Customer Reviews

Beat Reader

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Have seen this group lately. Two master-saxes, very nice dry drumming,
weaving cello in the tradition of Wadud and a nicely plucked standing bass..
Incredible! Solid timing, breathtaking 'Circular breathing'-saxes.
Moving from heavy overwhelming powersounds till very silent introspection.
Original 'hommages' written from the heart. Keep on listening this CD. Very good! And see/hear them live!

I was fortunate enough to get the "Beat Reader" with the bonus "New York Suite", which I'll also briefly review. "Beat Reader" has the same lineup as "A Discontinuous Line", so it's Vandermark, saxophonist Dave Rempis, drummer Tim Daisy, bassist Kent Kessler, and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm. As you might expect from the title, "Friction" starts the CD in a raucous and noisy way. "New Acrylic" is a riffy, muscle-bound song. Some of it's funkier parts is in a non-standard time signature (11/8 maybe?). "Any Given Number" is a quieter (but not too quiet) freer song. "Signposts" is slower and freer than the one before. "Speedplay" starts off with a funky Vandermark riff. "Compass Shatters Magnet" starts with a 5-minute-long freeish section. Then it evolves into a very funky polyrhythmic section in 6/4 time. "Further From The Truth" is a calmer song. "Desireless" ends things on some more raucous and noisy notes.

Fans of the Vandermark 5 should get this. It's not my favorite, but it's very solid.

The bonus disc, "New York Suite", is almost a little better than "Beat Reader". "New York Suite" consists of three long songs recorded in Chicago. The first and third songs, "Painters" and "Improvisors" are strong. The middle song, "Composers", isn't as good. All three songs sound more improvised than the average Vandermark studio CD. It's very much worthwhile seeking out the bonus disc, I'm very glad I have it!

Perfect new CD Beat Reader. But me is very sad. Amazon deceived me. I reserved 2CD (when I made out the order was specified what is it 2CD), I expected and hoped what is it will be 2CD LIMITED EDITION! And has received one 1CD without 2CD" The New York Suite " - ?????? It is a shame and deceit from Amazon.........