By Jim Macnie | Published May 2017
Kneebody has been doing their thing for over a decade-and-a-half now, so it’s little wonder that on their sharpest record so far—an album that treats pummel with the same respect it affords ethereality—they come off sounding more like themselves than ever before.
From Lester Young to Bill Frisell, individualism has always been paramount to artistic success in jazz, and at this late date, the quintet is instantly identifiable—focus and authority surges from Anti-Hero’s spectrum of performances.
The band continues its aesthetic of conflation. What’s in play? Rock vigor, funk rigor and a sizable enough dollop of electronica’s textural chill to give this album a futuristic feel. When you’re challenging the value of genre sovereignty, as the group has from the get-go, it’s wise to make sure your swirl of sound continuously folds in on itself, rupturing the stylistic perimeters. There are few right angles in this well-conceived music. Rather than have a series of distinct references flash by, each of the tracks churns with a settled mixture of ideas.
Which, maybe, is another way of saying their juxtapositions are wily. Saxophonist Ben Wendel and trumpeter Shane Endsley do some high-altitude skywriting over drummer Nate Wood’s primal thud on “For Mikie Lee,” and Adam Benjamin uses both old-school acoustic piano sounds and frenzied digi-key flourishes on “The Balloonist.” “Austin Peralta,” the band’s elegiac farewell to a fellow L.A. improviser, seems like a spaghetti western theme being played as a futuristic church hymn.
Anti-Hero: For The Fallen; Uprising; Drum Battle; Antihero; The Balloonist; For Mikie Lee; Profar; Carry On; Yes You; Austin Peralta. (57:36)
Personnel: Ben Wendel, saxophones; Shane Endsley, trumpet; Adam Benjamin, keyboards; Kaveh Rastegar, bass; Nate Wood, drums.
