Outhouse: Outhouse

To date, the longer established F-ire have created the biggest stir, with Acoustic Ladyland, Polar Bear and groups led by saxophonists Ingrid Laubrock and Finn Peters. But with their self-titled debut album, Outhouse shoulder their way straight into the vanguard.

Outhouse cite drummer Jim Black's Alas No Axis and saxophonists Tim Berne and Ellery Eskelin amongst their key references, and the confluence of rich rhythms and gutsy horns those names suggest is central to their music. Six of the eight tracks are written by saxophonists Robin Fincker and Mark Hanslip, and all are concerned with the relationship between composed and improvised music, and between form and groove.

In this respect, Outhouse explores similar territory as Finn Peters' Butterflies (Accidental, 2008), but with an altogether fiercer and more in-your-face aesthetic—a rough diamond to Peters' polished jade. More obviously, there are parallels with David Liebman and Ellery Eskelin's explorations of the space between form and improvisation on Different But The Same (Hatology, 2003) and Renewal (Hatology, 2008).

Rhythm—vigorous and often ostinato driven, but nuanced and never a mere thrash—is key to Outhouse's music. Nowhere is this better displayed than on the nearly ten minute long "Japa Seloho," which features guest percussionist Kaw Secka on tama, the Senegambian talking drum. Secka's laser-precise stick work blends with Dave Smith's kit with an intimacy unusual in jazz/African drum duets. It's a groove Outhouse explored further at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts in May, 2008, in a performance featuring five sabar (djembe) drummers from Gambia.

The other guest is vocalist Jeanne Added, whose spacey, wordless vocals are engaging features of three tracks. Fincker's clarinet also makes occasional appearances. The clarinet solo on "Spiders"—with "Mu" one of the album's more soft-footed tunes—is particularly lovely.

An assured and brilliantly realized manifesto from a headline new band.

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