Brian Ellis The Silver Creature

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Styles: psychedelic jazz-fusion
Others: Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid, Miles Davis, Frank Zappa

In just two short releases for Edinburgh’s favorite independent record label, California treasure Brian Ellis has proven himself not just to know, but to be the absolute cutting edge of jazz-fusion today. His arrangements bridge the unimaginable gap between James Brown funk at its freshest, Miles Davis jazz at its most psychedelic, and Four Tet electronica at its ethereal and innovative peak. Free Way, his debut in Benbecula’s storied Minerals Series, purportedly showcased his more experimental side, which, now that we have his proper debut as a reference point, makes sense. Next to Free Way, which succeeded in all the ways Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid’s jams should have, The Silver Creature is warmly accessible, with more of a focus placed on Ellis’ fuzz-bomb bass melodies and their relationships to his digitally mangled acoustic drumming. All it takes is a heartbeat to feel these vibes head-to-toe.

The record kicks off on a high with “The Morning After.” There witnessed is a lagging beat slugging away under keyboard work that remembers early prog-rock and peaceful guitar noodlings that quickly (but not hurriedly) slam into an all-out classic psychedelic rock deluge. From there, it dissolves briefly into Indian percussion cum hard house before coasting home on the glittering cascades of a space jam band’s ethnogen-fuelled dream. However -- and this is a truly remarkable fact to those who have blindly taken in his sublime works before -- this is the sound of just one man all by his lonesome, playing some 14-odd instruments with the freaky-deaky flavor and improvisational spirit of a live jazz orchestra. Anyone who doesn’t think technology has the ability to revolutionize and improve music is damned in those first six minutes.

“Night Trails” is another clear highlight on an album of highlights, bumping an upright bass-driven beat and Asian-sounding strings into a fanatic, soulful cacophony of tweaking rave bleeps and the usual face-melting fusion, elevating under an elegant trumpet drone in the last minute to a state of sheer aural ecstasy, while “Home Cookin’” carries a distinctly Frank Zappa tone one can’t ignore. The peak of “Flute Salad” invokes a bizarre but never unnerving hybrid of Jethro Tull and acid house before simmering back down into the groove. Fusion, fusion, use your illusion… may I face the immutable wrath of The Silver Creature for all eternity if this isn’t album-of-the-year material. Brian Ellis exhibits all of the finest and most powerful aspects of recorded music, and deserves recognition.

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