Horse Lords - Mixtape IV

Pitchfork 70

As the work of composer Julius Eastman continues to gain its belated and rightful due, musicians who are inspired by his example struggle with the fact that he didn’t leave behind much written material. Jazz-informed improvisation, minimalist pulses, disco, and post-Cagean “chance” music could swirl about during an Eastman-led performance. But the composer often transmitted ideas to his collaborators orally, while providing only a few notated phrases on paper.

Regarding “Stay On It”—an early 1970s composition famous for its embrace of pop harmony—onetime Eastman saxophonist Jon Gibson told the musicologist Matthew Mendez, “that piece does not exist without Julius.” In his lifetime, the composer would play piano or vibraphone during the piece, and offer stray vocalizations; he also presented a related poem in the concert’s program notes. Still, it has been seen as too fine a piece not to play, even without him. (A 2005 archival release devoted to Eastman’s music had to rely on a 1973 performance of “Stay on It” that didn’t include the composer’s participation.)

Now Baltimore’s Horse Lords have taken up the challenge of recreating the disco-meets-minimalist “Stay on It” on the first side of their latest “mixtape.” They invite local emcee Abdu Ali to recite Eastman’s poem; he succeeds at giving the text a contemporary, rap-influenced cadence, just before the full group launches into the opening riff.

By allowing a thumping percussive groove to take greater prominence, compared with the 1973 take, this 20-minute arrangement successfully calls to mind Eastman’s appreciation for dance music. Though because Horse Lords elect to do without a consistent vocalization of the title (as heard on the ’73 recording), they lose out on some of the piece’s seductive pop sheen. For the first few minutes, the beat is so insistent that this vision of “Stay on It” seems born from a stuck vinyl groove. Though over time, as guitarist and clavinet player Owen Gardner’s lines snake around drummer Sam Haberman’s playing, there’s an occasional rhythmic ambiguity that channels the fluid Eastman aesthetic.

Gradually, members of the ensemble venture short solos over the continued vamp. In the fourth minute, a keyboard line steps out in front—insisting on a single note for a bit, before withdrawing back into the aggregate sound. A more audacious solo comes in minute eight, when Andrew Bernstein contributes arcing lines of saxophone squall. (The densest parts of this performance can make “Stay on It” sound like a precursor to New York’s No Wave era.) The take closes poetically, as softly strummed guitar and electronics move in and out of sync. The harmony is familiar, but the expression has changed—and it makes for a fitting realization of some of Eastman’s compositional concerns.

Mixtape IV’s second half is devoted to a side-length studio collage, “Remember the Future.” Incorporated within are live performance clips, shards of unfamiliar tunes, as well as spoken parts contributed by fans (who called in to a hotline that the band advertised on Twitter). It seems minor by design—and listeners who are new to Horse Lords might consider proceeding directly to the more traditionally impressive jams on 2016’s excellent Interventions. But since a willingness to play around is part of this group’s regular practice, even their intentional ephemera can carry unexpected jolts of excitement.