J Spaceman, Matthew Shipp

That is one slick title, is it not? Though I must say, I for one would have preferred it had they gone with ShippMan. Oh, perhaps not... Both repeat offenders on the Treader label, Jason Pierce (of Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 notoriety) teams up with modern jazz icon Matthew Shipp, who plays celeste and harmonium over these two extended drone pieces. This collaboration first came about for Patti Smith's Meltdown festival, and this recording represents a studio incarnation of that performance. The first piece 'Inner' is a wonderfully immersive collision of sustained tones and loop feedback, expanding, contracting, then expanding some more, only for its companion 'Outer' to add a more melodic element, with occasional specks of light from Shipp's celeste twinkles fighting to escape the soupy clamour of Ol' J Spaceman's guitar feedback.