Marco Benevento - Me Not Me CD
Product Description
Me Not Me features Marco's interpretations of songs by artists including MyMorning Jacket, Leonard Cohen and Deerhoof among others. The ten-trackcollection arrives within a year from release of Benevento's criticallyacclaimed debut studio effort, Invisible Baby. Like its predecessor, Beneventois joined by bassist Reed Mathis and drummers Matt Chamberlain and Andrew Barr.The band recorded at Chroma Sound in Seattle during days off on a West Coasttour earlier this year. Engineer Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Antony & TheJohnsons, Phish) mixed the sessions in Brooklyn. Of further note, Beneventotakes a giant step into the 21st century with the formation of his own label,The Royal Potato Family (distributed by MRI/Red), for the worldwide release ofMe Not Me.
When I first started touring with the trio, in addition to my own material,there was a great opportunity for me to perform tunes from other artists thatI'd always wanted to play, both a combination of older rock songs and moderntunes that are part of our current culture explains Benevento. So the next stepwas to make a record with some of this material. I decided to leave the harmonyof the songs pretty close to the originals, but really get into messing with thearrangements. I got into sculpting sound around the original piano parts byusing some of my favorite keyboards and re-amping them in interesting ways. Thisalbum has more layering and textures than the last one. Bryce and I workedclosely in developing that idea as an underlying concept for the music.
Marco Benevento, who first attracted national attention playing Hammond B-3organ and Wurlitzer in The Benevento-Russo Duo, shifts the focus to acousticpiano with his own trio. Throughout Me Not Me, he proves to be one of the mostcompelling sonic innovators of his generation, re-imagining the instrumentthrough guitar pickups, delay and distortion effects and a Fender Super ReverbAmp. He shapes and shifts the aural depth of the recording by adding layers ofAce Tone drum machines, Farfisa, Optigan, Mellotron, tack piano and otherunconventional keyboards, while using circuit bent toys to develop the emotionalcharacter of the songs. Beneath the blanket of colors, the core of the album isthe collective energy of Benevento's trio. Reed Mathis, Matt Chamberlain andAndrew Barr provide a take off point for magnetic post jazz improvisations.
The three original compositions on Me Not Me underscore Marco Benevento'sinclination for simple pop melodies, multihued sound and playful composition.Now They're Writing Music was first debuted in a rough sketch when the pianistwas a guest on The World Cafe With David Dye. Benevento asserts the toys"themselves wrote the song. The instantly familiar Mephisto, often performed byThe Benevento-Russo Duo, is the closest the album comes to straight-ahead jazz,hinting at 1970's Keith Jarrett. On the other hand, Call Home seems to summonthe spirit of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Tracks include:
1. Golden (My Morning Jacket) mp3
2. Now They're Writing Music (Marco Benevento) mp3
3. Seems So Long Ago Nancy (Leonard Cohen) mp3
4. Mephisto (Marco Benevento) mp3
5. Twin Killers (Deerhoof) mp3
6. Call Home (Marco Benevento) mp3
7. Heartbeats (The Knife) mp3
8. Sing It Again (Beck) mp3
9. Friends (Led Zeppelin) mp3
10. Run Of The Mill (George Harrison) mp3
