How To Build A Rocketship-Hovers + Vanishes; Watercolor Music, 2023

 

One steadfast rule that Disaster Amnesiac follows: if a person presents me with music that they're involved in producing, it must be described herein. It's close to one hundred percent of the time that the time spent listening to these productions is pleasurable time spent. This, on account of staying close to underground scenes, as close as can be had. So many micro-scenes, so many niche scenes, so many people of so many age ranges out there making music and sounds; if their music can be heard by me, the happier I feel. Back to said presentations: some weeks back a member of How To Build A Rocketship, John Matzek, presented me with this band's 2023 release entitled Hovers + Vanishes. John described to me the evolution of the band and as recalled he, Mario Cordova, Jason Garthwait and Ernest Natiello began jamming together as teens in the early 1990's. Their musical links must have remained strong over the three decades before recording the tunes that comprise this album, for they achieved strong, band-centered tracks all over it. It kicks off with the slinky, grooving Troubadour music of I Declare War, a song enhanced with interesting guitar tones. King Fool follows as track number two. School house rockin' with percussive overdubs! The bass guitar really carries the melody of a song with lyrics love lorn and wiser. The crooner of this one probably will go through it again if those lyrics are to be believed. Cutting guitar tones and a pulsing groove stroll together on Come Cry In My Arms, which has been perceived as a story about disappointment. Pointed questions are asked as the chord progression moves forward. Even the heartiest revolutionaries get weary. An imagined Spring morning in Lubbock TX in 1954 presented itself during hearings of Marco Polo. Minimalist percussion allows the melodic form and structure to be appreciated. Is that a poetic description of Tucson sunsets. Tight rhythm section work and beautiful burbling tones. Travel to Berlin, 1977 for the jaunty Atoms, as the freedom to collapse is explored within its words. Astute production sense is on display with the effective fadeout for this one. The pace is slowed down for July, and that brings up moody feels as interesting guitar pedal effects are utilized. Break up song vibes and the somewhat ambivalent ending portion sits right in with that flow. Side two of this lovely piece of robin egg blue splatter vinyl starts with Cast Fireball, which has a very dramatic opening part. Metallic chords support a piece that has a soundtrack-ey, Sci Fi sense. Its instrumental are pleasing. Big Pop moves splash around on Recline Racer and there is cowbell! Naturally that's a hit around my turntable! Fuzzy six strings rub all over it, too. Sad tones and more of that world weariness pair up on Salt In The Cut. Lyrical themes that give a sense of the sads lead to bursting chords and an uplifting, dramatic flourish during instrumental passages. A compassionate soft landing is provided by How To Build A Rocketship, showing that this group of players were not afraid of some musical intimacy. That's a good thing. Cool (as in aesthetics) guitar tones and roomy spaces are investigated on Something Else. It's a laid back Pop Progressive tune. Another serving of dreamy Pop comes with Chowderhead. This is the one track on Hovers + Vanishes that feels a bit unfinished, but don't fret because Our Daily Meds brings the bar back up. Down tempo Emo with drama sounds and more of the adept band playing that's all over the LP. Tight, quick end also. Argonauts concludes the disc and it starts out Psych-ful before it drifts into a more text based arrangement that provides an emotionally suitable release from a writer that does not shy away from the more painful aspects of a human experience. Mention must be made fore the production values of Hovers + Vanishes aside from its music. Its tones were exceptionally captured within the engineering process of Jim Waters, and as physical object it's visually and tactilely satisfying. How To Build A Rocketship certainly built a good 'un with it. 

Live shot(s) #252!

 

Blurry shots taken at Slow Body Brewery Tucson, 10/24/26. 

Below: Mad Ugly utilize twin guitar leads in intriguing ways. They reside within well crafted, Punk'ed up song forms and driven by an outstanding drummer. This band's a mover!

Above: Miss Olivia and the Interlopers approach their music with a "mix tape" approach. This tight, understated rhythm section play well written originals and craftily arranged covers. The singer can really sing too!

As stated, the shots are blurry and Disaster Amnesiac apologizes for that. 

Live shot(s) #251!

 

Taken at Music Box Lounge Tucson, 10/23/26. 

Below: The Brown Notes making the lower tones twitch.

Above: Zöld play a song about ghosts. Sludgin' out!

Below: Stone Levitation brought their Mojave Desert based Gothic Heavy Rock back to Tucson and slayed. Great guitar solos. Vinyl coming out soon! 

Above: Sol of X. Garage Metal with positive and upbeat lyrical messages. Wild guitar solos on several songs, propelled by double bass drum action.

DOUR-Putrescent Form; No Sides Records, 2026

 

While Disaster Amnesiac does not have too much deep knowledge when it comes to Electronic Dance Music, there have been a few cases during which that form has been deeply enjoyable to these musical synapses that rattle around within my cranium. Years ago, there was a weekly show on the excellent KFJC, I believe on Thursday afternoons, which played tons of those types of sounds. That show got this lumpen proletarian through many a shift within a dreary Hayward CA warehouse wherein I had the displeasure of spending three years toiling in order to keep bills paid. A few years later and at a job which compensated much better, there were more than a few times when interesting disks of various examples of EDM were ordered special import style from the UK-based Boomkat Records. Let it be stated that Disaster Amnesiac is not completely unfamiliar with EDM. These subjective examples are brought up in regards to Putrescent Form, the No Sides Records release from DOUR mostly because I don't want to sound like a know nothing type of listener, and its sounds do indeed strike this listener as being Electronic Dance Music. Indeed each other this EP length release are very much beat driven and dance move enticing. It's certainly been the case that as I've played it, the urge to move around the room in a choreographed manner! Pumping, energetic beats have assured that type of response, and what's not to love about intricate, dynamic beats? Atop those beats, sampled snippets of random sound bursts, electronic squiggles, squidging pulse patterns, and all out Noise attacks are all utilized to thicken the broth into an all out blissful soup of experimental dance throb that is quite juicy and invigorating, again especially as a catalyst for ecstatic dancing. DOUR is apparently making moves at a very quick pace, and surely the rapidly expanding catalog from this energetic sound artist is well worthy of delving into. Grab some DOUR sounds and boogie on down with your fancy footwork! 

Live shot(s) #250!

 

Shots taken at Chicago Bar Tucson, 10/17/26. 

Below: Dead Train Gone. Fender driven Bluesy rockin'. Gritty. 

Above: Holy Nitemare, tight as ever with deeply rooted guitar player and crazed rhythm section backing a powerful singer. 

Below: Ivan rocking out a solo with Holy Nitemare. 

Chicago Bar could turn into a great place for Tucson bands and bands from other places too. 

Paranormal Ragtime Orchestra-An Unquiet Mind; No Sides Records, 2026

 

What can be done to quell the tumultuousness of the human brain's processes? Some people exercise. Some pray. Others find chemical solutions. Others pursue activities within the arts. A subset of this latter portion choose to make Noise. Surely, not all of those who choose to work within the Noise field are mentally unstable or unbalanced, and the notion occurs to Disaster Amnesiac that people that I've interacted with in that scene are generally well mannered, friendly, and just kind of considerate as regards most situations. Still, it's a given of the human condition that we're all mostly kind of without much mooring as we make our way through the subjective mortal passages that we're all committed to within this earthly realm. Therefore, we all have to find ways of coping and making sense of it all. Mid-Western sound artist Daniel Park appears to have been utilizing Noise as his creative outlet for a long time. This year's release from his Paranormal Ragtime Orchestra, An Unquiet Mind, pulls heavily from a scholarly text about bi-polar disorders and it evinces a lot of the topsy turvy features that characterize that type of mental complex. It starts off with a really pretty and blissful hammered dulcimer piece, Digital Laraaji Simulator, which has tricked this listener into thinking that the entire album would remain within that sort of sonic zone. Not so, as the next track, with the hella Punk Rock title Clint Sprott is a Jerk gets hella aggro and glitched out and exploded. Things settle down a bit for Grains, which has modular quacks and garbles and fades. Granular! Is DRM2 a device or a person? Whatever or whomever, Generative Patch for DRM2 gives cracking and burning circuits. Neatly percussive sounds arise until an ice patch of high pitches concludes. Vocals and drones and field recordings are blended into high plains drift pulses on Lost Soul, and it's very compelling listening. More percussive tones arise and then fade into the nighttime fields. Are the ring modulator sounds on Innerspatial Navigation further processed by lap top? That's a perceptual leap made by Disaster Amnesiac, for they sure sound as if they were. Effective close mic'ing showcases how cool the sounds of burning circuits can be! Floor Pile is a slow burn that picks up squidgey densities as its drones unfold. This song features a battle between contemplation and action, and you the Noise fan are the winner, should you choose to witness. The very academically named Soliloquy for Voice, Mic Feedback, Xenon Gas Tube Filter and Spring Reverb blasts pure, unbridled Noise as it starts. There is an indeed a voice that intones some kind of text as discordant harmonics and windswept cacophonous sounds resume the Glitch Core action that Paranormal Ragtime Orchestra favors on An Unquiet Mind. Lovely beating sourced from what sounds like the modular synth fill Intermittent Intermission, whose title is very accurate, as it is indeed a short piece that sets the stage for penultimate track Prodromal Shore. Fascinating Sci-Fi title, that second one! This track heads into more spacious terrain. It actually gets quite quiet before a built up Noise wall is erected. The machines that erected this wall worked very hard, hopefully there was no burn out before it was completed. The record concludes with its variation of a title track, a driven and driving synthesizer piece that gets progressively more fried as it develops. The faded conclusion of The Unquiet Mind makes Disaster Amnesiac wonder how long its duration was as it was performed. An Unquiet Mind presents a wide swath of approaches to making Noise, all of them well considered and recorded by Paranormal Ragtime Orchestra. Undoubtedly, Daniel Park found some kind of mental solace as he laid down these eleven tracks of sonic experimentation. Grab the CD and do a bit of mental exploration on yourself! 

Sudden change of plans leading to surprise viewing experience!

 

Yesterday afternoon, Disaster Amnesiac went over to the University of Arizona campus in order to take in a euphonium recital. After schlepping through a bit of a late monsoon shower, I got to Holsclaw Hall and found it to be locked, with no staff around and certainly no performer present. Eventually a student ambled up and told me and the two other people that had been waiting for the doors to open that the performance was cancelled. Total bummer, as I'd been rather excited to hear some live euphonium music! 

Heading back to my car, the University of Arizona Art Museum appeared to me to be open, and it was decided that I'd just go in and take in some art. Pleasantly surprised that I did, too, as the exhibit entitled Staged: The Art Of Performance had some really cool pieces, foremost for this viewer being Score Without Parts (40 Drawings By Thoreau): 12 Haiku by John Cage from 1978. Disaster Amnesiac has long been a fan of Cage's work, and in fact earlier in the day I'd listened to a piece by him on an album released by Nonesuch Records. Score Without Parts is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of America's foremost composer/mycologist. So much space is included within its matrix, yet it allows for unlimited combinations of sound, too. It was imagined that a performance of this piece could be realized by twelve players, or a solo player, or any type of lineup in-between. Cage clearly noted dynamics within each of the piece's twelve sections, and they range from pianissimo to fortissimo, a range that runs the gamut within that particular spectrum. Intriguing too, to see Cage's delicate handwritten title, modestly embossed upon the bottom the score in pencil. John's sketch-styled visual notes upon the score's staff, somewhat brittle looking, were also a joy for this viewer! 

Below: John Cage's Score Without Parts (40 Drawings B Thoreau): 12 Haiku

Another very compelling work on display is The Buffalo Hunting Dance, a 1941 piece by Josè Ray Toledo. Disaster Amnesiac was struck by how current a feel this work on tempera has, despite its being over eighty years old. The vibrant colors contained within its field, the use of negative space, and the line work utilized by Toledo combine in very visually exciting manners.  Ancient to the future!

Below: The Buffalo Hunting Dance

Rock and Roll, a circa 1965 oil painting by Joseph Sherly Sheppard, also made itself notable. This piece exudes a carnal energy in its depiction of music fans rocking out to a live band. Its size and placement within the gallery of the museum make it very tough to disregard, and once the viewer begins to take it in, its vigor becomes readily apparent. The painting's somewhat rough style and slightly primitive lines give it a visceral appeal that serves as a fine analogue to the live Rock 'n Roll experience. 

Below: Rock and Roll 

A final piece that Disaster Amnesiac found remarkable was 1969's Flamenco Rock, an etching done by Moishe Smith. The contrast between the mostly black and white lines of the occasional fields of red, particularly on the textual elements makes for an exquisite little world, one inhabited by interestingly rendered show goers as they experience a night out as they enjoy "Gypsy Spanish Dances". These dancers, captured within the middle of the frame, provide movement that contrasts with the static positions of the seated audience. What were these peoples' lives like? 

Below: Flamenco Rock 

As stated, it was a bit of a disappointment for Disaster Amnesiac that my initial plan of hearing some interesting new music did not work out. That said, a spontaneous decision to veer into what was available led to a pleasingly moving experience within a slightly different milieu. Might have to run back over to University of Arizona Art Museum in order to stare at that Cage piece some more!