MUSIC
Lullabies for the
Computer Age
More concept than band,
Edge City Collective cuts through the static of a homogeneous world.
BY HOBART ROWLAND
hrowland@philadelphiaweekly.com
Scott Schaffer doesn't go in for all the petty distractions that stifle the flow of ideas. He can't be bothered with the limitations of money, geography, studio time, traditional labels and distribution, live performance, song structure, or even, at this point, a set of drums. Hence the improv-minded Edge City Collective, Schaffer's convenient way around all those obstacles.
"We don't actually have to be a physical band in a physical place," says Schaffer. "Three people live in Philadelphia, and two live in New York. In fact, all the members have never been in the same place at the same time."
Currently, the year-old Edge City Collective is between parts one and two of a three-part recorded trilogy. And while the trilogy concept might seem high-minded, the first album's goofy title, Guitarrasalto, does as much to counter that presumption as the surprisingly grounded music within: 15 tracks dominated by the lithe guitar interplay of Schaffer and Jon Madof, and the fluid, otherworldly bass of Michael Taylor. Edge City's Big Apple contingent-- accordionist Ranji Kumar and reed man Jon Thompson--make significant contributions to Guitarrasalto, but its overall feel is that of an intimate trio collaboration.
"Different people had different levels of participation. Some came for three or for sessions, and that's it," says Schaffer. "It's a loose configuration that fits multiple schedules."
The Internet is the great equalizer where music is concerned, a level field where quirky homemade Web sites square off with well-funded (and often far less interesting) URLs developed and maintained by the industry's major players. That in mind, you won't find Guitarrasalto in stores. But you can order it through EdgeCityMusic.com, which also features downloadable music samples.
"It's easier than ever for independent artists to make connections through the Internet," Schaffer says. "We can develop a site just as easily as a major-label artist--in fact, maybe even more easily because there's no bureaucracy and no hoops to jump through. The idea is to really focus on the niche of people out there, anywhere in the world, who have an interest in improvised music. But we still have a ways to go. Are there limitations? Sure. But I think we're heading in a direction of more democracy in the marketing of music."
Guitarrasalto is well-suited to online consumption. Experimental but never unruly, New Agey though rarely to a fault, its spare arrangements are heavy on subtle separation and detail, and light on clutter. With no percussion to speak of, the throbbing low-ends that tend to bottom out the cheapest computer speakers are avoided; the CD's jazzy, gentle ebbs and flows are equally suited to a $40 set of iMac eggs as they are to a $400 pair of Polk Audio pedestal-jobs.
Cleanly assembled and easy to navigate, EdgeCityMusic.com offers countless details about the collective's makeup and credo--that of pinpointing beauty and uniqueness in the swirl of suburbanized sameness and urban decay. The group takes its name from the author Joel Garreau's Edge City: Life on the New Frontier, which outlines in discomfiting detail society's descent into homogenized stasis, where places like King of Prussia are the new "edge cities" and oppidan dead zones like North Philadelphia are left to rot. Lost in the numerous distractions of everyday life as we pinball between shopping mall, corporate center and planned community in our deathtrap SUVs, music is just another profit-driven commodity.
Edge City Collective throws a wrench into the works, clinging to the concept that the best music is all about taking risks. Appropriately, much of Guitarrasalto came about during the recording process itself.
"The music itself goes to extremes," Schaffer says. "Some of it is very mellow and sweet, and then it will break into harsh distorted sound."
Schaffer doesn't come to his experimental philosophy half-cocked. Equally beholden to acoustic and electronic music, the Carnegie Mellon grad has played with a mess of bands in a variety of genres and locales from Boston to Pittsburgh to Woodstock, N.Y. He also founded the much-praised, oddball World-folk quartet Bala Hounds.
The rest of Edge City's scattered membership includes Temple grad Kumar, who has performed with the Orchestral Society of Philadelphia, Schaffer's Bala Hounds and various North Indian music ensembles. Fringe Festival vets Taylor and Madof are co-founders of the lauded Taylor-Madof Group. A student of New York jazz luminary Mark Heliaf, Taylor has played with jazzmen Tom Lawton and Elliott Levin, and toured with singer/songwriter Mia Johnson. Madof, meanwhile, has wowed both contemporaries and jazz aficionados at the Mellon Jazz Fest and New York City's famed Knitting Factory. Temple alum Thompson's credits include stints with the University of the Arts Big Band, the Mingus Ensemble and the Taylor-Madof Group.
Of course, by the time the next album is released in mid-2001, Edge City may have evolved into something altogether different.
"[The first album] falls somewhere in the jazz/World music vein," says Schaffer. "And the second is probably going to be a little more avant garde. I don't get too hung up on genre categories. But the fact of life is, you have to pigeonhole it as something."
Just another obstacle, it seems, for Edge City to work its way around.