Necros-Tangled Up; Restless Records, 1987

 

On the very first Hardcore Punk Rock mix tape that Disaster Amnesiac ever had the pleasure of hearing, 1985 in late spring, Necros featured pretty prominently. Needless to say, I followed their career after that; there's even a funny (to me) story of actually meeting them at an Arby's on Jefferson Davis Highway in Woodbridge VA as they were wending their way over to Richmond for a show with the Circle Jerks. Also recall 2003-ish, finding out about an affordable reissue of Conquest For Death and talking to a record store proprietor in Baltimore in order to attain a copy (dude also tantalized me with stories of interactions with Lungfish members). As for Tangled Up, the 1987 full length from Necros, Disaster Amnesiac most definitely owned a copy during that time and most definitely played it a lot. As recalled, the sounds on the album were exemplary of a certain strain of musical production, rooted within Hardcore Punk Rock and Punk Rock in general, that were evidence of progress within the overall aesthetics of same. Journalists such as Brian Walsby and Mike Gitter, if I'm not mistaken, were all-in, as was teenage Amnesiac, the Dumfries Dork, the Potomac High Hierophant (at least within my own little domain, consisting of bedroom and basement), the Terror of All Things Civil Within Montclair. It's suspected that my copy of the initial vinyl release was sold at Plan 9 Records in Richmond. Bad decision man! The Big Daddy Roth cover image alone should have precluded me doing that, but I probably needed some quick cash for weed or Marlboros. Teenagers can lack foresight! All that screeding aside, I'm happy to have found a CD copy of what was probably Restless Records' best offering, with the To Damascus LP coming in a very close second, here in Tucson a few weeks back. And I've listened. And I've enjoyed. Here in Arizona, on obvious Second Amendment diatribe such as Gun is not only understood but also welcomed and uplifted! That the lyrics also feature wild party babes is definitely not a bad thing. The music on this track features a dynamic that is all over Tangled Up, that being a canny update on the Hardcore Punk Rock rhythmic approach expertly swung by drummer Todd Swalla, just slathered with much more skilled guitar playing of a decidedly non-wanker technique by way of guitarist Andy Wendler. In other words, noisy and unhinged. Do not become unhinged when you're at the rifle range, of course.  Disaster Amnesiac keeps asking "just how close are Necros singer Barry Henssler and Ted Nugent, anyway"? Next up we have Blizzard Of Glass, with its tight syncopation and real deal Hardcore gang vocals. Tight picked bass there, Ron Sakowski! Perhaps a bit of Celtic Frost influence in there, who knows, and is that a bad thing at all, in this era or any other? Of course not. The song ends with the abruptness that one can expect from Punk Rock and leads to Tangled Up's centerpiece track, Big Chief. This one's an epic tale of some sort. Disaster Amnesiac has been guessing that some of the lyrical content describes weirdo people that Henssler encountered out on the tour trail, but obviously that's just speculative. And Wendler's solo is one of the most straight up Detroit post-Stooges guitar statements that I've ever had the pleasure of going deaf to. Fantastic, rockin' stuff here, driving pounding Rock 'n Roll! I'm certainly happy to have become reacquainted with it! Tough to follow all that, but Open Wound does with more of Necros Hardcore refinement. This band was at ground floor of the 'core, and this song shows them getting a bit fancier with the accents a bit, but it's still IQ 32 to this dumb ass. Tangled Up continues this trend, with Henssler maybe showing a bit more "maturity" in his lyrics, if by the term one means world weariness. Hey, at least you had Swalla kicking ass in your drum monitor, Barr. A bit more of that road chug on the tune, too. It's almost as if Power Of Fear  and Black Water are simplified version of Tangled, but that's alright. Necros were a touring, working band, and it's totally fine for bands like that to rely upon signature moves; especially good for the band if those moves are original and ass kicking. Hardcore Punk grounded itself within those tendencies, and again, Necros were there at its initial flowering period. After Noise, another rager, Tangled Up suddenly goes Prog on 500 Years, A Pack Of Kools, Nile Song and A House Full Of Drunks. Kools allows the guitar guys to show evidence of some of their musical developments and this leads into an incredible version of Pink Floyd's juiciest writing wherein Todd gets his licks in before the whole thing wraps up after a concise twenty eight minutes  with Drunks. Atonal piano hails the invention of Death Rock, to be capitalized upon a bit over a decade later by Viking Bros in Sweden. In doing research and contemplation for this post, Disaster Amnesiac saw a picture of this iteration of Necros, all greyed and aged, hanging out together. Did they play some shows recently? That must have been a time!

Live shot #147!

 

Thomas Harrison Jr., Make Out Room San Francisco 11/6/2017. Illinois inventive. I hope he's still producing music. And maps!

Cecil Taylor-Corona; Corbett vs. Dempsey Records, 2020

 

It stands to reason that Cecil Taylor's Corona CD, issued in 2020 by Corbett vs. Dempsey Records, would have not made it onto Disaster Amnesiac's perceptual radar until four years later. So much was obliterated and lost in that era (for a giant nothing), there was just no way that I'd have been aware of it. Thankfully for this Taylor fan, a cheap copy emerged from the depths of internet, that super duper fun place, and I snagged it on the immediate tip. Glad to have copped and listened, too. First track Sector 1 features a group of pretty well regarded international improvisors doing some sort of glossolalia (and a few short bars on some reed instrument) in accompaniment to Cecil's deep African Diaspora poetry recitation. His spoken word pieces are always fascinating. The ways in which Taylor parsed words, so abstract and intriguing, are on full display. Sector 2 presents the meat of this 1996 Berlin concert appearance, forty eight minutes of duo exchange between the man at the Bosendorfer and drummer Sunny Murray. Long time fans of creative music will recall that these two men produced some absolutely boffo improvisations in the 1960's, ones which defined a lot of the dynamics of free thought within the Jazz continuum. On Corona, their chemistry is shown to have not been lost. Murray ranges about on his drum kit, getting the wide, powerful sound that he was known for. Sunny pushes and stretches the rhythms in non-linear ways with a brashness that is rooted within his love of the form. Taylor's responses are in keeping with his by-then well established stylistic imperatives: huge block chords on the lower registers, as heavy as the heaviest Tony Iommi riffs (if one listens with, like, their ears), fast runs on the higher registers that fall like cascades of abstract crystal flowers. And of course it's all really sublime and lovely. As Disaster Amnesiac has listened to this track, I continue to hear the Blues that Cecil never denied having been influenced by. If you can't hear that, dude I am so sorry. Try again, and don't listen to twerps that accuse Cecil Taylor of being a fraud. Almost an hour of blissful listening is followed by more abstract verbiage from one of the top pianists of the 20th Century. Very cool how one can actually hear him walking away from the mics at the conclusion of Sector 3. Disaster Amnesiac got to see him play once, at Yoshi's in Oakland, and the man was nothing if not theatrical. I have no doubt that there were deep metaphysics implied and applied within this part of his presentation. Corona gives all of this to the music listener within a tight presentation that Corbet vs. Dempsey Records always has. This album is well recorded, lovely to see, and even more lovely to hear. Find it and study at the feet of two Masters.

The Fog; John Carpenter, dir. 1980

 

After Disaster Amnesiac's Halloween ritual of playing spooky chords upon an old, questionably tuned upright piano with the front door of the house open, the missus and I had some time to spend, and we figured a spooky movie would be appropriate. A quick perusal of Kanopy had us viewing John Carpenter's brilliant 1980 film The Fog. I may have seen it during the adolescent years, but that time is quite long gone, and the memories of it were vague at best. This was a good thing, as viewing it again for the first time revealed a fantastic experience. Lovely shots of western Marin County in Spring, clearly after a good rainy season, with the fields showing a shimmering green. Incredible exterior shots of Point Bonita and its lighthouse. Very creative set design and lighting. Excellent soundtrack work from Carpenter, wide shots that approached Minimalist paintings. Adrienne Barbeau giving a quite subtle performance, using her vocal inflections as much as her fine physical looks. Hal Holbrook as a man aware of his impending doom and reckoning with that. Use of horror motifs not as the principal concern but as ways in which to enhance the full spectrum of human experience. Seriously, if you've not watched The Fog for a bit, it's absolutely worth its concise one hour and twenty eight minute running time.

Chester Hawkins-Semisolids; Intangible Arts, 2014

 

Pretty ominous vials of some poison type of injected substance on that cover art for Chester Hawkins's Semisolids, no? The sounds of this 2014 release match quite well with it, too. Brooding electronics are pushed from various electronic sources, all of them captured with clarity and precision. Hawkins is not haphazard with his productions, as Disaster Amnesiac has gleaned from this one and Nil 1, reviewed a few weeks back. These tracks run the gamut from spooky, non-pulsed clashes such as iodine to more rhythmic areas on slender loris and malattia del sonno, the former even utilizing synthetic percussion and the later that would not sound misplaced within a John Carpenter film. the brood crushes the synapses with odd cyber sounds and proximity fuze might make an obsessive type do some cyber stalking of Cosey Fanni-Tutti and Christ Carter. Dramatic zones infuse isle of dogs and from away as Hawkins turns weird knobs on his devices; these zones will surely be pleasing for any fan of well crafted Industrial/Noise/Drone. nematode might very well get that butt out of its chair, with that repeated phrase, in order to perform some kind of improvised dance routine. As Burroughs so succinctly put it: "...dance around in your BONES..." That's been the case for this listener, anyway. Speaking of William S., the liner notes of Semisolids appear to utilize some kind of variation upon the Cut-Up Method. I tried to read them later in the day and found much bewilderment, which is probably at least one element of the intended effect of their screed. The album feels like a kind of concept statement, with that concept being presented in an oblique form that renders it fascinating. What was Hawkins obsessing upon during the production of these tracks? Grab a copy for yourself and attempt to decipher these deeply personal messages from this Tucson Sound Artist of high refinement aesthetics.