Goodbye Swingtime

The Wire (p.62) - "Every aspect of this album, from the components and method of its assembly, to its dissemination, is politically informed....The ever shifting backdrops of this music keep it nicely off kilter..." JazzTimes (pp.74-75) - "[T]his second Matthew Herbert Big Band album leaps through raging chorales and grand marching drums as if preparing for a high school musical." Record Collector (magazine) (p.94) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "These 12 tracks present, in a musically-palatable context, a set of huge and ambitious political themes that are dramatic, soulful, superbly-worked and centred round the underlying narrative of power." Clash (Magazine) (p.87) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "There are lots of disjointed choruses of flashy horns and peppy rhythms with vocalist Eska out in front delightedly delivering pointed lyrics chastising the media, the government and religious institutions." Signal To Noise (p.59) - "Much like Robert Wyatt, Herbert makes politics in music an intimately personal experience..."

かねがね噂されていたビッグバンド・スタイルで登場したマシュー・ハーバートの新作。ふたたび議論を呼びそうな内容で、スタイルはサントラ的オーケストレーションを施したジャズながら、小悪魔的実験精神とコンセプチュアルな要素を潜ませた確信犯的作品。ここで〈ポスト・テクノ〉とか〈クラブ・ジャズ〉などの文脈を語るのは、もはや無意味なことかも。客観的判断はまだ先にして、いまはただその音に唸るのみ。
bounce (C)村上 謙太郎