Lower Bottoms

Lower Bottoms by Matt Nelson.
Bandcamp Link: Lower Bottoms

Matt Nelson is a member of the sax quartet Battle Trance and also a member of the rather noisy, (and Google resistant,) group Grid. In Grid, Nelson has been using effects and amplification with his Sax.

Unlike the electric guitar, (where you only hear the amplified sound), with amplified Sax, you always hear both the amplified and acoustic sound (at least in a live setting). For all practical purposes, adding amplification and effects to a sax, means you are playing a duet with your amplified self.

On the first track Nelson explores this interplay between amplified and acoustic sound in a very interesting manner. On the second track, the amplified sound is isolated in the studio. As a sax player, I found this track a bit less interesting, as I was always thinking about what was going on with the sax to make the sounds. Radical soundscape, nonetheless. The third and fourth track are solely solo acoustic Tenor Sax, and quite impressive. I am always listening for artists who explore and expand the sonic palette of their instruments, and Nelson, (and other his compatriots in Battle Trance,) is among the modern pioneers of expanding the possibilities of expression on the Tenor Sax.

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