If the title of Matt Bauder’s Weary Already of the Way (482 Music) is indeed a reference to Joyce’s A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, it’s a cheeky gesture. Doubly cheeky is his opening number, which presents material played by his band-packed to the hilt with younger Chicago talent-so clipped, chopped and cropped that it sounds computer-generated. This opening salvo is, as it turns out, only the most extreme example of Bauder’s guerilla postproduction methods, and a bit of a feint. Beyond that, the saxophonist and producer displays little interest in self-effacing computer music, but he isn’t so much interested in assertive personalities either. Bauder’s music-solemn, breathy, meticulous-builds large, sometimes chaotic chunks of slow-moving sound out of simple and often repetitive individual contributions. It’s often not hard to discern who’s playing what, but that’s really not the point here. Not always eventful, Bauder’s music here nevertheless produces moments of great beauty. A fascinating start and a player to watch.
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