Cryptogramophone
2004
The Giant Pin
About This Album
This CD is a worthy successor to Instrumentals, the inaugural 2002 release from Nels Cline's working trio, which features Devin Hoff on contrabass and Scott Amendola on drums, percussion, and live electronics. As before, the mix is wildly eclectic, with Cline not only having his way with electric guitars and various effects boxes but also demonstrating a sympathetic grasp of disparate musical styles, including thrash/punk, lyrical mainstream jazz, and avant-garde experimentation. The witty, erudite Cline (who also writes great liner notes, by the way) isn't just going through the motions here, doing the survey thing and self-consciously displaying either his chops or his ability to name-check as many genres as possible. There's too much palpable joy (and pathos) in his playing to categorize his efforts as a mere exercise of musical one-upmanship. When he opens with "Blues, Too," a delicate homage to mainstream guitar master Jim Hall, Cline's respect for and appreciation of Hall is clearly genuine. And when he moves from the opening track to the occasionally outrageous noisefest of "Fly, Fly," trading fours and eights with drummer Amendola and coaxing sounds from the guitar that will make small animals run for cover, he wholeheartedly embraces the role of metal-shredder supremo.
Track List (try tracks 1,6 and 9)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.