Hz cover

Hz

Released

Many would argue that Motion Pool, the project’s only full-length, is Robert Hampson’s masterwork under the Main banner, but this collection of six 20-minute EPs, later gathered as a two-CD set, feels like his vision for the duo expressed in its purest possible form. The tracks are as much sound design as music, often built out of gently ticking patterns that explicitly abjure any rhythmic function, with pastoral hums layered around them and the occasional surprise (a saxophone doing non-saxophone-type things on the two parts of “Corona,” the only pieces here which really exhibit anything close to song form, thanks to a deep, dubby bass line and some heavily treated vocals). By the time you get to the end of the journey, the three-part “Neper,” conventional ideas of music have been almost entirely abandoned; you may think you’re listening to a half-obliterated radio broadcast of sounds from beyond the galaxy.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Optometry cover

Optometry

William Parker, DJ Spooky, Joe McPhee, Matthew Shipp
Utica Box cover

Utica Box

Dan Weiss
The Peach Orchard cover

The Peach Orchard

In Order to Survive, William Parker
Jewels of Thought cover

Jewels of Thought

Pharoah Sanders
Now! cover

Now!

Other Dimensions In Music
Dance of the Evil Toys cover

Dance of the Evil Toys

Tarbaby, Oliver Lake
Birdland, Neuburg 2011 cover

Birdland, Neuburg 2011

Cecil Taylor, Tony Oxley
The Bandwagon cover

The Bandwagon

Jason Moran
Illusionary Sea cover

Illusionary Sea

Mary Halvorson Septet