The follow-up to the critically-acclaimed Hardcore, City of Angles takes “industrial jazz” to new extremes. Straightahead swing is juxtaposed with dense polymetrics (the title track, for instance, shifts between 4/4, 3/4, 11/8, 15/8, 9/8, 5/8 and 7/4), lyrical melodies coexist with noise and atonality, and compositional intricacy is complemented by (and often confused with) freewheeling improvisation. Throughout the set the group (expanded to eleven players) retains its trademark wit, demonstrating a refreshingly ironic self-consciousness not often found in postmodern jazz.
Reviews:
“Performed with a wink and a nod - and some scintillating virtuosity - Industrial Jazz Group's new disc, City of Angels, is a compelling mix of genres, odd time signatures and tight improvisation. [â¦] [It] is a melodic, passionate disc, filled with snippets and effects rarely heard in modern jazz. There are references from Dixieland to third stream - and everything in between.”
Michael J. Ryan, The Boston Herald
“[â¦] City of Angles [reveals] Durkin to be a composer with his own voice and sensibility (everybody has influences), one who can put together some very nice horn charts, to boot. His music is warm, engaging, and intelligent without being dry and humorless. Durkin writes music that people who think they hate jazz would like, the kind of jazz that deserves air play but probably won't get it, except from the odd campus radio station with a broadcasting range of seven blocks.”
Tom Bowden, The Education Digest
“Durkin's joy in making music makes his work such a pleasure to listen to. Even the compositions here that have a more serious edge to them, such as 'Void When Detached' or 'Anger Management Classes,' are filled with the confident bounce of a musician who embraces melody and likes the things he finds in it. I should point out that Durkin is aided by ten musicians of outstanding ability, including Evan Francis (who made key contributions to Hardcore) on alto and flute, Eldad Tarmu on vibes, and Daniel Glass on drums. These are demanding tunes to play and it's the skill of the musicians on City of Angles that makes them work.”
Joseph Taylor, Soundstage
“I'm not really sure how you play peanut butter, but according to the liner notes, Eldad Tarmu of the Industrial Jazz Group doubles as a vibraphonist and a peanut butterist. In addition, composer Andrew Durkin, responsible for nearly all of the pieces on this album, advises listeners to skip one track (“a bombastic Wagnerian jazz-dreck”) altogether. These interjections in the packaging speak volumes about the ironic humor that pervades the second recording from this ensemble of 11 musicians out of Los Angeles. Rolling every style of jazz possible into one sound and making use of the avant-garde bag of tricks, the IJG is a refreshing oasis in the desert of seriousness that is postmodern jazz.”
NewMusicBox
“[This] nine-piece Los Angeles-based band is one of the most intriguing jazz ensembles in Southern California. It is stocked with fearless young improvisers and strangely beautiful arrangements that jump and skitter every which way, and its mechanistic-sounding name has led many to assume that it's related to harrowing rock bands like Nine Inch Nails [â¦] Intrepid listeners who purchase a disc without having actually heard the band will be delighted or bemused to discover thoughtful, often-captivating jazz that mixes free improvisation with striking melodic lines and complex, kinetic arrangements.”
Andrew Gilbert, San Diego Union Tribune
“[â¦] le groupe est déjà solide [â¦]”
Réjean Beaucage, Voir
“There are definitely shades of Carl Stalling or Frank Zappa at work, too. The playfulness inherent in these tunes is joyous [â¦] It's jazz, yes, but not po-faced keep-silent-always stuff; TIJG's tunes are fun [â¦] and -- dare I say it -- quirky enough to warrant seeking out.”
Luke Martin, Splendidezine
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