Hazmat Modine : Bahamut

I first heard about multi-instrumentalist Wade Schuman’s Hazmat Modine through the harmonica community. Wade and I corresponded on an irregular basis, and I even got a demo of his a few years back. The sound quality was kinda painful, but the music behind the hiss seemed intriguing enough to make me await with some eagerness a genuine Hazmat Modine album. That album is Bahamut, released a few weeks back.

Saying that it’s hard to define a musical genre for Bahamut would be a grave understatement. In fact that is, to me, one of it’s endearing qualities. Bahamut is a world music album in the best sense of the word: it draws inspiration from varied musical traditions around the world and blends them in a coherent and unique sound.

The opening track Yesterday Morning is characterised by a laid back reggae beat, but the backing horns give it a New Orleans feel, and the dual harmonicas of Wade and Randy Weinstein spice up the mix with a definite blues flavour. It calls me, which follows it, is underpinned by a delta slide guitar texture, but the combination of Wade’s falsetto, the soft bass of the tuba and the droning tuvan throat singing and instruments give it a definite far-eastern flavour. I could go on, nearly every track on the record features such mixtures, with touches of klezmer, New Orleans jazz, delta and Chicago blues, Hawaiian, Mongolian and others I probably don’t identify.

Obviously, the fact that nearly every song features Wade’s vocals, singing in English makes this blend a lot more accessible than it might be otherwise, and definitely anchors the whole thing in the tradition of American music. I’m no ethnomusicologist, but I’m tempted to believe that the fact that Hazmat Modine heads from New York may be no coincidence: if there’s any evidence of the melting pot in action, so to speak, it’s New York.

Wade’s writing draws on blues figures and turns of phrases a lot, but it has nice poetic slant to it. There’s even a beautifully bizarre cosmological poem in the middle of the album's title song. All but three of the tracks on the record are self-penned, and Wade’s gruff barytone vocals deliver an earthy, unsophisticated, quality to the songs. At times, his voice and approach reminded me of a somewhat less wacky Bob Brozman.

The breadth and variety of instrumentation and arrangements in Bahamut is astounding: to the core tuba, acoustic guitar(s), drums, horns and diatonic and chromatic harmonicas, the album adds the occasional contrabass sax, tuvan chant and strings, cimbalom, claviola and several other more unusual musical devices. All musicians are good in their own right but the nice thing here is that it’s an ensemble work. No one is pulling the rug to himself.

Often, when such ensemble work is required, it sounds less spontaneous. Getting so many instruments, and odd ones at that, to work together is tricky work. Perhaps Hazmat Modine's most endearing quality  is the fact that their recorded music does not sound clean. It’s raw, straight out of the oven. There’s no second thoughts, no rerecords (or at least you don’t hear them). And this spontaneity is what makes the exuberance of the musical mix work. When I listen to Bahamut, I don’t want to analyse it, I want to tap my feet and join the fun.

Finally, a quick word on the harmonica itself. When Wade sent me Bahamut, he expressed concern that it wasn’t much of a harmonica record. Not only is this not a drawback as far as I’m concerned, but there’s plenty of harmonica to listen to, for who has ears. Furthermore, both diatonic and chromatic harmonica are used more as backing, rhythm or horn instruments than a solo instruments, which is refreshing. Randy’s chromatic work is particularly impressive in the way he supports the harmonies. Who walks in when I walk out is a striking example of that (and features a damn fine solo too).

Wade’s diatonic style is much closer to the blues idiom and, in fact, if I had one reservation about Bahamut it’d be that Wade’s soloing often remains boxed inside this blues vocabulary even when a more varied approach would, in my opinion, be more appropriate to the genre. From what I hear, Wade has the technique to push the envelope a lot further, it’s just a matter of switching languages…

It’s a minor gripe though. Bahamut is a truly enjoyable album. It’s got none of the stifled precision of many modern recordings, the fun and spontaneity really shine through. It’s also very accessible, and close enough to our own cultural roots that the round the world trip it requires of us is easily done. Now all I need to work out is how to get Hazmat Modine over to France for a live experience !

Purchase Bahamut from the Hazmat Modine website !

Comments

[Fernando Bresslau]

Well, what I wanted to say you have mostly sad, but the album is clearly tightly rooted on American music. It lends flavours from other parts, but I wouldn't call it a wolrd music album. Maybe American music gone quickly around the world. And this is definetly right for me.

Wade also mentioned to me that he feared that this isn't a harmonica album. If this reflects his intent, they have disgracefully failed. If they want it or not, Bahamut is, in fact, a great harmonica album, besides all of its other qualities.

What I won't give a 10 (in a scale from 1 to 10) is the singing. I might give it a 9, or even a 8,5 (which is good enough), but i have one or two reservations there. But this is a matter of personal taste.

All in all, it is a great CD surely, and contact with Wade has been nice so far.
All the best,
Fernando

[Leonardo Kenji Shikida]

It's a very interesting cd indeed. both the traditional blues stuff as the tom-waits-like material are amazing and extremely original. Most impressive ;-)

[Mariela]

AAHHHH, and I oerdred the Thanksgiving Thumbs one last minute last night! ARGH, now I no haz de monies!