Live shot #146!

 

Modesty, Los Angeles based Pedal Drone Core. The Palms Restaurant, Twentynine Palms CA 4/5/2024.

86-s/t; OHP Records, 1985

 

Some of that 'ole black (vinyl) magic hit Disaster Amnesiac at Bookman's in Tucson as I looked down into the lower shelf of one of their LP bins. Would you not also be intrigued by that mysterious cover imagery? I'm sure you would be. Well anyway, I was, and subsequently the interest went up even further after reading that Mac McNeilly, Jesus Lizard pounder of skins and resonant metals did same on this 1985 release from OHP Records. It must be admitted that some idea of how these seven tracks would sound emerged from the synapses pretty quickly; that idea has proven to be pretty accurate. Bass with a treble edge, likely plectrum picked, guitar sounds that are noisy, pretty clearly pulling from the Post Punk side of available tonal choices in that time, both of them driven relentlessly by Mac. Max Koshewa, bass/vocals, and Ken Schenck on guitar/vocals do not sound bummed by this feature at all. Indeed, the band jams out pretty effectively. 86 obviously were a band that rehearsed and played shows with a focus towards the realization of an actual band sound. In that time frame, many bands chose to pull from ready made templates such as Hardcore or Crossover. The pleasure in 86 comes from the evidence which shows young musicians blending their influences in an attempt to come up with an original voice of their own within the band format. There are recognizable 1980's American underground music tropes, yet 86 transcended them within their jamming (but not Jam Band) songs, and it's really great that they were documented well and with clarity. Was Mac a marching band star drummer in the Atlanta Metro Area? Damn that guy can play. If you see this album out there, grab it for McNeilly's drumming. No doubt Max and Ken were glad to have grabbed him from wherever he was hanging out beforehand.

Phil Lesh RIP

 

1965-1970-raunch classics, psychedelic Dark Stars, feedback

1970-1974-fine grain woody tones, mastering the song form, strength to strength within the creative music world

1975-1980-guiding the good ship Grateful Dead all the way to the Nile and back

1980-1987-professional touring Rock Star

1987-1995-a participant in great song writing and live music presentation, MIDI pioneer

1995-2024-the best Dark Stars and the most adventurous bands of the post-Jerry Dead sphere

People loved Phil a lot. He played music for people. The Pride of Coucamounga and other kooks, too. Rock on, Reddy Kilowatt.

Live shot(s) #145

 

All shots taken at Golden Saguaro, Tucson 10/23/2024. 

Below: Cultural Detox Syndicate. Poly chanting with digital saturation and dissolves. 

Above: Actor & Parasite play Patch-a-Delic and have the footage to go along with that.

Below: Marcos Serafim. AI elevated to its full Surrealist potential. Erotic intra-dimensional with Illbient sounds. 

Golden Saguaro Its Groovy.

nil-01; Intangible Arts, 2023

 

As the collective earth-bound enter into Scorpio season within a chapter of the programmed reality script that calls for much nervous agitation, it must be that people are conversing privately about "current events" with at least minimal levels of intensity. Disaster Amnesiac has his main bro for that, too, of course. We've been discussing things currently happening society-wide. Not sure if D plays music in the background as we go 'round and around with it, but I certainly do. Some music just isn't optimal for that function: your Black Sabbath or your OFF! or Sub Rosa's An Anthology of Chinese Experimental Music (2011-ish). That said, some music definitely IS. Yes, talking about Ambient Music here, a genre which 01, by nil, certainly fits within. The album features sound art conjured by Chester Hawkins during a residency at Leibig12 in Berlin. These artistic sounds are achieved from manipulations of unlikely instruments such as electric toothbrushes and found acoustics to more standardized types of axes such at modular synths and phone apps. 01 is characterized by deep blends of these disparate instruments' tonal possibilities that are sometimes colored by street and field recordings all around the city. Disaster Amnesiac has been to Berlin enough times to resonate with the brooding  results. They're fine sonic representations of the place, made even more effective by Hawkins' adeptness with his tools. Es ist doch schwer, kenst du mich? The album's cover keeps reminding Disaster Amnesiac of the the cover for Eugene Robinson's A Long Slow Screw; it's the stark black with some white dabbled in there for contrast. But mostly black. Black is the darkest shade and 01 has a pretty dark vibe, which bothers this listener not one bit. If you find yourself buggin' out currently due to which ever you know what you're supposed to be obsessing upon out there, you could probably use its sounds as a means of anxiety transference. You could also call a friend, and you'd be able to leave it playing as you yakked. Remember to tell them how much you love them.

Live shot #144!

 

Civic Orchestra of Tucson, conducted by Dr. Keun Oh. Catalina Foothills High School, 10/20/2024. Pieces by Beethoven, Britten, Mendelssohn, and Mahler. The Britten piece, featuring viola soloist Teizheng Shen, was a revelation. Really great performances of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn scores. Perhaps a bit of intonation slip on the Mahler piece? A fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Live shot(s) #143!

 

 

All shots from Desert Drone at Screening Room, Tucson 10/15/2024.

Below: lid ismuth. Floating worlds within Drone. Somewhat short set.

Above: Ceremonial Abyss. Bobbing up and down in a diamond sea. With flicker. Longer, booming set. 

Below: Grant Beyschau. Hurdy gurdy, percussion, Casio tones. Went deeply into the drone. Look out for this recording, you'll want to hear it. 

Desert Drone is unstoppable!

Live shot(s) #142!

 All shots taken at Miami Art Works, Miami AZ 10/13/2024.

Below: Loud Obnoxious Bass. Miami Noise from Lob Instagon!

Above: Aphrodites Polyp. Tucson Electro-Acoustic. Lap Steel guitar used to great effect. 

Below: Dummy Rifle from Phoenix. Densities and aggro.

Above: Ceremonial Abyss. Portland Drone. Should have played longer, but I will see him tonight at Screening Room if the world isn't nuked by then.

dustsceawing-s/t; eh? Records #127, 2024

 

Minneapolis and so-called Minneapolis and Oakland trio of Miri Karraker, Noah Ophoven and Mitch Stahlmann have been exploring a shared interest in "lowercase music, small sounds, and questions around instrumental proficiency" since about 2017. eh? Records has documented parts of their progress on dustsceawing, one which presents two side-long cassette pieces. 

The first piece, firn, was recorded by the trio in in 2018 and features a quiet, slow moving activity among the three of them. The ways in which the group mesh their sounds shows an ensemble that is focused upon listening to each other and responding within appropriate duration, after silence or as a prelude to additional silence. Of note here at mi casita has been the element of surprise from the timbre of viola, cornet and flute. The fascinating question of "which one did that", always an aspect from the satisfying Improvised Music listening session, is one which has arisen often as Disaster Amnesiac has listened. Staring out my window now, big, puffy white clouds float past in the Sonoran sky, and dustsceawing's music matches them with a sort of perfection.  This is enjoyably float-ey music, made more enjoyable by the calmness of its presentation. The group plays with fine interconnectivity.

On side two resides fold, a piece which had Karraker, Ophoven, and Stahlmann performing and recording simultaneously at their respective residences, via Zoom. A very interesting dynamic of this 2022 session is that they each were muted from one and other, essentially playing solos at the same time (does that statement even make sense?) The press sheet describes the result as "[S]trata stack and form something solid" a descriptor which Disaster Amnesiac can hear and most definitely agrees with. The various layers of sound combine with a "stacked" nature that, if listened to closely, do evince touches of the adjacent lines to be seen within stratum. As an experiment, fold's principal dynamic is fascinating. Is it braveness or folly to tell their public about the method? I can't say, but it must be assumed that this method is one in play more often within improvised settings. 

Special note must be made too of dustsceawing as a physical object. The cover art is sublime and mysterious, and the actual cassette is clear with green glitter printing. Noice. 

The players who produced this release went deep, and you can too.

Random shot!

 

Discrete elements on an outside wall. Sullivan St., Miami AZ. Sometimes minimalist elements can jump out at a viewer with the most powerful of impact.

Random shot!

 

Casey Sonnebend's paints and some of this brushes and canvases. Capitola CA April 2012.

Live shot(s) #141!

 All photos taken at Screening Room Tucson 10/4/2024.

Below: Dollblood. Blended songwriting and Drone. Really excellent crescendo to end a short set.

Above: MMRA. Floating cities of the electron.

Below: Cecyl Ruehlen pulled wonderful feedback and overtones from six floor-based fret boards. Heaviest act of the evening with film that Clement Greenberg would have found nicely saturated. 

Above: Lauren Sarah Hayes does Noise Aikido. Rather too short of set, Disaster Amnesiac wanted more! Gestural twitches from interactive cybernetic looping action. 

Below: Twig Harper. Out on a long tour. Static-ey mastery. Fascinating wind instrument paired with an influential Noise rig. He just calmly destroyed. 

 

Before the acts played, and in-between sets, Wave Archive and Desert Drone, co-curators of the show, played older Country and Hillbilly music over the PA system. I pondered the terrible destruction in southern Appalachia, especially the images I've seen from North Carolina. Praying for all of those affected by the terrible Hurricane Helene.

Random photo!

 

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. July 2020.