that he clearly knows exactly what he's doing. The level of communication between players is stunning, developing lurching, spastic grooves that then get blown apart like ducks in a shooting gallery. Fier can be a powerhouse when he wants, but also pays close attention to the other players. Zorn uses everything in his alto arsenal and Lindsay's extemporaneous vocalisms are almost as entertaining as his guitar is deranged, especially on "In Memory Of" (Peter Watrous). The recording itself is excellent, to the point that you can catch snippets of conversation/musical strategy between tunes ("Let's play another one like that"). Certainly not for all tastes, this is a noisy, fun listen.