Power Failures

The New York based duo of Che Chen and Rick Brown, 75 Dollar Bill, return with Power Failures, their first full length since 2020. Issued as a beautiful double LP by Karlrecords, and possibly their best record to date – taking on expanded explorations and a greater sense of abstraction – across its four sides we encounter Chen and Brown interweaving hypnotic polyrhythms and complex tonal collisions, with occasional (and brilliant) contributions from “Little Big Band” mainstays Steve Maing, Sue Garner, and Barry Weisblat, as well as Yasi Perera on synths and Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan on guitar. Raw, direct, and artistically monumental, it’s high among our favorite records of the years
“The core duo plus guest collaborators expands its sonic palette of Rick Brown’s elemental percussive patterns and Che Chen’s ecstatic modal guitar style to a new musical richness. With some tape releases and their first album Wooden Bag, 75 Dollar Bill quickly introduced themselves as one of the hottest, most unique and essential groups at the heart of NYC’s underground — the following Wood/Metal/Plastic Pattern/Rhythm/Rock (GB 047CD, 2016) made the duo known internationally, and the 2019 double vinyl I Was Real (TW Q-LP) turned out a major success at the critics and audience alike with the #1 spot in The Wire’s albums of the year list. Then came the pandemic, and in lack of opportunities to actually perform in public, the core duo of Rick Brown and Che Chen released several Bandcamp only albums in digital format, one of these being Power Failures
Brown’s elemental percussive patterns (often simply played on a wooden box) and Che Chen’s ecstatic modal guitar style (often under the influence of his studies with Mauritanian guitarist Jeich Ould Chigaly) are at the core of the tracks with guest collaborators like Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan (guitar), Sue Garner (violin), or Steve Maing (saxophone, guitar) expanding the sonic palette to a new musical richness. Trance-inducing psychedelia, “placeless, gripping grooves” (The Guardian), collaged rehearsal and field recordings, mantric percussion, microtonal guitar sounds — 75 Dollar Bill sound as deeply rooted in traditions as they sound fresh-of-today, a kind of future music from the past. Hard to grasp by words, and impossible to resist! 180 gram vinyl; gatefold; includes download card.”