Virtual Crate Digging: Ebony Ivory Recipe
Folks are always asking about what’s new and upcoming but, as shown by the vital and venerable culture of crate digging, looking backwards can also yield unexpected results and reveal hidden gems. And boy oh boy do we have some hidden gems. Let’s dig through our virtual bins of vinyl and see what we find.
Piano Prepared Three (Or More) Ways
It’s always fun to dig around the virtual bins of Three Ingredients Or Less and listen to examples of how composers have worked within the creative framework of the label. Sometimes an album stays quite close to the label’s namesake, like the jazz trios found on Jazz Scramble (3ING-063). Sometimes it means a band of bass, drums, and guitar like on Friday Night Warming Lamps vol. 2 (3ING-054), but where a few rhythm guitars and an electric lead are grouped together as a single “Guitar” ingredient.
But sometimes the “Or Less” part of the label makes its presence known.
Even then, there is variation within the so-called rules. Albums like Raw Drawbars (3ING-072) mostly feature a single drawbar organ. But Ebony Ivory Recipe (3ING-028) takes it a step further.
Throughout the entire record, the only instrument you hear is piano. But it may not always sound like that.
Treated percussive thumps on the body of the piano create rhythms. Processed piano string plucks become ambient soundscapes. Backward notes and manipulations accentuate unnatural frequencies. Let’s be clear, the unadulterated piano you know and love is still very much at the heart of each track. But these largely stark performances are tastefully adorned with a mad scientist’s interpretation of the piano.
The expected and experimental piano parts result in a beautiful mashup that feels organic and otherworldly at the same time. Because each sound is sourced from the acoustic piano in some way, every layer adds to the others and allows the arrangements to become more than the sum of its parts. We love a good culinary connection (especially on this label), so much like a chef will create a dish with an ingredient featured three ways – perhaps a carrot presented in a sauce, a caramelized preparation, and raw matchsticks for texture — each preparation of that ingredient will naturally play well with the others because they come from the same source. It can be too much of a good thing, but with a practiced hand behind the dish it all comes together in new, unexpected ways.
Embodying the premise behind Ebony Ivory Recipe, the opening track “Moonscape Wonderment” actually begins with solo percussive piano thumps before sweeping piano arpeggiations grow into a kaleidoscope of wonder and drama. It ends with stark chords alongside the percussive rhythm that has stayed with us from the downbeat. While this particular piece may be perfect for art films, drone footage, or time-lapse videos, the practical applications for the additional fourteen tracks on the album vary greatly. From corporate and technological themes in “Beneath the Melting Ice” or “Progress Through Metamorphosis” to meditative reflections or emotional goodbyes as heard on the closing track, “Freedom To Say Goodbye.”
Ebony Ivory Recipe is a celebration of the piano through equal parts experimentation, manipulation, and a classical approach. If you’re a fan of the unconventional compositions of artists like Nils Frahm or Ólafur Arnalds, we think you’ll enjoy this work as well as previously featured on Virtual Crate Digging album, Nordic Holiday (MOPM-077).
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