Throw Down Your Hammer and Sing

The three musicians who created the freewheeling improvisations on 2009’s Throw Down Your Hammer and Sing have worked in a wide variety of settings. Trumpeter Nate Wooley has played with such diverse artists as Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, and the noise outfit Wolf Eyes. Cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm (who also plays electronics on the album) has collaborated with Braxton, the rock band God Is My Co-Pilot, Ken Vandermark, and many others. Bassist Jason Roebke has teamed up with Vandermark and other Chicago-based luminaries. The trio’s members all employ extended technique on their instruments: strings are scratched, rubbed, and bowed to create atypical timbres; the trumpet’s mouthpiece is attacked in unconventional ways. At times the music evokes a creaking house or can sound like animals moving through vegetation. Throughout, silence plays a key role in shaping the group’s explorations. Experience Throw Down Your Hammer and Sing on a moment-to-moment basis: it’s not about the destination but the trip itself.