TPR Featured Releases: Dead Leaf Echo 7″ Single + Whoarfrost Sophomore Album

Written By: Chris Parsons

Today, we have are ears tuned into two channels– dreampop, “nouveau wave” from NY’s Dead Leaf Echo and Baltimore, MD’s experimental rock free-jazzists, Whoarfrost— as they are both celebrating the release of brand new material. Both underground artists are eminently artistic and established projects that have been releasing new material in some form or other at a fairly constant and prolific rate, thus cementing their effective presence in the contemporary underground rock communities, especially in their respective local scenes. Definitely take the time to listen to one if you’re a fan of the other, and vice-versa, as their audiences are constantly growing, and why would you want to be left out of all the fun of some fresh, quality jams– and just the kind that your collection is missing!

Dead Leaf Echo
is expected to release their debut LP, Thought & Language, on March 5, 2013 via Neon Sigh Records. In the meantime, the quintet had released 7″ single, “Kingmaker” b/w “I Belong,” in September 2012 and, now, their single “Birth” b/w “Etiolated,” both serving as extended-play precursors to the forthcoming, highly anticipated real deal, coming next week. “Kingmaker,” was an released digitally and on vinyl, as well as the appearing in the production and premiere of a music video, directed in collaboration with fellow New Yorker, Patrick Ryan Morris. The new “Birth” 7″ single is also being release via Bandcamp, as well as vinyl (pics), plus the internet easter egg of a live recording of “Birth” for KEXP 90.3FM. If you’re in the New York area be sure to head to late show tonight  (Wed. 2/27) @ Mercury Lounge to catch Dead Leaf Echo‘s Record Release Party, also featuring D.C.’s Lorelei opening up the bill.

Whoarfrost
has officially released their 7-track sophomore album, You Say Yes, for streaming and download via Bandcamp! This professional studio recording of the trio captures their live sound, but with amazing clarity and deliberate pace– every sound explored is both experimental and super-natural, as if executed on the first take, and we can assimilate there were likely little to no overdubs necessary– capturing a pure improvisational and methodical performance, which was further expertly mastered in-house, by the singer-guitarist, Jon Lipscomb, himself. If you are in the Baltimore, Maryland area tomorrow (Thurs. 2/28), you should head over to The Windup Space to catch Whoarfrost‘s Record Release Party, including appearances by Canary oh Canary (VA) and The Inbetweens (NY).

TPR Featured Band-to-Watch: Whoarfrost as Whornfrost (Mini-Documentary)

Written By: Chris Parsons

On January 10, 2013 I hopped on a Greyhound bus from Philadelphia to Baltimore to wind up at no other space than The Wind-up Space; a cozy bar right in the heart of the Baltimore independent music scene. While the bartender and owner seemed very serious about what events or acts he booked at his venue, it soon became clear that this night would be enjoyed with a round of familiar faces; a collective of sorts to which I was no more than a stranger. Enter Jordannah Elizabeth, the only face familiar to myself, and The Process Records was officially in attendance to catch the premiere of Whoarfrost‘s Neighborhood Watch: WHORNFROST Mini-Documentary. In case you aren’t familiar, Whoarfrost is a compact, yet expansive, power trio amalgamation of free jazz and post-hardcore experimental rockers and close friends that are local to the Baltimore and New York music scenes. Sometimes their sound is even classified as noise or avant-garde, but I took note that the jazzist background of the participating musicians would be the focus of the night’s debuting “Whornfrost” feature. There would also be live music following the mini-doc from not necessarily defined “groups” or bands of musicians (Ethan Snyder of Whoarfrost could not be in attendance this evening), but rather exhibiting a couple of makeshift line-ups culled from a collective of like-minded, professional-grade musicians.

To give some background, Jon Lipscomb (guitar/vox) and Ethan Snyder (drums) of Whoarfrost both attended Boston’s Berklee College of Music, a school renowned for their specialization in jazz theory and development. So, naturally, the sound of their experimental, free form trio, while dizzingly chaotic at times, has deep roots in the improvisational approach and learned techniques of jazz’s long, but youthful history. However, this sense of “structure” is only subtly apparent in their performances, as they almost seem to abandon any trace of “rules”– another trait borrowed from jazz and experimental arts– so that their sound and energy is fueled by both a learned, and un-learned animal collective naïvety. At some point, within Baltimore’s healthy and tightly-knit community of musicians, Whoarfrost crossed paths with other jazzheads– a whole slew of horn players [Tiffany Defoe (Baritone Sax), Derrick Michaels (Tenor Sax), Jarrett Gilgore (Alto Sax), Chris Pumphrey (Keys), John Dierker (Tenor Sax)] who had all studied jazz performance at some point or other, at various schools with prestigious music programs including Baltimore’s Towson University and the Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University. Some of these saxophonists even seemed like local legends in their own right, which was certainly impressive to witness, but it was clear that this particular collective were all peers in their love and enthusiasm for jazz, almost echoing the 90’s shoegazer movement’s aesthetic of a “scene that celebrates itself.”

Throughout the documentary there is a catalog of interviews, performances, and practice sessions which Eric Smith incorporated in an effort to capture the process involved in transforming Whoarfrost into Whornfrost, and hash out the background of how the whole concept was birthed and solidified. For the first time, Jon Lipscomb publicly offers a good deal of insight into the band’s songwriting processes which had been a something of a mystery and muse to the casual listener or passerby. One particular quote from Lipscomb was that the original power trio line-up and focus of Whoarfrost was to establish as a solid, defined, and clear sound. Now, with the Whornfrost side project, horns are thrown into the mix and a whole new set of doors are opened, and new rules are adopted or abandoned accordingly. However, this “can of worms” free-form nature, does have structure  The horns aren’t necessarily given free range, much unlike the earlier, feral sounds of big band jazzheads such as Sun Ra and his Arkestra, but rather, they are cleverly arranged to add a whole new depth to the trio’s wall-of-sound with an undercurrent of powerhouse saxophones. The style of the sound produced is very reminiscent of the late Frank Zappa’s jazzier explorations, which was a real treat to experience young, contemporary musicians paying tribute to appropriate, deserving legends and bent on keeping the experimental nature of music alive and well, instead of sitting back and making strictly “normal” or derivative sounds. When Whoarfrost steps out of their comfort zone, they are in their comfort zone. Many have been caught scratching their heads, actively listening, for some kind of subconscious clarity within the dizzying realms of Whoarfrost‘s swirling birr and chaos, but these cats are the real deal; jazz purists with a knack for obliterating avalanches of sound and energy.

The Whoarfrost homepage does not offer a “shop” to purchase the documentary, but if you contact them via email, you might be able to snag one of the flash drive sticks that they had for sale at the event. And be sure to dig their live recordings which fully document and exhibit their improvisational and experimental endeavors if you haven’t caught up with them in person, just yet.