OC DC Get The Blessing

• 1 OC DC 04:37
• 2 Americano Meccano 05:19
• 3 Torque 04:56
• 4 Adagio In Wot Minor 05:05
• 5 Between Fear And Sex 04:59
• 6 The Waiting 06:05
• 7 Low Earth Orbit 05:08
• 8 Pentopia 08:01
• Total Runtime 44:10

Info for OC DC

OC DC once again finds Get The Blessing elbowing their way out of easy categorisation. The Bristol-based four-piece have deftly ploughed their jazzy post-rock furrow since the release of their debut All Is Yes back in 2008, drawing enthusiastic comparisons to similarly inventive acts like Tortoise and Polar Bear. The follow-up, 2009's Bugs In Amber, cemented their affable rapport with critics and fans alike, and further defied the boundaries and boxes that were placed around them - the Metro claimed in its glowing review that, 'Occasionally you hear a jazz album that you know would shift truckloads of units if only it weren't labelled ‘jazz'. Bugs In Amber is just such a disc.'

From the upbeat rollicking title track that kicks off proceedings, to the lilting cinematic closer Pentopia, OC DC exudes energy and invention at every turn. As sax player Jake McMurchie suggests, 'It's both more esoteric, more physical and more carefully crafted', whilst retaining the band's signature blend of strong melodic ideas, ferocious rhythmic hooks, tight compositional structures, and freewheeling improvisations. Trumpeter Pete Judge agrees: 'It's less afraid to be itself than it used to be'. A particular highlight is the unexpected guest cameo by legendary composer & musician Robert Wyatt - a delicious wordless chorale on the languid American Meccano, recorded in a Lincolnshire studio open to the sounds of birdsong and passing vehicles.

Get The Blessing wear their jazz credentials lightly but defiantly. A shared love of legendary saxophonist Ornette Coleman's early quartet inspired their boldly monophonic instrumentation. The intricate but absolutely rock-solid rhythm section forms the glue that holds Get The Blessing together, with the dual sax and trumpet frontline working with the bass to create melodies and harmonies.

Alongside their jazz roots, Get The Blessing's multiple other influences are also evident. Speaking of their 2008 BBC Jazz Award win for Best New Album with All Is Yes, bassist Jim Barr says, 'We were total outsiders, the punk entry.' Comparisons with punk aren't too far-fetched either, from the band's often thrashing rhythms and rocking riffs to their irreverent and mischievous attitude. At the same time, their music carries a genuine emotional punch, and is as capable of delicacy as it is of visceral power. This is not ‘difficult' music by any stretch; neither is it merely simple.

Drummer Clive Deamer and bassist Jim Barr have long provided the low-end rumbles and stuttering beats for trip-hop legends Portishead, and Deamer has recently been recruited by none other than Radiohead as their second live drummer for 2012 (he's also an established partner of Robert Plant, Roni Size, Hawkwind, Jeff Beck and several other contemporary luminaries). Not that the rest of the band are worried. 'They are borrowing Clive in the hope that it will make them sound like Get The Blessing,' says Barr with a smile; 'No chance!'

With guest turns from Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley as well as Robert Wyatt, and influences including astronomy, psychology, Borges, and food, OC DC grabs the listener by the lapels and sets off joyously once more into the sonic wilderness. To further explore Get The Blessing's fascinating and idiosyncratic musical world...

'There are four of them, although you wouldn't call them a jazz quartet in the usual sense of the term – but neither would you call them anything else. There's so much jazz sound, jazz spirit and especially jazz humour in Get the Blessing's music that you probably won't get it if you've never heard, say, Ornette Coleman. The spacey unison melodies over chattering rhythm patterns could almost be late Gil Evans. But you won't get the full flavour by just picking out the jazzy bits. This band's music has a unique identity that will beguile you if you let it.' (Dave Gelly, The Guardian)

“this outfit will surely recharge the jazz world” (BBC Music Magazine)

Jake McMurchie, saxophones
Pete Judge, trumpet
Jim Barr, bass
Clive Dreamer, drums

"Audiophile Pop CD" in Audio 5/2012

Get The Blessing
One of the most original and exciting bands to emerge in years, Get The Blessing released their debut album All Is Yes in February 2008 to universal acclaim. Formed by drummer Clive Deamer and bassist Jim Barr of ‘90s trip-hop superstars Portishead, Get The Blessing have stormed onto the scene, taking riffs and rhythms from rock and dance music and artfully welding them onto fearsomely inventive improvisation, winning rave reviews and legions of fans of all ages and tastes along the way. With trumpeter Pete Judge and saxophonist Jake McMurchie completing the line up, Get The Blessing’s rocking tunes and snappy arrangements create a genre-bending blend of sounds that is all their own, flirting slyly with jazz while pounding the dancefloor with their “gloriously powerful sound” (BBC Music Magazine, 5/5).

Get The Blessing formed in 2000 to share a fascination with improvised music, a pathological distrust of chords and a passion for cake and North African cuisine. Although they started out playing Ornette Coleman they steadily began slowly to make music of their own. Their new approach has much in common with the current crop of ‘postjazz’ trailblazers - bands such as EST, Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland – but also draws from influences as diverse as the Kings of Leon, Tortoise, Morphine, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, Red Snapper and Albert Ayler, with jazz, rock, punk and avant-garde all colliding in a joyous celebration of sound.

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