Jamie Saft - Breadcrumb Sins (2002)

Musical jack-of-all-trades Jamie Saft is a mainstay of New York's downtown crowd, bringing to the proceedings a CV that takes in jazz instruction at the New England Conservatory of Music, stints as a pianist in two John Adams' operas, and latter-day work with both Bobby Previte's Latin for Travelers and Peter Epstein's quartet. Backed by a combo featuring guitar, percussion, vocals, and turntables, Saft commands the stage here as he plays myriad instruments on this, his second Tzadik release. Touching on On-U Sound's post-apocalyptic dub, Jewish culture, and some electronica collage work, Saft delivers a mix that posits wailing vocals and Middle Eastern-tinged guitar atop a wall of incredibly deep bass notes ("Fratricide") and delivers unsettling ambient drones spiked with distorted radio transmissions and cryptic singing ("Agam Haeyesh"): a goth-techno club night out with plenty of sequencers and King Tubby in mind. And lest one cry one-way street, Saft and company also delve into some sluggishly dark cocktail jazz ("Blood on the Door") and bring the nu-blues via a bit of lumbering post-rock balladry ("T'khelet"). Black metal fans and Rastas hanging out together? Maybe. © Stephen Cook