“Standing on the shoulders of giants makes it easier to kick them in the teeth.” This expression, worthy of Monty Python, neatly sums up the code of Mostly Other People Do The Killing, a New York combo led by contrabassist Moppa Elliott. Indeed, Mostly Other People Do The Killing show that they have grasped (and so, can gut) jazz history to the bone: while they reveal a sturdy formal reverence with every studied lick, MOPDTK never demonstrate their knowledge better than when they mock it. And This Is Our Moosic, their third studio album, does just that.
Posts Tagged ‘Kevin Shea’
Mostly Other People Do The Killing, This Is Our Moosic, Hot Cup, 2008
Sunday, April 12th, 2009An Extremely Drastic Case of Déjà Vu: Karole Armitage and Rhys Chatham Revive Underground Dance Classic in NY
Monday, March 30th, 2009
People who view the New York No Wave scene as one of the last truly exciting chapters in the city’s cultural history can buy as many compilations and artist’s monographs as they like, but nothing beats an opportunity to time-travel. Earlier this month at The Kitchen, New Yorkers jumped at a chance to spend two hours back in the early ’80s — a time when drive-by shootings and burning cars were daily staples of downtown life, but also when a late-night walk down 19th street just might land you in the middle of a dialogue between a professional ballet dancer and an army of electric guitars. Think Punk!, an evening of music and physical performance by choreographer Karole Armitage, cast a younger generation of New York Noise-makers in a recreation of Drastic Classicism, an explosive collision of classical ballet and No Wave punk…
