High Water

by Thom Jurek El-P's entry into Thirsty Ear's Matthew Shipp-curated Blue Series is a compelling experiment in genre and sound collision. El-P doesn't rap on this set, nor does he saturate his mix with a truckload of effects. His compositions are skeletal frames on which to hang his mixological architecture of ambitious beats and skeletal samples, creating a tightly controlled dynamic inside which ambitious music is created. His collaborators are pianist Shipp, bassist William Parker, drummer Guillermo E. Brown, and a horn section comprised of Daniel Carter on reeds and flute, Steve Swell on trombone, and trumpet prodigy Roy Campbell. While many titles in the Blue Series catalog seem to be varied in terms of texture and dynamic, High Water is not. This feels like a conscious decision on the part of El-P. The palette is restricted atmospherically; his compositions are almost song-oriented -- at least in the beginning. The funky breaks on "Get Your Hand Off My Shoulder, Pig" offer a glance into the depths of his aesthetic: the grooves are midtempo with Shipp delving into his blues and soul book for vamps and a solo, Parker laying underneath and propelling the cadence and the horns floating over the top of those massive beats. Shipp is the first to meander, decentering the melody, pulling it apart phrase by phrase and then turning it inside out. All the while the horns shift harmonics while keeping the timbre and tension in clear view. On "Get Modal," the pop tune "Where Is the Love" becomes the jump-off place for investigation. Parker kicks its phrasing first before Shipp chimes in and confirms it. The skittering beats make the track feel like it is coming off a Tilt-a-Whirl, and a forgotten soul vocal is tossed into the background to rattle around just behind the horns. Meanwhile, Brown's counterpoint polyrhythms accent El-P's foreground sampling -- including a looped guitar riff from the ether -- and all of it is capped with brief yet tough solo from Campbell. ... Read More...