NEW MONUMENTS
“Long pig”

“New Monuments is a trio of C. Spencer Yeh on violin and electronics, Ben Hall on trap set (looking at the cover I believe this to be drums) and Don Dietrich on saxophone and electronics. Hall is for me the unknown factor here and Yeh and Dietrich earned their wings in the world of improvisation, the latter through his alliance with Borbetomagus – for me the best group ever when it comes to noise and saxophones. The recordings here where made at Studio L in New York on May 8th 2012 and it’s what you expect this to be. If your expectations would have been some mild jazzy improvisation record, then you clearly don’t know the history of these men (although, thinking about it: it would be nice for a radical change of tune one day). This is very much along the lines of Borbetomagus, except it’s not two saxophones and a guitar, but drums, violin, saxophones and electronics. I expect a lot of electronics actually. It’s screaming with noise and distortion, especially on the violin and saxophone side, with the drum kit being splattered around like animal from the Muppet show. It’s forceful, it’s loud, and it’s wild even while it has a moment of quietness here and there. It’s not one blast from beginning to end, but rather well defined pieces with a beginning and an end. It sometimes even rocks, like good free rock should be when Hall plays more consecutive rhythms. Much mayhem, much excitement.” (FdW in Vital)