Antonio Sánchez, photo: Justin Bettman
Pick your jaw up off the floor time. Hugely infectious, thoughtful and cerebral at the same time what’s here is on a different planet jazz-rock fusion wise right now. The work of an all star band, this is stunning led from the kit by the Birdman composer and Pat-ite Antonio Sánchez.
Here with New Life‘s David Binney – a Migration album from 13 years ago – that the bassist here Matt Brewer was also on, there’s a feverish undertow generated by electric guitarist Ben Monder that is impossible to contain on the title track that opens proceedings. If smitten by what he does on the album then read a review of Monder’s brilliant 2016 album Amorphae for even more.
The recording itself has taken years to be released given that it’s been in the vaults since 14 August 2017 when it was recorded at what was then Avatar in New York City.
You just feel the whole thing will burst into a thousand pieces or go “bang” given the sheer friction attained stimulatingly. But you’ll find balm here too as on ‘Tlaloc’. The tune names are odd, no idea what they mean – might that one be named after an ancient Aztec god of rain, water, and earthly fertility? I’d like to think so – but who knows. There’s room for more exploratory things to happen on the album too such as the avant garde probing and restlessless located on ‘Akna.’
Spread over two discs – the first disc has all the really long tracks so head there for greatest impact. ‘Duke of Pools’ above is from the second – turn to that video for mainly audio plus still photos from the studio recording presented in a montage as the video unspools itself to give you an idea of how the musicians looked when they made the album.
The title track ‘Gocta’ can be heard on a Trio Grande album that Sánchez was on with Will Vinson and Gilad Hekselman issued in 2020 (the latter pair with Nate Wood are in action at Magy’s Farm in Northern Ireland on 4 November).
What a waterfall of an album, feel its passion, energy, sense of renewal and scary intensity all in one cascading interconnected sense of commotion everywhere – like the water of life itself.
