Still Life with Commentator

Still Life with Commentator is a collaborative studio album by American jazz pianist Vijay Iyer and American hip hop musician Mike Ladd. It was released on Savoy Jazz in 2007.

Still Life with Commentator
Studio album by Vijay Iyer & Mike Ladd
Released	March 6, 2007
Recorded	March 26–27, 2006 June 17, 2006
Studio	Hotel Neutor, Salzburg Listen, New York
Genre	Jazz
Length	65:35
Label	Savoy Jazz
Producer	Vijay Iyer Mike Ladd Scotty Hard
Vijay Iyer chronology
Raw Materials (2006) Still Life with Commentator (2007) Tragicomic (2008)

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	[1]
AllMusic	[2]
Tom Hull	A–[3]

Lyn Horton of All About Jazz gave the album 5 out of 5 stars, commenting that "This work illuminates the perils within contemporary global society from the standpoint of the media and information blitz."[1] Sean Westergaard of AllMusic gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, describing it as "a dense, thought-provoking piece that takes some effort to internalize."[2] Mike Shanley of JazzTimes wrote, "This disc exists in a musical Bermuda Triangle that conjoins jazz, electronica and that mutant, undefined style of pop music created by the likes of Björk."[4]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Infogee Rhapsody"	4:17
2.	"Edward L. Bernays Flies the Hindenburg"	2:33
3.	"Been There Done That"	7:59
4.	"Cleaning Up the Mess"	5:13
5.	"Lake Aaron (Commentator Landscape #1: Aaron Brown)"	3:02
6.	"Jon Stewart on Crossfire"	3:22
7.	"Shep's Brook (Commentator Landscape #2: Shepard Smith)"	3:04
8.	"Riding on the Intro Graphics to Cable News"	4:09
9.	"Man Channel"	4:11
10.	"Fox 'n' Friends"	0:30
11.	"Holocaust Blog"	5:33
12.	"Cybernut Bucolia"	3:59
13.	"Mount Rather (Commentator Landscape #3: Dan Rather)"	4:28
14.	"Latex Thumbs Up"	3:24
15.	"Redemption Chant"	2:06
16.	"Blog Mom's Anthem"	2:52
17.	"The Last Atrocity"	4:51

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

• Vijay Iyer – piano, synthesizer
• Mike Ladd – vocals, production, liner notes, photography
• Guillermo E. Brown – vocals, electronic percussion
• Pálína Jónsdóttir – vocals
• Masayasu Nakanishi – vocals
• Liberty Ellman – guitar
• Okkyung Lee – cello
• Pamela Z – vocals, electronic processing, translation
• Scotty Hard – production

References

1. Horton, Lyn (April 8, 2007). "Vijay Iyer And Mike Ladd: Still Life With Commentator". All About Jazz. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
2. Westergaard, Sean. "Still Life with Commentator - Vijay Iyer, Mike Ladd". AllMusic. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
3. Hull, Tom. "Tom Hull: Grade List: Vijay Iyer". tomhull.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
4. Shanley, Mike (June 1, 2007). "Vijay Iyer & Mike Ladd: Still Life With Commentator". JazzTimes. Retrieved January 13, 2020.

External links

• Still Life with Commentator at Discogs