The Cellar and the Point

The Cellar and the Point, formed in New York by guitarist Christopher Botta and drummer Joseph Branciforte debuted on Ambit (Cuneiform, 2014), featuring vibraphonist Joe Bergen, bassist Rufus Philpot, jazz guitarist Terrence McManus and two members of a string quartet specializing in avantgarde chamber music, violinist Christopher Otto and celloist Kevin McFarland. The fluid and exuberant overture 0852 is fast circular oneiric music sustained by intense drumming, but hardly emblematic of what follows. Arc is calmer and orchestral, more akin to laid-back soft jazz than to neoclassical chamber music (despite the final crescendo); and so is the melodic Purple Octagon, despite all its variations. Tabletop I embraces the roaring prog-rock of the 1970s with renewed rhythmic emphasis. White Cylinder A is back to the solid aggressive romp of the overture, and in between we are distracted by the pastoral intermezzos Ruminant and Etude XV.