Black Music Disaster

Matthew Shipp on organ puts this record in jazz, I suppose, but it could just as well be considered avant-garde or experimental. Shipp is joined by English guitarists J. Spaceman (of Spiritualized) and John Coxon (of Spring Heel Jack), and by drummer Steve Noble. This single piece - a long, free improvisation – was performed for a small audience in London. Organ dominates throughout; this is essentially an organ recital with accompaniment. Shipp’s little Farfisa has a thin, somewhat comic quality (unlike the mighty Hammond).

All instrumental. No FCC issues.

Begin with a mad-scientist, scary movie organ solo. At ~2:45 add loud pounding on drums & cymbals. At 3:30 go quiet for space music punctuated by bangs. At 4:20 a crescendo roll; guitars join. From ~4:30 to ~10:00 it’s pandemonium: forearms on the keyboard, wild guitars & drums, totally free. More scary movie organ, now with guitar.
Something different from ~10:40: a hard, jazz-rock thing with discernible structure, rhythm and actual chords. Drumming is brilliant. By 12:30, there’s a good, steady, hard-driving groove. Something structured was created out of chaos. It slows down & softens from ~16:00 to ~19:00. There’s a spot in here where you could fade it out and quit.
From ~20:00, much more noise from the guitars. It’s really loud again. From ~25:00 slower and quieter again: long, legato organ chords, noodling on guitars, light clanging on cymbals. By 28:00 short, choppy & staccato on organ with lots of guitar. After ~30:00 monotonous, pulsing chords with pitter-patter drumming. At 33:00, long chords with world-music drumming (e.g., tom toms). At 34:00, back to the pulsing, rhythmic chords now with straight-ahead rock drumming on the whole kit. From 35:00, slow way down and return to the amorphous chaos. The last 1:30 is one continuous chord on organ, then the thing just peters out. At the end, about five people politely clap. (38:18)