TAO Forms is proud to present vilevilevilevilevilevilevilevile, the new solo work by virtuosic bassist and composer Brandon López, to be released on LP, CD, and Digital on April 14, 2023.

The more complete (although not full) album title is:

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vilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevile

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vilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevile

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Moving to NYC a little over a decade ago, Brandon López immediately began the process of making himself indispensable within numerous creative music scenes and stages in the city. From the New York Philharmonic’s David Geffen Hall to the DIY basements of Brooklyn, López has worked extensively beside many luminaries of jazz, classical, poetry, and experimental music, including the likes of Fred Moten, Gerald Cleaver, John Zorn, Standing on the Corner, and a whole long list of others.

As with all bass players of abundant skill and commitment through the ages, López has been prolifically active in collaborations because he has been in duly high demand. As Dan DiPiero wrote in the Cleveland Review of Books, “This is virtuosity as vocabulary, a total command of texture, subtlety, and a depth that can be reached into.”

And, López is an improvising composer of rather estimable gifts. For but one example, his sonically expansive work in duo with the equally astonishing drummer Gerald Cleaver, which recently incorporated into a trio with Fred Moten, the inimitable poet, theorist, critic, and 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Among the media attention paid to their 2022 debut work on record was an “8.0” review in Pitchfork: “a conceptually rich, politically weighty album that asks timeless questions without overexplaining.” There is most definitely more work to come from this trio, and, Londoners take note! Moten/López/Cleaver 2-Day Residency at Café OTO in April [ link: https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/fred-moten-brandon-lopez-gerald-cleaver-residency/ ]

BUT, back to THIS album >

Much has been made of the brawn which Brandon brings to his playing. This has oft been stated in reviews of his live performances and his recorded work – because it is true. The palpable physical commitment in his expression is abundantly clear when seeing/hearing him live on stage, and can be viscerally felt as a force coming out of his recordings. The strings & wood frame are wholly resonant when called forth, by muscles well-developed for the purpose by a longtime gravedigger. Yes, López did do that for a strong spell as a young man.

If one has the opportunity to hear his work – most nakedly in solo presentation, as here – or perhaps in a conversation with Brandon, it becomes immediately clear that the brain over the brawn are a key differential. A Puerto Rican kid growing up working class in North Jersey doesn’t perform with the New York Philharmonic (as a soloist, no less) without the brains.

This new work is about perceptions. More pointedly, as Brandon said to us when we asked, this new work is “less about -a thing- than it is about perceptions of things, questioning perceptions, and possibly altering perceptions.”

As with all musicians of mettle, López has kept busy during the pandemic years, releasing ongoing solo bass works (and other collaborative stealth live recordings) via his Bandcamp page [ link: https://nevernotagravedigger.bandcamp.com/ ] & creating live streams on Instagram [ link: https://www.instagram.com/bantlopez/ ].

vilevilevilevilevilevilevilevile is, by his own description, only the 2nd “real one” for solo bass – an album created with forethought towards wider release. His 1st solo bass work by the same rubric, quoniam facta sum vilis, was released on the estimable Astral Spirits label in 2018.

From a supporter/fan’s review of quoniam facta sum vilis posted on Bandcamp:

“Every track feels like a different world, of techniques, vibes, and influences. But underneath it all is an incredibly powerful sense of structure, and each expresses a different view on a central “presence” or personality or being. Scary, ecstatic, gorgeous, and awe-inspiring.” –Giles

And, elder maestro of the bass – Mark Dresser – wrote of this same work in International Society of Bassists Magazine:

“A poignant, highly dynamic, and personal collection of solo bass music that with all of its sonic ingenuity and virtuoso finesse is still grounded in pulse, pitch and linearity. A sophisticated and auspicious solo recording debut.”

If in NYC, Do Mark This Date:

Brandon López Solo Bass Performance: MAY 30 at Roulette, Brooklyn

For more: Click Here