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POLAR BEAR
London 2014 [TomP remaster, 1CD]
Live at XOYO, London, UK; April 2, 2014; broadcast April 14, 2014. Excellent webcast.
Led by drummer Sebastian Rochford, Polar Bear have been central to the British experimental scene for the past decade, with their unique brand of genre-bending post-jazz. On previous outings their sound has embraced everything from punk to hip-hop, however, their latest record sees a shift to more intense and expansive territory - with warm electronic flavours seamlessly integrated at the heart of the music. Twisting, long-form compositions come to life through the saxophone melodies of Mark Lockheart and Peter Wareham, whilst electronics whiz Leafcutter John, bassist Tom Herbert and Rochford anchor the sound in hypnotic rhythms. - BBC Radio 3
Stuart Gadd wrote at artrocker.tv:
With the gig being recorded for Radio 3’s Jazz On 3, this could, for example, have been more Apocalypse Now meets Cabaret Voltaire, nudging that group’s urban (almost) myth status with more electronically based urgent rhythms. But on the night they turned down the more abstract, pattern cut sound. Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart’s memorable sax lines instead exuding a post-colonial official suffering the dreaded noonday demon yet deliriously expelling the fiend, as on the surreal gamelan steam of encore Sometimes.
With its slow mood of threat, Life And Life didn’t quite have the missionary startling quality of the record’s version, with Pete Wareham’s horn interlude – they need to turn him up at this fierce point – but drummer Seb Rochford, who must be the most self-effacing group leader ever, was showing the tactile, jazz improvisatory qualities, playfully re-arranging Be Free (as Leafcutter John provided the Super 8 spliced rhythm out of his box of disjointed electronic tricks) to be even freer, the melodic pay off of its distinctive twin horn motif now arriving at the end. Better late than never, this brought huge cheers… Maliana, however, grew into its skin, a pounding electro acoustic meets techno monster in a haunted effigy forest, aided and abetted by John’s lost marbles roll and Wareham and Lockhearts’s locked fever dream horns. The melodic horns had it. And yes, it was pretty damn jazz.
Thanks to tom_phillips for recording and sharing the show at Dime.
Thanks also to Fastone for the artwork.
Lineage:
320k AAC > i-Sound (44.1k wav) > Nero (edit) > Tag & Renaame (flac tags) > TLH (flac 6 + SBE / Decode check)
Recorded using i-Sound, which gives slight but audible SQ improvement (confirmed by downloading), whilst having volume variations fixed, radio announcer / talk removed and artwork / flac tags added
Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (224 kbps). As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.
Please Do Not Hammer The Links. Due to the size of some of the files, please be very patient when downloading the tracks. It could be that the server was very busy. The tracks should still be around. Please try again later. Kindly email us at mybigo@bigozine.com if you encounter persistent problems downloading the files.
Track 00. Stage Intro/Applause 0:25 (693k)
Track 01. They’re All Ks And Qs Lucien 8:01 (13.5MB)
Track 02. Open See 6:44 (11.3MB)
Track 03. Lost in Death Part #2 9:17 (15.6MB)
Track 04. Be Free 7:49 (13.1MB)
Track 05. Life and Life 5:23 (9.0MB)
Track 06. Chotpot 7:21 (12.4MB)
Track 07. Sometimes 7:25 (12.5MB)
Track 08. Maliana 8:28 (14.2MB)
61 mins
Lineup:
Sebastian Rochford - drums
Mark Lockheart and Peter Wareham - saxes
Leafcutter John - electronics
Tom Herbert - bass
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