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INT 33852CD
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"Renowned composer, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp returns with Secret Life, the latest album from his groundbreaking ensemble Terraplane. Known for its unique fusion of blues, jazz, rock, and avant-garde experimentation, Terraplane continues to push the boundaries of contemporary music while staying deeply rooted in the raw energy and storytelling of the blues tradition. Since its inception in the early 1990s, Terraplane has served as a sonic laboratory for Sharp's ever-evolving musical vision, bridging Delta blues with the textures of free jazz, electronic music, and urban funk. Featuring an exceptional lineup of musicians, Secret Life delivers a powerful mix of deep rhythms, electrifying solos, and immersive soundscapes that transport listeners to a world where tradition and innovation coexist seamlessly. Sharp's signature guitar sound -- gritty, expressive, and utterly distinctive -- remains at the core of the album, while pulsating basslines, haunting saxophone passages, and unpredictable rhythmic shifts create an electrifying listening experience. Sharp has written a new chapter for Terraplane with this new album. The album sounds more traditional than the band's previous CDs. Sharp has paid more attention to song structure. But the line-up is also different. Following the death from cancer of long-time saxophonist Sam Furnace, Alex Harding plays baritone saxophone, and Sharp himself takes over the tenor sax. Rounding off the horn arrangements is Curtis Fowlkes (Lounge Lizards) on trombone. Lance Carter, who knows Sharp from Raw Meat, is on drums. Bass is played by the avant-garde legend, Dave Hofstra, known from such bands as The President and the Microscopic Septet. Behind the microphone is Charlie Mingus' heavyweight son, Eric Mingus, one of the greatest blues singers of the day, and poet Tracie Morris from the Black Rock Coalition. Terraplane is more than just a vehicle for Elliott Sharp. It is a New York all-star band."
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INT 34112CD
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"Terraplane -- the blues of the future, which gets by without the romance of the cotton field. Few musicians have presented as many different stylistic facets over the course of their careers as the New York guitarist, bassist, clarinetist, and composer Elliott Sharp. He was one of the protagonists of the legendary New York downtown avant-garde scene that produced such other original artists as John Lurie, Fred Frith, and John Zorn. When Terraplane's new album is placed in the context of the blues band Hazmat Modine, the bluegrass rebels O' Death, and the Gypsy punk guerrillas of Gogol Bordello, it is clear that Sharp is once again out in front of a new movement. New York felt into a kind of creative lethargy after 9/11, but now the first voices are emerging from hibernation. It is not the avant-garde that is re-forming but rather a scene that is formulating a new relationship to tradition from a wide variety of perspectives. It is not tradition in the sense of neoconservatism but rather a new rebelliousness that does not want to permit the cultural legacy of the diverse ethnic groups of the United States to be exploited by a one-sided abuse of power. It should come as no surprise that Forgery is unusually hard, direct, massive, and unfussy in comparison to its most recent albums. The grooves are more direct than ever; the singing blunt, the solos driving and aggressive. A punk album among blues disks but nevertheless, or precisely for that reason, an entirely authentic expression of urban blues. Once again Sharp has assembled a handful of masters in their respective fields, including the vocal secret weapon Eric Mingus, the poet Tracy Morris, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes; Dave Hofstra, one of the most experienced bassists from the Big Apple, who was a founding member of Terraplane and drummer Tony Lewis who frees the band of jazzy ballast."
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