John Dwyer, Ted Byrnes, Greg Coates, Tom Dolas, Brad Caulkins – “Vertical Infinity”
Just the other day, Dwyer’s last hunk of free jazz shred came sailing through the doors, and I ended that review pondering if he would keep up this current tear, or if Bent Arcana and Witch Egg were an encapsulated experience. Turns out I’d get an answer on that quicker than I thought as today John announces the third in the run of free rock, psychedelic jazz-chomping action and its pushing further out than the last, ditching the touches of funk for an ECM-baiting mind scrape. This time around Dwyer’s crew gets shuffled, but only ever so slightly. Signing back on are Tom Dolas, Brad Caulkins, and Greg Coates, with Ted Byrnes (Artificial Art Ensemble) joining the fray on the kit. The first crack at the album, “Vertical Infinity,” wanders far from groove, preferring instead to answer to the alter of Ayler, though as the band admits there’s a certain tether to the freeform insanity that permeated Gong and the Daevid Allen orbit. Per Dwyer himself, this one come from within — “Everything incrementally growing everyday. Waste into heaps. Information waves weigh on the human psyche. A small seed of hope cracking its husk and reaching for the sun. Beauty rising from the rubbish heap.” The new record is (naturally) out on Casltface March 19th. Hook in and hang on to “Vertical Infinity” below.
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