The Young Mothers – a mothers work is never done

The Young Mothers

a mothers work is never done

Tektite Records

Jason Jackson – Alto, Tenor & Baritone Sax

Jawwaad Taylor – Vocals, Trumpet & Drum Programming

Jonathan F. Horne – Guitar

Stefan Gonzalez – Vibraphone, Drums & Vocals

Ingebrigt Haker Flaten – Acoustic & Electric Bass, Electronics

Frank Rosaly – Drums & Percussion

“This is the story of Ingebrigt and Stefan too
Two Young Mothers with nothing better to do…”

I thought about writing this review a la the lyrics to Steve Miller’s Take the Money and Run, but I decided I would spare everyone that agony. Maybe at a show…with enough drinks...

The Young Mothers is a group formed in Austin by Ingebrigt Haker Flaten that synthesizes free jazz, electronics, punk, rap and God knows what else in their pursuit of musical mayhem. For the record, I generally hate these kind of groups, because many times the components sound grafted onto each other, or they’re really a rock band that adds some scronky sax with no context in relation to the whole. When Dennis Gonzalez of Yells At Eels told me about this project, I was thinking to myself, “Um, how am I going to tell this nice man that this thing sucks?”

But one listen to a mothers (sic) work is never done and I was a fan. First of all, you’ve got great musicians in the mix: Besides Ingebrigt, there’s Chicago stalwart Frank Rosaly, Stefan Gonzlez from Yells At Eels, and young firebrand Jason Jackson, who sometimes guests with that group. Horne and Taylor are new to me, but they more than hold their own.

Overall, a mothers work is a blast of energy that hits you across the face and doesn’t back down. If that mix of elements mentioned earlier doesn't melt your face off, Haker Flaten includes a dreamscape arrangement of a Benjamin Britten piece, and the album concludes with Ruth, which is based on a traditional Ugandan melody. On Wells, the original, Jackson’s tart, angular alto on top of a No Wave guitar riff reminded me of The Contortions, a pioneer of this approach. In fact, the No Wave scene probably comes closest to summing up what this record sounds like, but that’s really a loose approximation.

Probably the biggest stumbling block for me, given my tastes, is the rapping. I’m very old school when it comes to hip hop; the last album I bought was It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. But Taylor spits (do people still say that?) some tense verses that are generally well-integrated into the proceedings. And the dude can play some trumpet too.

I’ve enjoyed blasting this on my car stereo with the sunroof open. It’s a jolt of energy that gets you going before work, that’s for sure. And it’s a helluva lot of fun.

You can listen to some tracks at Ingebrigt's Bandcamp page.

Yells At Eels - Dallas Museum of Art 1/23/14

Yells At Eels played the Dallas Museum of Art last Thursday evening as part of the "Jazz in the Atrium" series. Yells is of course led by trumpeter Dennis Gonzalaz, and in addition to the core group of his sons Aaron on bass and Stefan on drums, they added guitarist Greg Prickett, who was part of Ronald Shannon Jackson's last Decoding Society group when they played the Kessler Theatre back in 2012.

I've heard the group a couple times around town, and while I've always enjoyed them, on this night they were on fire. Dennis used a guitar effects box at various times, and while I don't normally like electronic alteration of acoustic instruments, it really ended up working well, adding some fullness and additional harmonies to the sound. Prickett played rather sparingly but added some nice textures and helped reinforce the groove when the band was in the pocket. I'd like to hear him again if he gets the chance to gel more with the group. Aaron was a blur behind the bass, working that deep dark tone that made me think of Sirone.

Which brings me to force of nature Stefan. He kept the heat high all night with his intensity, whipping up thunderclouds and keeping everyone on their toes. It hit me as I was sitting there that here we have the successor to Ronald Shannon Jackson. Stefan brings the intensity and attack of rock drumming, and combines it with the shifting rhythms and shadings of free jazz drumming, somewhat like Jackson but with his own style. I haven't heard anyone anywhere who sounds exactly like him, and he's already getting notice through his work with Eels as well as the Humanization Quartet. It'll be interesting to see if he wants to move to a larger stage at some point.