Post No Bills / Chicago Reader - FEB 2007

"Former Chicagoan Weasel Walter hasn’t exactly mellowed out since he moved to Oakland a few years ago, but the notorious provocateur has loosened up. Perhaps it was the change of scenery or good old-fashioned age, but the Weez has become less doctrinaire and rigid than he was during his Chicago days, whether that means retiring his horned buzz cut and war paint or returning to the high velocity free jazz he started out playing in the earliest days of his long-lived Flying Luttenbachers, when folks like Hal Russell, Ken Vandermark, and Jeb Bishop were members.

He recently released a new CD by the Weasel Walter Quartet called Revolt Music on his Ug/Explode label and it's unabashedly free jazz, albeit hyper-charged and relentless. (Some things don’t change.) Walter kind of sounds like a Sunny Murray lp played at 45 RPM, all stuttering kick drum and careening cymbal splash, occasionally so free of space it sounds like a drone. A number of saxophonists appear on the album’s eight tracks--including former Chicagoan Aram Shelton--while bassists Damon Smith and Randy Hunt fill out the group, laying down plucked and bowed lines that writhe within the maelstrom, flailing like downed power cables. Famed guitar master Henry Kaiser makes a cameo on one track with a ferociously corrosive solo. There's interplay going on, but at such high speeds it’s often hard to make it out.

Walter is still playing “brutal prog” with the current incarnation of the Luttenbachers. The recent Cataclysm added Orthrelm’s Mick Barr to the line-up and included, among other stuff, a version of Messiaen’s “L’Ascension." But on his current US tour--which, oddly, skips Chicago--he’s playing free jazz in numerous incarnations. For years Walter complained about being ostracized by the Chicago free jazz community, but he’s certainly managed to find heavy-duty companions recently. Among the people he’s playing with on the tour is former Sun Ra saxophonist Marshall Allen, Kaiser, ROVA saxophonist Jon Raskin, and bassist Lisle Ellis. Could a Chicago reconciliation/love fest be far off?" - Peter Margasak

Harp Magazine - MAY 2007

"Mr. Walter is probably best known for his long-running free/no/explosion ensemble, the Flying Luttenbachers, but this quartet’s recordings find him solidly exploring the outer fringers of the fire music tradition. Two different quartets were recorded for this set, and there is also some guest playing from Henry Kaiser. But there are no major dynamic shifts between the pieces—this stuff is all, flat-out, serious free jazz, blown as hard as possible into a distant corner. As with all of Walter’s projects, this one sounds tons better than anyone has a right to expect. No ballads, but hey—who needs ’em?"- Byron Coley

KFJC

"Smash and grab jazz with nothing but furious free sounds in mind.  Artful pursuits of nothing in particular and everything in general, ambitious in assembly and unpretentious in delivery.  This kind of session usually sails some rough waters but here all the waves are generated by mass voluntary response, all at once, without trying to govern the groove.  The Weasel rips the space-time continuum and leaves a trace of sensibility in the wake of the group’s path. Standing on the shoulders of giants and pissing on the prissy penned prose of jazz critics dead or alive. Several tracks recorded at 21 Grand"

3W: WEASEL RIPPED MY EAR  -Outlier

Pitchfork Media, February 8, 2007

"Drummer, composer, and all-around sonic muckraker Weasel Walter boasts an impressive résumé: mastermind behind the Flying Luttenbachers, key member of Lake of Dracula, XRBRX, and To Live and Shave in L.A. 2, renowned post-punk scholar. So it's easy to forget that his roots lie in improvised jazz. He started curating free-jazz shows before he was 20, and early versions of the Luttenbachers included jazz legend Hal Russell and current superstar Ken Vandermark. Walter hasn't played much straight-up free-jazz recently; his main concern, the Luttenbachers, has grown into a punk/prog/metal behemoth playing complex songs about mythical robots and futuristic chaos. But he still has searing jazz chops, as this debut from his eponymous quartet handily proves.

There's nothing very complicated on Revolt Music, just full-speed jazz with energy and muscle. Each track hits the ground running and rarely slows down, charging through furious horn runs, frantic bass sprints, and Walter's ever-busy drum rushes. Early Luttenbachers sessions garnered a "punk-jazz" tag, but this Quartet is more classical, relying on time-tested free-jazz tools to relay its hectic message. Still, the spirit of punk courses through the group's relentlessly direct attack (and humorously simple song titles, all of which use the word "revolt" and not much else).

The core of the Quartet is Walter and bassists Damon Smith and Randy Hunt. Together they create a manic rhythmic canvas on which alternating horn players paint colorful sounds. The most frequent fourth wheel is tenor saxophonist Josh Allen. On four tracks, his tireless growls weave deftly through the surrounding maelstrom. Particularly stirring is his mix of clipped melodies and heavy whines on "Revolt and Revolt Again", as he meshes with Hunt and Allen's strident bowing like sparks shooting from a fire.

Throughout the album, the Quartet's knack for filling the sonic space without sounding oppressive or claustrophobic is striking. Each element carves its own notch in the mix, bending and turning to fit with the others. When alto saxophonists John Gruntfest and Aram Shelton replace Allen, they turn similar tricks, wedging their horns inside the basses and drums like snug puzzle pieces.

As exhilarating as that mix is, Revolt Music works best when it breaks the drum/bass/sax mold. On the bluntly-titled "Drum Solo", Walter unfurls a bottomless bag of percussive tricks, melting rapid-fire beats into pounding, stop-start rhythms. Later, on "The Need to Revolt", Walter, Smith, and Allen are joined by guitar legend Henry Kaiser for a giddy stretch of hyperactivity. Kaiser begins with Theremin-like whirring, generates heavy chords in response to Allen's gutsy growls, and finally meshes Beefheart-like angles into Walter's slapping syncopations. The track highlights Walter's ability to mash genres until they blur, but Revolt Music is no fusion exercise. It's strictly a free-jazz album, and one of the highest order." rating: 7.6 - Marc Masters

Black to Comm, February 2007

"Everybody in on the rockism trip for the past thirtysomething years knows all about the punk/free jazz merger'n how these musics were made for each other, beginning with the original rumblings popping outta "Eight Miles High" this and Velvet Underground that up through the MC5 and FUNHOUSE, Suicide and the entire no wave "movement" even into the world of today if you can believe that. Well, actually anyone who has read and digested R. Meltzer's AESTHETICS OF ROCK (the part where he critiques a letter to DOWN BEAT where some trad jazz guy makes ample comparisons between the new jazz and that noisy uncouth rock music) coulda told you all about it way back in the late-sixties, and I ain't talking cheap trash like Grace Slick calling Coltrane's ASCENSION his "acid trip" or some other comfy bit of ROLLING STONE-dominated "we are all ONE kultur" flower power drivel either! I'm talking the real-hard deal trip that, like I said, lives on even to this day...the one of Dee Pop's free jazz (with some punk thrown in)-curated gigs first at the old CBGB Lounge and now Jimmy's Tavern where the likes of Freedomland and Radio I-Ching could roam hand-in-hand with John Tchicai and Eddie Gale and now comes this freedom-oriented group led by none other'n Weasel Walter, a guy who spent a good portion of the last decade trying to revive the no wave mantra in Chicago and now he's doing the same thing for free jazz. To which I say "more power to him" and he's gonna need it considering that playing the "new thing" commands about as much reward and admiration as being a low-key blogger or for that matter a butt boil biter in these extremely out-of-it times.

In fact, I don't even think that hometown pioneers the AACM would want to have anything to do with this grouping, and not only because most of the guys ('cept for tenor saxist Josh Allen) are white. I dunno if the AACM have any racial constraints on their members but that may be a moot point because the Weasel Walter Quartet sound way too feral even for an organization that would permit such out-there people as Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman as members. But whaddeva, this is some mighty fine freedom musings courtesy a guy who i didn't think had it in him (at least judging from those letters he wrote to Tim Ellison's MODERN ROCK MAGAZINE back inna nineties), but then again I think I may have been wrong once about something a long time ago.

It's surprising to hear Walter on drums play total Sunny Murray (cum Milford Graves cum Phillip Wilson cum Andrew Cyrille cum Ronald Shannon Jackson cum Beaver Harris cum...). Maybe he went to the same punk rocker reeducation camp as Dee Pop but whatever, the guy sure knows how to play around the beat and the bend for that matter like the best. And the rest of the quartet (featuring at times two guys on upright bass variations, a variety of tenormen and longtime fogey Henry Kaiser on guitar sounding good for a change!) sure know how to refurbish the old Peter Brotzmann hard attack that seemed to herald as much music mode changing city wall shaking as the Fugs and the rest of those counterkultur wags did way back inna late six-ohs! Plenty of snide asides to not only Chicago experimentalism (heard some good lines courtesy Allen that seemed directly lifted from Mitchell's "Chant" on WILDFLOWERS VOL. 5) but to such wonderful avant explosions from Charles Tyler and Arthur Doyle to (naturally) the Ayler root of it all. A surprisingly brilliant slab of post-experimental soundage put forth by a guy who (only a decade back!) I woulda probably considered the biggest non-entity in what passes for underground farts these days. I better watch myself, who knows what I might be saying about Jay Hinman and Dave Lang (not to mention J. Neo Marvin) a decade from now if I'm able to go topsy turvy over the likes of Walter!" - Chris Stigliano

Cadence Magazine, May 2007

"Were that I could make a similar recommendation for Weasel Walter's Revolt Music but alas, I struggled even through the first listening. The issue is not musiianship as Walter and his cohorts sound like they have been at this for a while and they play with considerable energy and obvious commitment. No, the problem is the virtually unrelenting balls-to-the-wall Free Jazz blowing that eventually wears down the listener from the distinct lack of textural and dynamic relief. The titles say it all: seven permutations of the word "revolt" (plus a drum solo) and the music mirrors the titles with seven permutations of the same basic free-for-all, reed-chewing stick-splintering aural assault. Any one of the cuts would be acceptable on its own but listening to the whole CD in one sitting, I fear, would tax the patience of even the most dedicated fan of dense energy playing as indeed my patience was taxed. Though I naturally applaud creative artists who abandon the conventional in favor of fresh explorations, on Revolt Music, a little conventional dynamic contrast and some sense of tension and relief would have gone a long way to making this a more enjoyable listen." - David Kane

Crucial Blast , March 2007

"Clearly Weasel Walter isn't making enough of a racket with The Flying Luttenbachers. The need for unhindered, free flying skronk is so great that the Weasel assembled this incendiary free jazz ensemble and recorded over an hour of blistering, ass-kicking blastism via studio and live tracks. This is free jazz the way I like it, powerful and FAST and explosive, in the Peter Brotzmann/Cecil Taylor/Albert Ayler vein. The quartet is made up of a rotating lineup that consists of bassists Damon Smith and Randy Hunt, alto saxophonists John Gruntfest and Aram Shelton, tenor saxophonist Josh Allen, and guitarist Henry Kaiser, in addition of course to Weasel Walter on drums. All of the tracks are plays on the album title ('Revolt', 'Revolt and Revolt Again', 'Revolting Music'), and the album is nonstop blast fury, a relentless explosion of howling, screaming reeds and bowed bass, constantly powered by Weasel's full throttle drumming which takes off into grindcore blast speeds every other minute. And check the five minute drum solo right in the middle of the disc, it's a cacophony of polyrythms and blasting rimshots. Pretty goddamn awesome. One of the most immense, skull-shredding aggro-free/jazz assaults we've gotten in recent times."

Downtown Music Gallery, February 2007

"Formerly Chicago-based drum wiz, Weasel Walter, has been running the great Flying Luttenbachers since 1992, with more than a dozen discs to their name. The Luttenbachers blend free/jazz insanity with punk/rock intensity. Weasel moved to Oakland in 2003 and has become involved with a number of the Bay Area's best and most far out players. Contrabass great Damon Smith runs the consistently strong Balance Point Acoustics label, which brings together Bay Area greats with their European brethren. John Gruntfest is one of the best Bay Area saxists and can be heard on an early Henry Kaiser record, as well as being in the Eddie Gale Now Band.

'Revolt Music' blasts open with a rich, cathartic explosion howling reeds, bowed bass and full throttle drumming, This disc is a blast of screaming sax(es), bowed bass eruptions and some of the most focused and over-the-top drums ever. It is all too much and just enough for brave souls who love these types of free/jazz insanity. A symphony of cacophony, ready to kick your butt inside out! Weasel's massive drums are at the center of the cyclone, pushing everyone higher and higher. Although the mighty John Gruntfest is only on two tracks, it is someone named Josh Allen playing some immense free tenor sax on four cuts who is the most impressive. There is an amazing five-minute drums solo about halfway through this disc that must be heard to be believed, it is a short tour-de-force. Although our man Henry Kaiser is on only one track here, it is one of the highlights as it both over-the-top and quite focused. Kaiser matches Weasel's explosive drumming with some immense shredding noise. This is without a doubt the most extreme free/jazz excursion we've heard in a long while. It is only for the brave of heart." - Bruce Lee Gallanter