SYCH Lunar Roulette SAAH066 CD/LP+Download/MP3
Release Date: March 29, 2011
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SYCH is: Wally Shoup - Alto Saxophone C. Spencer Yeh - Violin, Vocals Chris Corsano - Percussion Bill Horist - Electric Guitar
"Each of these musicians is a brilliant creative force in his own right,
and as a quartet they are capable of blistering ecstatic play as well
as voyages into novel, subtle textural forms." - Creative Music
Guild (Portland, OR)
SYCH is both an acronym for the dream-team avant jazz quartet
of Wally Shoup/C.
Spencer Yeh/Chris
Corsano/Bill Horist,
and the heady, buzzing state of mind achieved while immersed in their
glorious fire-ringed soundpools. The players' combined resume reads
as a borderline hyperbolic who's who of contemporary experimental and
improvised music: Shoup is a free jazz veteran from Seattle,
WA who leads his Wally Shoup Trio and Project W, and has
collaborated with Nels Cline (Wilco etc), Thurston
Moore (Sonic Youth etc), and Paul Flaherty; Yeh
is most known for leading Burning Star Core and boasts countless
live and recorded collaborations in his own right; Corsano is
a shining light in avant music, most recently as a member of Rangda
(with Sir Richard Bishop and Ben Chasny) and is a tremendously
in-demand and diverse percussionist, performing with people that range
(literally) from Bjork to Jandek, and on recordings with
Six Organs of Admittance, Nels Cline and dozens more; Horist
is a West Coast signature guitarist, composer and improviser, with scores
of recordings and collaborations alongside such names as Bill Frisell,
Eugene Chadbourne, and Steve Fisk. The sum of the individual
parts is staggering as displayed on Lunar Roulette, an
astonishing album brimming with ecstatic excursions into the outer regions
of free music.
Lunar Roulette is the direct result of an inspired whim by Shoup,
who invited Corsano and Yeh to come play the Seattle
Improvised Music Festival in February 2010 with Horist, a
friend and frequent hometown collaborator. What occurred was a fountainhead
of creative interplay culminating in a set for Sonarchy Radio,
an ongoing series for Seattle's KEXP in which artists converge in the
studio at Jack Straw Productions for live-in-the-studio performances
broadcast over the air. Lunar Roulette is culled from
this performance, fine tuned to bring out the absolute best in the individuality
of each player and their uncanny cohesion. SYCH billows forth
with some of the most unusual and genre-pushing music heard to ooze
from both jazz and free rock circles alike. The burly and frenetic combination
of Corsano/Shoup/Horist is enriched by the orchestral nature
of Yeh's violin…and when Yeh interjects with his Yamtastuka
Eye-esque vocal improvisations, the whole aircraft launches into
entirely alien terrain. Make no mistake, it's not just solid skronk-freakouts
bellowing from the belly of SYCH, but Lunar Roulette
is often strikingly subtle, with various passages exploring lilting
and ethereal moods, with some outright accessibility within the oddness.
SYCH shows exactly why these folks are the world's top players
in improvised music and have been for years. Let's hope Lunar
Roulette is a harbinger for many more soul-grinding sessions
to come.
SYCH is a true supergroup of improvisers: Wally Shoup, C.
Spencer Yeh, Chris Corsano and Bill Horist.
Members of Rangda (Corsano), Burning Star Core (Yeh).
Combined collaborations are staggering: Bjork, Jandek, Eugene Chadbourne,
Nels Cline, Evynd Kang, Thurston Moore, K.K. Null, Jim O'Rourke, Vibracathedral
Orchestra, Sunburned Hand of the Man & dozens more. Seattle Metropolitan Magazine named Wally Shoup
one of the 50 most influential musicians in that city's history in 2009.
Cover art is an original painting by Wally Shoup. RIYL: Rangda, Burning Star Core, Sonny Sharrock, Nels Cline Trio,
Flower/Corsano Duo, Fred Frith PREORDER
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