Events . GRID (Nelson Dahl Podgurski) Old Money Jesus Valerie Kuehne

GRID (Nelson Dahl Podgurski) Old Money Jesus Valerie Kuehne

Mon Mar 26 8 pm doors $7 at the door 21+ show
Howlers, 4509 Liberty Ave, Bloomfield

improvised psychedelia from NYC on the NNA Tapes label
GRID https://grid.bandcamp.com
Matt Nelson of Battle Trance, Tuneyards, Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones. Tim Dahl of Lydia Lunch's Retrovirus, Child Abuse.
Nick Podgurski of New Firmament, Feast of the Epiphany.

with Old Money Jesus https://oldmoneyjesus.bandcamp.com
and Valerie Kuehne https://dreamzoo.bandcamp.com

NNA is pleased to present GRID, the debut recording from the new trio of Matt Nelson (Battle Trance) on saxophone, Tim Dahl (Child Abuse) on bass, and Nick Podgurski (New Firmament; Feast of the Epiphany) on drums. Despite the trio formation and the individual players’ backgrounds with jazz, the GRID sound takes the plunge toward the darker, heavier, and more psychedelic realms of improvised music. While undoubtedly harnessing the clamorous spirit of free jazz, the trio ventures beyond its acoustic borders, cleverly implementing electronic processing as well as dirge-like tempos that draw upon the slow-burning qualities of Doom and Sludge for inspiration.

The four pieces that make up the album cover plenty of sonic territory and are ripe with expressive gesture, but are unified by the resulting singularity of atmosphere they conjure. Dahl’s extra-heavy bass guitar often marinates in the lower registers, creating a thick undergrowth of growling low end frequencies that anchor the pieces in a doom-like ambiance. Sliding up and down the fret from note to note creates a swaying imbalance that only amplifies the queasy, slow-motion tempos. Nelson’s saxophone, in conjunction with electronic effects processing, unleashes a multitude of refreshingly twisted new sounds, dynamics, and textures from the horn. Overdriven feedback is used to add a deeply fried sustain to the notes, giving them a Hendrix-like soulfulness and urgency. Squeals and squelches occasionally emerge from the web of filtering, reminding the listener that they are in fact hearing saxophone, not guitar. Podgurski’s loose, collapsing drumming style fills the nooks and crevices left behind by Dahl and Nelson’s destructive dissonance, stirring the pot and propelling the music forward. His painterly attack hits in all the right places, reinforcing tempos but also dancing around them, while adding an acoustic juxtaposition that gives dimension to each piece.

Upon listening, there’s no denying that these musicians are deeply rooted in the craft of improvisation - they bring not only experience, but a high level of understanding to their work as well. What makes GRID unique however, is their ability to play with dirtier, noisier, and heavier textures, but with the sensitivity of a seasoned improviser. There is an undeniable physicality to GRID’s sound, as all of the sounds are related to the actual touch of the instrument. Although electronics are utilized, they embellish this physical playing, rather than dictate it. Nelson, Dahl, and Podgurski place individual expression in the back seat in favor of a cohesive vision that relies as much on mood and aura as it does technical chops. Recorded live to two inch tape at Seizures Palace in Brooklyn, the cavernous quality of the recording and signature mastering from Weasel Walter augment an undercurrent of grit and dread. Overall, the album has an essence of eternal void, as if the music exists in a vacuum of space that could go on infinitely in either direction. GRID’s debut is merely four glimpses into this alternate dimension of sound.

Matt Nelson: Saxophone
Tim Dahl: Bass
Nick Podgurski: Drums

"This is some nasty, nasty jazz...the trio's common denominator is '70s free jazz — but that genre's intensity at a grueling pace, through manipulated electronics. The result calls to mind the late-period albums by Painkiller and Khanate (whenever those metallic skronkers spaced out)...GRID's own brand of sludge, however, is remarkably steady for a style normally hellbent on insanity." -NPR

"Saxophonist Matt Nelson is one of the more unpredictable virtuosos in New York’s underground. Nelson enjoys taking on discrete roles in different ensembles. On his first record as part of GRID...he often plays the saxophone covertly. As he puts his tones through a raft of pedals and electronics, the majority of Nelson’s licks sound like the work of a lead guitarist in an avant-rock trio...On the band’s eponymous debut, Nelson’s indirect use of the saxophone is the most consistently thrilling element...you might spend some time re-checking the album credits just to make sure there isn’t a guest guitarist on hand.. The free-improv pulses from the rhythm section create a compelling, abstract background. And when Nelson allows small bulbs of typical reed-instrument noise to flower...the listener gains a greater appreciation of the saxophonist’s command over this unusual terrain." - Pitchfork

"The music of GRID is a three-way chat. It's a conversation between musicians with differing musical opinions, but their debut album becomes a shared dialogue that is as fluid as it is improvised.
The new four-track album on NNA Tapes sees [them] turning toward the darker, heavier, and more psychedelic realms of improvised music that evokes unhinged 70s-era free jazz as well as droning doom and sludge." - Noisey (Vice)

Related Entities: Howlers
Tags: Indie Psychedelic