Frigg: Brecht

The composition titled “Sailors Song” features wonderfully realistic narratives/vocals by the somewhat legendary Phil Minton who proceeds to evoke lucid imagery that of a British sailor reminiscing while ashore perhaps in a dank, dusky gin mill on a foggy and chilly evening. Here, clarinetist Jurgen Kupke captures the spirit with swaggering lines atop a rhythm section who sound as though they’re performing with lead weights on their backs, all in good fun I might add......”Liebeslied” is a bit more Germanic in tone and elicits images of cabaret fare during World War II which is offset or counterbalanced by Bert Wrede’s hard-edged, metallic electric guitar lines along with Kupke’s peppery clarinet work and vocals by Meira Asher. The composition, “Anne Smith Relates The Conquest Of America” features vocals/narration from Phil Minton as this piece is vividly melodramatic interspersed with moments of dissonance, abstractness and swing motifs all within the realm of well-organized sequences while the remaining tracks pretty much follow along the same lines.

Fans of the New York Downtown Scene, namely John Zorn and to a lesser extent Frank Zappa or those who have a burning desire to distance themselves from everyday trivialities and yearn for something slightly different may reap some dividends out of this engaging yet somewhat capricious affair. * * * ½

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