| Unfold | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 10, 2017 | |||
| Recorded | 2017 | |||
| Studio | Studios 301, Alexandria, Australia | |||
| Genre | Improvised music | |||
| Length | 74:40 | |||
| Label | Ideologic Organ SOMA025 | |||
| Producer | The Necks | |||
| The Necks chronology | ||||
| ||||
Unfold is an album by Australian improvised music trio The Necks first released on the Ideologic Organ label in 2017 as a double LP and download. [1] [2]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 79/100 [3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Pitchfork | 8.0/10 [4] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes |   [5] |
| Exclaim! | 7/10 [6] |
Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, awarded the album a score of 79, based on 8 reviews which is considered as "Generally favourable". [3]
Pitchfork's Grayson Haver Currin called the album "the result of a band that’s always tested supposedly solid borders—between jazz and rock, between acoustic and electric, between composition and improvisation" and noted "For this double LP, the Necks devote each of four sides to one improvisation. With runtimes between 15 and 22 minutes, they’ve chopped the typical Necks tune into thirds or quarters. What’s more, there’s no intended sequence for these sides, meaning you could start with the hectic, gamelan-like rumble of “Timepiece” or end there, a move that makes the entire experience feel like a ceaseless fever dream. It’s a surprisingly indeterminate decision for a group whose output has always felt, no matter how improvisational it was, meticulous, even hermetic. Since the mid-’90s, the Necks’ records have invariably offered micromanaged adventure; with Unfold, they let you shape your own tale". [4]
In The Quietus Joseph Burnett noted "Unfold displays The Necks at their jazziest and most experimental, almost paradoxically given that they have less room to experiment on four shorter pieces than on the long single ones they’ve accustomed us to. As ever with the Australians, the musicianship is never short of wondrous, and they’ve used the new format to take their music into esoteric and mysterious realms. Not just are the results musically brilliant, they resonate with an emotional force that is too often absent in this sort of music". [7]
Tiny Mix Tapes' Max L. Feldman called it "a challenging but eerily beautiful free-improv record doubling up as a critique of the album-form" [5] Daniel Sylvester reviewed the album for Exclaim! explaining "The Necks don't exactly break new ground with Unfold, but it's refreshing nonetheless to see that they're also not regressing — a small miracle for any band 30 years into their career". [6]
The album was named by Rolling Stone as one of the top 20 avant albums of 2017. [8]
Composed by Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck and Lloyd Swanton
The Necks are an Australian avant-garde jazz trio formed in 1987 by founding mainstays Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck on drums, percussion and electric guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and double bass. They play improvisational pieces of up to an hour in length that explore the development and demise of repeating musical figures. Their double LP studio album Unfold was named by Rolling Stone as "one of the top 20 avant albums of 2017."
Boris is a Japanese experimental music band formed in 1992 in Tokyo and composed of drummer Atsuo, guitarist/bassist Takeshi, and guitarist/keyboardist Wata. All three members contribute vocals. Boris has released more than twenty studio albums on various labels around the world, as well as a wide variety of live albums, compilations, EPs, singles, and collaborative albums. They have collaborated with acts such as Sunn O))), Merzbow, Keiji Haino, and guitarist Michio Kurihara.
Townsville is the fourteenth album and fourth live album by Australian improvised music trio The Necks first released on the Fish of Milk label in 2007 and on the ReR label internationally. The album a single track, titled "Townsville", performed by Chris Abrahams, Lloyd Swanton and Tony Buck recorded live at the Riverway Arts Centre in Thuringowa, Northern Queensland.
Mindset is the eleventh album by Australian improvised music trio The Necks first released on the Fish of Milk label in 2011 in Australia and on the ReR label internationally. Their first album to be released on vinyl, Mindset consists of two contrasting pieces titled "Rum Jungle" and "Daylights", the former propulsive and jangling and the latter more ambient in nature.
Open is the twelfth album by Australian improvised music trio The Necks, first released on the Fish of Milk label in 2013 in Australia and on the ReR label internationally.
Savage Gold is the third studio album from American metal band Tombs. It marks the groups first record to feature contributions from guitarist Garett Bussanick and bassist Ben Brand, as well as the first record to be produced by Erik Rutan.
Luminiferous is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band High on Fire, released on June 23, 2015, through Entertainment One Music. The album was produced by Kurt Ballou who handled production on the band's previous release, De Vermis Mysteriis (2012). The gap between these albums is the longest for High on Fire.
Grief's Infernal Flower is the third album by American doom metal band Windhand. The album was released on September 18, 2015 via Relapse Records. It was named the 17th best album of 2015 by Consequence of Sound.
Patrick Higgins is an American avant-garde composer, guitarist, and producer from New York City, known for his work in experimental and contemporary classical music. Higgins plays guitar and composes in Zs, described by The New York Times as "one of the strongest avant-garde bands in New York." Heralded as a "formidable concert music composer" and "one of the most gifted guitarists working today", Higgins has received attention for bridging traditions including baroque chamber music, contemporary noise, and 20th century minimalism.
Return to Annihilation is an album from the drone rock band Locrian. It was released on June 25, 2013 through Relapse Records.
Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light is a collaborative studio album between American extreme metal bands the Body and Full of Hell. Released on November 17, 2017 through Thrill Jockey, the album serves as the Body's 12th studio album and Full of Hell's sixth studio album. It's also the second collaborative album between the two bands, following 2016's One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache. Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light was promoted with an online stream of "Earth is a Cage" in August 2017.
アメリカドル紙幣よ そのまま横を向いたままでいてくれ 正面からは見られたもんじゃないから is a collaborative album between Japanese free improvisation/noise music artist Keiji Haino and American post-metal band Sumac. Serving as Haino's 86th and Sumac's third studio album, American Dollar Bill was released on February 23, 2018 through Thrill Jockey.
The discography of Sunn O))) consists of nine studio albums, three collaborative albums, six EPs, four demos, one remix album, eight official live albums, one box set compilation, one stand-alone single and three compilation contributions.
Love & Evol is the twenty-fifth studio album by Japanese experimental band Boris, released 4 October 2019 on Third Man Records. The band describes the release as two distinct but interconnected works, bearing the titles LφVE and EVφL respectively, "encapsulating conflicting connotations that interweave and become intricately entangled with one another, gradually eroding before becoming utterly singular." The release was intended to illustrate the different extremes of the sounds Boris has explored previously in their discography, and as a counterpoint to their darker and more aggressive previous album Dear.
Lost Wisdom pt. 2 is the second collaborative studio album by Mount Eerie and Julie Doiron. It was released on November 8, 2019. Like the previous two Mount Eerie albums it concerns the death of Geneviève Castrée, the first wife of Mount Eerie's principal member Phil Elverum, as well as his recent divorce from Michelle Williams. The album is a sequel to the 2008 collaborative album Lost Wisdom.
Body is an album by Australian improvised music trio The Necks first released on the Fish of Milk label in 2018 in Australia and on the Northern Spy label in the US.
Vertigo is an album by Australian improvised music trio The Necks first released on the Fish of Milk label in 2015 in Australia, on ReR Megacorp in Europe, and on the Northern Spy label in the US.
Three is the twenty-first studio album by Australian improvised music trio The Necks released in 2020.
Conquistador is the debut studio album by American musician and lead guitarist of Earth, Dylan Carlson. It was released on April 27, 2018 under Sargent House.
I've Seen All I Need to See is the eighth full-length studio album by the American experimental metal band the Body. The album was released on January 29, 2021, through Thrill Jockey.