Ready to Circle the Depth.
Many Arms is a noise rock/Jazz Fusion improvisational group from Philadelphia. Their style is described by themselves as a fusion of punk rock and free jazz with angular rhythms and sharp twists and turns. they’re seemingly underground, with only about 900 likes on their Facebook page as of writing this article. Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese noise artist, who has worked in the free jazz realm, and what some would call an essential leader to the Onkyo-Kei movement of “Quiet Noise”. Many Arms and Toshimaru Nakamura bring together a very interesting blend, not so much two different worlds of music (which is often the case with these sorts of collaborations) but more of a truly communicated and single piece. Although at points things can drag, and certain parts of a composition/improv seem to delve into being a bit too undeveloped for my tastes… If what you want is a distinct and good fusion of noise and jazz, this is the album for you.
The collaboration is split into 4 parts: I, II, III, and IV respectively. The wash of hard jazz drumming, seemingly random chord progressions, background bass, and quiet noise are all prevalent in each track. However the first track, shows the hardest, and most noticeable foray of these elements. Many Arms and Toshimaru Nakamura waste no time with building atmosphere or leading to crescendos. It starts off hard, heavy, and most importantly, no bullshit. Toshimaru has a distinct and texture filled tone, appropriately his noise is seen as a sort of backdrop and stage to Many Arms. The drummer and guitarist work with however the noise is put out. from deep bassy textures that slowly ascend then back down again to ear piercing screeches. The composition is seemingly poly-rythmic, possibly having a different rythm section for each set. Not unlike an African drum circle, the lack of clear rythm gives the group a trance like effect, wherein each person goes off by where their heart is heading. That isn’t to say that everything sounds like a quick and crazy jam session, there are musical sensibilities and definitely some melodic passages, but overall, it’s reasoning behind getting to those melodic segments is through chaos and lack of structure.
II is a bit different than the first track. It’s noticeably slower and takes its time, seemingly to notice Takamura’s clicking and strange glitched sound. The majority of this track is drone, an amp overheating and faint cymbal timbre. The track unfortunately doesn’t develop too much, and it seems more like an accidental and frankly, droll idea that came out of someone’s head because they had to.
III seems to take the slowness of the last track, alongside the intimidation of it, and fuse everything into a head spinning and disgusting track, that makes you ask for more. Toshimaru Nakamura creates very diverse noise in this track, stuff that will make your ear explode, stuff that will be quiet and gushy, stuff that goes with the music, stuff that goes against… The noise is always contrasting away from itself and with itself. The drummer plays as if he’s being hunted by something, the noise is seen in this composition as something quite big and scary. General tone wise, this track is intimidating, Droning but fast and complicated. Always at a constant but simultaneously ascending, a bit of a slow burner, but everything is there to make this track frightening as it’s being played. Seems a bit no wave inspired.
The last track, IV is incredibly fast paced, running on a stampeding jazz drum setup, the noisy instrumentation circles the drums. Takamura embraces subtlety and variety, much like an amp overheating, or a cymbal not being muted, his effects seem like more of a byproduct of the drumming, and guitar and bass. Static clicks will cut in then cut out around parts, and gradually build the intensity. At around the 4 minute mark the aggression starts to seep through, and everything is unpredictable. Although not very similar in terms of theory, I can’t help but be reminded of James Chance and the Contortions. Everything is quite Doomy on this piece, almost more chaotic than the first track, and funnily less of the theory. The drummer finds good parts to insert his fast and reckless style, as well as the guitarist and bassist.
Verdict
If you want an incredibly chaotic and interesting take on a jazz formula, this album is for you. At points it can dip and be a bit boring… But those parts can be easily dismissed. This is also a great album for drummers, it shows how you could implement some crazy and very creative rudiments into difficult pieces. 7/10