Rollerball - Behind the Barber
(Silber)
Having once called the now defunct (and entirely great) label, Road Cone, their home, Rollerball's ex-labelmates Jackie-O Motherfucker and Hochenkeit are well-suited peers who also mix a massive array of influences and dilute them down to a shimmering and multi-hued shot.
Electronics (damaged and otherwise), drone, free-jazz, Fela-esque grooves, Sun Ra-esque journeys, and minimalism are all there. Basically Rollerball will incorporate anything they can into their music. The result is so heavily textured and deeply detailed that it's sometimes hard to make complete sense of it.
The record more or less centers around the 2nd track, "Slits Arandas." Clocking in almost three times longer than any other track, it takes its 16 minutes and doesn't waste a second in dabbling with a good deal of the sonic palette, moving from jazz to ethno-soul to free jazz to clattering percussion with electronic swells to clattering percussion with free skronk before finally ending with a slow burn of a horn-driven section. The prominence of Rollerball's use of horns is exaggerated (to great effect) by the inclusion of Jackie-O Motherfucker's Jef Brown's saxophone on this track.
The length and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink vibe of "Slits Arandas" sets it apart from the rest of the album. The other tracks are all much shorter and tend to focus on digging deep into a different headspace. "Chi Town Cub" is a slow, uneasy song built around bowed loops and augmented by female vocals. "Do the Slim Jim" is a horn-propelled jam buoyed by dense drones. "Chicalote" is sultry, fogged, and foreign.
There are three remixes interspersed throughout the album, which serve to make it seem even more diverse. The first, "Quiela," is remixed by Ovo, and it seems to be more of a fracturing than a re-mixing: very nice. Next is "Starling," which is a remix done by the man who recorded their last album, Real Hair. This is far less successful and is actually the only weak spot on the album. The female singing feels faux-soul and hollow. Nudge's remix, "Burning Light," on the other hand, tosses in some nice click and cut beats and does a tasteful remix (which is surprising, since, of the bunch, it's most like a standard remix, which are generally terrible) and casts very similar faux-soul vocals in a very different light... still a little awkward, but far from offensive.
Hopefully, Behind the Barber will get these acid soaked and patchouli drenched jazzheads the attention they've deserved for so long.
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