Dreary Night Music

Triosk - Visions IV - The Headlight Serenade (Leaf 2006)


Collections of Colonies of Bees - Track 5 - Rance (Crouton 2000)


The Watery Graves of Portland - Scenic Vista with a Tropical Fruit Drink - Caracas (Marriage 2005)


It’s probably the dreary weather combined with my reviewing of Triosk’s latest outing ‘The Headlight Serenade,’ but my love of minimal, free jazz meets modern post-rock has taken the pole position in my daily music listening. It’s a much harder genre to define than enjoy, because it encompasses so many critical influences, but presents them in a very mellow manner. Taking cues from the layering free-jazz of Alice Coltrane, the skittering drums of Art Blakey, the creative fringe-rock of Tortoise, the minimalist song structure of artists like Eno and even some of the electronic experimentation of ambient-techno artists like Jen Jelinek, the heavily hyphenated niche of music is perfect for dark, rainy days or lonesome, star-filled nights. I often find myself staring out the window when I can’t sleep studying the sweeping light patterns created by passing headlights, and you can be for damn sure that this is the music that I’m listening to. It features the similar notion of improvised, unable to recreate sensibility of non-existent song structures that come with sudden inspiration in the studio (even if in reality it is meticulously thought out by the musicians). I also find it to be very soothing to listen to what can be definably whittled down to minimal chaos, since that is mostly what my life is made up of. Like the rain hitting the ground, the music usually comes in tiny, skittering explosions of sound that immediately separate onto their own individual path never encompassing the same aural space again.

There are a good amount of bands creating this sound, so check out labels like Leaf, who have a roster filled with excellent artists of this niche. Here are three that immediately come to mind, including the review I just wrote for the new Triosk album.

Triosk – Visions IV – The Headlight Serenade (Leaf 2006)
Australian trio Triosk is about the closest think you can come to in terms of contemporary minimalist free-jazz (just in case you were looking for one of those). It’s also about the closest acoustic rendition of the ambient-techno created by friend and collaborator Jan Jelinek, whose contribution to ‘1+3+1’ and frequent associations helped put the band on the map. With their second release for the electro-ambient UK label Leaf, Triosk returns to their jazz-inspired roots teaming skittering acoustic drums with minimal free bass lines, a barrage of keyboards and various ambient noise and samples. The non-linear song structures and non-abrasive approach to the music gives the album a very mellow, contemplative mood perfect for, as the title suggests, soundtracking the perspectives created by sweeping headlight reflections during the quietest moments of the night.

Collections of Colonies of Bees – Track 5 – Rance (Crouton 2000)
I’ve wrote about C of C of B in my first ever blog on this site, and they fit in perfectly with this post as well. Former Pele members, Chris Rosenau, Jon Minor and Jon Mueller craft minimal soundscapes using, strangely enough, traditional folk/bluegrass instrumentation with jazzy percussion and finely tuned post-production manipulation. The result is amazing, sweeping ambient music that comes together brilliantly in one moment, then completely disperses the next. I just got a hold of their out-of-print ‘Rance’ album from 2000 a couple weeks ago, and have been completely obsessed with it ever since. If you can’t find a copy of it, their latest, ‘Customer’ on Polyvinyl, is just as amazing and readily available; I highly recommend both.

The Watery Graves of Portland – Scenic Vista with a Tropical Fruit Drink – Caracas (Marriage 2005)
Portland’s (obviously) The Watery Graves of Portland is a bit different from the previous two bands in that there is little to none electronic manipulation to their sound, but they still greatly fall into this category. The trio of Curtis Knapp on piano, Adrian Orange on brushed drums and Davis Lee Hooker on upright bass bring a classical approach to our genre niche of choice utilizing simply acoustic instrumentation and a good dose of resonance and room sound. In what may be the most appropriate audience participation ever with a particular band, as according to the Marriage Records website, the Water Graves provide ‘free stamped envelopes and office supplies, encouraging audiences to write loved ones and/or the band itself amid the music.’ Genius.