A little over one minute into the first track of Ambit, the 2014 Cuneiform label debut album by the Cellar and Point, and you already know you're hearing something extraordinary. Led by drummer/producer Joseph Branciforte and guitarist Christopher Botta, the N.Y.C.-based septet pulls sounds and influences together from across a wide musical map, starting immediately in the opening moments of "0852," which kicks off with a staticky electronic rhythm contrasting with sparse, crystal-clear vibraphone, until the sudden entrance of floor-shaking Moog bass, deep pummeling drums, and...banjo. That's right, banjo. In a world whose musical styles include hick-hop and psychobilly, you might imagine that Branciforte and Botta are staking claim to a new flavor of the week -- drum'n'bluegrass -- but on "0852," like all of Ambit, they aren't merely throwing contrasting styles together for clever effect. As co-composers and co-arrangers for the group, their artistic conception is far more unified and original than that. This rather thoroughly scored music (although electric guitarist Terrence McManus unleashes some impressive jazz-rockish soloing now and then) has been described as "garage-chamber," a term that only begins to capture the striking stylistic amalgam of "0852," as Kevin McFarland's warm cello melody is joined by McManus' soaring ethereal guitar and Joe Bergen's reappearance on those sparkling vibes. The track encompasses both immersive, swelling ambience and arpeggiated, throbbing propulsion, simultaneously marked by sharp clarity and imbued with gauzy atmospherics. And the album has hardly begun.

1		0852
2		Arc
3		Tabletop (a)
4		Tabletop (b)
5		Ruminant
6		Purple Octagon
7		Fünf Canons I, Op. 16
8		Étude XV
9		White Cylinder (a)
10		White Cylinder (b)
11		Ambit

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