Colin Hinton: Glassbath

Brooklyn-based drummer / composer / educator, Colin Hinton's debut release presents an aggregation of hip, punk jazz via guitarist Edward Gavitt's acerbic, distortion-tinged phrasings and a variety of noise-shaping processes and pulsating, off-centered dialogues with tenor saxophonist Peyton Pleninger. The press release alludes to semblances of acclaimed drummer Jim Black's Alas No Axis band along with similarities to other cutting-edge artists. Complete with Hinton's energetic polyrhythmic grooves, the quartet executes bluesy motifs that transform into torrid fast-paced jazz-rock sprees and maniacal free jazz breakouts, often escalated by punishing cadences.

As anticipated, "Wasteland" opens with an eerie theme, due to Pleninger's introspective sax parts and Hinton's ringing hits on the cymbal bells, intimating an ominous soundscape that transitions into the peripheries of thought and reason. Yet on "Cobalt-60," the musicians gel to a bouncy pulse in concert with the saxophonist's extended note motifs, conjured with short-lived melody lines. However, Gavitt's reverb-laden lines and crunchy rock-guitar riffs on "The Great Heathen Army" are circled with asymmetrical rhythms and bizarre sound-sculpting treatments.

Other hard-driving tracks seemingly mimic social-upheaval occurrences; whereas the gloomily titled "We Are Already Dead" is outlined on a anthemic plot with the guitarist's harrowing effects and knocked into submission by Hinton's barraging attack. In sum, the ensemble's hell-raising mode of operations performed at various tempos convey a stimulating blitzkrieg on one's neural network. It's a strong showing for group that projects a great deal of promise, although many of these works lack primary themes that you can sink your mind into. Yet the quartet's irrefutable creative sparks loom as a stimulating factor.