When all is said and done, maybe what we really want from a record is to witness creativity. To be led into a room where musicians take on their instruments. If you lean in and hear breathing and rustling, if you notice that the instrument – even a little uke – is fighting back, it’s a good thing. These are signs of life. And if music gets prized from old pieces of wood and string before your eyes, it’s a prize to treasure.
All you’ll hear on this recording is a ukulele and a suitcase. But amazingly, paradoxically, that confining element is its liberation, and ours. Lovely, lyrical moments are everywhere. Time gets established in subtle ways, and subtly falls away. Geographies pass. We leave the streets for the dunes. Melodies expand and contract. If there was once a wall of sound, then this disc is a window. Open it and enjoy a new view.
Don Rooke, June 26, 2008
All Compositions by Myk Freedman, SOCAN 2008
except, Bookends by J. Martin and J. Haynes, SOCAN 2008
Recorded at The Farm, Toronto Ontario, March 12 and May 7, 2008
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Jean Martin
This recording was made possible through the assistance of the Canada Music Fund
and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Cover Photo by Katie Freeland
Art and Photos by J. Martin
1. Naked In The River
2. Sittin’ In A Puddle
3. Zombies Love Dancin’ To This Number
4. Bookends
5. Clock Watchers
6. So Cry
8. My Technical Difficulties Led To Rhythmical Complexities
9. She’s Not My Girlfriend. My Girlfriend’s Normal
10. I’m Ok If You’re Ok
12. October’s Bright Blue Abortion
13. Trees Grew Out Of Their Ears
14. Where The Tulips Blow In My Imaginary Orchestra
15. Pretty Ugly
16. So Cry
JEAN MARTIN AND JUSTIN HAYNES ****
Freedman/Barnyard
Usually Myk Freedman’s music can be best enjoyed when played by his large band, St. Dirt Elementary School, at the Tranzac, preferably accompanied by pints of Oatmeal Stout. Here, Justin Haynes and Jean Martin distill Freedman’s compositions to ukulele and suitcase. Haynes plays a surprisingly pretty ukulele, which suits these sweet-tempered songs well — his playing segues effortlessly from delicate and melodic to free and fractious. For his part, Martin derives a huge range of muted sounds from his cheap plastic suitcase, making it sometimes sound like a drum machine smothered by a blanket. Together they create an intimacy reminiscent of Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto’s collaborations, while still keeping things unpredictable. DAVID DACKS
lundi 19 janvier 2009
Jean Martin, Justin Hayes: Freedman (Barnyard - 2008)
Sur Freedman – disque baptisé du nom du compositeur de son répertoire –, le duo Jean Martin (percussionniste jouant ici d’une mallette) et Justin Hayes (ukulele) s’adonnent à une pop minimaliste aux expérimentations timides mais qui conviennent au propos.
Pour intervenir à l’instrument à cordes, Hayes mène la rencontre au son de mélodies effleurées à peine et d’improvisations courtes qui cherchent forcément à les fuir : sur évocations exotiques ou ébauches d’un folk essoufflé, de cordes récalcitrantes en berceuses dérangées, Hayes et Martin (plus que discret ici, vues les facultés de résonance de l’objet dont il use) osent une musique éreintée rappelant celles d’Eugene Chadbourne, David Fennech ou La Buena Vida, dans le même temps qu'ils travaillent à la reconnaissance de ce Myk Freedman de leurs compatriotes.
January 19th 2009
Martin & Haynes, Freedman
review by dave heaton
I don’t know much about the Toronto-based lap steel player Myk Freedman. I haven’t heard him play. And I don’t know why Jean Martin and Justin Haynes are acting out Simon and Garfunkel’s Bookends cover for their album of music by Freedman, titled Freedman (though the one song the duo wrote is titled, I guess appropriately, “Bookends”).
What I do know is it’s a special album that at times might be mistaken for un-special, for its lack of drama. Sometimes it seems like they’re just messing around, or tuning even; and then the strange little melodies they’re playing will grab hold, firmly. Even when not that, the same minimalist mood that threatens to be overlooked proves to be captivating, bringing all of your attention to the sound of two simple instruments. As it states on the inside cover: “All you’ll hear on this recording is a ukulele ad a suitcase.” Remarkable.
You may feel like you’re mostly hearing the ukulele. Haynes plays it nimbly and precisely, occasionally evoking, romantically, the great jazz guitarists of yore. But the suitcase is always there too, played as light percussion, adding an intimacy and also a distant strangeness.
This is music where sometimes the pleasures seem simple – melodies played on strings – yet you continually ask yourself, “what is going on here?” That’s true when the music get especially left-field, like on a backyard jam titled “October’s Bright Blue Abortion.” But also when it doesn’t, when the music is quiet and settled-down.
Freedman makes the BEST OF 2008 List @ WNUR Chicago Radio
Martin & Haynes - Freedman
Simply gorgeous. This new release from the Barnyard Records imprint further demonstrates how bigger isn't necessarily better.
The overriding philosophy about running your own record label is the exhilarating joy of building a project, your very own project, from scratch— and watching it evolve into something beautiful, with the hope of engaging a community of like-minded individuals. There's also the romantic idea that you'll be able to discover and release some new remarkable talent along the way. But on the flipside, the ability to release your own material, especially new creative projects which ordinarily fall before deaf ears, is probably the secret jackpot which gets a good number of musicians involved in the first place. And that's exactly what you get here, in all likelihood, from percussionist and producer Jean Martin's label Barnyard Records, through his duo with Justin Haynes.
Remarkably, all you get on Freedman, is a ukulele and a suitcase. The initial idea sounds a little rogue, a little sparse, but that's all you get. Really. For these two forward-thinking individuals, this is the vehicle to peddle the music of fellow Canuck Myk Freedman, and it works incredibly well. Haynes' plucked chords dance softly, and dangle in thoughtful directions. Martin's shuffle is a little more abstract on occasion, and provides a little weight to the feather. For all its lacking in the realm of sonic possibilities, there's a simple liberating breath, a subtlety in the melody, and just a wonderful spirit; like a dusty needle or a faint lyrical flutter from a simple, captivating landscape.
Freedman sits quite well next to two other releases from the label, namely the excellent Mexican-Parisian free-jangle of It's Only Life! from the eclectic Blah Blah 666— with its evocative flourishes of melodica, b6 defretted guitar, and plastic blow things tailor-made for slow-poke afternoons. The other is the duet recording between Toronto saxophonist Kyle Brenders and legendary saxophonist Anthony Braxton who combine twisted forces on two "ghost trance compositions" on (the poorly titled) Toronto (duets) 2007. Needless to say, there are some nice things running around the farm these days.
