Following the recent Pi Records release of Starebaby – the eerie Twin Peaks-inspired LP by New York City jazz drummer/composer DAN WEISS, joined by bassist Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, Secret Chiefs 3), Matt Mitchell, Craig Taborn, and Ben Monder – a new live video of the album’s debut lineup has just been issued as the outfit announces new tour dates.
Encompassing elements of improv jazz, avant rock, technical metal, and suspenseful soundtrack auras, DAN WEISS’s Starebaby was recorded at Systems Two Recording Studio, Brooklyn, New York by Ron Saint Germain, mixed at Saint’s Place, Kinnelon, New Jersey, also by Germain, and mastered at Masterdisk, Peekskill, New York by Scott Hull.
The video for the Starebaby LP’s second song, “Depredation” was filmed and edited by Kyle Johnson from multiple angles, the footage overlapping in a creepy and psychedelic fashion like the quintet’s output on thealbum. This was the Starebaby lineup’s first performance, at Zebulon in Los Angeles on October 5th, 2017.
Starebaby is out now through Pi Recordings on LP, CD, and digital formats; place orders HERE.
Following the recent release show for Starebaby, the outfit has booked a West Coast/Canadian tour for the second half of June, and a European tour for July, both of which include several major performances at jazz festivals. A South American tour is also in the works for August, with more tour date confirmations to be issued shortly.
6/17/2018 The Dazzle – Denver, CO
6/18-19/2018 Blue Whale – Los Angeles, CA
6/21/2018 Mississippi Studio – Portland, OR
6/22/2018 Earshot Festival @ Royal Room – Seattle, WA
6/23/2018 Winnipeg Jazz Fest – Winnipeg, MB
6/24/2018 Vancouver Jazz Fest – Vancouver, BC
6/27-28/2018 Toronto Jazz Fest @ The Rex – Toronto, ON
6/29/2018 Ottawa Jazz Fest – Ottawa, ON
7/07/2018 Gent Festival – Gent, BE
7/08/2018 A Trane – Berlin, DE
7/10/2018 Copenhagen Jazz Fest – Copenhagen, DK
7/11/2018 On The Road Jazz Festival – Brescia, IT
7/14/2018 North Sea Jazz Festival – Rotterdam, NL
A project DAN WEISS has wanted to put together for over a decade, Starebaby is the upshot of a long-running dream to bring together some of the most accomplished players on the jazz scene to play music that combines the improvisation nature of that music with the power of heavy metal and electronic new music. One of the most in-demand drummers in jazz, WEISS performs with such disparate artists as Rudresh Mahanthappa, Chris Potter, John Zorn, and Jen Shyu, evidence of the breadth of his artistry. As with his two critically-acclaimed previous releases — Fourteen, which was named one of the best releases of 2014 by The New York Times, and Sixteen: Drummers Suite — Starebaby is a decidedly original work that is largely without precedence, reflecting the power of conviction coming from a single, brimming wellspring. As with his prior output, it reflects his catholic taste in music, where jazz improvisation, doom metal, electro-acoustic music, Indian beat cycles, and innumerable other influences are all compounded into an outpouring of personal expression completely beyond musical boundaries. Inspired by Season 3 of the television show Twin Peaks, whose surreal, ominous emotional landscape helped shape the overall feel of this music, the record ebbs and flows, surging to thundering swells of foreboding doom before tempering to quiet reflection, finding a deep space where brutal aggression meets ghostly vulnerability.
