Lately, we have come to hear Sacramento bands largely through the ear trumpet of Scott Soriano [
www.s-srecords.com], but there’s more going on there even Scott lets on. Case in point is the ace LP by
Who’s Your Favorite Son God? [
myspace.com/whosyourfavoritesongod], entitled
Out of Body Diva (KDVS) [
www.kdvsrecordings.org]. The album works best when the band is wrenching things along in wobbly Beefheart direction, but they have a genuinely wild-ass way of splicing overt jazzbo-moves and post-core raunch. In a not entirely dissimilar vein is the eponymous one-sided 12” by Maine’s
Family Pet (Foreign Frequency) [
www.foreignfrequency.com]. A free-rock duo, these guys remind me a bit of a jazzic version of Happy Flowers, with less emphasis on vocals, and more focus on the pure evil pleasure of destructive construction. Spazzed out and personal.
Providence, Rhode Island is not exactly unknown for its perpetual history of completely insane-oid bands. Of course most peeps point to the Fort Thunder years from whence Lightning Bolt and pals ejaculated forth, and the amazing Load [
www.loadrecords.com] record label continues to rule righteously. There’s always some new bonkers action happening but nothing quite prepared us for the debut tape release from
Teenage Waistband [teenage_waistband at yahoo dottie com],
What’s One For Me? It’s pointless to research their history, suffice it to say some members have long been stumbling through various local scenes of sick effrontery. But this group is really kinda fucked to listen to, and ultimately excellent. Not sure if it’s the primal clatter of what appears to be drums, guitars and flesh but what really is brain crumbling is the vocalist Jo Dery who “sings” like a mewing kitten, even to the point of dropping into real meows once in a while. You gotsta hear this.
Also worth piping up about AT THIS EXACT JUNCTURE is the incredible art book from Lightning Bolt’s
Brian Chippendale. This gentleman has been producing insane artwork and silkscreens for many years now, and a massive new volume,
Ninja (Picture Box) [
pictureboxinc.com] is here to blow yr eyeballs right out the back of yr skull. A mixture of comix and sketches and brain-felching oddness of truly monstrous proportions, the book is so luscious you’ll drool. Assy! Picture Box is also responsible for the new one by
Julie Doucet,
Elle-Humour. Julie’s new language-oriented work is brilliant, but this work is a lot more visual than I’d expected. There are drawings and collages throughout, illustrating Doucet’s tricky wordplay or just standing on their own. It is a lovely book to hold and ponder, page after page of pure weird genius. Hooray!
Randall Colbourne you may remember from all the great LPs he did throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s in duo with fellow Connecticut free jazz hellraiser saxophonist
Paul Flaherty. It’s been some time since these men have worked together (Flaherty has joined forces these last few years with more noise-centric players, most significantly skin wizard
Chris Corsano [
myspace.com/chriscorsano]). So it was with genuine excitement and intrigue that we popped in a curious CD offering from Randall. A solo project entitled
Clarinet Works (Withdrawn Records) [
withdrawnrecords.com] it has the man not only demonstrating his renown as a free-think drummer but also displays his prowess on various clarinets as well as electric bass and live electronics. These are fairly compact compositions with enough room to rip and roam without wearing out anyone’s welcome. What sounds like a cohesive band is Colbourne playing and overdubbing everything, all recorded in his basement. And it sounds choice, it’s the genuine article when figuring the living tradition of modern American open-music.
Nothing has been more pleasing the past year or so than the re-emergence of
Siltbreeze [
siltbreeze.com]. Label honcho Tom Lax has been doing a great blog for a while, and he has been pooping out super-duper records this year at a ferocious rate.
Der TPK [
myspace.com/teenagepankerkorpsrules] are an international ensemble whose
Harmful Emotions LP is a very grotty assemblage of spaced-out art punk with distinctly Fall-ish rumbles.
Pink Reason [
myspace.com/secondculture] are from Green Bay, Wisconsin and their album,
Cleaning the Mirror is a strangely shaped folk-based gang-hunch into various mood swamps, with creepy keyboards parting water like it was so much thick jelly red. I keep getting a Legendary Pink Dots vibe off these guys, but maybe I’m “hearing things.” From Columbus, Ohio,
Times New Viking [
myspace.com/timesnewviking] have had a pair of cool albums,
Dig Yourself and
Present the Paisley Reich. The latter, in particular, is a one-sided grunt that trashes the idea of linear development with a few brief howls. I mean, it’s so incredibly out-of-time (could be a very special kind of lo-fi spume from any of the last 30 years) you’ll piss doughnuts. My fave of the crop may well be Lousiville’s
Sapat. Their new album,
Mortise and Tenon, is wildly deep and smoked – a bluesy, jammy riot of kraut-damaged brilliance, created in a haze of heat and sweat. Anyway, Siltbreeze is back. Go to it.