American Dre

Shiroishi Patrick: I Was Too Young To Hear... [Vinyl LP]

Fuubutsushi: Columbia Deluxe [Vinyl LP]

Shiroishi Patrick: Forgetting is Violent [Vinyl LP]

Alex Zhang Hungtai's new double album Orion/Mother, a brave, gigantic burst of life, creativity, and abstract balladry, alchemizes the past and the present, sampling home recordings he made with some of New York's finest improvisers while spontaneously composing on top of them with trumpet and other instruments. Zhang's trumpet is the "grounding force" and conceptual narrator of Orion/Mother, allowing Zhang to decontextualize, process, and reconcile with the past through abstract lyricism in the present. It's the sound of an artist addressing unresolved fragments from his past, integrating them into the present, and building a new path.

"We tend to do the free jazz sessions right at the end of long tours," Baldi says, "or after making other records, so it's a nice break from the more regimented song forms that the other bands have, or from playing the same songs every night on tour." For Baldi & Gerycz, free jazz is a release - something to break apart stretches of familiar songwriting - and because of that, there's a lot of joy in these recordings - see the raucous album closer "The Holy Retrievers (In Transit)." Admittedly After Commodore Perry Service Plaza is a bittersweet collection, though - compiled from the final session Baldi & Gerycz recorded in person. As such, it's a cherished memory - it's also kindling for creation - those original feelings inspire the duo to find novel ways to collaborate, even perform.