Since Time Is Gravity | ||||
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Studio album by Natural Information Society Community Ensemble | ||||
Released | 2023 | |||
Recorded | May 18, 2021; August 24, 2021 | |||
Studio | Graham Foundation, Chicago, Illinois; Electrical Audio, Chicago, Illinois | |||
Genre | Free jazz, minimalism | |||
Length | 1:13:23 | |||
Label | Eremite MTE-78/79 Aguirre Records ZORN99 | |||
Producer | Joshua Abrams, Michael Ehlers | |||
Natural Information Society chronology | ||||
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Since Time Is Gravity is an album by the Natural Information Society Community Ensemble, led by double bassist and guimbri player Joshua Abrams. It was recorded on May 18, 2021, at the Graham Foundation in Chicago, Illinois, and on August 24, 2021, at Electrical Audio in Chicago, and was released in 2023 as a double-LP set by both Eremite Records, based in the United States, and Aguirre Records, a Belgian label. On the album, Abrams is joined by alto saxophonists Nick Mazzarella and Mai Sugimoto, bass clarinetist Jason Stein, cornetists Josh Berman and Ben Lamar Gay, harmonium player Lisa Alvarado, harpist Kara Bershad, percussionists Mikel Patrick Avery and Hamid Drake, and a guest artist, tenor saxophonist Ari Brown. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Regarding the expanded "Community Ensemble" heard on Since Time Is Gravity, Abrams remarked: "There's a wealth of community we have in Chicago and throughout the world. There's room for everyone's personality and I want them to bring their sound to it... It's not like a classical aesthetic to make everyone anonymous to be unified... No, we unify with all our idiosyncrasies, warts and all." [5]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
All About Jazz | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
No Transmission | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Pitchfork | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
PopMatters | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spectrum Culture | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Tom Hull – on the Web | A– [11] |
In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote: "Since Time Is Gravity returns NIS to their exploratory rhythm and overtone roots even as they make more room for jazz harmony and rhythmic sensibilities while highlighting the abundance of soloists among them." [1]
Danen Jobe of All About Jazz stated: "Abrams calls this music ecstatic minimalism, but, had the word not been already taken by electronic music, trance works just as well... this is music designed to transport, to support movement between worlds, to sing the song of different spirits. Come hear what it has to say." [6]
Pitchfork's Jonathan Williger described the album as "a suite of vivid snapshots of eternity, a concept that should be oxymoronic but which feels completely natural in Abrams' hands." He commented: "Abrams' music moves through time gracefully, adjusting to the demands of when and where it is performed, and who's involved. The awe that his music channels lies in its grasp of mutability, tracking subtle changes in repeating patterns—whether from moment to moment or year to year." [8]
Writing for PopMatters , Bruce Miller remarked: "Natural Information Society releases have allowed featured players to alter the music sonically without compromising the pulse at the root of their output. Since Time Is Gravity may be a slightly more orchestrated version of that allegiance to a loosely controlled creative state. Still, the results are every bit as sublime as anything he and his partners in collective aural immersion have ever released." [9]
In an article for Spectrum Culture, Reed Jackson wrote: "At one point in its early years, free jazz was called 'energy music' due to its frenetic pace, frenzied abandon and atomic volume; Joshua Abrams and the Natural Information Society work slowly, often quietly and with unrelenting patience – but the alternative energy they tap into might be more powerful than anything the Atomic Age gave us." [10]
Dusted Magazine's Christian Carey stated: "Natural Information Society works well with this expanded complement. The inclusion of Brown is especially effective. Whether the new collaborators will remain, or others players will join Abrams, Since Time Is Gravity demonstrates that Natural Information Society is a durable creative enterprise." [12]
Álvaro Molina of Post-Trash commented: "As a collective, NIS encompasses a lively, pulsating experience, coming from every instrumental angle. The 'slowness' and 'flow' of Abram's visionary leadership expands into every corner of the seven compositions... Here, music flows by itself. Slowly or rapidly, it has its own gravity, allowing for much more than time as we know it." [13]
Writing for A Green Man Review, Gary Whitehouse noted: "Since Time Is Gravity is one of the more complex and nuanced albums I've reviewed in recent years... All fans of modern and ambient jazz, trance, and modal world music should definitely lean into this one." [14]
Marshall Belford Allen is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and the electronic EWI.
Edward "Kidd" Jordan was an American jazz saxophonist and music educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. He taught at Southern University at New Orleans from 1974 to 2006.
Ari Brown is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and pianist.
Eremite Records is an independent American jazz record label founded in 1995 by Michael Ehlers, with early involvement from music writer Byron Coley. Ehlers was a student of Archie Shepp's at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After college, he began producing concerts in the Amherst area, and Eremite evolved from those events. The label name came from an alternate title to the Thelonious Monk tune "Reflections": "Portrait of an Eremite". The label's logo, designed by Savage Pencil, is an image of a robed Joe McPhee playing soprano saxophone. Eremite organized a concert series in Western Massachusetts that ran through 2008 and produced roughly 100 concerts, including five Fire in the Valley festivals. From 1998–2018, Eremite managed a touring organization that arranged hundreds of concerts across North America for its artists.
Made in Chicago is a live album by drummer and composer Jack DeJohnette recorded at the 35th Chicago Jazz Festival on August 29, 2013 and released on ECM in March 2015. The quintet features fellow Chicagoan musicians pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, bassist Larry Gray and saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill—a reunion of DeJohnette with colleagues from Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
Joshua Abrams is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the double bass and guimbri.
Lisa Alvarado is an American visual artist and harmonium player.
Natural Information Society is a music ensemble described as “ecstatic minimalism”. The group formed in 2010 and is led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams. NPR called the group a "staple" of the underground music scene in Chicago. Their performances often include the paintings of Lisa Alvarado.
Frank Rosaly is a Puerto Rican American drummer, composer, and sound designer associated with a transparent compositional approach to drumming across various styles of music including jazz, improvisation, rock and experimental music. Rosaly also composes for film.
Perles Noires, Volumes 1 and 2, is a pair of live albums by the drummer Sunny Murray. The albums were recorded during 2002–2004 at various locations, and were released by Eremite Records in 2005. On Volume 1, Murray is joined by the saxophonists Sabir Mateen and Louis Belogenis, the pianist Dave Burrell and the double bassist Alan Silva. On Volume 2, he is heard with Mateen, the saxophonist and bass clarinetist Oluyemi Thomas and the pianist John Blum.
We Are Not at the Opera is a live album by drummer Sunny Murray. It was recorded in June 1998 at the Unitarian Meetinghouse in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, and was released later that year by Eremite Records. On the album, Murray is joined by saxophonist Sabir Mateen.
Alan Silva & the Sound Visions Orchestra is a live album by multi-instrumentalist Alan Silva. It was recorded in May 1999 at St. Nicholas of Myra Church in New York City during the annual Vision Festival, and was released in 2001 by Eremite Records. On the album, Silva is joined by a large ensemble known as the Sound Visions Orchestra.
H.Con.Res.57/Treasure Box is a live, 4-CD album by multi-instrumentalist Alan Silva. It was recorded on May 24 and 27, 2001, at the Uncool Festival in Poschiavo, Switzerland, and was released in 2003 in limited quantities by Eremite Records. On the album, Silva is joined by a large ensemble known as the Celestrial Communication Orchestra. The performances marked the first occasion on which Silva's choice of musicians was completely unrestricted in terms of budget or geography.
Descension (Out of Our Constrictions) is a live album by Natural Information Society, featuring guimbri player Joshua Abrams, bass clarinetist Jason Stein, harmonium player Lisa Alvarado, drummer Mikel Patrick Avery, and special guest soprano saxophonist Evan Parker. It was recorded on July 9, 2019, at Cafe Oto in London, and was released in 2021 by both Eremite Records, based in the United States, and Aguirre Records, a Belgian label.
Father of Origin is a box set album by multi-instrumentalist Juma Sultan and his open-ended ensemble the Aboriginal Music Society. Drawn from Sultan's archive of recorded material, and released by Eremite Records in 2011, it consists of two vinyl LPs, a CD, and a book containing photos and an extensive essay by jazz scholar Michael Heller, all of which help to document aspects of the loft jazz era of the early 1970s.
Mandatory Reality is a 2019 album by guimbri player Joshua Abrams and the Natural Information Society.
Simultonality is a 2017 album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams and the Natural Information Society.
Mind Maintenance is an album by the duo of the same name, featuring Joshua Abrams on guimbri and Chad Taylor on mbira. It was released on vinyl in 2021 by the Drag City label.
Magnetoception is a 2015 album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams, on which he is joined by members of the Natural Information Society.
Represencing is a 2012 album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams, on which he is joined by members of the Natural Information Society.