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Asteroid Ekosystem: Sounds Have Dreams
by Glenn Astarita
Sounds Have Dreams is the audacious third album (and second studio effort) from Asteroid Ekosystem, the project led by Australian pianist and composer Alister Spence. He has assembled an unlikely quartet that sidesteps genre boundaries: punk and post-punk guitarist Ed Kuepper, The Necks bassist Lloyd Swanton, and the precise, inventive drummer Toby Hall. Spence shaped raw guitar phrases from Kuepper into compositional sketches, then reconvened the group. The result feels less like a conventional album and more like ...
Continue ReadingAlister Spence Trio: Gather
by Glenn Astarita
Alister Spence Trio's Gather arrives like a mischievous breeze, stirring the leaves of modern jazz with a blend of precision and playful abandon. This Australian ensemble--Alister Spence on piano, Lloyd Swanton on double bass, and Toby Hall on drums--delivers an album that feels like a conversation among old friends who happen to be virtuosos. The eight tracks weave a tapestry of intricate melodies, rhythmic surprises and moments of quiet introspection, each piece a small universe unto itself. Spence's ...
Continue ReadingAlister Spence Trio: Gather
by Dan McClenaghan
Australian pianist Alister Spence is a master collaborator. He teams up with fellow keyboardist Satoko Fujii for various recording and live show efforts, and also with pianist Myra Melford and saxophonist Raymond McDonald. In addition, he is a founding member of the group Wanderlust, and he collaborates with guitarist Ed Kuepper in the Asteroid Ekosystem ensemble. Gather, released under the Alister Spence Trio moniker, features eight of Spence's original compositions, along with his piano artistry, and with improvisations ...
Continue ReadingAlister Spence Trio With Ed Kuepper: Asteroid Ekosystem
by Dan McClenaghan
Australian pianist/keyboardist Alister Spence—with his avant-garde credibility established via free-roaming work with his trio and collaborations with pianist/composer/bandleader Satoko Fujii—takes another let's-see-what-happens exploratory step in a collaboration with guitarist Ed Kuepper on the double CD outing, Asteroid Ekosystems, a sonic trek into the extraterrestrial area of space debris between Mars and Jupiter. Or not. Maybe the title was tagged on, after the two day recording sessions, after an “off-the-cuff" show in Sydney in March of 2018. Nevertheless, that ...
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