He explains where, how, and why the vase was produced, retrieving what we know about the life and legend of Sarpedon. Spivey takes the reader on a dramatic journey, beginning with the krater’s looting from an Etruscan tomb in 1971 and its acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, followed by a high-profile lawsuit over its status and its eventual return to Italy. How this came about is told by Nigel Spivey in a concise, stylish book that braids together the creation and adventures of this extraordinary object with an exploration of its abiding influence. It was decorated some 2,500 years ago by Athenian artist Euphronios, and its subsequent history involves tomb raiding, intrigue, duplicity, litigation, international outrage, and possibly even homicide.
Listen deeply and listen often.Perhaps the most spectacular of all Greek vases, the Sarpedon krater depicts the body of Sarpedon, a hero of the Trojan War, being carried away to his homeland for burial. That said, there really isn’t any precedent for the invention on offer with these six studio improvisations, other than Rhyton’s continued impulse for cleaving new paths. It’s also no surprise that, in the recent past, Rhyton released LPs on labels like Thrill Jockey and Three Lobed, their organic/electric improvisations fitting in with both contemporary psych-string wranglers and the historical fringes of “post-rock” (the Brown/Scharin/Warden outfit Directions in Music comes to mind). The title track’s cottony and plaintive guitar lines become spindly with the sun as the rhythm section works time with a supple bellows, while opener “The Art of Tripp” might as well be Hot Tuna covering Can. Despite its complexity, the music is cohesive throughout, and at times even breezy. The listener’s attention may drift to Smith’s deft cymbal work or the big, sinewy thwack of SeiTang’s bass and the rhythmic linkages that gradually form, or the fleet needles from Shuford’s mandole (an Algerian cousin of the oud) on “Majesty from Mahrez,” or take it all together as one swirling field of eruptive jams. Drawing from psychedelic rock, Greek and middle eastern string music, exploratory electric jazz, and American roots music, their instrumental, freely-improvised melanges groove mightily but are not tethered to any one mood or concept.
In this vein, Rhyton, a trio consisting of string multi-instrumentalist David Shuford, electric bassist Jimmy SeiTang, and drummer Rob Smith, have carved out a niche in contemporary sound that would best be called Rhyton-music.
At a certain point in the continuing process of making art, one becomes more greatly oneself and creates work that is truly distinctive.
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