Fred Frith Trio: Another Day in Fucking Paradise

The album title may equate to what a disgruntled co-worker may utter at the office on a Monday morning. Yes, some of us have used this line, but master improviser, guitarist Fred Frith's prowess and boundless creativity is the antithesis to anything that may cause a semblance of drudgery.

Jason Hoopes' bursting e-bass lines and Jordan Glenn's vigorous drumming and colorful accents supply all the ammo Frith needs via his speed riffing, unearthly effects and keen use of volume control techniques that are deviously entertaining amid ethereal sound-shaping paradigms throughout. On "Glimmers of Goodbyes," Glenn's crashing cymbals, rumbling rolls and Hoopes' looping and fractured notes generate a spiky backdrop for Frith's menacing chord voicings, framed with angst and a pleasantly ominous sequence of events. However, the guitarist sounds like he's in a time warp with ambient textures riding above his associates asymmetrical grooves during "Yard with Lunatics."

Their enthusiasm keeps boiling over on "Only Light and Shadow," where Frith's avant rock extrapolations and irksome distortion-based treatments elicit a vibe that could signal a precursor to a catastrophic world event. Needless to state, the trio possesses a huge arsenal of tricks. But the leader's peculiar, short-circuit type effects are shrewdly contrasted by Hoopes' fervent arco-bass lines on "Schlechtes Gewissen."

Other than Frith's extensive body of work, hearkening back to the fabled Henry Cow years, fans of the highly charged experimental trio Massacre should welcome this set with open arms. Paradise is not always about timeless harmony, as Frith and company prove that notion rather poignantly on this hardcore off-centered delicacy.