Trevor Dunn Albums (3)
What The Critics Say
Trevor Dunn is well known as a bassist par excellence who plays and performs with John Zorn's Electric Masada and Moonchild units, and also as Mike Patton's collaborator and fellow agent provocateur in Mr. Bungle and Fantômas. He also plays with numerous other ensembles and leads his own jazz and mutant rock Trio-Convulsant. Fewer, however, know him as a composer of film soundtracks. Four Films is Dunn's volume in Tzadik's Film Music series, and showcases Dunn's scores for three different directors -- Peter Bolte (V.O. and Dandelion Man); Cameron Vale (White Noise); and Holly Neuberg (Glendale Blvd.). Dunn sequenced this collection aesthetically rather than according to soundtrack, so cues from one score may be inserted directly into another. It's rather irritating on one level, but if listening to a score in its entirety is your bag, you can program the CD player to do just that -- though you won't necessarily know what order the cues are placed in. Perhaps he should have offered more clues. This caveat aside, the sheer range of music found on this set, some with collaborators, some performed completely solo on various instruments, is actually quite surprising. From sparse, suspenseful cues such as "Contemplator" (with Shelley Burgon on harp) that are reminiscent of early solo pre-cinema work by Mark Mothersbaugh to the eerie Morricone-esque arid Western theme with drummer Kenny Wollesen that serves as the end title theme of V.O., Dunn's range is wildly impressive. So often when modern musicians are asked to score films they throw in everything but the kitchen sink, but as these 26 cues prove, Dunn employs just enough and no more. His economy of scale is dictated by his aesthetic, not his ambition. This also goes for the more electronic and industrial free-form pieces like the brief "Second Nightmare" sculpted for White Noise, where feedback and sound effects are set according to taut phrases of ebb and flow (or wonk and wail, if you will) rather than cluttering the frame with dense sonics. They have character, nuance, taste. Near the end of the album are four cues all in sequence for White Noise that further illustrate this principle. "Fire Disco" (it sounds exactly like one) has a beautifully vulgar French narration by Olivier Conan to introduce the notion of atmospheric if not musical excess first employed by composers like Serge Gainsbourg. The Lynchian suburban-bliss-as-surf-music sounds of "This Boardwalk" offer a lovely evocation of exactly the sort of place Glendale Blvd. is. Four Films is an excellent addition to both Tzadik's film music catalog and Dunn's personal one. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Sister Phantom Owl Fish'
Release Date 7/27/2004
Tracks 11
Label Ipecac
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant is back for their second album, although with a completely different lineup (besides Dunn, of course). Adam Levy and Kenny Wollesen are gone, replaced by Mary Halvorson on guitar and Ches Smith on drums. The music they play is not so much a fusion of styles as it is a collision of styles. Almost straight-ahead jazz noodling gives way to hardcore blasts and crunching power chords, then completely devolves into Derek Bailey territory, but the band is always together. You can tell that some of it is quite composed, and that other sections are most likely entirely improvised. Dunn plays acoustic bass throughout ("Me Susurra un Secreto" is actually a bass solo), while Halvorson is all over the map sonically, switching between clean and distorted tones, chords, single-string runs, and extended techniques. She also judiciously uses some kind of delay or pitch-bending device to wonderful effect. The tunes are challenging but aren't difficult to listen to, and their cover of Duke Ellington's "The Single Petal of a Rose" (with guest harpist Shelley Burgon) is actually quite pretty. If you've been following Trevor Dunn's widely varied career as a player, you know he's got a sense of adventure, and Sister Phantom Owl Fish will not disappoint. ~ Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
As if Mr. Bungle and at least a half-dozen more other projects were not enough, avant-bassist Trevor Dunn now leads his own Trio Convulsant. This group mixes moody jazz with convulsive rock. Also in the trio is guitarist Adam Levy (Dan Hicks, Tracy Chapman, the Hot Club of San Francisco, etc.) and drummer Kenny Wollesen. This is a good album for people who like King Crimson and free jazz, for this album lies at the meeting point of hard, progressive rock and tough, jazz experimentalism. ~ Tom Schulte, All Music Guide
