Timefish

On his gripping debut, Marc Anderson steps out from the shadow of Steve Tibbetts to make a transcontinental statement of his own, although the umbilical cord hasn't been completely severed--Tibbetts assisted on the mix and his liquefied guitars are all over the album. Anderson's instrumental menu is spiced with congas, steel drums, berimbau, frame drums, brekete, sampled sounds, and various idiophones. This is not just a suggested shopping list for a musician ready to plunder the world, but a collection of well-plied tools that craft an ornate combination of Arabic free-form, European improv, and Anglo-ambience into a melting pot of hypnotic textures and pulsing beats. TIMEFISH crosses stylistic borders with ease and skill, where the cool modes of jazz meet ethnic improvisation head-on.