music Bob Gluck Early Morning Star (FMR Records) Fmr-records.com
“Arise, oh my beloved,” chants vocalist Andrea Wolper in the art song that opens Early Morning Star. Drawn from biblical love poetry, the phrase serves here to establish the foundation of what’s to come musically and thematically: an invocation to listeners to harken to the medium and the message. The album draws from a multiplicity of genres and influences, including collective improvisation, modern jazz, avant-garde, klezmer, Middle Eastern, and Hebrew texts ostensibly addressing social justice concerns—yet in sum it presents a remarkably unified sound and vision that can only be called Bob Gluck music. Things take flight musically with “Emerge-Ency,” featuring the siren-like sounds of Kinan Azmeh’s clarinet atop some gorgeously chaotic vamping by Woodstock drummer Tani Tabbal and bassist Ken Filiano, whereas “Flowing” is a more stately group improvisation on a theme. “For Today” is given over entirely to Gluck, whose spacious arrangement across the piano keyboard boasts orchestral depth. The Albany-area Gluck doesn’t always compose for himself, making it all the more of a treat to hear his colorful playing throughout. On “Friday Song,” the lyrics wittily incorporate the language of sales and marketing—“risk free at a bargain price”—to decry environmental devastation. “Not for Today” features Wolper’s multitracked vocals and a frenzied clarinet improvisation by Azmeh that builds to a crescendo of one impossibly long, sustained note. Gluck coproduced this beautiful album with Trevor Taylor; the pristine sound fully breathes as if you are in the room with the musicians. —Seth Rogovoy
Acoustic Medicine Show The Road Less Traveled
(Independent) Facebook.com/musicthatmakesyoufeelwonderful With 50 states to choose from, American roots music covers a pretty wide swath. With his latest thematic disc, The Road Less Traveled, Acoustic Medicine Show mastermind Joe Tobin sounds like he’s trying to cover it all. The end result, while pleasant, is, ironically, rootless, with loping cowboy heels on “Traveling Man,” ersatz horn-driven R&B on “Baton Rouge,” and Texas folk on the album’s best track, the string-inflected “I Always Loved You.” There are flashes of Peter Case here (“Maria”), the Wildflowers there (“By My Side”), and the beautiful pastiche of the elder Dylan’s Desire on “The Road Goes on Forever.” But one pines to hear Tobin’s own voice amidst the touchstones. More sparse numbers and less faux-salt-on-the-floor shuffles like the swinging “Back on Home” might be a step in the right direction. The playing throughout, by a bevy of talented Hudson Valley helpers, is top notch. —Michael Eck
54 MUSIC CHRONOGRAM 10/20
Astro-Zombies Instant Punishment The Robot Brain vs. Hitler’s Corpse (POE Records) Theastro-zombies.bandcamp.com
Hudson Valley music fans familiar with the traditional Celtic stylings of the Wild Irish Roses might be shocked at the sonic extremes of the now-married Michael and Kristina Rose’s early 1990s Brooklyn-based outfit, the Astro Zombies. Going by the nom de rock of Jim Bean (vocals, bass) and Kitty Lovely (rhythm guitar, vocals), the duo was abetted by Cleve Lund (lead guitar), Mugsy (drums), and a rotating gaggle of DJs. The group’s MO was to take the skeleton of a pop song and put it through “our meat grinder of filth, corruption, and despair.” An unsuspecting listener gets lulled in by a stray melody or lyric before a vicious mugging of feedback and dissonance occurs. These remasters include the band’s cassette-only debut and material for a never released third alum. Connoisseurs of punk/psych/noise/ mayhem should dig in, forthwith. —Jeremy Schwartz
Flor Bromley Fiesta Global (Independent) Florbromley.com
Croton-on-Hudson resident Flor Bromley creates a Latin fusion extravaganza for los niños with her bilingual sophomore CD, a celebration of the global village. Fiesta Global encourages diversity (and dancing!) with festive sounds from south of the border—Mexican, Columbian, Brazilian, and her native Peruvian— with joyous tracks that echo our welcoming Hudson Valley spirit. “Let’s have a party!,” she sweetly sings, in both Spanish and English, as a bevy of cheerful children’s voices chime in alongside the brass. In “We Came to America,” Bromley reminds us of our ancestral or more recent expeditions; though varied in expression, each one of us is equally American: “Every color, race and religion / From every country in the world.” Beautiful, upbeat ballads like “Vida” offer some downtime from sure-to-be bouncing children. Eleven tracks, and just as many competent players and participants, offer authentic, multicultural entertainment that is abundantly needed in times like these. —Haviland S Nichols
