2009 Reviews

SEAN NOONAN'S BREWED BY NOON - BOXING DREAMS (Songlines 2008)
published January 2nd 2009, Sergio Eletto - www.kathodik.it

Sean Noonan svela con un semplice epiteto, «Wandering folk music» (musica folk errante), quell’ibrido di popular folk e post-modern jazz ‘spintonato’ alla conquista del mondo con i micidiali Brewed By Noon. I compagni di battaglia del combo sono i medesimi dell’antecedente “Stories To Tell”, zampillato fuori un anno fa sempre per la canadese Songlines, esperta nella formazione di un catalogo etno-deep-jazz. Il senegalese Thierno Camara al basso, l’amabilità canora del Mali di Abdoulaye Diabaté – altresì con le conga – i motivi gaelico-irlandesi decantati da Susan Mckeown vengono a rapporto per l’occasione con altri brillanti comprimari, recapitati una parte dai fumi cittadini della downtown (che dire della viola attorta di un impeccabile Mat Maneri o del prodigo Marc Ribot tallonato dal fido apprendista Aram Bajakian con elettrica e ‘smanettamento’ elettronico) per un’altra dagli opposti calori afro-sun della world (Jamaaladeen Taouma al basso elettrico e le percussioni Senegal-roots del gran maestro Thiokho Diagne). Sean è un tipo combattivo, da anni appassionato di scazzottamenti e di guantoni. La nobile arte del pugilato lo guida nelle gioie, e sembra, anche nelle peripezie della vita. Entrato spontaneamente a contatto con l’impianto tecnico-ritmico, Noonan si è destreggiato nell’esaminare visivamente una scala di movimenti atletici (la danza corporea del combattimento) per inserirli concettualmente nel proprio drumming. E i risultati non stentano a sopraggiungere, una ritmica che spacca, istintiva e ragionata al punto giusto, triangolo perfetto di impulsività progressive, calore afro-celtico e tumulto free-form. Vagliando l’ossatura del cd si scoperchia un immaginario dove il corpo dei brani è la trasposizione in reale di un lungo sogno, un’inarrestabile boxata dove le canzoni, in uno straniante effetto-domino, svelano a loro volta differenti lampi onirici, storie arcaiche o tributi pregni di buona nostalgia (Courage è scritta al ricordo di Rocky Marciano, leggenda della boxe, natio come Noonan del Massachusetts). Il riportato Courage (inebriante crogiolo di canto africano e irlandese impossessato da epilessie progressive), Morpheus (la Mckeown regina melodica di uno schizzo free-folk dove la serpentina viola di Maneri è già in agguato), Crazy Legs (brillante silhouette jazz-rock fomentata dal fantasismo di Ribot in salsa etno-santana), The Return Of The Peanut Butter Queen, Big Mouth (strange-world, decelerate ragga-dub, Bill Laswell che pompa nell’aria a manetta, un Abdoulaye sopraffino), Look (irish song battuta a colpi di soli di chitarra, devastante) spingono la mente alla concentrazione, ma proiettano sensibilmente il corpo ad un (mal)sano desiderio di movimento. Perde qualche punto Story Of Jones, cullata fin troppo da prevedibili languori hillbilly blues, dei Dirthy Three in viaggio sulle highways del Colorado. Le canzoni viaggiano tenacemente sull’onda cosmopolita del multilinguismo (gaelico, wolof, bambara, inglese) e Noonan raggiunge ampiamente lo scopo primario della sua creatura: paragonare la propria musica a del buon vino d’annata imbottigliato dentro contenitori di nuova generazione, il cui nobile compito sarà quello di capire, preservare e diffondere il folklore dei popoli mediante gli occhi ‘perversi’ della modernità. File Under: Globale

Reviews in Audiophile Audition
Sean Noonan's Brewed by Noon - Boxing Dreams - Songlines SGL 1572-2, 71:00 ****1/2
published on February 14, 2009

(Sean Noonan - electro-acoustic drum set, compositions; Aram Bajakian - electric guitar, Max MSP; Marc Ribot - electric guitar; Susan McKeown - vocals; Abdoulaye Diabaté - vocals, conga; Mat Maneri - viola; Jamaaladeen Tacuma - electric bass; Thierno Camara - electric bass, vocals; Thiokho Diagne - percussion

[This is an unusual standard CD from the Vancouver, B.C.-based SACD label...Ed.] Dreamy/frenetic soundscapes, dual-lead guitar heroics, haunting Celto/Afric vocals, avant-jazz weirdness—it could almost be the soundtrack to a lost Wachowski Brothers film, as the song “Morpheus,” with its outlandishly shifting sonic atmosphere hints at. Or think a jittery, demented Celtic-Western Swing amalgam filtered through Italian canzone (“Crazy Legs”): Bill Frisell encountering a bizarre Bob Wills/Carlo Actis Data vibe. Or contemplate the purely distilled, wrenching heartland feeling of “Mayrose” and “Story of Jones”—Charlie Haden drunk on moonshine? Maybe. Or the happy/sinister, drunken-sailor “Mexican Radio” sensibility of “Over-n-Out,” careening through the mind as it depredates every normal human emotion. Then there’s the Mad Max German Polka, “Lost in Günter’s Wald,” morphing midstream into crazy guitar-drums meditations: not for the musically timid!

Close listening reveals that Sean Noonan and Brewed by Noon are onto something special. The title, Boxing Dreams, strangely resonates. Are we talking reveries of pugilists or wrapping daydreams in cartons? (The sleeve art suggests the former, but who knows for sure?) And what about “Big Mouth,” with its township/high life feel mapped onto an island blues sensibility? This is one of those discs that needs to be encountered without preconceptions or expectations so that the wild, untamed, musical peroration waltzing with garden-variety, hot-house sonic paranoia can be heard sans prejudice.

Special note must be made of Mat Maneri’s viola contributions, fully elaborated on “Crazy Legs” and “The Return of the Peanut Butter Queen.” These are the sickest string sounds on disc since early Eyvind Kang. This kind of faux-naïve sawing, if properly contexualized, yields huge rewards. His more conventional approach on “Mayrose,” with its hints of the “Chariots of Fire” theme equally endears. His work on “Story of Jones” manages to be endearing and scary all at once. Also noteworthy is the way English lyrics eat at the same table as their Celtic and African counterparts (as on “Big Mouth”). These odd lingual juxtapositions nicely correlate to their counterpart musical amalgamations.

And if the frenetic ends up trumping the dreamy, that’s OK: one gets the feeling that Sean Noonan is another in a long line amped-up Irishmen, a decidedly more wild and crazy guy version of, say, Van Morrison or Dylan Thomas or William Butler Yeats.

Tracklist:
Boxing Dreams
Courage
Morpheus
Crazy Legs
The Return of the Peanut Butter Queen
Mayrose
Big Mouth
Look
Story of Jones
Over-n-Out
Lost in Güter's Wald

- Jan P. Dennis

Boxing Dreams, Sean Noonan? Brewed by Noon
Submitted by Bier Magazine on May 3, 2009

It is surprising that a drummer would release an album of songs, especially when he doesn? sing himself. However, what Sean Noonan has produced is a soundscape that includes vocals. Working with Noonan musical ideas, Marc Ribot joined fellow guitarist Aram Bajakian, Jamaaladeen Tacuma on electric bass, Senegalese bassist Thierno Camara, Mat Maneri on viola, Thiokho Diagne (also from Senegal) on hand percussion, and Abdoulaye Diabate on congas to play on this CD. The work is often chaotic and atonal, letting experimentation rule, but at times it comes together in a brilliant harmonic fusion.

While the musical gumbo produced by these talented musicians would be enough for any album, Noonan also enlisted the pipes of three people to act as a spicy roux to bind all of this experimentation together. Camara, Diabate, and Susan McKeown had their unique voices to the blend, creating a marriage of African and Celtic stylings. These vocals are sung in Gaelic and in the African languages native to Camara and Diabate.

Noonan only wrote short lyrics for a couple of tunes, and some he wrote poems for them but they only appear as liner notes. Those he wrote for ?oxing Dreams, however, were translated into an African dialect and reinterpreted by the singers.

Susan McKeown found several pieces of Irish poetry to use as lyrics for some of the other songs. For example, Noonan wanted to write a tribute to Rocky Marciano, the hero of his hometown. So, McKeown found an invocation on an ancient Celtic breastplate and sung it in Gaelic for the track, ?ourage, while an African voice intoned Rocky Marciano. Some of her other choices were also sung in both Gaelic and in an African dialect.

Noonan also twisted some melodies. For example,?ig Mouth, whose lyrics came originally from a Celtic song called the ?ong of the Tea, was totally revamped to have an Afro-pop feel even though it does feature the Gaelic words sung by McKeown sandwiched in between the African music. Noonan often uses this kind of fusion of voices as instruments, just as he would a guitar or keyboards.

As you would expect, though, some of the finest pieces are the instrumentals. For example, ?ayrose, a tender elegy for Noonan? grandmother has a distinctive Eastern European feel from Maneri? viola and a lovely guitar line. And amid all of this Afro-Celtic fusion Noonan enjoys, he injects a folky, bluegrassy rendition of ?asey Jones in his ?tory of Jones. Using the traditional words, Noonan has totally revamped the melody into a twangy sensitive version that melds into jazz and rock about halfway through and then returns to its folky roots. Here again, the lyrics are never sung. This cut is really, really nice.

The last two cuts are particular studies in improvisation. ?ver-n-Out is a nice jammy, jazzy improv that gets all of the musicians involved. Here Maneri? viola is showcased well. The last track, ?ost in Gunter? World does have some liner notes, but, again, this one does not feature any vocalists. This cut dips into experimental jazz that goes out there and features more guitar and drum work.

I was very impressed with Boxing Dreams by Sean Noonan? Brewed by Noon. The collaborations are very unexpected, instrumentally, lyrically, and vocally. Noonan shows us that improvisational music, whether rock or jazz, is a lot more than just getting far afield from a melody. It is incorporating whatever a group of musicians can offer, letting them shine in places and moving them to the background at other times, always keeping the integrity of the song. Noonan has said in many interviews that Boxing Dreams, like his previous Stories to Tell (2007), is a way to become a musical storyteller. In that, Noonan has certainly done that, by crossing genres and cultures. Boxing Dreams has much for the listener to discover.

Beer Pairing: Summit Spring Sampler (Maibock, Extra Pale, India Pale Ale, and Porter)?here? something here for every taste.

Reviewed by Janie Franz

Luna Kafé Record Review
Sean Noonan's Brewed by Noon - Boxing Dreams - Songlines
published on September 04, 2009

I've been listening to this album on and off for months. Sometimes it's held me completely rapt; other times it's felt like the aural equivalent of steel wool. It's only after dozens of listens that I now feel like I can start writing about it. Why? Because it's one of the most unique albums I've heard in a long time, and certainly one of the most interesting I've heard so far this year.

When artists submit albums for review and say things like, "It's a combination of avant-rock, world music, folk and jazz," I immediately get suspicious; most disparate genre-mashing has horrible results. But in the case of American drummer/composer Sean Noonan's new album, such a description could hold up. This unique brew (pun intended) is quite unlike anything I've heard before.

A quick rundown of the personnel involved will give you some idea of the rich stew of sound: Noonan on drums, Marc Ribot and Aram Bajakian on electric guitar, Mat Maneri on viola, Jamaaladeen Taacuma on bass, Thierno Camara on bass and vocals, and Susan McKeown on vocals. Each of the players bob and weave around each other, sometimes moving elegantly in unison, then tangling in vicious clashes that sound like blood is being spilt. But all the while Noonan's coherent vision holds the album together brilliantly.

On songs such as 'Crazy Legs' and 'Big Mouth' there's a welcome lightness of touch and humour, which counterbalances the more knotty, fuzzy passages where the two guitars and viola really let rip. The cumulative effect of this ebb and flow between sweet melody and dissonance is disorientating and delicious, like a sweaty dash through city streets before pausing for a refreshing drink, or eleven rounds of the titular boxing dreams, with breaks after each round to receive a rubdown and pep talk.

My one criticism, which is especially apparent after repeat listens, is that this is an exhausting album. Many of the songs can become rather trying on the ears, stretching to around the ten-minute mark. Run a few of these suckers back to back and it can feel like you're being pummelled into submission. By the time track eight, 'Look', rolls around, the chaos really feels like too much. Thankfully, the gorgeous countrified 'Story of Jones' is up next to soothe the ears.

Then, Over-n-Out' would have made a welcome closer, but there's another five minutes of chewy, abstract riffing in the form of 'Lost in Gunter's Wald', which is a decent jam in its own right, but feels like the straw that broke the camel's back at the end of this long bout.

Overall, if you like your music challenging, complex and unique, this album comes highly recommended. File somewhere between the Magic Band and Fela Kuti, but don't expect this to be quite at home anywhere in your music collection.

- Tim Clarke

Freisinger Tagblatt, Feb 2009

Read more reviews...