#relay recordings

[dustedmagazine]

Kyle Bruckmann / Tim Daisy / Philip Greenlief / Lisa Mezzacappa — Semaphore (Relay Recordings)

Tim Daisy photo by Ken Vandermark/ Kyle Bruckmann photo by Peter Gannushkin 

SEMAPHORE :: Kyle Bruckmann / Tim Daisy /Phillip Greenlief / Lisa Mezzacappa (relay 033) by Timothy Daisy // Relay Recordings

Semaphore is the latest manifestation of the enduring musical connection between Kyle Bruckmann and Tim Daisy. They live a half-continent apart in San Francisco and the Chicago area, and they might not get together for years. But when they do, they not only pick up where they left off, but keep the conversation growing.

The two men’s association originated when Bruckmann, who plays oboe and English horn, started the band Wrack in 2002. This was right around the time that he left Chicago, where he had been the city’s first-call double reeds improviser for half a dozen years, for San Francisco, where he still resides. That might seem like a weird time to start a band, but Bruckmann wasn’t leaving because of problems with Chicago’s music scene. Quite the contrary, he had some unfinished business, including a determination to write and perform music that combined classical forms with new jazz, and he knew a circle of Chicago-based musicians whose skills and aptitudes made them perfect for the project. One of them was Daisy, who at the time was best known as the drummer in a variety of projects led by Ken Vandermark and Dave Rempis, but who was also striking out on his own as a leader. He brought propulsion, swing, formidable improvisational chops, and a cornucopia of ornamental sounds to the combo’s distinctive chamber music-meets-muscular jazz sound. 

Wrack finished strong in 2014 with the record …Awaits Silent Tristero’s Empire, but Bruckmann and Daisy kept renewing their connection every few years.  Semaphore flips the Wrack script by having Daisy head out to Bruckmann’s turf to play with some Bay Area improvisers, bassist Lisa Mezzacappa and tenor saxophonist Philip Greenlief, and adds chapters to it by having the two men split the writing. Both leaders like to fit a lot of action into a composition. Bruckmann’s “No Mean Feat,” which opens the album, features Daisy sizzling on cymbals while Mezzacappa manages the momentum by alternating ascending phrases with sudden rests. The composer and Greenlief strike a balance of muscularity and astringence that brings to mind Prince Lasha and Sonny Simmons without sounding much like them. After building tension, the group expends it with a surging groove and sequential horn solos. Then comes another rest, followed by an intricate pas de deux between oboe and bass, and then the piece resolves with a sauntering ensemble passage reminiscent of the Vandermark 5 c. Acoustic Machine. 

Next up is Daisy’s “Big Horse Lounge,” which opens with a splendidly grouchy-sounding synth line played by Bruckmann, and then eases into a sequence of time-free, muted exchanges by continuously shifting subgroups of the quartet. That dissolves into a charge led by Greenlief’s rippling, high-register attack and fueled by the combustible Mezzacappa-Daisy team. Players drop in and out, and velocity subsides, before the whole ensemble reconstitutes for a voltage-illuminated finale that imagines Brown Rice-era Don Cherry dabbling in gamelan sounds. 

Each of the five pieces that follows explores, with varying degrees of expansiveness and pith, a variety of musical territories. This music is packed with event and transformation, as though its makers knew that they had to get a lot said before parting ways again. But the music never feels gratuitously crammed; in fact, its fluid transitions between sections is part if its appeal. With Semaphore, Daisy and Bruckmann have forged a distinct new group identity by exploring new instrumental and personnel combinations while reaffirming the interest in intricate composition that they have shared since the first Wrack CD.

Bill Meyer

[raininyourblackeyes]

Blorbo from running

[decladams]

BROKE TWO MORE RECORDS TODAY 💪🏊🏻‍♀️🔥💯

[oldmanontumbler]

Hey, my swagful disciples.

Old man doesn't have a phone charger right now, so I'm setting off on an arduous journey (accruing one) and you won't see me until I return.

Don't weep for me. Go and post some pigeons or maybe some robots kissing.

[partybarty]

Titmus smashing .62 off the world record in the women's 200m freestyle.

[crackinwise]

Women are everythiiiiing!

(and the men did really well too)

[vspin]

Eating Carne asada and chips on the couch watching track & field 🤣🤣

[tokyohobi]

i love kiof as whole but i feel like haneul is SO underrated. her vocals and visuals are fr slept on

[elytrafemme]

blinks eyes rapidly. i love my best friend so insanely much. i cannot believe i get to live in a life where i have a best friend like him. like yes i have other best friends who i love love LOVE and MISS (specific shout out to my basically childhood friend who i will only see for maybe 1-2 weeks annually for the next four years) but like. we're chit chatting about some philosophy shit now while he's at his library job and im just sitting here like i can really talk to you about anything, huh.

[monster-noises]

I love second hand book shops, I got to them frequently and always leave with Something and have a good time just peakin around

But i gotta say

It's one of the Worst spots for me in terms of imposter syndrome

I feel like everyone's uneasey with my presence as though i'm a stranger who just stumbled into their inner sanctum and they're.. they're gunna let me stay but they're gunna be weirded out the whole time and breath a sigh of relief when the Strange Unwelcome Freak Leaves

It also happens at record shops and sometimes at small antique shops or cons+festivals

Just this immediate foreboding of being Angrily Tolerated in a Space I Don't Belong

[steampoweredskeleton]

Like three things I enjoy are either currently making ARGs or have just finished them and I really wish I could take part but the idea of the media topic being brought into real life in a way that I can interact with freaks me out enough that I KNOW actually taking part is going to make me disconnect from reality in a really not fun way

[shredsandpatches]

first Mendelssohn concert was tonight and it was amazeballs, I fucking love singing

Tomorrow night's concert is going to be on the local NPR and thus streamable online. I'll post the link tomorrow because it's gonna be awesome.

Bonus score note:

[nofr1lls]

anonymous assumption hmmmmmmm

how about you’ve won swim meets and you’re really good at bingo

I dare YOU to make a guess on who every anon is lol

i only won ONE swim meet in primary school. so. maybe i am rlly good at bingo but i wouldnt know bc i cant remember ever playing it. i accuse YOU of being joan groundbreakingdot872 🫵

[butchlifeguard]

i love people talking about gendered sports but it becomes increasingly obvious they dont know shit

[gorgeously-stupid]

Thanks to johnnycure's instagram post, I am absolutely losing it at this interview. Scroll to 31:55 for the full context or 36:00 for The Prophecy.

It's 2012, a jubilee year, Robert is despairing about the monarchy as always, and he randomly decides to predict the queen's gonna die on September 7th.

It took another jubilee year but he was right gklfkfkkgkglg his hatred of the monarchy is so powerful it endowed him wih the gift of prophecy i love him kfkkflflfl

[partybarty]

Swimming relays just hit different.