Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Chicago Underground Duo, Age of Energy, Chad Taylor and Rob Mazurek

Here's a good one, the 6th recording by the Chicago Underground Duo, Age of Energy (Northern-Spy 020). It's Chad Taylor on drums and percussion and Rob Mazurek on trumpet, and I assume both on computers, keyboards and drum machines.

Both players play and compose with a deep structural sense. That comes out here in a series of really engaging electro-jazz-rock-funk things that are as much rooted in earth as they are cascading toward space.

The electronics work very well with the conventional instruments. All work together like different colored threads in a tapestry. They fit. They give you much more than what each individual thread might if left alone and unintegrated.

The ghost of psychedelic Miles lurks in the wings as an important influence, as well he should. But Taylor-Mazurek are light years away as far as what they do with the free-electro-rock idea. Much of it has a soundscape richness that in its own way makes use of the sound-color legacy of Fripp-Eno but in a more linear manner.

Chad sounds great, Rob sounds great and the electronics give it all a big, cosmic sound. This one smokes it in very futuristic ways. Dive into this one and you'll be glad you did.

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