Death Pyre-Concatenation; eh? Records #133, 2025

 

With Labor Day occurring in a couple of days, and the heat here in Tucson phasing from its almost unbearable phase to more tolerable intensities, Disaster Amnesiac is reminded that Summer is getting to its later times. I am also reminded of this fact by having reached the bottom of a stack of product from the Public Eyesore/eh? Records nexus, a stack which I plowed through during the recent hot months of the year. Chicago/St. Louis Goth/Noise/Experimental groups Death Factory and Ampyre merged their talents and visions in order to release this cassette, Concatenation, as Death Pyre, and it's as out there as any other of the releases issuing from Bryan Day's two long running labels. It's an album that's a bit more on the Tech-ey side of the Noise spectrum as it evinces production features that sound perhaps a bit more studio crafted with the attendant control resulting from that. I have heard Concatenation as an Industrial release of sorts, but am not sure if the people who played its sounds would agree. Reasons for my view include the sounds of hard edged electronics pushed by synthetic percussion on the first track In Absentia, the presence of abstract, murky vocals sounding out from side B's The Fruit of Our Labors, detuned guitar abstractions on International Talking 2, and just the overall "from the caves" vibes from all three of the pieces on this cassette. Ring modules and various other non-standard sound sources provide the melodies on Concatenation, such as they are, and Death Pyre's conjurations of very effective blends of percussive accents within them. This is a release that will delight those looking for wide open, long form abstraction that is pushed to the perceptual breaking point. Not exactly easy to endure but what in life really does have that quality, anyway? Death Pyre or its two foundational groups must surely be pummeling live acts, no?

Jim Kimball RIP

 

Yesterday evening I was told the news of the passing of drummer Jim Kimball. Such a powerful player with the likes of Laughing Hyenas, one of the best live acts I've had the pleasure of witnessing, and the Jesus Lizard. Blue, the one album featuring his playing with the latter group, is really under appreciated. Sad news from Michigan.

Glenn Weyant-In Pursuit; self-released, 2025

 

They don't seem to arrive too frequently, but whenever Glenn Weyant does send out files of his recordings, it can be assured that Disaster Amnesiac will smile, listen, and appreciate. Recently one of said recordings, In Pursuit, arrived in my email inbox. This release is one for solo guitar, meticulously amped and mic'd for maximal effectiveness of its sound capture yet also raw enough it its production to feel nicely organic. It's a piece that strikes this listener as being triptych: three distinct movements comprise its forty minutes and change duration. Layered loops and backward sounding tones are featured within the first one. Their tones are total Doom in timbre, and they lead to single line melodic statements which arise from the initial chaos. In Pursuit's second movement shows explorations of the electric guitar's tonal capabilities and even spots which touch upon Shred aesthetics; that said they're all done with capable feels for aesthetics in music. Ain't no cheez to be found therein. Really fascinating synth tones bridge the piece to its third and final movement, which gets desolate, spooky sounds which proved perfect for watching an incoming Sonoran storm front as it traversed the sky above my neighborhood. Primitive modular sounding tones close things out with desolate feels, and the listener will likely at this point be pinned down, reeling from the power of this new joint from Glenn Weyant. In Pursuit is a perfect album for solitary contemplation, at any hour of the diurnal cycle. Seek out what he's up to and find yourself gifted with his fantastic sounds on occasion!

Live shot(s) #190!

 

 

Taken at Tucson Metal Fest XXXV, 191 Toole 8/23/25.

Below: Nether Dred. Powerful vocal chops, twin guitar dynamics, tight rhythm section. Ready for more Metal festivals.

 

Above: Soul of the Sun pull from older Rock archetypes but with a guitar player as good as the one in this band that's still more than valid. 

Below: Sol of X bring a tight Street Metal with refreshingly positive lyrics and attendant joy. Smiles all around.

 

Due to personal commitments Disaster Amnesiac was not able to see and hear the other three bands on the bill, surely hope to see and hear them at another show. Tucson's independent Metal scene is hella on point.

S*Glass-Benign Neglect; Public Eyesore Records #164, 2025

 

Just in case you're wondering, Disaster Amnesiac can confirm that it's still daunting to review sounds produced by S*Glass. It's no exaggeration when stated that the dude's an OG on the Noise scene, having shared mental spaces with high flyers such as C. Spencer Yeh, Wolf Eyes, Monotract etc. Also harrowing when considered is his being main man of Bananafish magazine, the no nonsense taste maker of many things Free Jazz and Noise and so forth. So yeah that if can feel kind of weighted when attempts are made to describe his releases. Still, Public Eyesore sent a copy of Benign Neglect my way, and that is a rare privilege so let's unpack shall we. First track Abandoned Information Kiosk sends out a lot of what sound to be distressed human voices. These field recordings conjure urban street scenes such as on recounted on the back of the cover of Neglect. They have reminded Disaster Amnesiac of the non-verbal enunciated pronouncements of many an autistic person that I've worked with since 2014 or so. The track is not entirely incomprehensible as all that, though. There are portions of it which provide significant tones for imaginary travels. Even those distresses can seem musical when framed by Glass's aesthetics. I Have A Prepared Statement comes next, and it starts out Harsh Noise before pivoted to Drone rather quickly. Isolated spiritual chants of varied traditions are highlighted, surrounded by whirring tones and fuzzed episodes. Just as is the case in its predecessor, it's eerie, murky, and un-centered like a Bardo. Then, suddenly, a deep Prog riff occurs. The last third of the it has felt Metal in horror movie soundtrack kind of way. For some reason Disaster Amnesiac has thought about the writings of Deleuze & Guattari as I've listened also; perhaps on account of its slow motion schizo movement? Benign Neglect concludes with The Exact Opposite Of Surveillance which is a completely agreeable notion to this citizen. It features the most consistently interesting samples, paired with repetitive sound motifs. It's uncannily oddball without necessarily trying to be so, and as such it's an effective mirroring of how the world just is now. Very much worth the wait. Is the murkiness of our society in its current state a bummer for S*Glass? A lot of Benign Neglect gives off that aura, and yet he must find joy in preparing this surreal soundtrack of pieces from this zeitgeist's sickened underbelly.

Live shot(s) #189!

 

 

Taken at Wooden Tooth Records Downtown Tucson 8/16/25.

Below: Working People. Their band sound evolution featured touches of Goth while being delivered with Rock 'n Roll conviction. Ballet is also becoming a significant element. 

Above: Slug Bug. Phoenix-based trio dynamics. Telecaster dynamics and a rave up during their penultimate statement of the night. A band with fans.

Below: Skin Theory. Face melting end of long tour Harmelodic stunners. These guys have a bunch of different projects going within their scene and this band could be The One for them. Heavy. 

Seedy Arcing-s/t; Chocolate Monk Records choc. 660, 2025

 

For those collectors of physical media lucky enough to have discovered a copy of Seedy Arcing's self titled CD on Chocolate Monk Records, surely they will have noticed how its sounds dip immediately into hardcore abstraction. From the very first notes of it, Alex Abalos and Bryan Day take this recording into some very fuzzy zones of instrumental interaction. Yes, this recording is a Noise recording. That's not to say that there aren't melodic tendencies therein, one just may have to work a little bit, by paying attention with their ears, in order to hear them. Noise stuff generally harshes most peoples' mellow, but Disaster Amnesiac can't imagine that many of those who are exposed to these types of musical moves are going to be those types of people. Listeners and fans that seek out recordings such as Seedy Arcing will likely be fine with harsh, Serge Modular sounds and sounds of invented instruments. It is those types of sounds that make up the bulk of sound sources for this duo exchange, along with Kulintang gongs from the Philippine Islands. And a big "fuck yeah!" to that. It's so very interesting to hear their pleasingly melodic qualities juxtaposed with hardcore electronics. Within the straight up battle music stewed up by Day and Abalos one can find the most deliciously overloaded sound events, along with the pure percussion of the mallet-struck kulintongs. A couple of significant examples of such for this listener would be Spacial Pricing, with its interactive dynamics, and the ways in which Fonal Purchase gives its rad Sci-Fi sounds. No Refunds ties the whole album together in a clear sighted ending track, and it's an album that breaks much ground by fusing the analog and the purely electronic. Additionally, Seedy Arcing benefits from clean, clear recording and mastering along with funky cover art which reflects the street culture within which Alex grew up. There are sixty copies of this one floating around out there. Act fast Noise people.

Live shot(s) #188!

 

Taken at Wooden Tooth Records on Congress, Tuscon 8/9/25.

Below:  The (arc) Collective make bold electric instrumental moves with Trance mobbing.

Above: Up Rabbit Mountain. Subtle melodic cluster variations within a dancing matrix. 

Months since I'd been at Wooden Tooth downtown for a show, happy to have gone back. We under a fool moon currently.

A Magic Whistle-The Solar Cell; Lampspeople #001/Public Eyesore Records #166, 2025

 

It's not often that Public Eyesore Records does vinyl editions, but when they are involved in them, the consumer can rest assured that they will be beautifully produced physical objects, and The Solar Cell by A Magic Whistle proves this contention. This album, produced deep inside rural, mountainous northern California in the years 2021-24, contains sounds that worthily enhance its neat-o banana yellow vinyl and gorgeous cover art and photography. The timbres achieved by A Magic Whistle on Cell are generally bright and sunny. A sampling of some of the instrumentation: home made sequencers/synthesizers, modular synthesizers, electronic manipulations. These types of instruments and their sounds can generally be quite efficient for making those short, bubbling, burbling tones which give off feels of experiments in mycology eating; indeed as I've listened it's been quite easy to imagine them as being the soundtrack for some sort of film featuring fairies, gnomes, and maybe the odd cat, all shot with wide angled lenses and perhaps some "trippy" filtering. Partch-ian ratios appear to be utilized on Andy Puls's Cascadian Sympathetic Steel, a guitar-based invention which lends many stringed Exotica touches from its repetitive (in an entirely grand way) featuring on a number of tracks. Standout tunes for this listener have been the surreal Soft Robot and the tripped out county fair calliope of Dancehammer. That being said, the entirety of The Solar Cell's twenty one cuts are worthy of repeated listening. A Magic Whistle presents Rural Psych in a most refined and thoughtful sort on this split between his label and Public Eyesore. Hardcore vinyl heads: come for the package and stay for the music!

Ron Heglin-Tom Djll-Duos for Voice and Runglers; Public Eyesore Records #165, 2025

 

Kind of scary, really, the way in which Ron Heglin and Tom Djll immediately begin the sounds of Duos for Voice and Runglers, their recent CD release on Public Eyesore Records. Deeply singular abstraction is the main menu item on this one, and they serve it up hot from the start. If one figured that a recording made up of sounds produced from "chaotic circuit[s]" as their foremost feature and improvised vocals in a personal language could possibly be a bit terrifying, one would in the cases of most people be correct. Disaster Amnesiac can't say that I was scared exactly, while listening, but more summoned to attention. This latter may have to do with the fact that Ron Heglin and Tom Djll are known qualities to me, as far as listing to music goes; the depth of their musical explorations is at the very least familiar to these ears. Along with the sounds aspect contained within this duo, there is also, dare I say, an intellectual gravitas to them. Put a bit more simply, they're serious about this stuff. Anyway, that's the way that they both came off to me, and fucking hails for it. Yes, the music produced on documents such as Duos can supply the simple fun of diversion from whatever else is occurring in a human life, but along with that ideas are attached. Specifically from Heglin: his performances and cover art contributions explore, with intent, aspects of language and its manifestation within the human experience. He goes deep into too. As stated, dude's serious. The Runglers which Djll utilizes and describes as both precise and unpredictable serve as either a foil or a mirror for the human sounds from Ron. As the latter relays ancient sounding stories from alternate dimensions, the former pushes his instruments into sharp, cutting, and mostly harsh bursts of Noise. What's been striking to Disaster Amnesiac is the absolute control of the sounds which have arrived. Hints of possibly more ambiguous results are given from the press sheet for Duos, but it sounds so very controlled in these quarters. Especially fine is bakinsa, in which high skilled throat singing emerges from the throat of Heglin. Adding to the concision is the relative brevity of the entire disc and its nine tracks. Nothing drags on for too long and that's fine. If you're up for putting in forty five minutes or so of mental effort, you'll not find Duos for Voice and Runglers that intimidating, at least not for too long.