ProjeKct One: Live At The Jazz Cafe

PROJEKCT ONE: LIVE AT THE JAZZ CAFE (1998)

1) 4 i 1; 2) 4 ii 1; 3) 1 ii 2; 4) 4 ii 4; 5) 2 ii 3; 6) 3 i 2; 7) 3 ii 2; 8) 2 ii 4; 9) 4 i 3.

General verdict: Itʼs all about putting the ʽproʼ back into imPROvisation — and a touch of empathy for listeners who still want to have fun rather than suffer the insufferable.

The only difference between the so-called «ProjeKcts», operating most frequently from 1997 to 1999, and regular incarnations of King Crimson is that the former would be working almost exclusively in the instrumental / improvisational format — Fripp and Bruford came up with the idea of holding special shows to come up with ideas for future band material, and once the shows began to show some promise, it was also decided that the best performances from them would be made public. Consequently, ProjeKct material probably does not deserve detailed reviews, but there are two reasons why I am adding brief lowdowns to these pages. The first one of these has already been mentioned — these recordings are King Crimson in all but name, and since live improvisation has always been an integral part of the bandʼs artistry, there is no reason to treat them as something completely extraneous.

Second and more important, this is good stuff! When I first approached Live At The Jazz Café, the first of these albums, I was afraid I would be looking at another ThraKaTTaK — to my greatest relief, this was absolutely not the case. Even if the pieces here are indeed improvised, the big difference is that they are improvised with serious intentions to create something permanent, not simply produce a bunch of dissonant / atonal noise, but work out a series of atmospheric compositions. The lineup here is very close to Eightiesʼ KC, with the sole exception of Trey Gunn replacing Belew, and some of the music is actually more reminiscent of older classics like ʽIndisciplineʼ and ʽIndustryʼ than the more metallic sound of THRAK — but actually, there is plenty of diversity in the setlist, which ranges from ominous mood pieces to industrial grinds to exercises in Frippertronics to all-out rocking pieces in crazy time signatures.

Choosing The Jazz Café (in Camden Town, London) as the venue for these shows seems very appropriate, because the band does behave throughout like a pack of jazz improvisers — using rock instrumentation and avantgarde mentality. But I specifically appreciate that they seem to be invoking the spirit of Larksʼ Tongues In Aspic throughout — on tracks such as ʽ3 ii 2ʼ, Fripp and Gunn engage in dual guitar howling to a steadily propelling bass riff that brings to mind ʽThe Talking Drumʼ, while some of the more rocking tracks could be easily worked up to the state of ʽLarksʼ Tongues In Aspic, Pt. 4ʼ and nobody would protest (note: the real ʽPt. 4ʼ which did appear a few years later was a different composition).

Singling out individual tracks is very hard to do; I usually latch on to Levinʼs bass riffs as the key element that separates them from one another, so, for instance, ʽ4 ii 4ʼ comes on as a grungy and sludgy tribute to Alice In Chains, ʽ2 ii 4ʼ is like a slowed-down hardcore punk extravaganza, and ʽ4 ii 1ʼ could be called a chaotic deconstruction of pop-punk if you concentrate primarily on the bass. Or you could just dispense with all these descriptions altogether and just get in the groove, because most of the tracks groove like crazy — Tony will rarely let you off his hook while the guitar guys are soloing like crazy or spinning dreamy sonic webs of delay and sustain. I like quite a few of these tracks more than ʽFractureʼ, and that should probably mean something.

The downside is that, for all the endless searching, it is hard to say if they really find anything that could seem to point the way for breaking serious new ground — for each of Frippʼs solos, Levinʼs basslines and Brufordʼs polyrhythms you can find similar counterparts in the bandʼs past. Look at the whole thing from this experimental angle and you might end up disappointed. But if you look at it from the point of view of simply having fun and providing entertainment for guests with demanding taste, itʼs a whole other matter: the compositions rock, groove, blow your mind, and sometimes do all these things at once. I probably wonʼt remember a single note from here by tomorrow, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of it while it was on.