Rent Romus-PKD Vortex Project (A Tribute to the Dark Master of Pulp Fiction); Edgetone Records, 2001

 

This CD has been in and nearby any player within mi casita for a number of weeks. Furthermore, Disaster Amnesiac would challenge any listener of outside-styled music to not have a similar response to its killer sounds. PDK Vortex Project was recorded in 1998 by five musicians that are just very damn good at what they do: Rent Romus (woodwinds), Doug Carroll (electric cello), Joel Harrison (electric guitar), Dave Mihaly (percussion), Tom Nunn (electro-acoustic inventions). The interactions that these five have with each other was justifiably dubbed "Vortex Music" by Romus, and repeated listening has proven why to this listener.  The group sound whirl and spin as such. And so many spirited interactions on these eight tracks,  and such depth of focus each one of them shows toward the overall sound matrix! Quite pleasing to these ears. I'll recommend March of the 80 Foot Phils as the prime exemplar of such. The ensemble (in the truest sense of the term) achieves a zen atmosphere of magical suspension there that is just so lovely for its delicacy. Really, though, just play the entire disc, as it is filled chock-a-block with the best sounds on offer from the Free Improvised scene of that or any other time. As Phil stated in his Exegesis papers: "[I] was so clear in my mind as to what to the exact point in this drama at which we stood". It's like that for over an hour, and that is time well spent. 

PS-very nice, luminescent cover art by CJ Borosque too.

John Krausbauer & David Maranha-Briging it Back b/w Round and Round and Round; Public Eyesore Records #154, 2023

 

Fascinating format fuckery here, as John Krausbauer and David Maranha, men of lengthy resumes opt for a relatively short 7 inch that showcases music most often featured on long playing LPs or even longer CDs. Two sides of Drone from amplified violin and amplified organ to be exact. And drone they do. The listener is essentially dropped into what sounds like an already-established action as soon as the needle hits the vinyl. Maranha has set up a pulsing ostinato pattern that bubbles and wobbles. Krausbauer solos with abandon atop of that. The musical action really hits when their notes converge within the wildness of their duo sounds. Disaster Amnesiac has heard it as a thick band of dark color and also as a quickly flowing ribbon of water. It's clear that they caught a moment of peak mind-meld on some day back in 2020. Lovely Minimalist cover art from Sarah La Puerta to boot. A fine little document from an obviously inspired session. When does the full length LP come out?

Live shot #91!

 

Guitarist, composer, visual artist, jewelry maker Mika Pontecorvo. KPFA studio, Berkeley CA 12/31/2018.

Live shot(s) #90!

 An evening of Metal at Hotel Congress, Tucson 7/26/2023.

 Above: Satanic Blood Angel. Tucson True Black Metal. Without darkness there's no light. 

Below: Sorcerer's Sword. Manic Thrash Metal from Reno NV. Out on tour now, catch 'em!

Above: Evasion. Tucson Technical Death Metal with a truly versatile singer.

Bryan Day & Dereck Higgins-Woven Territories; Public Eyesore Records #153, 2023

 

As far as Disaster Amnesiac can tell, Woven Territories documents a reunion between peripatetic Public Eyesore main man Bryan Day and erudite Omaha lifer Dereck Higgins. The former's musical output sticks to the Experimental side, while the latter is involved in disparate approaches to sound making. Still, they share a common bond in Omaha and its scene as well as the propensity to get odd with those sounds of theirs. The four pieces that comprise Woven Territories unfold over durations that strike this listener as being almost courtly in their feels. No elements within them feel rushed or forced as the duo present their respective additions to the overall aural matrix. Ideas emerge, blend with whatever other sounds are happening, and then they all float and bob until they drift away. Higgins's field recordings are particularly noticeable in that they go well past simple environmental documents and capture what could be much more varied field sources. Day's invented instruments still sound somewhat familiar to me, and his phrasings on them are evolving as his familiarity with them increases. It's these two aspects of these sound artists' toolboxes, both physical and aesthetic, that give Woven Territories that air of sophistication. Day and Higgins are probably not going to just bash through any scenario, particularly one which involves sound blending and music making. This is not to say that the album is dull, for it certainly provides plenty of action; it's just that none of its four tracks ever jump immediately to the more frenetic spaces. Instead this duo set up moods, let them establish themselves in almost cybernetic ways, and then add spice as the broths thicken. It'll be interesting to see if these two can find more time to break away from their various other endeavors in order to produce more of these weaves.

Illusion of Safety & Z'EV-self titled; Feast of Hate and Fear/Cipher Productions/Oxidation/Korm Plastics/Drone Records/Personal Archives/Public Eyesore Records/Tribe Tapes/Liquid Death Records/No Part Of It, 2022

 

Excellent news here at Casita Amnesiac, in that I've managed to hook up a turntable (thanks Dad) and make room for vinyl listening. Thus, a circling back to last year's Illusion of Safety & Z'EV album, released by a veritable consortium of interests. 

Side one's track, A Strategy of Transformation, moves from a promise of the classic z'ev Wild Style percussive attack quickly into feels that are of a more Musique Concrete nature. Field recordings of people speaking are interspersed with digital Glitchcore techniques. Some of the latter sound a lot like the ones that z'ev showcased at his performance at the Lab in San Francisco, 2015; he pulled these swooping, cascading falls of sound from an electronic drum set that looked as he'd gotten it at the Goodwill for $7.99 plus tax or something. This piece wends its way regally through these varied zones. Disaster Amnesiac recommends it as a headphones listen. The discrete elements will come to the fore of the consciousness much better with this method. Alternately, one could just crank it up as far as one's speakers can handle, thereby assuring annoyance from house mates, spouses, parents, etc. Your choice, Noise Person.

On the flip side, Smaller Revolutions starts out with the quietest of drones. This sound disperses at a stately pace, with thin layers added to the initial line over the course of several minutes. Obviously it's within these tissue of sound where the listener will find intrigue, the attentive listener, anyway. Give in to the slightest distraction, you'll likely miss the thread. Disaster Amnesiac supposes that at that point Illusion of Safety & Z'EV will become simple Ambient Music, but I also suppose that that's not really what these two sound artists' intentions were. z'ev ain't around to comment, but, still. Toward the end of the piece, the layers widen with blends of ring modulator sounds, percussion and harsher electronics. This soup is worth waiting around for as its elements mix up into a goulash of yummy Industrial Music. The sounds from Illusion of Safety and z'ev make for a fine sonic payoff in the second half of Smaller Revolutions. 

Worth noting too is the wonderful artwork from Bradley Kokay. Disaster Amnesiac can't tell if it's the result of digital or hand done collage methods, but either way the graphics on Illusion of Safety & Z'EV are striking in their complexities. Cool stuff! 

Clearly, this LP, with its large team of production stake holders, was a deeply felt labor of love. z'ev is missed and respected by many it seems. Can we get a decent release of that Lab performance?

So I Had To Shoot Him-Alpha Males and Popular Girls; Crucial Blast Records, 2006

 

Here's a record that is so hyperactive, so tightly wound in its over the top energy, it's no wonder that it's t he only one that this group put out. So I Had To Shoot Him emerged from the very fertile Metal scene of Maryland and put out Alpha Males and Popular Girls on that state's great Crucial Blast label in 2006. Disaster Amnesiac is just getting around to listening to it in 2023. Somehow I'm willing to bet that the members of the group are still fatigued from putting Alpha Males together and then (presumably) touring it. Over the course of ten precision-tooled songs, the twin guitar team locks into these incredibly tight atonal riff barrages. The bass player gets spooky surreal and then percussive while keeping pace with the insane drum workouts. So I Had To Shoot Him were an ensemble of almost unbearable togetherness, in that each member of this rhythm section was so absolutely locked in with what their fellows were doing......the mind boggles. It's as if they were giving lectures on some advanced form of calculus. To have done that enough for a full length record is impressive and astounding. Add to all of that the fact that the tunes have held up so well, that they sound so fresh and great all of these years later? Damn, nicely done So I Had To Shoot Him! Atop the fractalized mayhem coming from the guitars and drums, Alpha Males and Popular Girls features the the crazed singing, Opera stylings, howling, and all purpose freak outs from Libby Schaub. This singer even delivers her lyrics in German at one point (sounds like German, anyway, but hard to tell from underneath all of that shiny guitar string abuse). Disaster Amnesiac has imagined Libby having to spend some serious time healing after all of the spent energy in delivering this record. I hope her vocal chords are alright, and I wonder what kind of groups she's joined in the wake of So I Had To Shoot Him. Her performance on Alpha Males is exhausting for the listener, it must have been a kind of hell scape at times for her as the performer. Alpha Males and Popular Girls will most likely leave the listener in a daze, fatigued and sweating in its aftermath. If any of the members of So I Had To Shoot Him ended up institutionalized after this production, or living on some quiet ashram in Arkansas or Humboldt County, well that would not be a surprise. Still, their ordeal can be enjoyed with far less volatile results by an attentive appreciator of crazy Metal sounds. This record destroys like unexploded ordinance can.