#roller trio

[musictapestry]

rad mess

[shitredditrocks]

Roller Trio - The Nail That Stands Up

"The Nail That Stands Up" by Roller Trio

posted in r/ListenToThis

[ceevee5]

Roller Trio, "Deep Heat"

[getdownsounds]

Roller Trio - Fracture

Featured on the show w/c 8th December, this one from Roller Trio is a blend of jazz and math rock. Review from the Guardian below...

With their first album, Roller Trio, from Leeds, scored 2012 Mobo and Mercury prize nominations, and stunned the jazz-averse by being an open and vivacious sax/guitar/drums band that genuinely fuse John Zornian abstract-sax blastings with rock’n’roll. Fracture is the more intricate follow-up, a reflection of hundreds of hours of road life, improv, and new writing since. Some of the music has coalesced from improvisations, some of it (like the tightly contrapuntal and then waywardly grooving Mango, or the tempo-shuffling Three Pea Soup) are complex structures, and the idiomatic sources are wide. Reef Knot is a looping, hooting sax motif inspired by a hip-hop groove that turns into a thrash, while the jigging, unison-themed Doris is contrastingly charming, like a Celtic knees-up. There are dark, ambient-electronic mists, a multi-tracked, somewhat Portico-echoing trance (Tracer), and sharp contrasts like the idiosyncratically wheeling rock-ballad Splinter, an imaginative original from guitarist Luke Wynter. The improv occasionally runs out of steam a little, but Wynter, saxist James Mainwaring and drummer Luke Reddin-Williams have come up with a second album that’s different and diverse, and on a live show it must be a gas.

Get yourself a copy here.

[huwbergine]

Roll on the Next One

Roller Trio are a striking example of Leeds’ diverse music scene. Equipped with an innovative and inventive sound positioned ‘somewhere in between jazz and rock’; they represent a powerful force capable of putting rock aficionados in jazz clubs and vice versa. Already one Mercury prize nominated album behind them (and a lot of bewildered Ben Howard fans from the ceremony concert); Luke Wynters (guitar); James Mainwaring (tenor sax) and Luke Reddin-Williams (drums) have finished work on their second album. They ‘wish they’ll be more attention focused on the second one’ and so do we. Believe it; it would just be fantastic if they managed to pinch it this time.

The band met while studying jazz at Leeds College of Music. However, despite their undeniable, acrobatic jazz chops, the three don’t regard themselves as a jazz trio. Their influences probe much further than jazz. It is exactly this amalgamation of tastes that first brought them together; a collision of contrasting, yet open minded, dreadlocked heads. This has resulted in a refreshing constellation of musicians that surprise and excite each other. ‘You play with everyone and you find people that you enjoy more’, concludes Wynters.

Like many of their song titles, the band’s name was conceived in a moment of humorous spontaneity. On this occasion from a friend’s Photoshopped rendering of them sat upon a roller coaster in a toaster. Initially resulting in the song ‘Roller Toaster’, it was later adopted to Roller Trio for the band. This is a band that easily could, but don’t take themselves too seriously.

Adventuring deeper into their influences, Wynters, very much the loop-de-loop of this so-called roller coaster, talks of ‘textures I’d put on a hip-hop beat’, ‘bits I relate more to prog rock’ and ‘the three Johns’; John Schofield, John Abercrombie and John Coltrane. He even recites the rhythmic concepts of Indian music as an influence i.e. counting with syllables instead of numbers. However, humbly, Wynters clarifies that ‘those things will probably be head slapping territory for people that properly play Indian music’. Listen to numbers such as ‘Howdy Saudi’ or ‘Deep Heat’ and you’ll hear the sophistication and prowess of jazz, the riff-orientated grooves of rock and the coolness and strut of hip-hop. Or feel the endorphins rush through your veins in the emotive, atmospheric and sentimental ‘ROR’’. Of course, as Wynters points out himself, how you perceive something depends on ‘where you’ve come from, what’s your experience and what you’ve got to relate it to’. For jazz heads, this could be the rockiest thing in your collection, it works both ways. It might sound like a lot to take in, but relax – it sounds like Roller Trio.

Such eclecticism has also worked in their favour. From playing jam-packed, adrenalized gigs at Leeds’ established Brudenell Social Club (famed for putting on secret shows for rock giants Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs), to polite, sit down concerts at prestigious jazz venues; they feel welcome on miscellaneous line ups. ‘There can’t be many bands playing the range of venues we have’, considers Wynters. However, when compelled to compare the two, he prefers the former, feeling ‘sit down gigs are more like art’. Although, admittedly he still sneaks in the odd head bop.

In fact, RT has been quite lucky all round in reaching an audience thanks to the early exposure brought to them by Mercury Prize. Appreciative of the surprise success this has brought them, Wynters graciously considers how they ‘wouldn’t have been able to do [European tours] without that kind of exposure’. However, with such sturdy foundations already laid out and a reputation wobbling the roof tiles, this has accounted for ‘pressure that we’ve put on ourselves to make a second album better than the first’. The band’s hard graft must not be undermined. After being presented with sneak previews of the new album, it is clear this is pressure they can handle. After all, the first album was recorded in forty eight hours on a ‘shoestring budget’. This time round they had a full five days at the internationally renowned Real World Studios, founded by none other than Peter Gabriel in the eighties. And you can tell it’s from the eighties.

Real World is a flagship for excess and proportion, with more gear than you can shake a stick at. ‘If there’s only three of something, they’ve probably got one of them’, remarks Wynters. For a young and resourceful band like Roller Trio, it was like throwing Simba at a pack of hyenas. Enough time to experiment, improvise and create, yet not so much that they lost drive or focus. The days were long; the nights were short and labouring fingers were quite literally worn ‘back to nail bed’. Compare it to living with your parents again, only louder. The mundanities of everyday life were covered in the form of an in-house canteen, allowing focus on what’s important; the music. There is even a picturesque lake overlooked by the mixing desk for added inspiration. In retrospect, Wynters fittingly describes it as ‘pretty ridiculous’. The added bonus being that, as all this time was awarded to them by Real World in return for forty minutes of material for their subscribed compilations, there is now ‘two albums worth of material’ to look forward to. It’s safe to say, this album has been realised under the perfect conditions to successfully follow up their eponymous debut.

Due for release on the 1st September, Roller Trio’s second attempt solidifies yet elaborates on the sound, surprising yet familiarising at every corner. This is the kind of music that should be winning awards. At the next Mercury Prize ceremony, instead of people coming ‘to see Ben Howard and going, ‘what is this?’’, let it be Roller Trio fans gawking upon the next Ben Howard and saying ‘what is this’? 

[alwaysonvacationuk-blog]

County shows, roller trios & pet shows: #Powys has it all: http://ow.ly/npLkhhttp://ow.ly/i/2JtPh http://ow.ly/npLBs #WhatsOn

[thejamontoastclub]

Perhaps I'm having a saxophone moment, but I'm just loving all the jazz infused amazingness currently floating around. Mercury Prize nominees Roller Trio pull it out the bag with this standout tune on their self titled album fusing two of my favourite things; a catchy tune and a sick drum beat - without the vocals.

[rook-tx]

With ∆'s An Awesome Wave rightfully claiming the Album Of The Year crown in last night's Mercury Prize despite extremely strong competition (or so I felt) from Jessie Ware and The Maccabees - who released my other two favourite albums of 2012 - I decided to check out the remainder of the competition, with delightfully satisfying results.

This year's 'token' jazz album is the eponymous debut of RollerTrio, and I've had it on repeat since first listen last night. Knowing nothing about jazz, it sounds to me more like math-rock with a saxophone, but that's working very well on my ears so far, with 12-minute epic The Zone as a sure highlight.

Album now available from www.rollertrio.com, iTunes, Amazon and other major stores. Recorded, mixed, mastered and produced by Tim Bazell @ Heart of Gold Studios, London All compositions by Roller Trio C&P Roller Trio all rights reserved Rollertrio.com James Mainwaring - Saxophone/electronics Luke Wynter - Guitar Luke Reddin-Williams - Drums