Here we go again, another part of whatever. More Earth Ball, they have a new album, they’ve been covered rather a lot around these parts in recent times, not that you’d know it, what’s words worth? Not much so it seems. Hot on the coattails of that split release with fellow Canadian noise makers Thresher comes an album called Actual Earth Music – Volume 1 & 2, an album that presents “two caustic, yet alluringly unreal live sets from Canadian noise-rock entropy hunters Earth Ball. Following on from the group’s critically appraised It’s Yours LP (released 2024 on Upset The Rhythm) this release captures the band at the peak of their powers, playing live, composing spontaneously”.
Side A of Actual Earth Music – Volume 1 & 2 features Earth Ball live at The Fox Cabaret in Vancouver, supporting Wolf Eyes on August 4, 2023. Jeremy Van Wyck from the band considers this “the gig that sent us into orbit, really. Causing Olson & Young to wax poetic about our interstellar jams to a fine bloke across the big sea. Upsetting our casual rhythm and forcing our hand. All that talk led to an LP, It’s Yours, and a full UK tour the following spring”. An album that figured prominently in our best of the year round up as well as live dates that were more then well received around here
“Now, with the birth of this live series ‘Actual Earth Music’, it seems only fitting that Volume 1 should be this gig. It’s a doozy. Listening back is a pure revelation. Earth Ball whip up a vortex of thrashing wild energy, the ecstatic release is off the charts. “You don’t always catch every nuance of the jams as they come down. I mean, this one felt good, but upon listening back to the tapes, it sounded very good” confides Jeremy. “It reminded me of Von Trier’s Melancholia: the sound of a large sphere coming toward you to bring doom. However, this one reverses course, heading away to some other shore, bathing you in reflective bliss before saying goodbye—instead of ending humanity as we know it”.
Volume 2 occupies Side B of this new album , showcasing a collaborative summit from the second night of their recent Café Oto residency on May 21, 2024. This event featured Earth Ball laying down three separate sets—all collaborations. This second recording presents their opening performance and features pivotal UK improv luminary Steve Beresford on piano and free-jazz phenomenon Chris Corsano on drums. “To say I felt nervous would be an understatement.” Jeremy admits. “Here I was with my best friends, in a venue I had dreamt of experiencing gigs in—let alone performing in. Add to that my mind was reeling from the legendary status of our two guests and a sold-out crowd. It was, for sure, a recipe for freezing up and barely playing, with your amp turned right down. Not to be. Between the attitude of our guests and the vibe of the crowd, all nervous energy was dispelled and alchemically transformed into the sonic stew you hear here. An unforgettable night. The image of Steve looming over the grand piano, scraping children’s toys along the strings, creating a horrifically transcendent sound that brought tears to my eyes, will be with me forever.”
Here’s a bit of the label’s own shouting about it, the label is right though, for once, do believe the hype
“These two life-affirming sets make a fine addition to the Earth Ball discography and really demonstrate how intuitive and inventive the group are when they keep cresting the moment. This is so much more than a live album, this is ‘Actual Earth Music’, sharing Earth Ball in their element as they conjure sound from the daunting ether. Actual Earth Music – Volume 1 & 2 is exhilarating and essential, the stuff of which dreams are made, the thunderous gathering and the thrilling undertow. Actual Earth Music – Volume 1 & 2 will be released on Upset The Rhythm on March 7th digitally and as a limited 180g black vinyl pressing of 500 copies only”
And what more is there for us to say about Earth Ball? And what does it matter whast we say anyway? It was all said two or three weeks ago, actually it was only nine days ago that the last Earth Ball review went up on these pages – ORGAN: Albums – Are Bunsenburner as good as their album cover? A Thresher/Earth Ball Split? There can never be too much Earth Ball. Some Jazz stuff, the good kind from The Exu and some blisteringly healthy politically charged hardcore metal-edged punk from Scary Hours…
We could just re-run the review from Cafe Oto, although this was the first night rather than the second…
Earth Ball, Chris Corsano – Cafe Oto, London, 20th May 2024 – Oh shit, I’ve walked in on the drum solo, and this being Oto, we’re in total silence, total awe, “how the f**k did he do that?” said one rather Cockney sounding voice at the end of his set and yes, he was damn good at at doing his thing. He being Chris Corsano, and his whole set being a, well it can’t be a drum solo, there is only one man performing and he’s sat behind his drums (and percussion) and firing off things in all kinds of angles, I guess this is a solo set from a very colourful and obviously highly regarded drummer. But didn’t drum solos go out with Cozy Powell, isn’t there something wrong with the picture? Whatever the picture is, he is painting it rather well! Don’t ask me, I know nothing about drums or drumming or how your feet can possibly go at a different time to your hands, drum solos on the whole bore the crap out of me, musicians do, I will admit I love watching the grace of Chris Cutler (Henry Cow), the artistry of Guy Evans (Van der Graaf) and what he does within the framework of a song, I relish the challenge of Charles Hayward in all his forms, Charles is always rewarding and I could happily watch footage of Ginger Baker for hours when he was doing things within the structure of a piece – don’t ask me why though, don’t ask me why certain people stand out, don’t ask me to talk about drummers and don’t be giving drum solos, but then this isn’t a drum solo and the room tonight is in awe, this is impressive and the first thing Earth Ball will later do when they take to the stage is thank Chris Corsano, and ask how on earth they can follow that? They do of course, that bit will be along in a minute.
According the Cafe Oto, Chris Corsano is “an upstate NY-based drummer who has been active at the intersections of collective improvisation, free jazz, avant-rock, and noise music since the late 1990’s. Corsano is one of the greatest drummers working today, developing a percussive language of extraordinary amplitude and infinite resources. His collaborations stretch from free jazz greats (Joe McPhee, Evan Parker, Paul Flaherty and more) to noise mavens (Jandek, Bill Nace, C Spencer Yeh etc) and pop superstars (Björk). Capable of generating narrative out of permanent ecstasy, Corsano never ceases to be profoundly affirmative and imposing of his language, and being an absolute and charismatic virtuoso, he simultaneously is one of the most noble and generous improvisers of the few last decades” He’s certainly charismatic, he’s got the attention of the whole room, his dynamic, strong, colourful, the light and shade is crafted, he’s delicate, he strokes the kit when he feels it right and the percussion is very colourful, and thinking about it now the thing was, that he was never obvious about any of it
Tonight he sounds like multiple trains in a shunting yard, not powerful or noisy, he doesn’t need to do that, just each quietly moving trains breathing a different rhythm and somehow it all coming together. He is quiet, at times very quite, we all are as we watch on, he can move when he needs to, Chris Corsano is compelling. Chris Corsano is focussed, he’s sharp, he’s got several sticks in his hand and another in his mouth, he’s damn good, but hey, don’t ask me why, I’d go again just for one of his drum solos…
Earth Ball are the reason for being here tonight, their recently released seriously impressive album is why they are here tonight at the start of a short UK tour, that new album – It’s Yours was raved and drooled over l couple of weeks back on these fractured pages – what can be said about something like this? This being exceptionally intense challengingly rewarding improvisational avant-psychedelic noise from the Pacific Northwest, from Canada actually. Hey look, they’re in the zone from the off, the five of them, hooked in, locked on and motoring, feeding off each other, if it is free form improvisation then it sounds very formed at the core of it all, very tight, powerful, brilliant chemistry. That low end bass all dressed in red, that menace of a sax and those guitars, impressive drums and things that never give in. It is very much an avant-Jazz thing, the audience are mostly politely sitting sown, stroking chins, not moving, I want to jump, react, join in, there in the moment, connect, this, if it is avant jazz, is very very impressive no wave avant jazz that ouches the ceiling and in there in the glorious well-formed noise these ears can pick up healthy slices Hawkwind when the Hawks let it flow and Nik Turner’s sax was leading and they weren’t constricted by time and could play all night (and often did), these ears can pick up a touches of flowing Sonic Youth and especially pick up powerful slabs of Huge Baby, obscure now I know but those who know still know, if you are able to get to a gig and you loved those early Huge Baby events this is one for you, all they lacked were the candles and the voodoo, there was plenty of musical voodoo though.
The Earth Ball set is short, forty minutes of so and no encore, but hey, what a work out, they packed hours into that set, don’t think anyone felt short-changed, that was intense, that was good, that Flying Luttenbackers intense, that was serious commitment, light and shade throughout, never confusion, plenty of colourful restraint, pieces building up, intensity in the quiet, drama in the loud, madness in that sax and when there are vocals, dark intrigue, what is she singing about? She being Isabel Ford, all dressed in red, red boots, red dress, they look strange, they look great, they look like their music. How much of it was free-form and spontaneous I don’t know, it never ever threatened to fall off the rails whatever it was, it always had somewhere to go, they took the room with it, some of it got seriously heavy (they easily could have played Desertfest this weekend). The interaction is glorious, the whole thing is and hey look, I need to rush this up on line before tonight’s gig, you need to go see yourself, they play a second night at Cafe Oto tonight then head off for more, Shrewsbury of all places after London is done with (the dates are down there). The album is excellent, the gig was thrilling, the ride, the rides, the rides were glorious, we had to hang on at times, well some didn’t some just sat there chin stroking while it all went off in front of them and then conducted nerdy analysis outside afterwards, you can analyse this, you can’t chin stroke about this, this is primordial, this is thrilling, this is music! The ride was glorious, you always trusted them to get you there, art in all its forms is fundamentally about communication, communicating a feeling catch Earth Ball and Chris Corsano if you can, they’re touring together, yet another great gig, these are rewarding musical times to be alive….
And so the new album, I guess we should review it? Or react to it or give it a first listen and just let it flow…
Earth Ball – Actual Earth Music – Volume 1 & 2 (Upset The Rhythm) – So anyway, a live album, two blistering sets, I guess we should review it. So anyway, a live album, two blistering live sets, that set at The Fox Cabaret really is seriously blistering, that set is boiling, popping, and really is there anything more to say other than to say every encounter with Earth Ball feels unique, feels vital and however much you might think you don’t need to hear yet another recording, you actually really really do need to. That Fox Cabaret set is brooding, it bubbles under the surface, tense, on the edge of eruption and just holding you there, wait for it, wait for it, tense, tight, wound up tight, rubber band ready to snap and bring it all crashing down tight and just the right amount of craft to make sure it never ever does, to make sure they never fall off their tightrope. They just wind it up tighter and tighter, are they just about the best live band out there right now? She knows just when to yell or howl (to howl like a Huge Baby! Yes we are talking that intense). What do you want? This is what we want…. And then they finally do unwind, but not in a way that words can tell it, it holds you, she holds you and it all returns to base, to the quiet blistering…
And then were back to Café Oto for the second live set on this album and their second night at the venue here in London last Summer, this one is taken to different places though, Steve Beresford on piano, Chris Corsano on drums and it is a less intense beast, more of a reined in, dare we say more traditional free-jazz thing that was nowhere near as powerful, as heavy, as flowing as the first night. it was and is still good, it is something different though, restrained, respectful of their playing partners, a little too respectful maybe? But then it does make for an excellent two sides to an album and into the sky and into the stars and i;m sure somebody far more quotable will be along in a moment to tell you about it and make for a sound-bite on a press release and two sides to every story, somebody has to stop me and take it to the streets, make them understand, something to do with someone’s master plan, make them understand. Actually this side is compelling, just don’t make it your first encounter, get last year’s album first, then that split album with the rather excellent Thresher, then clear the decks, fire up the first side of this album, and only then explore the different colours of this side and once again wow! (sw)
Previous Earth Ball coverage on these pages…
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