Jonathan Suazo / Gabriel Vicens / Leonardo Osuna: No Base Trio

There's an eery sumptuousness to the gravity-free, genre-less sound of No Base Trio that makes it incredibly difficult to get on with the day. The slant and tilt of modular sonic eruptions grab immediate attention. Its cascading, formless ambience affords strange new spaces to inhabit, explore, and contemplate during lockdown.

Hailing from Puerto Rico, this debut recording features the imaginative, often volatile union of guitarist Gabriel Vicéns, alto saxophonist Jonathan Suazo and drummer Leonardo Osuna threading the free jazz, agro-rock, electronica needle with a frothy, improvisational vernacular, allowing the collectively imagined eight pieces to each develop their own emotive epicenter and sprawl.

Recorded live, the vibe is very Lower East Side, as if David Torn and Tim Berne could be seen in the rearview mirror jamming in the loft. More charged by the air between the notes than the notes themselves, the very air in the studio is as critical an ingredient in the amorphous mix as the music. Grunge riffs become pure conversation. An aggressive singe of squalling guitar often frees Suazo's pedal effected alto to wheel, keel and pitch over and around Osuna's driving, many headed rhythms. Highlights include the buzzy interplay of "EXT-1," Suazo's flights of fancy on the groove centered "EXT-II," Vicéns, Osuna, and Suazo's emphatic understanding of the instant and the sounds necessary to translate and embolden "EXT-V" and "EXT-VII." Dark, organic shifts of mood and tone make the thirteen plus minute "EXT-VIII" a mysteriously meditative, captivating experience.