{"title":"Exploding Star Orchestra","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"rob-mazurek-exploding-star-orchestra-dimensional-stardust","title":"Rob Mazurek, Exploding Star Orchestra - Dimensional Stardust","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eMarfa TX-based multidisciplinary abstractivist Rob Mazurek has made an indelible impact on creative music over the past 30 years. Emerging from the musical nexus of the 1990s Chicago scene, he’s written more than 400 compositions and is featured on more than 70 recordings (including International Anthem’s very first, IARC0001, \"Alternate Moon Cycles\"). He’s led or co-led many ensembles – including the Chicago Underground (Duo, Trio, Quartet \u0026amp; Orchestra), Isotope 217 (alongside members of Tortoise), Pharoah and the Underground (feat. Pharoah Sanders), Alien Flower Sutra (with Emmett Kelly), São Paulo Underground (his primary working group across his time in Brazil), and a duo with Jeff Parker – each of which possesses its own distinct musical personality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile Mazurek’s solo work as a musician expands from cornet, piano, and piccolo trumpet studies to embody musique concrete and electronic experimentation, his composition for large ensemble reveals an intuitive sense of scale. Commissioned by the Chicago Cultural Center and the Jazz Institute of Chicago in 2005 to assemble a group representing the diversity of the city’s contemporary avant-garde, Mazurek amassed a 14-piece ensemble and began composing music for what became his Exploding Star Orchestra (ESO)\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e. Including musicians from the often-segregated communities of Chicago’s North, South, and West sides – from his long-time collaborators in Tortoise’s expansive orbit, to Great Black Music luminaries from the hallowed AACM, to free jazz revivalists from the Umbrella Music group – ESO debuted in the urban epicenter of Chicago’s Millennium Park and, shortly after, went into John McEntire’s Soma Studios to record \"We Are All From Somewhere Else\" (Thrill Jockey, 2007). By the time of \"Galactic Parables Vol. 1,\" ESO’s 2015 triple LP release on Cuneiform Records, Mazurek reflected to Pop Matters that \"Exploding Star Orchestra is the conceptual, compositional and philosophical center of all my work... a life star of musical, visual and conceptual ideas.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 2018, JazzFest Berlin curator Nadin Deventer invited Mazurek to present a new iteration of ESO with musicians based in Berlin as well as Chicago. Meeting the commission with the boundless ambition characteristic of his artistic approach, he imagined a jubilee of fifteen musicians and improvisers, true to ESO’s ethos in their widely diverse backgrounds and voices, but more tightly arranged around his intricate compositions than ever before. Summoning an array of symphonic studies – from Béla Bartók to Morton Feldman to Gil Evans to Sun Ra to Pedro Santos to Bill Dixon to The Art Ensemble of Chicago – in an ecstatic and wholly original program, Mazurek’s November 2018 debut at Berliner Festspiele marked a new pinnacle in his distinction as a composer and conductor of Contemporary Music. “Mazurek’s arrangements burst in colors, making synesthetes of us all,” wrote Paul Acquaro in a review of the concert for Free Jazz Collective.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Mazurek returned to Chicago in Summer 2019, International Anthem took the opportunity to capture his new ESO compositions with a cast of collaborators from their collective constellation of artists. Over a handful of studio dates between August 2019 and March 2020, Mazurek channeled his arrangements through 11 musicians – Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Jaimie Branch, Joel Ross, Mikel Patrick Avery, Tomeka Reid, Chad Taylor, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Macie Stewart, Angelica Sanchez, and John Herndon – and commissioned his long-time lyrical collaborator Damon Locks to draft original texts for each of the titles and record vocal tracks. After three months of rigorous post-production, editing and assembly work, in June 2020 Mazurek completed his culminating new collection of ESO recordings: \"Dimensional Stardust.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Dimensional Stardust\" showcases the intricacy and complexity of Mazurek’s compositions but in their most potent, most compacted forms. Opting to focus on tight ensemble orchestration over passages of open improvisation, Mazurek distills a maximal orchestra of explosive improvisers into a beautifully restrained, graceful group exercise in melodic minimalism. The album features almost no “soloist” moments, excepting Jeff Parker’s other-worldy guitar meltdown on “The Careening Prism Within,” and when Nicole Mitchell’s flute floats to the front of the barrage on “Sun Core Tet.” Mazurek himself is sparsely present as instrumentalist, only occasionally joining the ensemble with his piccolo trumpet (notably on “Parable 3000,” where he shares leads with Mitchell’s flute and Joel Ross’s vibraphone, and his trills and textures haunt ghostly around Jaimie Branch’s trumpet counterpoint). Even Damon Locks’s voice is employed more like an ensemble instrument than a lead vocalist. Locks’ distinctively dry, abstract narrative flow beams in intermittently – sounding almost like fragments of Deltron 3030 through an Orson Wells-style radio transmission – climaxing in the album-closing poetry of “Autumn Pleiades.” And all the way through, the electro-acoustic poly-rhythmic percussion section (Chad Taylor, Mikel Patrick Avery, and John Herndon) churns, thrusting the music forward as the harmonic instruments collectively bow between frenzied, futurist chromaticism and soaring, pan-humanist pentatonic anthems.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSomehow swirling the most adventurous elements of avant-garde jazz and contemporary classical into the most universal attractors of pop music, the cosmic opera of \"Dimensional Stardust\" is a pure spiritual extension of Exploding Star Orchestra’s unifying ethos, and a new peak in the prolific creative career of Rob Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e***\"Dimensional Stardust\" is the second album co-released by the North \u0026amp; South American partnership of International Anthem \u0026amp; Nonesuch Records, following Jeff Parker's early 2020 release, \"Suite For Max Brown.\" International Anthem \u0026amp; Nonesuch Records are slated to co-release at least 6 titles over 3 years, details on future albums TBA. Outside of North and South America, these albums are marketed \u0026amp; distributed by K7 Records.***\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased November 20, 2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRob Mazurek - director, composer, piccolo trumpet, electronic renderings, modular synth\u003cbr\u003eDamon Locks - voice, electronics, texts\u003cbr\u003eNicole Mitchell - flutes\u003cbr\u003eMacie Stewart - violins\u003cbr\u003eTomeka Reid - cellos\u003cbr\u003eJoel Ross - vibraphone\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - guitar\u003cbr\u003eJaimie Branch - trumpet\u003cbr\u003eAngelica Sanchez - acoustic piano, electric piano\u003cbr\u003eIngebrigt Håker Flaten - bass\u003cbr\u003eChad Taylor - drums, percussion\u003cbr\u003eMikel Patrick Avery - drums, percussion\u003cbr\u003eJohn Herndon - drum machines\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll Music and Titles by Rob Mazurek (OLHO, ASCAP).\u003cbr\u003eWords by Damon Locks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered, Recorded \u0026amp; Mixed by David Allen \u0026amp; Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eAdditional Recording by Nicole Mitchell, Mikel Patrick Avery, John Herndon \u0026amp; Rob Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003eEdited by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Dave Cooley.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Painting by Rob Mazurek (“Some Other Time” 2020).\u003cbr\u003ePrints by Rob Mazurek with technical assistance by Mathieu Constans.\u003cbr\u003ePackage Design by Craig Hansen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Scott McNiece, David Allen, Dave Vettraino \u0026amp; Rob Mazurek.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"info license\" id=\"license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53918420140373,"sku":"IARC0036LP","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Moon Dust\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":53918420402517,"sku":"IARC0036LPCM","price":25.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53918424432981,"sku":"IARC0036CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/0022380944_10.jpg?v=1779967193"},{"product_id":"rob-mazurek-exploding-star-orchestra-lightning-dreamers","title":"Rob Mazurek, Exploding Star Orchestra - Lightning Dreamers","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eLightning Dreamers is new work by composer, trumpeter, interdisciplinary abstractivist and modern music mogul Rob Mazurek, who wrote the music for a compacted version of his long-running Exploding Star Orchestra. A follow-up to the acclaimed 2020 Mazurek\/ESO release Dimensional Stardust, the album features guitarist Jeff Parker, vocalist Damon Locks, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and pianists Angelica Sanchez and Craig Taborn, among others. It was recorded mostly at the remote Sonic Ranch studios in West Texas, not far from Mazurek’s current home in Marfa, in the days leading up to a debut of the music at Trans Pecos festival in September 2021. Mixing and post-production was headed by Dave Vettraino from IARC studios in Chicago across 2022.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album’s opener “Future Shaman” was co-produced by Parker and features added percussion by Mazurek’s longtime São Paulo Underground collaborator Mauricio Takara, as well as synth bass from\u003cbr\u003eCathlene Pineda. The track finds Mazurek and ESO where they left off with Dimensional Stardust – deep in a chromatic beat fantasy of outer-space grooves and Bartok-ian riffs. Vocalist\/MC Locks brings the Orson Welles via Deltron 3030 energy while Taborn and Sanchez face-off from behind Wurlitzer pianos and Moog\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003esynthesizers. On “Dream Sleeper” Locks’s poetry is swirled in drifting storm clouds of fractured atmospherics, both improvised and composed. “Shape Shifter” finds Mazurek recalling a past life of Isotope 217 – not just for the swinging grooves anchored by Moog basslines, but also in that he returns to the trumpet after years of playing cornet. Once the soaring melodic theme is established the ensemble shifts into On The Corner mode, creating a mangled rhythmic base for Taborn’s Wurlitzer runs and clean guitar soloing from Parker, before shapeshifting yet again under Mazurek’s rising polytonal electronics as Locks’s scattered vocal embellishments take us to the promised land.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album’s whole B-side is an immersive trip that spans two tracks – “Black River” and “White River” – for which Mazurek interwove takes from the Sonic Ranch sessions with live material from an expanded ESO performance recorded in February 2022 at Sons d’Hiver in Paris, France. In the liner notes for Lightning Dreamers, Mazurek writes that the music is “an evocation of a theme from the “Black River Suite,” which I have been revisiting and reimagining over time.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe elaborates: “I spent 3 years of my life on the great Rio Negro in Manaus, Brazil, where the Black and White Rivers meet. It is custom and a kind of rebirthing to take a boat to the dividing\/divining line of these 2 great rivers and dive into and through, as an affirmation of the simple premise (although We All Come from Somewhere Else) that we all come from the same place... the stars. The feeling of moving between and through these great bodies of water is etched in my soul forever. The visual and sonic material (both thematic and imagined) evokes the spirits past, present and future along this mighty river. The undercurrents of time, the movement of storm systems in the sky, the gentle sway of a boat moving upriver, the power and intensity when the wind decides to blow and the torrential rains fall. The sound of the electric eels below, the melodies of the inhabitants along the way, the\u003cbr\u003eshattering blasts from lightning in the sky. The river flows on and on and on.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmong the artists featured in the recording from Sons d’Hiver is the late jaimie branch, playing synthesizers \u0026amp; electronics behind the guiding trumpet improvisations of Mazurek (whom she long considered a mentor in multiple mediums). She passed away in August 2022, and her earthly absence has since imbued an otherworldly presence into the chaotic riptide of sound on “Black River.” As production wrapped on the album that Fall, Mazurek was moved to present Lightning Dreamers as a dedication to branch’s memory.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 31, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music composed by Rob Mazurek (OLHO, ASCAP). Words by Damon Locks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded at Sonic Ranch, Tornillo, TX, September 23rd \u0026amp; 24th, 2021.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRob Mazurek - director, composer, trumpets, voice, launeddas, electronic treatments\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - guitar\u003cbr\u003eCraig Taborn - wurlitzer, moog matriarch\u003cbr\u003eAngelica Sanchez - wurlitzer, piano, moog sub 37\u003cbr\u003eDamon Locks - voice, electronics, samplers, text\u003cbr\u003eGerald Cleaver - drums\u003cbr\u003eMauricio Takara - electronic percussion, percussion\u003cbr\u003eNicole Mitchell - flute, voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Future Shaman\" co-produced by Jeff Parker, with additional synth bass played by Cathlene Pineda.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Black River” and \"Dream Sleeper\" include samples of Exploding Star Orchestra recorded live at Sons d’hiver in Paris, France, on February 3rd, 2022, featuring: Rob Mazurek, jaimie branch, Tomeka Reid, Thomas Roher, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Julien Desprez, Pasquale Mirra, Angelica Sanchez, Damon Locks, Mikel Patrick Avery, Chad Taylor, and Mauricio Takara.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered by: Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eAdditional Recording by: Jeff Parker, Mauricio Takara, Nicole Mitchell, and Rob Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003eProduced and Mixed by: Dave Vettraino \u0026amp; Rob Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by: David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlbum art by: Rob Mazurek Radical Chimeric #1 #2 (mesh, screen, mylar, canvas, video projection) 2022.\u003cbr\u003eInsert Photo by: Britt Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by: Craig Hansen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThank You Britt Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis album is dedicated to jaimie branch.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition *Silver Lightning* Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":53918524965205,"sku":"IARC0065LPS","price":25.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53918522736981,"sku":"IARC0065LP","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53918524801365,"sku":"IARC0065CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a0713357999_10.jpg?v=1779800671"},{"product_id":"rob-mazurek-exploding-star-orchestra-live-at-adler-planetarium","title":"Rob Mazurek, Exploding Star Orchestra - Live at Adler Planetarium","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eThe Exploding Star Orchestra is Rob Mazurek’s vehicle for blowing minds and reshaping worlds. For more than a decade and a half, the multi-instrumentalist has guided the variably configured big band through appearances on three continents. Its first performance in his former hometown of Chicago in more than five years determined to be more than just a concert. With support from the city’s Experimental Sound Studio and International Anthem, the Exploding Star Orchestra not only played music from the new Lightning Dreamers LP, but Mazurek and Co. also showed the processes behind its creation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe event took place under the dome of Adler Planetarium, which provided a suitably cosmic surface upon which to project Mazurek’s visuals. A painter, sculptor and digital artist as well as a musician, he spends a typical day at his home studio in Marfa, Texas, improvising electronic music, whose signals he translates into visuals, whose digital information is then fed back into the music. Some of this work might eventually manifest as pure sound, flickering light or compositions for one of Mazurek’s bands; in this setting, he could finally unleash the whole shebang.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA digital projection flashed an ever-changing stream of vividly colored, abstract shapes derived from his paintings and\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eanimations over the audience’s heads, while the Orchestra, which on this night numbered eight musicians besides its leader, transformed the stylistically disparate pieces from Lightning Dreamers into an enveloping maelstrom. Electric pianists Angelica Sanchez and Craig Taborn pushed layers of plush texture back and forth over the intricate, tripartite grooves of bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and two drummers, Chad Taylor and Gerald Cleaver. Mazurek’s trumpets and wordless cries, Tomeka Reid’s cello and Nicole Mitchell’s flute and voice periodically surfaced out of the flow, issuing sharp, energetic statements, while Damon Locks’ proclamations flickered in and out of the mix like an erratic signal from some interstellar radio announcer. Together, they reimagined the brooding sound of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew as a force for transcendent uplift.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe concert’s climactic moment was a visual one. At one point, Mitchell put down her flute, spoke into Mazurek’s ear and pointed up to toward the dome. As he looked up, his own horn came down, and for a moment, the two of them gazed with undisguised awe at the spectacle that the Orchestra had unleashed. In a time when so many forces conspire to bring people down, this concert was an invitation to look up and out past the\u003cbr\u003ehorizon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e— review by Bill Meyer; originally published in Magnet Magazine, April 2023\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased September 27, 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRob Mazurek - director, trumpets, bells, voice, compositions\u003cbr\u003eNicole Mitchell - flute, voice, electronics\u003cbr\u003eDamon Locks - voice, samplers, electronics\u003cbr\u003eTomeka Reid - cello, electronics\u003cbr\u003eCraig Taborn - wurlitzer electric piano, moog, electronics\u003cbr\u003eAngelica Sanchez - wurlitzer electric piano, moog\u003cbr\u003eIngebrigt Håker Flaten - bass\u003cbr\u003eChad Taylor- drums\u003cbr\u003eGerald Cleaver- drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded Live in the Grainger Sky Theater of Adler Planetarium, Chicago, March 24th, 2023.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music by Rob Mazurek (OLHO, ASCAP).\u003cbr\u003eWords by Damon Locks.\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by Elliot Dicks, Alex Inglizian and Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVideo images by Rob Mazurek with technical assistance from Mathieu Constans and Brian Ashby.\u003cbr\u003eFront \u0026amp; Back Cover Photos by Alejandro Ayala.\u003cbr\u003eGatefold Photo by Brian Ashby.\u003cbr\u003eInsert Photo by Alex Inglizian.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Craig Hansen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Experimental Sound Studio \u0026amp; International Anthem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial Thanks to Olivia Junell, Adam Vida, and Alex Inglizian of ESS; Mike Smail, Ann Grant, Sarah Sarka, and everyone at the Adler Planetarium; The Robert D. Bielecki Foundation; and our special Anonymous Donor for essential contributions.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Black Vinyl","offer_id":53918664786261,"sku":"IARC0087LP","price":25.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limtied Edition CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53918653088085,"sku":"IARC0087CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a1774559027_10.jpg?v=1779878818"}],"url":"https:\/\/international-anthem.k7store.com\/collections\/exploding-star-orchestra.oembed","provider":"International Anthem","version":"1.0","type":"link"}