Ecstatic Volutions in a Neon Haze
Innova Recordings 694
2008
Buy it from Innova or order directly from me ($15, U.S. tax and shipping included):
The five compositions collected on this recording comprise a multifaceted examination of musical groove—the ineffable resonance between sonic rhythm and bodily movement that overwhelms intellect and order with feeling and energy. Within groove there is an irreconcilable tension between the enforcement of order—the martial music of social control, the relentless rigor of Signals Intelligence and unisons of Iris and I Want to Believe—and the ecstasy of liberation, as realized in the improvisatory Liber Pulveris, Ecstatic Volutions in a Neon Haze, and I Want to Believe.
Iris
performed by NOISE (Lisa Cella, flute, Colin McAllister, guitar, Morris Palter, marimba, Franklin Cox, cello)
Signals Intelligence (solo version)
performed by Robert Dillon, percussion
Liber Pulveris
performed by Colin McAllister, guitar
I Want to Believe
performed by the Alan Lechusza / Christopher Adler Duo
Ecstatic Volutions in a Neon Haze
performed by pulsoptional (Carrie Shull, oboe, Todd Hershberger, bassoon, John Mayrose, guitar, Marc Faris, electric guitar, Thom Limbert, percussion, and with Christopher Adler, piano)
REVIEWS
“une oeuvre fantastique”
— Punk Sportif, Pepper Zone
“implausibly Nancarrowesque complexity”
— Philip Clark, The Wire
“This is music as essential as it is essentialist, no doubt as interesting to play as it is to hear. Listen and you’ll learn as well as enjoy.”
— Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music Blog
“Accessible but challenging; pleasant; intellectual without feeling cold”
— Carig Matsumoto, KZSU
…Christopher Adler is interested in the “ineffable resonance between sonic rhythm and bodily movement” which means there is meaning beyond patternings…”I Want to Believe” for soprano saxophone and piano evolved from Adler’s improvisations with saxophonist Alan Lechusza, which became fixed on paper and were then opened up for improvisation. Adler’s left hand plays with implausibly Nancarrowesque complexity as Lechusza piles intelligent lines on top; then the grooves splinter, springing the musicians into an erratic free-for all. “Signals Intelligence” is a percussion piece that attempts to rationalize a level of complexity beyond our unusual comprehension. It can be played on any instrument and Robert Dillon chooses six beautifully resonant ceramic tiles through which to realize Adler’s demands. “Iris” finds common cause between early minimalism and gamelan- without selling either short.
—Philip Clark, The Wire, October, 2008
From the evidence of his latest CD “Ecstatic Variations in a Neon Haze” (Innova), composer-pianist Christopher Adler is one of bright lights on the West Coast today. The Minimalist style of modern concert music has been a large contributor to the new music heard in the past 30 years, sometimes to mixed results. The key to Adler and his success in this idiom is probably contained in the classic idea of VARIATIONS. This can be opposed to the “process” favored by the early work of Steve Reich and others. With Mr. Adler there is periodicity and repetition, but the forms of change in his music seem to be driven by a non-mechanical musical sensibility not always at the forefront in other similar musics. How can the set of transformations undergone in any particular piece be understood? Adler’s solution is always to create musical interest by letting the variations follow an inspirational path guided by pure invention. What could be a snooze becomes just the opposite.
The five pieces represented on this disk vary also in the ensemble colors available with the instrumentation at hand. The larger group pieces, “Iris” for flute, guitar, cello and marimba, and “Ecstatic Variations” for acoustic and electric guitars, oboe, bassoon, and piano, create sound color-texture and nicely wrought, idiomatically conceived parts that mesh together for a very interesting aural experience. But this is no less true of the smaller ensemble writing. For example the long standing duet of Adler on piano and Alan Lechusza on winds, here soprano sax, puts in one of the more exciting performances of the disk, “I Want to Believe.” There is a jazz-like attention to velocity and color and a drive to the music that engages. The title cut stands out for me as well in its effective use of guitars and its ability to unveil an arsenal of musical ideas in a relatively short time period. This is music as essential as it is essentialist, no doubt as interesting to play as it is to hear. Listen and you’ll learn as well as enjoy. You might even get the urge to dance.
— Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music Blog, January, 2009