Ragged Atlas

Realized at San Franciscos Tiny Telephone recording studio in mid-December 2008, Ragged Atlas is the debut album by Fred Frith and Cosa Brava, a group that had formed in Oakland some nine months earlier. By the time these tracks were made, Cosa Brava had toured through nine European countries as well as Victoriaville Quebec, Boston, and New York City. Ragged Atlas was not released until March 2010. Within the framework of the Frith discography, this album has most in common with Gravity (1990). Not so aggressive as the torque team Skeleton Crew, Cosa Brava blends modern creative experimental rock and U.K. folk forms in a mix that most anyone ought to be able to get with. Portions of Ragged Atlas bring to mind Nous Autres, an album of Friths duets with Rene Lussier (1987), or even to some extent Friths Ralph Records releases Speechless and Cheap at Half the Price, which date back to the early ‘80s. Violinist Carla Kihlstedt, a dominant presence on Ragged Atlas, is also heard playing the nyckelharpa (Swedish keyed fiddle) and bass harmonica. Accordionist Zeena Parkins (who had worked with Frith in Skeleton Crew and Keep the Dog) also handles keyboards and foley objects, a category named for legendary sound effects pioneer Jack Foley. Drummer Matthias Bossi, who like Kihlstedt hails from Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, uses the sruti or shruti box to generate drone tones, and Oklahoma native Norman Teale, professionally known as The Norman Conquest, is credited with sound manipulation. Teale, who studied with Frith at Mills College, is highly regarded for his use of unconventional signal processing. For the Ragged Atlas session, Frith himself played guitar and bass guitar. The playlist includes tributes to French multi-instrumental avant-prog rocker Albert Marcoeur; Bollywood film score composer R.D. Burman (listen for guest percussionist Anantha Krishnan); anti-gravitational choreographer Amanda Miller; Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist Tom Ze, and one Rusty, a musician with whom Frith performed and caroused for a short while before his untimely death in 1967. The lyrics and soft, hazy vocal on "Lucky Thirteen" are by Rebby Sharp, whose delivery is worth comparing with Christina "Licorice" McKechnies vocal technique as heard with the Incredible String Band. The archly sinuous and dazzlingly complex repetition structure "Snake Eating Its Tail" is worthy of the title. Conversely, Frith wryly christened a much simpler composition "Blimey, Einstein," subsequently adding "Hey it aint rocket science." Cosa Bravas second album, The Letter, would appear two years later in March 2012. ~ arwulf arwulf