LIVE

Album Review

Recorded during the summer of 2004, the first live album by Drums & Tuba is evenly divided between new and likely improvisational pieces and familiar songs from the trio's two albums on Ani Difranco's Righteous Babe label. (The more scattershot, fragmentary material from the group's earlier records has seemingly been retired.) Kicking off with the outstanding 12-and-a-half-minute improv "Eight Degrees in Buffalo," the set then moves into the electronic clatter of "The Donkey and the Walrus" before shifting into a lively, polyrhythmic take on the cool, dubby groove of Mostly Ape's opening track "Brain Liaters." Although Brian Wolff's tuba and other horns provide the group's most unique sonic signature, Live is primarily a showcase for drummer and electronics expert Anthony Nozero, whose rhythmic drive and tasteful sonic manipulations form the basis of every song. Live is an enjoyable portrait of a band that treats the stage and the studio as two separate venues, showing off their impressively concise, non-noodly take on jam band improvisations.