The title track kicks things off in the proper spirit with a mad go-round of loopy sax melody popping in and around the jittery rhythm section formed by a plucked cello and percussion (first marimba, then kit). It's an exhilarating load of fun and a great setup for the rest of Warblepeck. "Jackhat 1" moves in a slightly weirder direction, with it's exploration of dissonance and electronic blurpification. The ending is particularly cool, an unexpected unison flourish of sax and glockenspiel.
What's most interesting about this trio is their ability to create and modify structure from many angles. "Scribble Boy" has Hollenbeck setting up a simple, lone vamp on the drums. The sax and cello come in and sort of dance around each other, at first teasing out a melody but then settling in to a nice call & response kind of thing. Contrast this with "Anemone," which starts off as a series of circular arpeggios (glockenspiel) over which the cello talks. These roles are then inverted with the cello taking over for the glockenspiel and the saxophone assuming the cello's former role. The first time I heard it, my reaction definitely a bit of "What the...?!" in it!
I've lead this mini-series off with Warblepeck because it's definitely one of this year's most intriguing pieces of music. My end of the year list won't be numbered (that's my current thinking anyway), but this record is certain to be in the top 10. Check it out.
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