Sound Stains is the second offering from the Other Quartet, a decidedly left-of-center unit featuring tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Ohad Talmor, trumpeter Russ Johnson, guitarist Pete McCann, and drummer Mark Ferber. The quartet explores a very wide musical spectrum: loud and anarchic pieces like... [+] Expand

Sound Stains is the second offering from the Other Quartet, a decidedly left-of-center unit featuring tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Ohad Talmor, trumpeter Russ Johnson, guitarist Pete McCann, and drummer Mark Ferber. The quartet explores a very wide musical spectrum: loud and anarchic pieces like "TOQ-TOQ" and "'Nant Nana," wild yet tightly executed groove explosions like "Bouncing Boontsy" and "Cages on Cage," and exquisitely intimate melodic statements like "Refraction" and "Arriving With Every Step." McCann provides everything from extreme fuzz-wah pyrotechnics to delicate, hypnotic chording, blending beautifully with the two horns and Ferber's equally versatile drums. (Ferber's kick drum sounds absolutely huge, more than making up for the lack of a bass player.) While avant jazz and free improvisation provide the aesthetic underpinning for the quartet, modern classical music plays a significant role as well. Talmor contributes an arrangement of the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 (Second Movement) -- remarkable for its sheer difficulty and the fact that it sounds not the least bit out of place. Johnson's "Chamber Piece No. 3" and Ludmilla Ulehla's powerful "Memorial for the People of Turkey" also underscore the group's classical bent or, more to the point, its extensive use of written as well as improvised material. Borrowing a little gag from R&B singer Jill Scott, the band adds a long sequence of three-second dummy tracks at the end of the disc and buries two hidden tracks at the end, bringing the total number of tracks to 44. ~ David R. Adler, All Music Guide [-] Collapse

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