Search - Chicago Underground Quartet :: Chicago Underground Quartet

Not as good as Flamethrower, better than Possible Cube

J. Christmas | New Brunswick, NJ | 07/19/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is not really the "debut" of the Chicago Underground Quartet, as Jeff Parker was practically a full fledged member of the Chicago Underground "Trio" on their last album--Flamethrower. Parker and Mazurek, of Isotope 217 fame, join Noel Kupersmith and Chad Taylor, as usual, for more dialectical explorations of jazz and electronic music. The opening track, as usual, is strong--and bears similarities to the opening tracks on the last two albums--fast-paced, repeating figures under melodies, shifting rhythms, etc. As usual, some tracks are composed while others are "free improvised", some tracks rely primarily on "acoustic" quartet playing while others incorporate electronics and recording manipulation. Parker and Taylor are especially brilliant on a cover of Coltrane's "Welcome" (Tortoise fans will be reminded of the opening of Seneca). Chicago Underground's approach to the marriage of jazz and electronics remains sensible--rather than create "electronic jazz" relying heavily on technology, they incorporate the electronics tastefully and subtly, treating all sound equally and being refreshingly un-fascinated with electronics for their own sake. Still, at least one track on this album crosses so far into electronic territory that it ceases to sound like Chicago Underground and could almost pass for an I.D.M. recording. For reasons not yet clear to me, this album, while strong, doesn't quite have the energy and presence of Flamethrower. One gets the sense that some sort of new step is needed in their development before they make another recording. Still, the material is interesting and relatively fresh in the spectrum of jazz coming out today."

Closer to post-rock than jazz

cloudless9 | Santa Fe, NM United States | 07/08/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the Chicago Underground release to get if you want something closer to Tortoise or Isotope 217 and further away from Miles Davis and the post-bop that is more typical of the three Chicago Underground Duo releases and the two Trio releases. Kupersmith's bass shows up more on this one, as does Parker's guitar, and there are even some Steve Reichian moments. A solid album with enough flow throughout to listen to in one sitting..."

In the vein of the turtle.

Matthew C | Anchorage, AK | 03/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The majority of this record comes of sounding more along the lines of Tortoise and other similiary styled 'post-rock' bands, especially ones from the Chicago area.



That's not a bad thing, mind you. Only Rob's coronet really sets this apart. It doesn't quite bring this into a 'jazz' realm, however. As most of the songs are based around nooding instead of setting up a theme and variations along traditional jazz.





However, if you do enjoy bands like tortoise or like your Jazz mixed with some electronica and post-modern directions, this is for you."