Tragicomic

Strong piano-led quartet with a deeply modern sound that still ties back to the jazz tradition. Iyer plays with a thunderous and percussive bent, informed by drum machines and electronica -- but this is still an acoustic album, one with a richly organic feel. Look for stern, eye-opening themes, followed by solo spaces that keep the same logic (as opposed to being abstract free-for-alls) while stretching outward. Quieter moments bring Iyer closer to a traditional piano-jazz sound, but there's little here that you'd call loungy. It's a middle point between the sternness of hte trio Fieldwork and Iyer's earlier, more mainstream albums like "Memorophilia." Instrumental; FCC clean.

Iyer (piano)
Rudresh Mahanthappa (sax)
Stephan Crump (bass)
Marcus Gilmore (drums)

1- Slow build. Grand intro.
2- A fast babble, attention-grabbing.
3- Deep and foreboding, almost prog-rock! Mid/fast; gets emotional.
4- Richly rolling riff, mid/fast.
5- Quiet start, into some neat little statements between sax and piano. Give it some time.
6- Slowish
7- Jaunty, some South African sun, but in an odd time sig.
8- An airy feel over some deep pulsing at the start. Rather nice.
9- Surprisingly nice, almost loungy.
10- Rapid pace; stern jumbly sax & piano. Some really nice piano work, not at all "machine"-like
11- Ballad-like (quiet) but heavy. Gets sharply intense later.
12- A foreboding semi-ballad with heavy subtext.