Picks of the Week
Soundcheck's Picks of the Week are new albums by LA lo-fi veteran Ariel Pink and Portuguese pianist Bernardo Sassetti.
Bernardo Sassetti Trio – Motion (Clean Feed Records)
You don’t often associate Portugal with jazz. Or vice versa. But Portuguese pianist Bernardo Sassetti and his trio have come up with a dark-hued, almost classically-structured album of jazz compositions that follow the flow of a day – the album starts, as the track titles say, at 7:10am with this piece called “Homecoming Queen.” At 11:50am, Sassetti moves on to “Reflexos Movimento Circular.” The album ends at night with a hidden track called “Shhhh.” Along the way, Sassetti visits with Charlie Parker, the Spanish classical composer Federico Mompou, and in this piece, the author William Faulkner. For what it’s worth, Sassetti’s Wikipedia entry, in completely charming, inaccurate English, reveals that he is the great grandson of a former President of Portugal. His new album, Motion, reveals him to be a distinctive voice in European jazz. [Available at Amazon] –Picked by John Schaefer
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, “Before Today” (4 AD)
Ariel Pink is the stage name of the Los Angeles-based experimental musician Ariel Rosenberg. He made waves in the indie-rock world 2004, when he released some lo-fi recordings on the label operated by the group Animal Collective. Since then, he’s been a strange presence in indie rock, releasing home-recorded songs under the name Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. His latest is called “Before Today.” Ariel Pink’s first studio-recorded release is more of a time-machine than an album. These songs dart across the timeline of pop music, sounding like forgotten, low-charting singles from the 60s or 80s. But Ariel Pink has a special flair for the AM glow of the 1970s. We’re giving you fair warning: This is a weird album. It’s not the most cohesive thing we’ve heard … but it’s truly captivating. It’s called “Before Today,” By Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. [Available at Amazon] –picked by Joel Meyer
