Two Bass Hit, the new record from Hudson Valley sonic pioneers Spaghetti Eastern, is as adventurous as it is genre-defying. Led by the guitar of musician/journalist Sal Cataldi and underpinned by the dueling basses of Tomaso Semioli and Jeff Keithline, the album wears its tasteful record collector influences on its sleeves.
The seven-track collection, out August 28 on Bandcamp and Spotify, was recorded during a video live stream at the Green Kill Sessions in Kingston in March 26. Two Bass Hit as a title is as much a reference to Semioli and Keithline’s double low-end presence as it is a reference to the Dizzy Gillespie number of the same name. “Two Bass Hit” the jazz tune, was most famously recorded by Miles Davis on Milestones and Miles’ fearlessness as a leader is channeled by Cataldi in this outing.
Lead single “Foster’s Phunk” is also a nod to Davis’ famed drummer Al Foster, who was the cement mixer in the electric Miles bands of the early 1970s. The crossfire riffage on “Foster’s Phunk” is unmistakably reminiscent of Jack Johnson-era fusion. Drummer Michael Drazen’s dynamic cymbal work and motorik groove area provide the stability, while the funky-with-a-P-H counterpoint work of the bassists and Cataldi’s stratospheric, effects heavy playing create lush textures that will appeal to second-set jam enthusiasts.
On Bandcamp, “Foster’s Phunk” is also released as a tidy radio edit, but for the most part, these are sprawling passages that belong in director’s-cut format. “Augustus Einstein” is a 10-minute plus devolution of a bass riff from Semioli that is dub at its core with a wild wah wah guitar on top. Both the title and the sound of the track suggest a pretty fun “what if” scenario: What if the guys in Can listened to a bunch of Augustus Pablo and Scientist records and released a dub recording? Sounds good to my ears.
Cataldi switches to electric sitar for the first section of “Going to Goa” which uses perhaps my favorite of all recorded Cecil McBee basslines as the jumping off point here: the hypnotic bassline for Alice Coltrane’s masterpiece “Journey in Satchidananda”. The Eastern riffs are heavy, Drazen’s beat is locked-in, and the layered, distorted effects create a hazy zoner vibe that makes this the track I listened to on repeat.
While this project highlights the unusual nature of including two basses in a quartet, Cataldi is the conductor here in full Miles bandleader mode. Cataldi more than earns his explorer’s badge through his deep bag of effects trickery: his alternate use of delay pedals, reverb, ring modulation loops, and the shimmering sustain of his Ebow consistently take the improvisations into unexpected territory that never feels meandering or overexposed.
If you’re someone like me (and by that, I mean someone who owns thousands of vinyl records), Two Bass Hit will come across as a spontaneous reimagining of your own record collection. From ECM sounds to electric-mud blues to cosmic jazz-funk to Floydian psych to krautrock, Eastern ragas, dub reggae, and Live Dead, Two Bass Hit actually has all the bases covered. It’s the kind of deep space listening that is as equally suitable for a basement gummy session as it is a highway drive or nature hike. It brings to mind a lot of what I have namechecked above, but also more modern instrumental groove work from bands like Circles Around the Sun or the Eastern-tinged psych of Khraungbin. I only wish this digital-only release would come out on vinyl and join my collection – I’d put it in steady rotation.
Catch Spaghetti Eastern live in NYS this September – Cataldi will play a number of shows in New York City and the Hudson Valley as pictured here:
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