Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Infernal Machines

From the first listening of this album, it is clear that Darcy James Argue intends to make a strong statement about the boundaries of musical genres—of jazz and new music—as well as about musical aesthetics and technology. This album consists of Argue's compositions for "big band" (or "large ensemble," depending on whom you ask) with a dark, modernistic edge; most numbers contain pulsating drumbeats and wildly spiraling minor and diminished harmonies. An electric guitar, often distorted, also pops up here and there, as do overt nods to early American minimalism, lyrical Charles Mingus-esque reed melodies and other identifiable appropriations. Argue argues: "My music for Secret Society essentially comes out of me imagining an alternate reality where big bands were still wildly popular and where jazz was still on speaking terms with other musical genres."

Musically, this is fine; but politically, this argument seems odd. Why brand this music "big band" music when ensembles of similar size exist in all of the genres from which Argue culls? Despite his obvious reference to the standard "big band" instrumentation, calling these compositions "big band music" is perhaps just icing on the cake. The music stands on its own: on compositions like "Habeas Corpus" pulsating brass lines straight from early Steve Reich meld very successfully with more lyrical, muted trumpet and wind melodies; the album's opening piece, "Phobos," features a relentless drum rhythm against big brass buildups and a nuanced tenor solo by Mark Small (as well as a Robert Fripp-tinged guitar accompaniment). Though Argue's musical references might be a bit heavy handed, his masterful montage of these styles makes the listener realize the aesthetic similarities they've shared all along.

Interestingly, Argue has chosen the "steampunk" genre—used typically to describe a subset of fantasy literature—for compositions that otherwise would benefit from confusing genre borders, slightly undercutting the initial shock of the new and unexpected that comes with listening to this album. Steampunk or not, however, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society has proven to be a gadfly in both the jazz and the new music communities and for good reason. Infernal Machines is a solid first album from this band and one can be sure that their next release will be just as important.