Editorial Review:Album Description:Blue Note Records presents FLORATONE, a unique studio collaboration between drummer
Matt Chamberlain (Fiona Apple, Tori Amos), guitarist
Bill Frisell, and producers
Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Laura Veirs) &
Lee Townsend. An experiment in musical democracy, the album features eleven stunning, groove-driven soundscapes that are best described as futuristic roots music. Special guests include the bassist Viktor Krauss, cornetist Ron Miles, and violinist/violist Eyvind King.
Amazon.com:Guitarist Bill Frisell and his Seattle-based confreres have reached a point where their atmospheric, group-oriented, laboratory-style evocations of Americana can be approached less as experiments than works in an established sub-genre.
Floratone, which introduces prolific L.A. pop drummer Matt Chamberlain to the mix, started as a series of duets between him and fellow electronics maven Frisell. Their work was processed by engineers Tucker Martine and Lee Townsend, who passed it back for further tweaks and embellishments, including Ron Miles's plaintive horn. The prevailing quality is one of stillness in motion, but Frisell's involvement in toxic blues and early country cut through the minimalist and Copland-esque touches, and the rich melodies make individual songs stand out.
--Lloyd Sachs
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Disc 1:- Floratone
- The Wanderer
- Mississippi Rising
- The Passenger
- Swamped
- Monsoon
- Louisiana Lowboat
- The Future
- Take A Look
- Frontiers
- Threadbare
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
-
Thick & Solid
These music on these tracks is thick and solid and very democratic. No one tries to grandstand or steal the show. Frisell, as usual, does not play "guitar hero" - though he certainly has the chops to do that, IF he wanted to.
My ONLY complaint is - 45 minutes...? The days of 45 minute "albums" was over about 20 years ago. It would be nice to have about 20 more minutes of these sessions - whether they spent more time exploring the themes of these selections OR included a few more tracks on the release. The playing is great, just give us more on the little silver disk.
Five stars, definitely!
TURN IT UP!
Rating: -
Pastoral Wallpaper.....
.... that breathes more than rocks.
This is a fine sonic outing (reminds me of a day spent in Nature with loved ones, with time for relaxing together and apart, enjoying the day's radiance and calm and passing clouds and the settling of night). It also reminds me alot of Miles Davis' meandering IN A SILENT WAY, but treated a bit like Bill Laswell's mix on PANTHALASSA or outtakes from FINDING FORRESTER's soundtrack. I like it, and did from the first instant, although it's not my favorite Frisell (EAST/WEST is). It is good as background (passive) but also rewarding with more active listening, but not brilliant enough to demand or reward sustained active mode...(for that check out Steve Tibbetts' work). There is alot of variety here ("Frontiers" even sounds Eno-esque in it's ambience), but all of a kind. Overall this is a jazzy, complex, mellow, futuristic and lively ambience. 4 plus; highly recommend.
Rating: -
fan of "Unspeakable"
This recording is much like "Unspeakable" which I think is great, I've listened to it many times.
Groove driven soundscapes is a good description of that recording and this one as well.
Rating: -
An outstanding soundtrack waiting for the right movie...
Never having heard any of Bill's prior work, and only being familiar with his reputation vis a vis other notable musicians, I took a chance with this album. Glad I did. It's fresh, hypnotic and remarkably visual. So visual, it begs to under gird some yet to be produced cinematic masterpiece. Urban, dark, foreboding and dissonant - Mr. Frisell strikes me as a musician's musician capable of applying a subtle palette of blues and grays to a broad canvass of quotable genres. Well done!
Rating: -
Organic, trippy. I love it.
Like other reviewers, I'm a huge fan and own a ton of Bill's music and have had the pleasure of seeing him live a number of times. And I strongly disagree with the negative reviews. I took an instant liking to this -- upon hearing the first samples on the Floratone site.
To call this "background music" (as one other reviewer did) is not unfair, but it's excellent, INCREDIBLY enjoyable background music. (Couldn't lots of Bill's music be considered 'background' music -- ambling, atmospheric -- which is also richly rewarding via focused headphone listening?) I especially love the drum treatments and Viktor Krauss' impossibly deep bass. The horn and string arrangments could make this a soundtrack to some film noir piece.
REALLY love Floratone. And I'm so glad to hear some new electric/tripped out stuff from Bill again.
