Artist: Molehill
Songs: [two excerpts from the first set]
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (All-Set! Presents), December 29, 2023.
The timing usually doesn't work out for me, so I haven't been on hand to watch the evolution of the old Aurochs timeslot in the way it deserves. Following pianist Ali Berkok's departure from town, the remaining members maintained momentum with a series of shows where they were joined by guest performers — but more recently the trio has put things on a more permanent footing with the adoption of the moniker Molehill.
That still doesn't tie the musicians down to strictly-defined roles, and I was told that this particular alignment (Jake Oelrichs, drumkit; Mike Smith, electric bass; Pete Johnston, electric guitar) was seeing its first outing. Sonically, this didn't much resemble Aurochs; nor did it atavistically revert to many Muskox modes. (Though with Michael Kaler in the crowd, there was some discussion as to whether Smith, who has generally handling electronics at these shows might be invoking his inner Phil Lesh with the bass back in his hands.) There were a lot of zones explored over two sets, from insta-ECM intricacies to thorny postrock jammage.
You can check out some sounds from the second set over on youtube:
[With Ali Berkok being back in town, Aurochs will, in fact, return at the end of the month in the All-Set! timeslot on January 26th.]
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