Eye Contact
War Rug
KMB006
 
 (US)  (World) Recorded by Jason Meajer at Black Dirt Studios July 2006 Mastered by Mark Filip Fall 2006 Rug photographs by Ryan Sawyer Live photograph by Peter Gannushkin Layout by Eric Devin Cuica - Wind The Count - Earth Lone Wolf - Tree 1 Slave Graves 2 Back In New York 3 Like I Trust Your Friends 4 Make Me Have A Baby 5 The Forest Lord 6 Rhinecliff Hotel 7 An Actor on TV 8 War Rug 9 The Chill and the the Stupor 10 Blackwood The studio debut from this NYC collective. Eye Contact is composed of Matt Lavelle, Matt Heyner and Ryan Sawyer. Their other endeavors include No Neck Blues Band, William Parker’s Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, Tall Firs, Steve Swell’s Slammin’ The Infinite, TEST, Ras Moshe’s Music Now! and Stars Like Fleas, but one should throw all assumptions about the players out the window. After two superb releases on Utech, War Rug presents three individuals who,  freed from the usual contexts by the studio environment, have created a truly groundbreaking release. By scaling back the high intensity blowing sessions that defined the Utech releases, Eye Contact have succeeded in creating a new kind of improvisation, one that draws on elements of latin music, metal, punk and more to birth a totally unique record. 1000 copies pressed November 2006. Downloadable press sheet (EYE CONTACT.doc) (Reviews) Jazzword.com, Summer 2007 Singular vision often results in a more assured creation than the product of cooperative democracy. At least that’s the conclusion after hearing these trio CDs featuring New York-based multi-instrumentalist Matt Lavelle. Lavelle, whose feisty bass clarinet, trumpet and flugelhorn work has been a highlight of bassist William Parker’s Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and various combos, is the leader and sole composer on Spiritual Power, seconded by bassist Hilliard Greene and drummer Mike T.A. Thompson. On the other hand, War Rug with the exact same instrumentation is a collective where Lavelle is joined by bassist Matt Heyner and percussionist Ryan Sawyer. Although the sounds on the 10 group improvisations which make up the later disc are notable, the specific circumstances of Spiritual Power amalgamate into a CD of the first rank... ...There are no polka intimations, Hispanic tinges or jive-talking on War Rug, but a similar level of transcendence also isn’t reached. It could be churlish to suggest it, but perhaps the drummer and bassist’s non-jazz gigs with bands like the No-Neck Blues Band and Stars Like Fleas contributes to this. Certainly both also have improv credentials with Heyner a member of TEST and Sawyer having recorded with guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil. It may be significant, however, that Lavelle also plays cuica or Brazilian friction drum at times to create additional sandpaper-like scrapes. On certain tracks as well Heyner brings out an electric bass for distorted reverb, an action that unbalances the basics acoustic thrust of the disc. Much more notable are those instances when the concentrated pulsations of the three generate an undulating drone, using techniques which subvert the qualities of these acoustic instruments to replicate the textures of pseudo-electronics. Overall, however, the reference points are definitely directed more towards AA (American saxophonist Albert Ayler) than AAM (the British minimalist/improv combo). Other influences appear as well. “Rhinecliff Hotel”, for instance, begins with fiery brass triplets and rolling percussion pulses from Lavelle and Sawyer as if they were replicating duets between Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell. Then Heyner’s sul ponticello sweeps, the drummer’s rat-tat-tats and flams soon have Lavelle switching to bass clarinet to create wiggling coloratura split tones. Complementing each other in broken octaves as the tempo picks up, ululating lines from each sound but never collide. The finale involves repetitive pumps from Heyner’s bass and high-pitched laughs and shrieks from Lavelle’s clarinet. The horn man confirms his fluid control of all his instruments during instrumental interludes throughout. As the band is insistent that the CD involved “no overdubs”, it’s clear that Lavelle is capable of playing a phrase on one instrument and then a note cluster on another in the split-second to takes to substitute a reed mouthpiece for a brass one in his mouth. On “Make Me Have a Baby” – draw your own conclusions – as the bassist expels thumping walking bass lines and the drummer shakes out metallic-sounding tubular-bell structures, Lavelle races from undersea snorkeling bass clarinet lowing to darting hummingbird-quick tongue flutters from his flugelhorn. As bell-friction and staccatissimo slurs chase one another, it’s up to a resonating adagio bass line to keep the rest of the tune from splintering. Agitato capillary slurs, wide, slow-paced vibrations and bass waist scrapes plus enough firepower in the drumming to make the tones almost sound like explosions also figure in the CDs denouncement. Either CD can be held up – and collected – as a demonstration of Lavelle’s maturing talents, although Greene’s and Thompson’s exceptional partnership still give Spiritual Power the edge. -- Ken Waxman All About Jazz, April 2007 “Eye Contact is a trio shrouded in mystery. The musicians appear on the back of the CD in ghostly photo-booth strips. On the inside is a dimly lit picture of the band onstage and one of them seems to be leaping into the audience. Their names don’t appear anywhere in the package. War Rug draws its energy from this elusiveness, telling wordless trickster stories (instruments echo, shape shift and doppelgang) and emulating shamanic rituals (drones, shakers and distant hand drumming) in improvised compositions that claim no overdubs but overflow with atmospherics. Lavelle spends a lot of time on the bass clarinet and tends to handle it like he would his trumpet, trilling fast runs on “Rhinecliff Hotel” that favor the upper end of the big horn’s range. Elsewhere, drummer Ryan Sawyer (Tall Firs, Stars Like Fleas) and roaring bassist Matt Heyner (Test, Malkuth) demonstrate hardcore punk tendencies, as if Roy Campbell were fronting the Minutemen.” - Jeff Stockton  Downtown Music Gallery, March 2007 Featuring Matt Lavelle on trumpet & bass clarinet, Matt Heyner on bass and Ryan Sawyer on drums. Matt Lavelle is one the hippest cats I know and a defender of "free jazz". He argues with them jazz-snob knuckleheads that blow a lot of hot air and patronize close-minded critics like Stanley Grouch and listen to fake/jazz stations like WBGO and CD-101. I admire Matt Lavelle, because he practices what he preaches by living the life and playing the music he hears inside. Eye Contact is a particularly strong trio with Test & No Neck bassist Matt Heyner and mysterious drummer, Ryan Sawyer, who can be found on that great quartet date with Louie Belogenis & Tony Malaby. "Slave Graves" is pretty spooky with ritualistic percussion and ghost-like voices. This music has an earthy, organic quality, building from sparse space to burning focused freedom. Each piece evokes a different spirit or mood, many are filled with suspense and cosmic sounds that take us with them on a journey to the stars. What I dig about this is the way they have captured that fleeting moment in between different states of mind and body, when certain sounds and not just the notes free you from the routine of regular life that holds us all down” - Bruce Lee Gallanter  KJFC.org, December 2006 “Ever since the Eye Contact release on Utech, I’ve been telling everyone I know with itchy ears to have ‘em track down Matt Lavelle. Outstanding player and this release showcases not just his stellar work but Ryan Sawyer flaying the skins and Matthew Heyner driving some overload bass (check out the title track and line it up next to your Lightning Bolt and Flying Luttenbachers). But there are also pastoral bliss moments on this too, like “The Forest Lord” and “The Chill and Then The Stupor.” The latter has Heyner sketching spain on electric bass and Lavelle musing in the shadows. Like the Utech “Embracing the Tide” release, this allows Lavelle to bubble away on his bass clarinet in parts (the intro to “Blackwood”) later in that pieces he pushes the upper registers climbing around tree branches with Heyner, eventually climbing back down for some lower blows. On some tracks Lavelle will tag team his horns, like “Rhinecliff Hotel” trumpets to fly at the beginning, but by the end the clarinet is rooting around. For trumpet exclusives, check out “Back in New York” which has Lavelle sounding off like a fire siren on parts… “An Actor on TV” allows Lavelle to bounce his trumpet/flugel off effects, reverb dreaming over eruptions of periodic hardcore samba breaks? “Slave Graves” is a high-voltage tribal augury ceremony, very vital opener, but unique on this release. “Make Me Have a Baby” (weird title) marries the electronics found on that lead-off cut with a more typical trio over slithering bowed bass. All very good, here’s to more aural Eye Contact and soon!!”  Foxy Digitalis, February 2007 “This New York trio is steeped in free jazz, and in the idea that improv will set you free in more ways than one. They mostly try to enter the mystic through percussion and rhythm on this set, and the results occasionally break down that door and let them in. With Matthew Hayner’s bass, Matt Lavelle on reeds and horns and drummer Ryan Sawyer channeling William Hooker’s rhythmic bludgeoning, songs like “An Actor on TV,” “Like I Trust Your Friends” and the title track build from the bottom up to their peaks. The solid rhythmic base allows the three of them to take the head into meditative but hard improv, like Mahavishnu letting Billy Cobham run the show, not McLaughlin. “Slave Graves” has the sound of a search that once, ended, explodes with insight. This is a smart record, a seeking one, and one whose resolutions are always communal and ego-free. You can pray along with it, or use it to smash your idols. 8/10”  - Warren Realrider Soundofmusic.nu, ? 2007 “Tydlighet är däremot inte det första jag tänker på när jag tänker på Eye Contact. Trio även detta med Matt Lavelle på trumpet och basklarinett, Matt Heyner på bas (även med i No Neck Blues Band) och Ryan Sawyer på trummor. Snarare är det många gånger skönt otydligt med inslag av droner, ritualer, jazz, rock, punk och latin. Jag gillar det mest när de håller improvisationerna nere i volym och utåtriktning. Som i den långsamt droniga ”Like I Trust Your Friend” eller i den jazzigare ”Make me Have a Baby” som blir väldigt intensiv trots att den inte går upp i falsett. Oförutsägbarheten går som en god röd tråd genom musiken, även om jag har lite svårt för att ta till mig hardcoreinslagen i slutet av skivan. Däremot är den oefterhärmliga ”The Forest Lord” en kul låt. Skogens härskare som förnöjt sitter på en stubbe och smackar åt skogens väsen i nio minuter. Känslan av skog är slående.” -Magnus Olssonhttps://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=charihosid%40hotmail%2ecom&item_name=Eye%20Contact%20War%20Rug%20CD%20US&item_number=KMB006%20US&amount=13%2e00&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=charihosid%40hotmail%2ecom&item_name=Eye%20Contact%20War%20Rug%20CD%20World&item_number=KMB006%20World&amount=15%2e00&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8KMB006 Eye Contact - War Rug_files/EYE%20CONTACT.dochttp://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=24984shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3