Insight & Critique
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact

AB Quartet - Outsiding

6/2/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
AB Quartet

Outsiding
self-released; 2017

​4.1 out of 5 - TOP ALBUM 


By Jamie Robash

I don’t get high anymore but when I used to, like back in my college days, all I ever wanted to listen to was classical music and jazz. To me there was always something about these genres, likely their lack of vocals, that made me “feel” the music so to speak.

I think specifically of  such a diverse mixture of the experimental periods of Miles Davis, albums like Live Evil and Bitches Brew and Coltrane’s A Love Supreme also symphonic works by Mahler and Mozart and Beethoven. There is a certain power in these recordings that one cannot find in the same way in any other genre. There is also a strict amount of focus and concentration that one needs to fully appreciate these works, which seems funny given the drug reference but damn was I focused in then, dialed in in a way that I never was with any other type of music I feel. 

These memories of my former life came flooding back as I sunk into a trance whilst listening to the Milan, Italy neo-classical jazz vibes provided to me by AB Quartet. The four musicians here are pianist Antonio Bonazzo, clarinet and bass clarinetist Francesco Chiapperini, Cristiano Da Ros on the double bass and Antonio Fusco who lays down the drums and percussion.

The quartets debut album Outsiding dips its toes firmly into the waters of classical music and jazz. These are not songs per se as much as they are movements. The record would be the perfect musical accoutrement to a modern dance routine. It is in that way sometimes seemingly an opera without words. Each player is a character is what I am trying to exact and their instruments flesh out feelings that would by any other band be the lyrics. 

Outsiding opens strong with “Gea” as swirls of classical piano are bombarded by deep, elegant blows of clarinet and rhythmically thunderous crashes of percussion, which let up from time to time and flow freely with amoeba-like slowness, growing into and out of divergent landscapes of sound. This flows into the longest track, the nearly thirteen-minute “Pluto” an experiment in which what you hear is just as important as what you don’t. Nothing is rushed here, the tones ring in and out, notes hang as though in the balance; they drip from the instruments. 

There are moments of sheer beauty such as the largesse of “BAobAb, Pt. 1” which opens slowly like a time lapse blooming of a flower set to music. Here one hears perhaps most precisely the way the musicians patiently coil their sound like some piece of musical DNA. Nothing is rushed, nothing is forced. The song is as natural as a breath. In stark contrast, its counterpart, “BAobAb, Pt. 2” is much more involved. It’s uppity and calls attention to itself. It wants you to know it’s there, in a playful way. 
Outsiding closes with the effervescent and tantalizing sensoric vibes of “Quatro Notti d'acqua” which as its title suggests and translates to “Four Nights of Water” has a dark and rainy vibe to it, and some of the most eerie and doldrumatic sounds on the record are in play here. 

​
Stylistically I found Outsiding to be outstanding. As a lover of music of this experimental classical jazz genre I was rather impressed and I think it holds up well to the records I aforementioned which I have held in high regard for many years. It is an impressive and rather eye opening work; one which I hope will be heard and appreciated. The world today needs more records like Outsiding. ​
iTunes
official website
Tweet
2 Comments
Greg
6/5/2017 07:46:40 am

this is fantastic!

Reply
Nat
6/6/2017 02:10:31 am

I agree! Outstanding!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

       Critique/insight

    We are dedicated to informing the public about the different types of independent  music that is available for your listening pleasure as well as giving the artist a professional critique from a seasoned music geek. We critique a wide variety of niche genres like experimental, IDM, electronic, ambient, shoegaze and much more.

    Tweets by divideanconqer
    Are you one of our faithful visitors who enjoys our website? Like us on Facebook


    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

Company

About
Contributors

Newsletter

Newsletter
Book Your Band

© Divide and Conquer 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact