Philadelphia trio Many Arms extract inspiration from the past as they look toward the future. They're a potpourri of well-aged constituents-- Black Flag, King Crimson, Live at the Knitting Factory-- that assemble into an altogether innovative motif. They're not alone, for coexisting acts have melded experimental jazz complexity together with DIY urgency such as Zs, Normal Love, all Jooklo-related exploits, Little Women, and others unbeknownst to me. Many Arms welcome the hardcore punk canon more openly than any of the aforementioned acts, inhabiting their own demented expression of jarring, progressive skronk.
2010's Missing Time was promisingly rife with exemplary musicianship despite a few blemishes. Its label, Engine Studios, has a catalog that maintains a live, single-take stamp of production, and though many of its releases successfully carried an air of impromptu, Missing Time's angularity felt muffled by inadequate recording equipment. In any case, Many Arms managed to reel in avant-jazz archetype John Zorn enough to be housed on his ever-engrossing Tzadik imprint.
On their self-titled followup not only has a sharpness been applied to the sonics, but Many Arms are considerably more focused. Each of these three extensive monoliths is composed by a member of the band, allowing their individual prowess to be spotlighted. "Beyond Territories" is a wired prog-rock workout, favoring intricate noodling and frenzied, synchronizing drums. "In Dealing with the Laws of Physics on Planet Earth" is a brooding detour, with about its first two-thirds dedicated to inharmonious and mildly overdriven arpeggios that nearly loop ad infinitum with tense cymbal crashes. Its build is a bit much to stomach, but the culmination is the band diving head-first into spiraling notation against a towering groove. "Rising Artifacts in a Five-Point Field" has more in common with the opener, though is far more liberal. Hands are pressing violently into the pickups to force out tortured shrieks while a funk-on-steroids bassline chugs away.
What links the suites together is the significance of repetition. Many Arms' incendiary performance is abrasively technical, but due to the reiterating phrases it ceases to become convoluted. On the surface, some could underestimate the trio's impenetrable complexity as dispensable noodling. With further investigation, though, their fluid interplay and painstaking song configuration speak for more than overindulgence. Many Arms have taken the reins of their enterprise, unleashing a deafeningly methodical opus in the effort. If this is their Process of Weeding Out, it'll be the jazz- and prog-traditionalists exiting the venue.
[Many Arms Bandcamp]
[Buy Many Arms from Tzadik]
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