Badland - The Society Of The Spectacle (2005)

The Society of the Spectacle is Badland's third release, its first on a label other than Simon H. Fell's Bruce's Fingers. Recorded in Steve Lowe's Gateway Studios in April 2003, it features the trio of Simon Rose, Fell, and Steve Noble in excellent shape. In his fragmentary notes, Rose mentions "We hope our music has some of the qualities of jazz." If he means the gutsiness, the drive, the flexibility, the excitement of witnessing someone putting his creativity in the line of fire -- then he has his wish. This music is not overtly jazz. In fact, "jazz" might simply indicate that it does not belong to the introspective, rather Spartan kind of free improvisation. It is not a blow-it-all-to-kingdom-come fest, either. Powerful and twisted as he may be (he really knows how to bend notes out of shape), Rose can display an uncanny sensitivity, not unlike Paul Dunmall. Simon H. Fell's playing always seems to have two or three agendas; even the most instinctive basslines hide alternate trains of thoughts that will surface later. Steve Noble's drumming is intense and multifaceted, an attention grabber from start to finish. Highlights include the short pieces "Kittiwake" and "Elka," the raging "Mia," and the concluding "Reeds in the Western World," featuring a gripping sax solo and development that take listeners very close to the American free jazz tradition.