Review of Matthew Shipps Gravitational Systems(with Mat Maneri)

An insight on the dynamical nature of systems with regard to Gravitational systems

Review of Matthew Shipps Gravitational Systems(with Mat Maneri)
styles: symbolic dynamics,Cecile Taylor,Structured improv,
Others:Cecile Taylor ,Tyshwan Sorey.
a Hatology release

by Kagiso Kwenda

And so Matthew Shipp creates a parallel univser, a cosmos of his own imagining ,an ether illuminated by hues of exploding suns and the stark poetic allure of impossibly distant galaxies. He plays them his way,as he defines them. He plays the future blues,roars,churning up terrific ,eddying undercurrent of nearly unbearable harmonic tensions.He dances,too,and so delicately,to allow the eroding resonance of a single simply struck note to hang in the air like a breath expelled on a November midnight. - by Steve Dollar

Dynamics,both in a musical and scientific framework plays an important role,with regards to this album,the strive is to get into the machinery of how equilibrium points behave?.On how they are a source of a building up or a point of dispersion,with this album Shipp and Maneri take on a unique trajectory for every composition or a suite like combination in some cases.Whether for a single composition with a single equilibrium or a composition containing multiple points of stability.

Systems,generally have components that work inter-dependently among themselves making the system stable but no one knows why equilibriums exist,i.e, what makes this points have a "chosen "mind" of their own"? -that is- why are they fined tuned that way ? -meta the argument will go!

The album consist of compositions with a myriad of styles from minimalism(holy);a Glass-Adams-Part-esque influence,a heavy Bach presence is injected in every atmospheric mode the composition exudes on Shipps side.Nonetheless,this should not be made as if this is a pastiche filled album with no originality created between the duo, this is a record that the more it is imbibed the more pleasure and depth one finds. Other influences that are sprinkled in the compositions are homages to Coltrane(naime), Miles(notes and landscape harmony}and Bach(Elasticity)etc -a lot can be said about influence one hears in this record-through the record one hears that Shipp is a traditionalist with eyes firmly towards the future ,compared to his counterpart -Maneri-who loves to hear a very clear voice of his instrument.The voice of Maneris instrument gives off screams,scratches,cars making a fast take off,a metal wire being scratched up against a corrugated iron sheet. Maneris instrument can be generalized as what machines would sound like, when one immerse him/herself in them.Whilst Shipps piano maintain a thickly layered ,pointillist,minimally formed on silent spaces,cluttered,airy, seaming,impressionistic with a cubist dance layered structures.

Elasticity opens up the album as a solemn nod to Part and Bach, and then ebbs to and fro as Maneri plucks his instrument,this is Shipp at his best,this is a very meditative mystical opening with hints of minimalism.Two elements is a sort of duality exposed in every system that exist.We are thrust back in a Cartesian debate about mind and body,this bluesy post-bop composition is also a show in how parallels universes/systems can exist without one collapsing the other,i try and imagine two galaxies/systems dancing with each other.

Landscape harmony, is just what the composition describes,it's a plethora of ether that bind ,disperse while still in flux this is a seeking composition that longs for distant phenomena while being a beacon of reaching out and also of being found all alone at sea.Shipp and Maneri find themselves conjuring complex structure that move discretely while morphing to other structure-we have indeed entered into a Dali universe-that just melt,assemble tear up and the process repeats.Spells are cast as knots begins with a heady tune that is infectious,one finds him/herself whistling along until particles start to scatter and we are cast in a collider together with this particles and they start to form a beautiful Feynman Diagrams.
Gravitational systems is the opus of the whole compositions, a theme park is what comes to mind when i'm engaged with this beautiful masterpiece and the park changes from a Seurat kinder of place to a Gabo to a Pollock environment, the thing that strikes me the most is how comical it is on other section of the piece were it feel not forced,i.e,the music stabilize on its own without being forced. It could be that stable points are just the systems telling us their ordained limits.