Zeena Parkins – Something Out There [LP] (1987, No Man's Land)

This is not your father's harp. Zeena Parkins had been a valuable player on the downtown New York scene as well as an integral member of the fascinating band Skeleton Crew (with Tom Cora and Fred Frith) for several years before releasing this, her first album as a leader. The selections are a series of solos, duos, and trios with various likeminded musicians, including Cora, Wayne Horvitz, and turntablist Christian Marclay. The general approach is consistent with the grab-bag, postmodern stance in vogue at the time, roughly based in a rockish improv aesthetic and moving outward from there. Parkins' harp has an aggressive, sometimes stinging quality; in a sense, she plays it as though it's an electric guitar, making few concessions to its more delicate ancestry. Fans of Elliott Sharp's work from around the same period will find a likeminded stance here, with a similarly dark, percussive feel. She more than holds her own here, even dominating the affairs with forceful, imaginative playing. The pieces with Marclay work especially well, his vinyl selections blending seamlessly with her rich plucking. The duo with percussionist Samm Bennett is also very successful, coming within a few miles of sounding -almost- like some warped attempt at pop. The songs are all on the short side and one eventually has the desire to hear Parkins stretch out more and even to play in more structured surroundings. But on its own merits, 'Something Out There' is an enjoyable debut and gives a good early picture of this all too undervalued member of the contemporary improvising field. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

 

Label: No Man's Land – NML 8712 

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album 

Country: Germany 

Released: 1987 

Style: Avantgarde, Free Improvisation, Avant-Prog

 

Tracklist:

A1 Firebrat 2:58 

A2 Night Light 2:57 

A3 Without Words 2:19 

A4 Little Hip Haw 2:36 

A5 Mother Tongue 2:08 

A6 Cornered 3:32 

A7 Southern Exposure 3:51 

B1 Incident In A Department Store 3:00 

B2 Flavor Of Green Tea Over Rice 3:54 

B3 Left-Handed Walk 2:24 

B4 The World As I Found It 3:03 

B5 Fly Loo 2:09 

B6 Sidereal Messenger 3:11 

B7 Appointment In Samarkind 3:03 

 

Notes:

Recorded and mixed February 1986 to January 1987 at Noise New York, except tracks A3 & B3 recorded live at Roulette. Submastering at Synesthetics. 

 

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