Guro Skumsnes Moe & Philippe Petit-self titled; Public Eyesore Records #151, 2022

 

To paraphrase Peter Tosh here, Disaster Amnesiac is comin' in hot with an off the cuff review of Guro Skumsnes Moe & Philippe Petits' stunning new self titled CD from Public Eyesore. Just got the dang thing today and I'm just so jazzed on its sounds that the need to wait has been sloughed off like manners during a political debate. Gotta write about it NOW, because this, THIS is what I'm talking about when it comes to Experimental/Industrial/Electro-Acoustic music! 

Three tracks, two long and one short, of a duo that explores the deeper recesses of their respective rigs (basses, analog synths, voices, and turntables) and the explorations reach into deeply satisfying sonic realms. Moe and Petit peel back the niceties and get downright gritty with each other, and it's a treat to listen to them do it. Whirling, twisting sonic hurricanes! LSD trails! Doom Metal bass riffs! Plurp-ey synth burbs! Pealing feedback! Random weird melodic fragments! All of that and more have this duo concocted in a release that is so pleasingly in the pocket of what Disaster Amnesiac currently wants from his Experimental/Industrial/Electro-Acoustic listening time. I'm listening right now, and all that I can do is smile at their astute presentation, one which brings the best and most effective elements of these genres to peak levels of fascination. Clearly Moe and Petit have done a ton of work in the sound art world; they bring it all to their tables, and do it with confidence and poise fitting of their resume. In short, this stuff rocks. 

There have been a few recent releases from the Weirdo Music side of our world that have felt mannered and kind of bland to Disaster Amnesiac, but Guro Skumsnes Moe & Philippe Petit is WAAAAAAAY not that. You guys need to get some kind of cool logo so that Henry Rollins can tattoo it on his left calf.

This is a rant, brought about by two vinyl records that I received for review.

 

Let's go back three years, shall we, and bring up the specter which was then being floated to the masses. As Disaster Amnesiac recalls it, we were being told that a terrible disease was emerging, and that it would kill millions of people. At first we were told to wash our hands with more diligence. A few months later, we were told that society would have to be shut down for a few weeks "to slow the spread". A year or so later, we were told to have a vaccine injected into our bodies, which would surely save many lives and keep this emergent disease in check. Some of us questioned that dictate, and some of us lost our jobs for having done so. Some of us were no longer able to afford our expensive mortgages, and thereby had to sell our houses and a lot of our property in order to find new places to live, places in which the pressure to conform or be cast out would not be felt as harshly. Mr. and Mrs. Amnesiac soon found ourselves within that newly emerging demographic. After a brief interval in which a leap of faith move occurred, I found myself within a smaller house, in a new state. Within this smaller house, there is just barely room for Disaster Amnesiac to store LPs or even a turntable. This is the situation which I find myself in. I accept it gladly, because ultimately, God's will is greater than mine. Amor Fati suits me just fine. 

All that said, I obviously cannot review LPs, even as I'd really, really like to do so. I just can't listen to them, currently. Perhaps that situation will change someday. Who can say? What I can say is that actions and decisions ALWAYS have unintended consequences. It's Disaster Amnesiac's hope that the masses will, next time, choose a bit more wisely as to these decisions and actions. There are two brand new, unsealed LPs sitting atop a stack of boxes of other LPs, crowding a corner of my house. An insignificant sight by any objective measure. But, still, for me, they are a potent symbol of what can happen when people do not take into consideration the fact that there will never not be unintended consequences from decisions. Next time, people, please try to use your critical thinking skills with a bit more aplomb. 

Merry Christmas.

Random Photo!

 

Disaster Amnesiac visiting with Casey Sonnabend near Santa Cruz, CA spring 2012. I drove down from Oakland with Brian Lucas, who used this photo along with his text at the City Lights Books blog. Casey passed away in October of this year. He was a tremendously friendly and fascinating guy. Many thanks to Brian for including me in that fantastic day's journey. 

Live Shot #71!

 

Jazz musicians playing at a Sunday brunch in Albany, CA, ca. 2014. The restaurant didn't have live music for that long, unfortunately. The band did good versions of standards, no surprise there.