Mostly Other People Do The Killing Loafer's Hollow, Moon Duo Occult Architecture Vol 2
Mostly Other People Do The Killing
Loafer’s Hollow
(Hot Cup)
For the simultaneously reverent and heretical jazz band Mostly Other People Do The Killing (MOPDTK), pissing off jazz purists seems to come easy.
The group revisits jazz forms such as hard bop, but the band’s execution pushes the intensity level into the red with skilled, yet seemingly unhinged solos; another common thread is having a sense of humor, often seen in parodical album cover art and often heard with musical quotes taken from unexpected sources.
MOPDTK’s most controversial and discussion-provoking album is 2014’s Blue, which meticulously recreated Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue note-for-note; by creating this brazen forgery, the band was possibly making a cheeky statement against hero worship—since mimicking Davis goes against his innovative spirit—and the codification and mummification of jazz.
The new album from MOPDTK, Loafer’s Hollow, will likely inspire less hate than Blue, but it is still provocative and stirring. It tackles the big-band swing heyday of the ‘30s and ‘40s (think Count Basie) with a septet lineup, capturing the spirit of that era but with less restraint—for example, sometimes the drums whip up a booming frenzy, and the soloists aren’t afraid to use non-idiomatic improvisation and extended techniques.
Anachronisms take the form of wildly ferocious (yet fluent) playing—take Brandon Seabrook’s almost inhumanly fast and precise banjo picking—and post-war melodic quotes, from the “I Dream of Jeannie” theme song to Huey Lewis.
MOPDTK also takes inspiration from literary sources for a five-song “literary suite,” starting with the James Joyce tribute “Bloomsburg” with rapturous moments apparently influenced by Molly Bloom’s soliloquy in Ulysses.
“Kilgore,” dedicated to Kurt Vonnegut and named after the character Kilgore Trout, has some of the album’s most unconventional moments, with saxophonist Jon Irabagon soloing with uncomfortable breath sounds, squeaks and meaty fluttering and pianist Ron Stabinsky offering a jaunty piano passage resembling a jittery rocket shedding its fuel tanks.
With a consistently high level of musicianship and a total disregard for pleasing purists, the articulated madness and admiration on Loafer’s Hollow can be described as what has become a dirty word in the hallowed realm of jazz-“fun.”
Moon Duo
Occult Architecture Vol. 2
(Sacred Bones)
The new two-volume album Occult Architecture from the Portland outfit Moon Duo, we are told, reflects the duality of Yin and Yang, with Yin meaning “the shady side of the hill” and Yang meaning “the bright side of the hill” in Chinese.
They represent two complementary forces in a singular entity—for example, shadows can’t exist without light. In line with this—stay with me now—the word “occult” means “knowledge of the hidden,” uncovering a theme of something that is obscure being brought to light. As guitarist Ripley Johnson put it, Volume 1 of Occult Architecture is the “fuzz dungeon” while Volume 2 is the “crystal palace.”
However, what this all boils down to for the music-theory student is that Volume 1 primarily uses minor keys, while Volume 2 sticks with major keys.
Moon Duo has a knack for creating an irresistible vibe that seems to borrow from German Krautrock sources, sometimes using the immortal motorik beat, with keyboardist Sanae Yamada’s synth drones that use timbres with ‘70s/’80s aesthetics.
Sometimes Moon Duo sounds perhaps like a less sinister, more mellow Chrome or maybe even a psych-rock Stereolab; on that note, there’s a strong psychedelic aspect that’s a key characteristic, with wah-guitar envelope noodling, and the drumbeat and momentum on “New Dawn” even faintly bring to mind “Tomorrow Never Knows” by the Beatles.
The lightness on Volume 2 is infectious, with uncomplicated yet penetrating details, like the sleigh bells on “Sevens,” adding sun rays to shine on the sonic prism. Listeners can zone-out to this music, but those wanting pop immediacy can find it in tracks like “Lost in Light,” with simple, yet effective pop melodies.
The longest track on Occult Architecture Vol. 2 is the 10-minute closer “The Crystal World” which is downright bouncy and optimistic, simply alternating gleefully between two chords.
Volume 1 and Volume 2 are two sides to the same coin, and listeners can pick accordingly, depending on their current mood.