No Tamales on Wednesday dropped on us rather suddenly with almost no warning, only the third (or fourth) release by Science Friction, the electric, Berne-led quartet of the early-mid 2000s. Powered by the saxophonist/composer Berne, Craig Taborn (keyboards), Marc Ducret (guitars) and Tom Rainey (drums), Science Friction was Bitches Brew or Agharta, Tim Berne style.
This ensemble further proved the adaptability of his idiomatic compositional and improvisational approach to instruments that sound more like rock than jazz. It works, because Berne finds the right talent to help him carry out his mission and gives them wide leeway to take risks and elevate the music above the already-high level at it was conceived.
Recorded live sometime in 2008, almost none of the tunes on No Tamales appeared on Science Friction’s first two releases, but “Time Laugh” did originally make its debut on Feign from Science Friction’s precursor/concurrent band Hard Cell. “Adobe Probe” would be performed by a single-performance septet the following year (captured on the album of the same name), and “Deadbeat Beyonce” would later show up several years later on Snakeoil’s Anguis Oleum. “SciFry” did appear on Science Friction’s self-titled studio album, as “Sigh Fry.”
It’s not even documented who engineered this one, but good care was taken in capturing the performance and with David Torn waving his remastering magic wand, this sounds every bit the equal of 2003 live double-disc The Sublime And.
“Time Laugh” begins meekly, building up to a roaring growl before the halfway mark. True to Berne form, it doesn’t get there in a straight line; the band takes time to explore side alleys that render their own charms, such as Rainey’s hand percussion with Ducret joining him by plucking his strings as Berne quietly ruminates for a while to plants the seeds for that ascent. The back half of this performance features Berne grinding away on his alto sax, always landing on one conception, digesting it and moving on to the next one. The other guys follow closely along using some unspoken code and make it sound better.
“Adobe Probe” moves through motifs: a chunky, complex one at the start and a strident ostinato one around the middle. On the former, Ducret and Berne play freely and on the latter, Rainey does so, but no one ever loses a handle on the pattern. Afterwards, the guitarist gets ample time to shred and then ruminate without restrictions.
Ducret’s nervy, intuitive method carries over into “Deadbeat Beyonce/SciFry,” where he spaces out his asides to give Rainey a share of the front stage to make his thunderous fills have a fuller impact. Ducret returns later with eruptive jazz chops as Rainey matches him blow-by-blow. After an abrupt stop, the band quickly returns to introduce the “SciFry” portion of suite, a dark but delicate melody, played at a slightly faster pace than on the studio take.
Given that it’s a live souvenir with a somewhat obscure origin, it would be tempting to categorize No Tamales on Wednesday as some authorized bootleg. But it doesn’t present like one. By playing different songs after several more years developing their chemistry, Science Friction’s No Tamales on Wednesday qualifies as a distinctive, official ‘new’ album by this long-inactive group.
Get No Tamales on Wednesday now from Screwgun Records.
Recommended Tim Berne CD’s on Amazon:
Science Friction – The Sublime And
Hard Cell – Feign
Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – Shadow Man
Tim Berne – The Shell Game
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