My feature on Dirty Three's Towards a Low Sun ran in the summer print issue of Blurt, but it's up online now for the first time. It's one of my favorite pieces of writing (of mine anyway) for the year and also one of my favorite albums, so check it out.
FREE EXPRESSIONS The Dirty Three
The wizards of Oz release their first album in seven years - and a North American tour kicks off this week.
BY JENNIFER KELLY
"We tried to record this album a couple of times, and nothing seemed to fall into place," says Warren Ellis, for 20 years the violinist in one of rock's rawest chamber orchestras, the Dirty Three. "Then we did some shows and we realized that the way in was to kind of try and concentrate on the way we play live. We needed to take some really basic material, really skeletal structures and explore them in a very free way."
"After stagnating, we decided we wanted to capture the spontaneity and energy evident in our live performances on tape," concurs guitarist Mick Turner, another of the band's three founders. "So we tracked all three of us at same time."
The band's latest album Towards the Low Sun (Drag City) is its first in seven years, reconvening the Aussie trio of Ellis, Turner and drummer Jim White in an explosive, restless exploration of possibilities that pushes at the boundaries of rock, post-rock, jazz and classical music.
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They're touring, too.
09-23 Washington, DC - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
09-25 Detroit, MI - 1464 Gratiot
09-26 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
09-28 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center
10-01 Vancouver, British Columbia - The Biltmore Cabaret
10-02 Seattle, WA - Neumos
10-03 Portland, OR - The Mission Theater
10-04 Portland, OR - The Mission Theater
10-08 Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theater
11-20 Birmingham, England - The Glee Club
11-21 Manchester, England - Manchester
The great Free Music Archive has their whole set from Primavera Sound 2012 up and available for streaming or downloading. Check it out here.
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6 comments:
This was great to read. Such fascinating musicians and their commenst about the new record were really informative. I'm so glad that you wrote about these guys.
Thanks for the nice words. (I haven't had much connectivity since Thursday, which is why I'm so late responding.)
I read the earlier post about being on the road so don't worry. I loved those Eitzel and Peacock posts, too. That review of the Eitzel is one of the better appreciations of his skills that I've read. Glad you're okay.
You are just too kind. Thank you.
Things have been a little rough lately, money and work-wise.
You've done some solid interviews - if only other sites or editors would notice!
I've got some good stuff in the pipe, too...this Rangda interview for PopMatters is one of my best ever, I think (my husband thought so, too, no one else has read it yet), and i've got shorter pieces on Thee Ohsees, Ty Segall and Sic Alps in the next Blurt.
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