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CD
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INT 34112CD
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$13.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 5/23/2025
"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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