Seasoned Chicago musician Joshua Abrams (Town & Country) takes off on his own, building a solo album around the guimbri (a three-stringed African cowhide bass) and flights of fancy with a sampler, harmonium, hand percussion, and a dulcimer. He’s joined in trio by guitarist Emmett Kelly, drummers Frank Rosaly and Noritaka Tanaka, and Jason Adasiewicz on vibes in the creation of super-deep pulse pounders that skirt jazz but bear down on the spiritual explorations that ought to lie within. Rigorous musicianship flows out of this ensemble like warm, unfiltered honey sliders with the occasional stinger left in; barbed, mellifluous expression that tunes towards the heart of the sun in a living, worshipful, vibrant flow of ideas and feeling. Though the music feels improvisational at points, the emphasis placed on rhythm should not be overlooked, and the label’s own comparisons to Don Cherry’s Brown Rice and certain Can records is as apt as any of us could maintain; the tempered, involved rambling of “Abide in Sunset” also speaks to the Saharan majesties of latter-day Sublime Frequencies vinyl editions. I get the sense that many musicians make this sort of attempt often, in that they’d like to be a bit more profound but don’t have the language necessary to get there, even if their skills suffice. Abrams has created a rare and wonderful thing, a whirling, warm-blooded extension of the cosmic traveler’s inner consciousness, filled with surprise and steadiness instead of apprehension and fear; a world where we all ought to try to live. Fans of raga, psychedelic rock, jazz and world music are in for a real treat with these six offerings. Easily one of the best records 2010 will see. 550 copies.

There’s the indie rock electric bassist, the underground beat scientist, the stalwart sideman in acoustic jazz ensembles, the free improviser, the front-porch minimalist, and the electronic composer who cooks up sounds in a Lucky Kitchen. If you ask the real Abrams to stand up, they’d all leave their seats; he inhabits each role with sincerity and a deep respect for the requirements of his chosen style.  Natural Information presents another Abrams, the transcendental trance-inducer. Chicagoans have seen this one around town, playing instrumental jams on his guimbri (a Moroccan camel-skin bass lute) with percussive accompaniment by the likes of Avreeayl Ra, Chad Taylor, or a drum machine; outside of town, the only way to get a taste of Abrams in this guise has been his work on Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake’s From The River To The Ocean. But neither of these encounters fully prepares you for the extraordinary Natural Information, which is a departure for both musician and label. Most of Eremite’s releases are no-sugar-added naturalistic free jazz efforts by men who’d qualify for an AARP membership; this one is pan-generic and studio-enhanced, and made by a man too young to need bifocals. And while it draws on Abrams’ experiments with Saharan grooves and his affiliations with both rock and jazz musicians, it doesn’t sound like any record he’s ever made before.
 
The record divides tidily into three parts. There are two tracks each by two different bands, and two more featuring Abrams alone.  Opener “Mysterious Delirious Fluke of the Beyond” sets a mood of rarefied otherness with a surge of electronically processed hammered dulcimer. The rest of the side one is a kaleidoscopic whirl of constantly changing but always in synch rhythm patterns articulated by Abrams’ guimbri and metal castanets, Frank Rosaly’s tom-heavy drums, and Emmett Kelly’s (aka Cairo Gang) buzzing electric guitar; imagine Sterling Morrison sitting in for a spell with Bachir Attar. Side two features two pieces by the now-defunct AAT, which included vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and drummer Nori Tanaka. The trio usually worked in a jazz vein, but these tunes meld gut pulses and metallic chimes to hypnotic ends. Between their bright lights is a shadowy, solitary exploration of layered electronic and acoustic drone tones. The Rosaly-Kelly trio takes the record home with another lengthy slow burn, only this one is backlit with blues and gospel hues. Its name is “A Lucky Stone,” and you’ll want to carry its spirit with you wherever you go.