Of the next two tracks, "The Tipping Point" is my favorite. "Pattern Recognition" is quite good as well. Three songs in and we have a winner, right? I think so, but fourth track "She Smiles" is just a little too sweet for me. It is nowhere near terrible but it does not feel like it gels well with the previous three songs.
"The Conjuror" might be more similar to The Painted Desert than anything else on Earthspeaker (and I mean that in a good way). "El Barrio" has a great melody. It would be unfair to label the song as having a "dark" sound to it, but there is certainly mystery. Maybe "dark" comes to mind because of its proximity to "She Smiles." Maybe "dark" is just an overused adjective. Trumpet, flute, saxophone advance to and retreat from the song's front, all anchored by the outstanding rhythm section of Martin and upright bassist Luis Guerra. "Nocturne" adds both a sinister and seductive vibe to the mystery of "El Barrio." "A Line in the Sand" allows multiple musical ideas to exist at the same time. You can listen to it over and over and feel like you are hearing a different song each time depending on which ideas your ears and mind decide to focus on. "Mandala" and "Deus Ex Machina," two of the album's closers, are also standout tracks. "Dues," like "Agbadza," was first heard on the Wayward Shamans' record.
Earthspeaker does not travel new sonic ground, which can make it sound more like a continuation of Desert than an actual follow-up. Some listeners might be turned off by that, but an album does not have to be jarringly different to be interesting. Interesting does not even begin to describe this.
By now you have gathered that I like this new album and am in general a fan of Barrett Martin, but you might be wondering what it all sounds like, this album. It is a fair question and one that I struggle to answer. One of the easiest and most common tricks of the music trade is for a reviewer (I am not a big fan of the word critic) to compare and contrast the subject album with other works to try to give the prospective listener a frame of reference. It is a useful device but can become a crutch. Unfortunately it is a device that is not available to me with this review. The only thing like Earthspeaker I have in my collection is The Painted Desert and perhaps Alchemy.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
i've only heard snippets of this music on some podcast i found in a gutter somewhere.
still, it was great stuff. i think i need both of these records.
2 - DJRadiohead
I think you need them, too. EO would love it if you clicked those Amazon links and bought two copies of each.
Cool that someone was spinning them on a podcast. Awesome. Nice to know somebody knows where it's at.
Thanks for checking out the review. Two excellent albums.
3 - Mark Saleski
...EO would love it if you clicked those Amazon links and bought two copies of each.
ya, so would i. except that my recent acquisition of the "big box 'o bob" has certain repercussions.
4 - DJRadiohead
I understand repercussions. I am treading lightly at my house, too. Compromise- make it one copy of each disc. Really good music.