Remember Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? It was all the rage a few years ago. It gave film nerds the chance to impress the hell out of friends and colleagues by putting their inane, useless knowledge of trivia to use. But why should movie fanatics have all the fun? We indie rock losers are just as knowledgeable-- why should we not sink to these same levels of inanity? Especially when we can challenge each other with Six Degrees of J. Robbins or, better yet, Jim O'Rourke. Granted, neither have the same ring to them as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, or the untouchable comedic value introduced by the mention of such a dendrite of '80s pop culture. But hey, it gives us indie fans a reason to know our shit (other than that it comes in handy when in the market for new albums). Here, I'll try a few:
GUIDED BY VOICES played on the Lounge Ax Defense and Relocation compilation with TORTOISE, whose song "Reference Resistance Gate" was remixed by JIM O'ROURKE.
NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL is on Merge Records, a label started by SUPERCHUNK, whose album Come Pick Me Up was produced by JIM O'ROURKE.
Of course, I used two more difficult examples. If I'd started with anything out of Chicago, it would've taken two steps at most for me to find a connection with Jim. That's because the Chicago post-rock scene has played itself out in a seemingly endless series of permutations, resulting in a vast number of collaborative efforts. For the most part, these collaborations have been thoroughly enjoyable. Synesthesia, a collaboration between Isotope 217 cornetist Rob Mazurek and noted Chicago jazz drummer Chad Taylor, doesn't deviate from this trend-- it's a thoroughly enjoyable record, at times reaching even beyond that.
Unfortunately, Mazurek's electronic wizardry doesn't always couple well with Taylor's more traditional free jazz stylings. Whereas other Chicago collaborations have been virtually seamless, Synesthesia can, for the most part, be broken down according to the influences of its two creators. The more adventurous passages obviously spring from the able mind of Mazurek, whereas Taylor's portion consists of extended forays into free jazz, complete with wanky drum solos.
Synesthesia's opening track, "Blue Sparks from Her and the Scent of Lightning," stands out as simply one of the most remarkable pieces of music I've heard in a long time. Clocking in at well over 11 minutes, "Blue Sparks" manages to pull off what very little music from any genre can, subtly foreshadowing what's coming next. The first four or so minutes hint at an oncoming storm with ominously building layers of atonal synthesizers paired with intermittent blasts from Mazurek's horn. As these layers of cacophonous melody are stripped down to a single repeating vibraphone melody, a squelching synthesized bassline comes in, just in time for the track to explode into an orgy of Latin-tinged percussion and screeching coronet. This eruption of sound gives way to almost absolute silence, broken only by a whispering synthesizer.
Unfortunately, the exotic noises and immense sonic variety of "Blue Sparks" are not to be seen again until much later in the record. Synesthesia's midsection suffers from a severe lack of innovation. Tracks like "Bellatron" are straight up free-jazz tunes which would be fine on a record of straight-up free-jazz tunes, but sound uninspired when compared to the sheer originality of some of Synesthesia's other tracks.
It isn't until the fifth track, "Fluxus," which features fellow Chicagoan Sam Prekop on Moog, that Synesthesia once again begins to pick up steam. Here, Mazurek and Taylor shift seamlessly and effortlessly between the chaotic and the melodic, displaying serious talent that could only be the result of years of practice. For a record with such startling and emphatic dynamics changes, the better portions of Synesthesia are remarkably smooth.
Before there was the Chicago Underground Duo, there was the Chicago Underground Trio. Before that, there was the Chicago Underground Orchestra. Mazurek seems to be chipping away at band members and, in doing so, bringing his own unique brand of genre-twisting, rock-influenced electronic jazz into focus. With Synesthesia, Mazurek proves once and for all that he's more than just an ace horn player.
