(Constellation Records, 2011)
A brief list of reasons why I'm so enthralled with Matana Roberts and her album, COIN COIN—
1. She plays my favourite instrument: saxophone.
2. COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres, her debut on Constellation, is a dynamic, seam-bursting composition of collapsible jazz with copious spills of wide-eyed irrationality.
3. Yes, COIN COIN is the second saxophone-helmed album from Constellation in 2011; however (and I’m in no way dismissing Colin Steton’s record), Roberts is much crazier, spastic, open in terms of orchestration and deviation, maddening. (#2 and #3 are the same thing.)
4. The Avant Garde should always be so dynamic as COIN COIN is. While large portions of the “experimental” community are drifting, migrating into more staid, dull-bladed and monotonous territory, COIN COIN exhibits the finest aspects of hungry innovation. Swelling with a dangerous undercurrent, Roberts offers thrilling moments at every turn and a more complete listening experience as a whole.
5. The canyon in the middle of “Song For Eulalie.”
6. The penultimate freakout: “I Am.”
7. COIN COIN is enthralling because it sounds feel removed from the immediate imaginations available to this world. Not unfathomably so, but just enough to tint the album with a coat of genuine, wakeful, alien curiosity.
8. COIN COIN delivers on that curiosity with brazen force.
9. “How Much Would You Cost?” X10.
Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres - MATANA ROBERTS by Constellation Records
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