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Reviews
Dirty Jazz
Selected:
Best CDs of 2010 “The duo known
as Iconoclast, (comprising drummer Ciesa and alto saxophonist/violinist
Joslyn) has been playing as a unit for over two decades. As is typical considering
the group's previous output, Dirty Jazz (presumably an ode to “Jazz
with a little dirt on it”) covers a variety of approaches, with a tally
of eighteen pieces of mostly brief lengths. An agitated mood inspires the
opening “40 Seconds With You,” a galloping alto/drum duet, a setting where
the duo seems to work best. This alto/drum axis also forms the core of the
joyful “Samteque,” the Jazz-like “Black Jack” and the intensity that turns
to the sweetness of “Zappo.” Punk and Rock influences are a large part of
the group sound . . . For instance, Punk inspires “Razoresque” and the tumultuous
“Boiled Kneepads,” both fitting snapshots of the group's fervency, while
Ciesa's vigorous playing also provokes Joslyn's effects-drenched sax work
on both “You're In Distress” and “Burn and Solidify. . . . they should be
applauded for their quest for originality and a personal path. . .” ". . . [T]hey create rugged, angular sound sculptures with a metallic
sheen and gripping nervous energy. Not for the fainthearted." "Drummer Leo Ciesa and saxophonist Julie Joslyn bare sharp teeth in
their electronically augmented duets; their sometimes disturbing neon-noir
effects always demonstrate more harnessed musicianship than your garden
variety noisemongers." “Duets between saxophone and drums typically invite the former to become
more rhythmic and the latter more tuneful in an effort to make up for
absent accompanists. However stripped down to the bare essentials, intense
communication becomes the order of the day, although less in the sense
of conversation that requires sequential input than as simultaneous arcs
of proclamation that combine to form a whole, greater than the constituent
parts.
"Since 1987, saxophonist
Julie Joslyn and drummer Leo Ciesa have been honing a surprisingly rewarding
performance style built around short, sharp works that pick you up and throw
you against the wall over the course of about two minutes. The Dreadful
Dance is their latest set of jagged tonal tantrums." "Their 17 pieces last 40 minutes and each is a perfectly sculpted rock
vignette with as much structural integrity as any two-minute workout could
need. Their hard-edged energy is nonstop, but, refreshingly, doesn't slide
into ruts; it jumps, it turns corners, and changes tempo with finer attention
to detail than you expect from such Downtown noisemakers." "These are two mighty dextrous musicians. Like beatniks on speed, they
create stark, jagged-edged music, tunes located at the intersection of
atonal punk-funk, be-bop, and free improvisation. . . . Kind of like drinking
12 cups of coffee, but nice." "All the way from New York City, headlining act Iconoclast was simply
amazing. . . . The raw power is entrancing, the performing energy of the
duo is untamed. Julie Joslyn pumps the notes out of her saxophone like
a high pressure fire hose. At other times, her saxophone's sound is melodious
and pure. Leo Ciesa's lightning percussion work is enough to stir anyone's
blood. The music is seamless. When they play they're incredibly sensitive
to each other's playing direction, breathing as one individual." “Iconoclast are Leo Ciesa and Julie Joslyn, a New York based improvisational
duo who have been together since 1987. Their music is a wild hybrid of
various styles including free jazz, progressive rock, hardcore and cabaret.
Their latest offering The Dreadful Dance serves up an equally
diverse mixture of musical styles that are probably not for the faint
of heart. Pounding drums, snake charmer sax interludes and scary vocals
all come together to produce a heady musical brew that is peppered with
song titles like “Crayfish Platter,” “Dead Dressed Girls,”
and “Weird Sex.” “Leo Ciesa and Julie Joslyn arrive hereupon [In the Vodka Garden
] with a widescreen, very Easter European attitude without sacrificing
any more of their post-avant-;punk energy than they need to. I’ve
actually looked upon Iconoclast as a near-direct descendant of the original
No New York bands . . . they began from the platform of a chaotic music
(rock) and bled greater and greater complex language into it, as if trying
to show that the chaos was actually carefully scripted. . . . Iconoclast
retains their laser-gunshot ability to amaze.” “[M]ulti-instrumentalists Leo Ciesa and Julie Joslyn, on their
sixth outing as Iconoclast. It’s [The Dreadful Dance] a
strange little record, to be sure, consisting of twenty separate tracks
of variable length with wacky titles. They’ve built up their own
eclectic sound over twenty years of working together, with an approach
that is a quite varied mix of composition and improvisation. A sample
of this diverse weirdness, one need only ponder the first track, “Cranium
Mist,” merging Ciesa’s rolling tom work amidst the clattering
of keyboards and Joslyn’s alto saxophone that sparks frightening
death metal vocalizing. Some of the strongest tracks include the melodic
“You Know Too Much About Me” or “L’Orange,”
the groove of “Midday Romp,” the Eastern influence, interrelated
“Woman With an Index” and “Lonely Courtesan” or
the thrilling sax-drum duet, “Tom Colada.” "Rich in motivic material, this duo conducts a ballet of modern mechanistic
musics. Iconoclast's debut grows ever more engaging." "Like Iconoclast, a New York-based avant-garde jazz duo, who've definitely
got a distinctive sound. What does it sound like? Imagine you're a hard-core
speed freak. You haven't slept in weeks. Psychosis is setting in. You
begin to hallucinate. There are millions of little bugs beneath your skin,
crawling madly over your ruined veins. Now imagine if each of those bugs
was playing an alto saxophone. That's Iconoclast. Pretty cool, huh?" "Some say they're descendants of the late 1970's No New York semi-wave;
others scratch their heads and shrug. But Julie Joslyn and Leo Ciesa merely
continue to spread their impish humor and no-holds-barred musical message
throughout their new CD, entitled Paradise. What I really like
about Paradise is that though it's in 24 small bits it comes off
to the ear like a suite, and in repeated listenings you always go somewhere
different. You might hear a whiff of Ellington jungle music here, a hint
of Stravinsky there. Also there are these wonderful contrasting arrangements,
like one piece with a hurdy-gurdy, kalimba and a sax melody not unlike
Ravel. Elsewhere there's a piano being played like a trap kit's cymbals
. . . and elsewhere a violin is being played like a washboard." "Two musicians performing multiple instruments over 24 tracks in just
over an hour of time. . . . How can so many largely unrelated tracks be
crammed into one recording? Leo Ciesa and Julie Joslyn do it with humor
and constantly changing moods. . . . How to describe the music found on
this disc [Paradise]? All over the lot. On some tracks, such as
"Wonder Wheel," Joslyn blows sweet, repetitive, simple riffs at medium
volume over a pleasantly forceful drum background. Others, such as "Machinery
of the Flowers," have an Oriental feel. "Ultramort," on the other hand,
starts with droning sax and segues to wild electronics and voice. "She
Said Hello" finds Ciesa whispering over Joslyn¹s mournful sax. Along the
way, there is lots of variety, as one piece may be pleasantly melodic
and the next bursting at the edges. . . . Occasionally, the duo seems
comfortable with vocal shrieks and cries, coupled with harsh avant-garde
squeals, while on others, such as "Move it Smartly" and "Flan is Like
a Woman," African drums lay the backdrop. Several of the pieces were evidently
part of soundtracks. Moments of intense interest appear, interspersed
among slowly developing interludes." "The key to Iconoclast's success is in keeping the listener off guard
with a diverse palette of rhythms and sounds." "The duo end up with an approach that is reminiscent of Meditations-era
Coletrane sliced into itty-bitty slivers and chased around the room by
munchkins wielding tiny rubber mallets. The results would not be out of
place on certain segments of Frank Zappa's 'Uncle Meat' LP. I think the
key to understanding all of this is summed up in the selection titled
'Take off your shirt and scream' . . . [W]ould that there were more topless
blowers and levellers like Iconoclast to grace the world with." "There exist far too few truly 'progressive' bands performing music
in present American culture, and even fewer full-blooded rich-sounding
duos. New York's Iconoclast fuels a universe of melody, unique arrangements
and rhythm patterns, of which the best are forward thinking. . . . As
moods vary, tumble and hover throughout the course of a frenetic living
human being's daily breathing moments, so too do Iconoclast's musical
moods behave." "If you threw Ornette Coleman sax, punk songlengths and aggression,
new wave synths, and Knitting Factory anything-goes experimentalism into
a blender and hit the puree button, it might sound like Iconoclast, except
your blender would break down long before reaching the puree stage of
smoothness. The atonal keyboards and barking sax of early Lounge Lizards
are an obvious comparison on several songs, but the irony of the Luries'
'fake jazz' is replaced by a glee in creating a frothingly dissonant sound
sculpture. . . . Very rarely does anybody in this scene escape to great
recognition, but Iconoclast deserves to." "Hailing from New York, what sounds like a large ensemble is merely
the creation of two people's amazing energy and ability. . . . Compared
with other duos, Iconoclast are a pretty unusual outfit. With the speed
of amphetamine addicts they juggle an incredible array of instruments
without appearing overly insane, while still coming up with a full, diverse
sound which plows through funk, avant garde jazz, rock and other genres.
. . . Iconoclast. They defy classification and render workout gyms useless." "As part of the Festival of Women Improvisers . . . Iconoclast splattered
fragments of jazz (from bop to free), noise, prog-rock, humor, and various
uncategorizables, sculpting intricate, energetic sound structures in which
new textures flew by as though inventing new vocabularies of sound is
something they do every day." "Sax and drums geek-funk, electronic nocturnes, dance-rock spoofs reduced
to ectoplasmic pandemonium, Cab Calloway at 156rpm. . . . And they don't
cheat with multitracking; a live performance would be no less insane.
Amphetamines and raw milk. Tight, cool, and fun." "The emotion on the band's recently released CD ranges from fun and
frivolous to downright disturbing. . . . As raucous and riveting as a
noisy neon sign, this sonic poetry is brimming with energetic insight." "This hard-edged sax/drums duo builds industrial sound sculptures by
hitting notes and noises all over the range, but they'll surprise you
with vulnerable moments, too." "A hardy CD #2 from multi-instrumentalists Julie Joslyn and Leo Ciesa,
further blurring the lines between madness and genius stirring up a wilderness
of genre-collision and volatile energy in a cosmic dreamscape of impossibly
fervent derangement." "Saxophonist Julie Joslyn and drummer Leo Ciesa enhance their instruments
with various devices--which can collectively bootstrap a duo improvisation
into a real tight quartet. What makes this of more than academic interest
is their sense of time, and of humor. Joslyn potentiates a sinuous lyricism
with fearless exploratory outbursts and Ciesa's tough and resilient. It's
avant-gardism that boogies." "On its second CD, this Avant-garde duo gets even more far-out than
before. Their sax and percussion based tunes weld the manic energy of
Looney Tunes soundtracks to part post-Bop, part Ornette Coleman blowing
and dissonant weirdness. Exquisitely eclectic." "In a better world, the slap-happy urban experimentalist approach of
this Gotham improv duo would reap ample rewards. Anybody who makes hip-hop
tracks from mouths of rubber duckies and spins out spazzed-out energy
blow outs like "EKG" deserve your undivided attention." "Lest you think this is strictly a cerebral aerobics class for loft-dwelling
eggheads, this duo can, as they say, get down and boogie, too." "Joslyn and Ciesa are flexible, mischievous musicians. . . Blood
is Red is actually their fourth recording, bristling with gritty
urban workouts, bare-bones avant-jazz, horns squeals and even some violin
thrash. . . . [T]he trade-off vocals stick out on the title track, "Blood
is Red, Bruises are Blue." Ciesa's raspy narration is punctuated by shattering
screams from Joslyn. The pair work hard here and manage to earn their
name's distinction." "Dynamic syncopation. Devious melodies. . . . Infectious rhythms, unsettling
yet hypnotic. Ecstasy in a blur, Blood is Red has all the wiles
and subtlety of a snake charmer, . . . You've been threatened without
knowing it and you enjoyed it didn't you? The uneasy, queasy feeling that
makes you squirm. Exciting isn't it?" "Iconoclast is comprised of two very talented people with musical ideas
culled from another dimension. . . . This stuff is out! If you're
into the avant garde, the strange, the little bit of mind-bending, this
is for you. Park your space sled, fix yourself an Io cocktail, sit back
and dematerialize." "What can I say about Iconoclast? They are a duo from N.Y.C. that takes
elements from free jazz, funk, rock, film noir soundtracks and other less
easily tagged sources, strips them down to their barest bones and puts
them through horrifically comic (or comically horrific) dance routines." “Only by constantly looking at the photographs is it possible to keep in mind the fact that there are only two of the
“iconoclasts”. It's one of their special tricks - to sound like a large ensemble. The sounds crash from everywhere as it
fighting off the attack, electronic and acoustic, furious like wild horses, and yet skillfully controlled.
The vocals sometimes cut in - mixed with laughter, growling and teeth grinding. All this creates an extremely
intense musical picture that radiates with hundreds of elements. The main advantage of Iconoclast is that by taking
material from all sources and combining improvisation with carefully thought-out composition they manage to
demonstrate the talent of melting all elements into one simple sigh - a furious percussion heartbeat with a quiet
squeaking of toys; the warm, breathing sound of instruments with a general image of schizophrenic horror.
Few can reach what Iconoclast handle with ease. That is to play overtly intelligent music with a completely
teenager-like fever.” "Le duo explore diverses formes musicales aventureuses, plutôt enlevées,
mais jamais ennuyeuses ou gratuites. La virtuosité de ces deux-là n'a
d'égale que leur curiosité et leur goût du risque. . . . L'énergie déployée
est impressionnante. Le duo est créatif, swinguant et techniquement monstrueux." "Su música es enérgica, a veces un pelin salvaje y se codea de igual
modo con fases de improvisación y momentos perfectamente organizados en
una continua pugna entre variadas experiencias de jazz en desintegración
y rock inteligente. Blood is Red es un disco fresco. . . ." “Iconoclast è un duo formato dal batterista (tastierista) Leo Ciesa e dalla sassofonista (violinista) Julie Joslyn che dal 1987 frequenta festival d'avanguardia di mezzo mondo, scorazza per club e cantine, compone per documentari e cortometraggi (tra cui l'italiano "Con gli occhi di domani") e come un tornado spazza via convenzioni, ipocrisie, melensaggini, furbizie, e arroganze che da tempo aleggiano sul grande circo della musica chiamata jazz. “Con una strumentazione ridotta all'osso, i due membri degli Iconoclast
riescono a comporre una musica che rivela un'ampissima gamma di sfumature,
aggressiva come impone certo jazzcore di matricetipicamente newyorkese
(Leo Ciesae anche batterista dei Doctor Nerve), ricca di calore e carica
comunicativa (la voce melodica del sax di Julie Joslyn in "Samteque"),
violenta e dalle connotazioni fortemente metropolitane (le risonanze da
incubo di "Animated Flesh"), spirituale e "coltraniana" ("The forbidden"),
dissonante e drammatica (il violino in distorsione di "The Punishment
Office"). Tutti i brani che compongono l'album hanno una propria ben definita
identita, frutto del perfetto equilibrio fra improvvisazione e composizione
raggiunto grazie al rapporto simbiotico istauratosi fra i due musicisti,
che lavorano assieme dal 1987 con vari album gia pubblicati alle spalle.Mai
titolo poteva essere piu azzeccato: "Dirty Jazz", spurio, imperfetto,
anomalo, meticcio ma ricchissimo di idee, sorprese e significati. “ ". . . [A]crobati in quel buio che sta fra tango e trash funk, nonché
sperimentatori del lato selvaggio della metropoli, che fanno tutto da
soli, rigorosamente live, ma in studio. I loro album riflettono il suono
del concerti: nervi tesi su tecnica inossidabile, anche quando il caos
sembra sovrano." ". . . [F]orse la migliore si trova nel nome che Leo Ciesa e Julie Joslyn
si sono scelti. Iconoclasta: critico spregiudicato e irriverente di principi
e credenze comuni. Spinto e motivato da una indiscriminata polemica distruttiva.
Blood is red segue di tre anni The Speed of desire e
di cinque City of temptation, lavori che hanno fatto guadagnare
rispetto al gruppo ma scarsa o nulla attenzione, almeno qui in Europa.
Peccato, perché la musica offerta dal duo è tagliente, fredda e fresca,
con punte di tribalismo metropolitano parecchio interessanti. . . . Blood
is red (ma è l'attitudine del duo in genere) sia ancora piú cannibalesco,
tenendo conto dei segnali attuali che gravitano dentro la Grande mela,
penso a certi inserti di classica contemporanea, piú un free imparentato
con Coleman e alle cavalcate dei Lounge Lizard, ma anche al tiro soffocato
di certo hard-core punk. Non si fanno certo scrupolo di appartenere ad
una corrente gli Iconoclast. E hanno ragione, perché alla fine il disco
funziona e suona bene, Scomodo, scontroso, umoristicamente arrabbiato,
ma è lo specchio dei tempi." "Quarto album er il duo newyorchese Iconoclast composto a Leo Ciesa
(batterista dei Doctor Nerve) e Julie Joslyn, "Paradise" ne tradisce l¹apparetnenza
downtown coniugata con inconfondibile vigoria avant-jazz, divisa tra scrittura
e improvvisazione,febbrile impeto zorniano ('Fit for Surgery,' 'The Worst
Woman,' etc.) ed emozionalita` di matrice coltraniana (ma nella dieta
di svezzamento dei nostri c¹e` stata sicuramente anche la vitamina C(oleman).
. .), sound design cinematografico ('Violent Keys,' le musiche per i documentari
della American Social History Productions)e suadenti tratteggiature etniche.
Per di piu i due titolari si destreggiano perfettamente nella congerie
dei differenti strumenti impiegati (percussioni, tastiere, sax alto, violino,
live electronics e cosi via), benche poi le cos migliori arrivino quando
il gioco passa al drumming muscolare dell¹uno e al fervore fiatistico
dell¹atra, segno (non bastassero le foto di tutti I loro dischi) del curioso
attaccamento cutaneo ai primigeni ferri del mestiere." “Iconoclast e' un duo che vede uniti dal 1987 i polistrumentisti Julie
Joslyn (sassofono, live electronics, violino, voce) e Leo Ciesa (batteria,
percussioni, piano, tastiere, voce). Occhiali neri lei, occhiali neri
lui. Sguardo intenso lui, sguardo accattivante lei. Newyorchesi entrambi,
hanno registrato da sempre l'etichetta indipendente Fang. "'Una proiezione della realtà in un'atmosfera obliqua e surriscaldata,
su un piano di riferimento irregolarmente ondulato e un poco distorto.'
Queste parole di Boris Vian sono la migliore fotografia del contorto magma
sonoro degli Iconoclast. . . Terzo album ufficiale che in 55 minuti spara
18 originali schegge di futurismo sonoro--fra Beefheart, John Zorn e Laurie
Anderson, tango, free e trash. Composto, suonato, urlato in assoluta autarchia,
Blood is red è la 'fine di un orecchio' per chi pensa che l'underground
sia morto." "Amplifikowany saksofon i skrzypce Julie Joslyn oraz instrumenty perkusyjne
energicznego Leo Ciesa z nowojorskiego 'Iconoclastu' zabrzmialy w kilkunastu
krótkich utworach balansujacych na granicy improwizacji i zamierzonej
kompozycji. Geste granie, organiczny rytm z pogranicza rocka, jazzu, afroobrzedu
i balkanskich 'aksakow' (rytmow kulawych), przeciwslawial sie dosadnej
liryce barwy saksofonu. W melizmatycznej podrozy na Wschod odzywala sie
turecka zurla na przemian z kontrolowanym liryzmem kieczowatego saksofonu.
Diaboliczne sensy magli i transu wyzwalone zostaly przez artystke w feeril
elektronocznego 'szczypania' skrzypiec, a dopelnione 'brudnymi' glissandami,hukiem,
wyciem bliskim wykonaniom heavy metalu. Caly wystep intensywnie budowal
napiecie w kilkunastu krotkich formach, balansujac na osi ogromnej mocy
dzwieku jako oczyszczenia oraz lirki,chociazby w postaci zdeformowanej
melodii tanga." "Na koncercie dominowaly ostre, niezwykle dynamiczne, nieco hipnotyczne
ale mocno osadzone w rocku kompozycje. Leo Ciesa jest niezwykle sprawnym,
z duza wyobraznia i ogromnym temperamentem, perkusista. Uzywa olbrzmiej
ilosci uderzen podstawowych i ozdabiajacych i jest przy tym niezwkle precyzyjny.
. . . Julie Joslyn uzupelnia go wprowadzajac linie melodyczne, plamy dzwiekowe,
zgrabne riffy i improwizacje. Tworzy tez rytm kiedy. L. Ciesa rozplywa
sie w przestrzen. Wspiera sie ona elektronika znieksztalcajac oryginalne
brzmienie saksofonu i skrzypiec, poszukujac w ten sposob szerszego pola
do swojego wedrowania i opowiadania. Muzyka na koncercie najbardziej zblizona
byla do materialu z ostatniej plyty Blood is Red. Rowniez na
niej dominuje ostre rockowe granie z wlasciwymi zakretami i odpowiednim
polamaniem. To bardzo energetyczna muzyka. Na poprzednich dwoch plytach
material jest bardziej zroznicowany i bardziej awangardowy. Znajduja sie
utwory calkiem eksperymentalne, electroniczne kolaze na dzwiek preaprowany,
szorstka muzyka noise, wywrocony pop, awangardowy jazz i poskrecany rock.
Rytm na nich nie jest az tak dominujacy."
(Innova Recordings) ICONOCLAST was chosen for inclusion in the prestigious 2010 compilation
The NYFA Collection: 25 Years of New York New Music (Innova Recordings).
Two of ICONOCLAST's tracks were selected for the collection: “Accidental
touching” (2010) and “No Wave Bitte” (2005). “The compilers, composers Cristian Amigo and Philip Blackburn, have
thoughtfully programmed the five CDs to make listening flow and to convey
a sense of coherence, but the range of the material is still extremely
wide. . . .The plurality of voices is unquestionably healthy; there's
no prevailing orthodoxy nor air of a narrow clique. “The new NYFA Collection, just out on Innova, aims to be the Rosetta
Stone of cutting-edge new music in New York . . . by any standard, this
massive five-cd set is extraordinary, a genuine classic. . . . it's a
brain-warping, provocative feast for the ears, a triumph of smart curating
and reason for absolute optimism for this generation's composers. The
collection opens with . . . and an acidically crescendoing chamber-metal
piece by Iconoclast. . . . It wouldn't be a difficult choice
for best album of 2010.” “This five-CD set by The New York Foundation for the Arts provides an
expansive, refreshingly open-minded overview of the new music scene in
New York over the past two-and-half decades. . . . sax/drum duo
Iconoclast's “No Wave Bitte” moves with lively mechanicality
. . . 25 Years is a fascinating, thought-provoking, educational, wonderful
resource.” |
