Weasel Walter & Chris Pitsiokos "Drawn and Quartered" LP (OH0004)
$20.00
One Hand is excited to release the second album from Weasel Walter & Chris Pitsiokos. "Drawn and Quartered" expands on where they left off with 2012's fantastic "Unplanned Obsolescence." It reflects the time in between spent non-stop gigging together and in literally countless configurations with others. Pitsiokos is evolving quickly as a player with a wide range of powers. He has established himself as one of the top sax wielders on the NYC free music map and he's not even 25. Weasel needs no introduction. "Drawn and Quartered" was recorded over two days in Spring 2014. It's high energy splatter-- it's spastic, occasionally blown out, but the playing consistently tiptoes the line between barely contained and going off the rails. At times the duo recall the playful side of, say, Peter Brotzmann/Shoji Hano's duo recordings, at others the unpredictable ride of an AACM project. The glorious sound of sax and drums.
Artwork by Paola Hivelin. Edition of 150.
"Haven't heard from the likes of Weasel Walter for quite awhile, so this entry into his ever-expanding discography is definitely something that made me sit up and take noogies. I know I'm up for a major flaying just by saying this, but Walter's drumming abilities have improved (or is it the warm vinyl sound bringing forth the best in his oeuvre?) to the point where even longtime trailblazers like Sunny Murray come off half-there, and am I hallucinating it or does Chris Pitsiokos sound like the logical extension of Joseph Jarman, Anthony Braxton and the rest of those mid-seventies even newer-than-new trailblazers who were making it so big even DOWN BEAT couldn't ignore them? If you're a guy who still recall fondly your various mail order catalogs from Delmark, Inner City and Muse you may just cozy up to this li'l last-stop-can't-go-any-further-than-THIS jazz release." - Chris Stigliano, Black to Comm blog
"Noise-jazz-core drummer legend Weasel Walter presents a second collaboration with young sax shredder Chris Pitsiokos. The 3 tracks here (“Hanged”, “Drawn” and “Quartered”) waste no time getting into full squeaky-squonky-splattery mode, with jagged, convulsing rhythms and scribbly sax lines. The drums run the gamut from grindcore kickdrums to toms and woodblocks, and odd twisting and scraping sounds. “Quartered” is the longest (22 minutes) and most sporadic of the tracks, allowing a lot more space in between energy bursts, but it also introduces some different, somewhat comical sounds into the mix." --Paul Simpson, WCBN, Ann Arbor, MI