A jam band is, at least in theory, a band that jams, and that can mean a lot of different things. If you're tired of that term being used to describe hippie-style meandering that takes a long time to go nowhere,
Big Walnuts Yonder
is a quartet whose members have put their own spin on the concept. Essentially a blowing session between four musicians who live and work on the experimental edge of indie rock,
is a collaborative project featuring bassist
Mike Watt
(formerly of
the Minutemen
and
the Stooges
), guitarist
Nels Cline
(of
Wilco
,
the Geraldine Fibbers
, and
the Nels Cline Singers
), guitarist and singer
Nick Reinhart
Tere Melos
), and drummer
Greg Saunier
Deerhoof
). While
Watt
supposedly brought in a number of melodic sketches for the project and
Cline
Saunier
also wrote tunes in advance, the melodic structures here are rarely very complicated, and the key function of the songs on this album seems to be providing a framework from which these musicians can extrapolate. These are jams in the truest sense of the word, but be either warned or assured that you can't do a noodle dance to any of these ten tracks. This is music that bristles with energy even when the songs are at midtempo, and the guitar work from
Reinhart
is usually glorious chaos, all skronk and odd tonal angles, while
try to keep the performances on track even as their own rhythms are exploding like a bag of popcorn after a minute in the microwave. With its devotion to creative combustion,
is the sort of album that listeners will either love or hate, but there's little denying that these musicians generate noise with a compelling level of skill, and when they periodically ease into something close to a conventional melodic performance, their chops and imagination are similarly engaging. While a long way from perfect,
is overflowing with great ideas and imaginative execution -- enough so that one hopes this foursome heads into the studio again someday, or takes this very special show on the road. ~ Mark Deming