75 Dollar Bill - Wood / Metal / Plastic / Pattern / Rhythm / Rock vinyl lp (due to size and weight, this price for the USA only. Outside of the USA, the price will be adjusted as needed)
SKU
05-TW J
75 Dollar Bill is the latest project by Rick Brown, formerly of V-Effect, Curlew, Fish & Roses, etc and Che Chen.
It's a really good band and a really good album; it's different from but absolutely in the same kind of league and sound as Horse Lords!
"Mr. Chen stood playing hypnotic guitar repetitions, moving with the stresses of the riffs, the drummer Rick Brown sat on a square wooden box, open in the back, and attacked it from above. He cued transitions in the music, building odd or compound rhythms, turning them around and blurring distinctions between downbeats and upbeats. On the surface, the rhythms were only secondary to the guitar lines; deeper down, they were enfolded. One couldn't do without the other."-Ben Ratliff, New York Times.
"Che's interest in the Arabic modes of Mauritanian music has marked our sound quite a bit but I have brought some things, too. The plywood crate I play is a big factor, defining, by its positive qualities (a nice warm 'boom' sound) as well as by its simplicity, what we're likely to do in the percussion realm. Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock, this new record, differs quite a bit from the previous one, notably in the rhythmic 'tone.' Wooden Bag (2015) was all forward momentum, stomping and shaking, but the new record explores a long-standing interest of mine: odd and 'compound' meters. In most of my previous musical activities, I've convinced my partners to delve into this, but in 75 Dollar Bill it has just felt natural and I believe Che's modal investigations and melodic/harmonic tendencies enhance (and are enhanced by) this combination. The current record differs from the last in another big way: reinforcements! Over our few years together, Che and I have frequently had friends play with us at some of our gigs. There have been all sorts of permutations of instruments and some great friends/players who don't all appear on this record but here we are lucky to have a bunch of them: Cheryl Kingan (of The Scene Is Now) on baritone and alto saxes, Andrew Lafkas (of Todd Capp's Mystery Train) on contrabass, Karen Waltuch (of Zeke & Karen) on viola, Rolyn Hu (of True Primes) on trumpet and Carey Balch (of Knoxville's Give Thanks) on floor tom. Please enjoy Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock. 'Earth' saw is one of our earliest tunes and, I think, the first result of this 'compound meter' approach. It's a slow 9 beat phrase Che came up with for this odd groove. 'Beni Said' has no fixed rhythmic cycle but a roughly unison melodic phrase and a pulsing, loose feeling of 3s and 4s played using a box full of bottle caps. 'Cummins Falls' features Carey Balch on Diddley-beat floor tom and me reprising the maracas. 'I'm Not Trying To Wake Up' is another of our compound meter songs, this one using an 18 beat scheme."-Rick Brown
- LabelThin Wrist
- UPC769791962422