"Most Valuable Player": 7.9 / 10
"Upright bassist Nat Baldwin has his experimental bona fides in order. The first time I caught him live, he was playing a duet with Alex Mead on a DustBuster, and matched its on/off blasts with bowwork like a cat scratching through wicker... Yet when Baldwin turned to writing and performing songs, first documented on his excellent, dire EP Lights Out, he held his improvisational chops in check to write solo, static pieces with keening vocals and dire words. His songbook has gotten catchier with time, and on his new release Most Valuable Player, he brings fierce performances to these polished compositions... His musical imagination is expansive, while his lack of pretense is admirable. He doesn't even make you flinch when you read that "Look She Said"'s lyrics come from the titles of Morton Feldman and Christian Wolff compositions; and in fact, the lyrics throughout the album are brief and strong. Reports from his latest tour say that the band takes wild free excursions off this material. But capturing his work on record, Baldwin hones his work to the starkest moments: an urge by the lake, a bloodstained footprint, a whistling bow in an empty room."
-Pitchfork Media
"Because Baldwin, whose virtuosity on the hardwood was enough to make college recruiters swoon up until he chose to pursue music instead, is about to make most everybody's ears do the same. The New Hampshire-native (and Anthony Braxton disciple) rains hyper-melodic chamber fire, three choice cuts of which are now available here in all their melismatic, cinematic glory. Hold them. Love them. Cherish them."
-RCRD LBL on "Lake Erie," "One Two Three" and "Mask I Wear"
"It seems as though Nat Baldwin is sharing all of his personal secrets with us, and it's uncomfortably beautiful."
-Tiny Voices
I'm promoting to spread the word around for my new album that just came out this summer. It's free free free! here http://www.dillydillymusic.com If you haven't gotten it yet!
awesome job at the wedding. what was the name of that last song you played, the cover? i've had the tune in my head and cannot seem to remember the name.
well your basketball moves blew a hole through the side of my shoe yesterday, thats some real quickness. quite the class act on that bass too. thanks for everything!
Wonderful job at Dark Was the Night (or as David Byrne called it: Dark... is... the... Night... yeah) last night! What was the other song you guys did with David Byrne?
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