Mandy Zone & Ozone-Live At Max's Kansas City 1981; ugexplode Records, 2019

 

Often times, fate just is not fair to musicians. The story of Rock 'n Roll is especially strewn with unacknowledged real artists that toiled in total or relative obscurity before flaming out completely. Thankfully, the Age of the Reissue continues, and Disaster Amnesiac gets turned on to great, seemingly forgotten, sounds from the past pretty often, sounds such as those from Mandy Zone & Ozone. Ugexplode Records has done a great job with Live At Max's Kansas City 1981, which features killer live sets and several equally killer demos from this undeservedly obscure New York City Rock 'n Roll band. 

Vocalist Mandy Zone gave the Ozone not only their name, but also their sonic calling card, with his powerful singing voice. Mandy was clearly not afraid to emote with his incredible pipes. He hits high notes with ease, and seems to love doing that. Dig on Emergency for ample proof of that. His ripped heart emotionalism looms large over songs like Shotgun and Baby It's You. This is the kind of convincing singing, singing which goes wildly past "cool" and into the sort of "hot" emotion that needs to give no further convincing than its own action. Mandy meant it, and if you have ears to hear, you will. His banter on the live tracks seems to show an engaging, affable stage persona as well. Why did this guy not become a huge star? Hell, Disaster Amnesiac has felt while listening that most Hair Bands own him a debt of gratitude for inventing the 1980's strain of power ballad on The Chain. Listen to it and just try to tell me that I'm wrong! Along with his great vocals, Zone plays really great funhouse style keyboards that drive the tunes; try the demo version of Broken Toy or the live version of 19 Teleporter to hear how well his playing did this. They're equal to any of Ozone's contemporaries who were dealing in the same aesthetics, and the latter song rivals just about any Hawkwind for Space Rock prowess. 

Guitarist Jon Pilkington proves to be equally versatile. Disaster Amnesiac has noted many different spices within his six string stew, from early Rock 'n Roll to Glitter to the then current Hardcore Punk. His rhythm playing is chunky and full on songs like Dawn and Born To Raise Hell, swaggerin' along with the songs' changes. His solo voice is simultaneously eloquent and ripped. Pilkington is a great player that clearly deserves more accolades.That's what guitarists generally desire, right?

The rhythm section of Tommie Moonie and Tedd Dolhon stomps and churns with rocking authority that keeps the songs moving with lightning grace. Dig on the cut time swing on Rockie Fever and Shotgun and try not to bop your head in sync with them.  The demo versions of Ozone's tunes have them a bit more restrained, but, man, the live stuff swings like crazy. If Rock 'n Roll is about setting forth a runaway train, Moonie and Dolhorn are damn fine conductors. Check out Lay Away Plan to hear what I'm talking about! 

Mandy Zone & Ozone sound to Disaster Amnesiac like a band that was rooted in past forms but also looking forward to the future within their sound. Live At Max's Kansas City 1981 shows a band  that could have and really should have gained a wider audience. Their sound is creative and catchy, and it's a real head scratcher as to how and why they did not get past their local circuit and out into the mainstream. The tunes on this album are of a high enough caliber to have done so. That said, it's great that we can hear them now or in any other time going forward, for they seem pretty timeless to me.

Goodbye Milford Graves

 

With the passing of Milford Graves, America has lost one of its true geniuses. 

Drummer, scientist, health food advocate, martial artist, philosopher: he covered all of these vocations. As far as Disaster Amnesiac can understand it, Graves pushed the envelope within them all in a way that was truly exemplary and independent. Find an interview with him and marvel at the truly individualistic and creative ways in which he tackled his pursuits. You'll be amazed and inspired. 

Milford Graves's body of work will in no way come to end with his physical passing. He planted the seeds, and they're going to be giving fruits for a long time to come. 

Well played and well stated, Professor Graves. You are now pure quantum.

Galactapus-I Intend To Stay; self-released vinyl and digital, 2020

 

One of the formative influences on this here blog was most definitely the Left Field Americana column in Wax Poetics magazine. Over several issues, the authors of that column would write about strange records that they'd discovered, records in which an artist or artists would blend whatever influences that they had with distinct visions of their own. It would be pointed out how this action would result in recorded documents that display a singular bit of musical magic, unique in the world. Left Field American did a really great job of pointing Disaster Amnesiac toward many a recording that provided the craved "wtf?" upon hearing it. 

I mention this because I'm delighted to say that there is an artist working out of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area would fit right in to one of said columns. Galactapus is his name, and I Intend To Stay is his debut release. Disaster Amnesiac was really excited to hear it online last year, and even further so when my vinyl copy arrived in late January of this year. 

The music of Galactapus is beautifully eclectic and personal throughout I Intend To Stay. Starting off with a kind of tribal invocation with Waking The Troll, featuring the sounds of bells, birds, and weird synth tones, it quickly moves to a mood that brings to mind underground Los Angeles circa 1980 on Succubus. These tunes pair so elegantly, it's tough to not see them as a kind of opening suite. Be Alright follows, and it shows how well versed Galactapus is with primal garage stompin' sounds. Great synth riffs and percussion here, with a nicely twisted refrain in the middle. Things go weirdly surreal on Hold On (I Just Wanna Check Something), as cascading keyboard tones meet up with goofy chanting and funny hand claps. It's here were one starts to feel the genuine, heartfelt oddness of it all; this track has made me laugh out loud, as well as scratch my head with the forementioned "wtf?" mental feel as I've heard it. Kind of like watching an old aerobics VHS cassette at times. Cool, scratchy percussion and very effective, simple drums frame whimsical flute and melodica on The Whistling Lung. A kind of return to the indigenous-to-current feels of the opener. Is Galactapus hanging out with the Ojibwa Nation up there? Next up, Blood Tantrum makes Disaster Amnesiac consistently imagine myself to be viewing a Saturday morning cartoon series from another, better dimension than this one. I see strange heroes and villains coming across my mental screen as I listen. Surely, there is some great animator who could manifest this better show? Any volunteers out there? Please? Side one ends with Faeries' Wet Dream, a nice little etude that gets spiced by some elemental feedback type tones, which wrap its prettiness up neatly within their mysteries. Side Two begins with Cherries That Scream. This song feels like a linear continuation of side one's last track. This is cool, because it places the listener immediately back within I Intend To Stay's singular aesthetic. Chaotic Neutral Overdrive is a fusion of Twee and Garage, with an infectiously groovy singalong, simple vocal, perfect for evoking a mood of carefree skullfucked-ness, which is perfect for these times, would you not agree? Strong Like Tree starts out with an incantation of organ and percussion, then busts out into some more of that fun Twee Pop skippy-do-run-run. I challenge you to not join in with the chorus here! C'mon, it'll be fun, like a Coney Island Steeplechase! Galactapus is a great, less is more drummer, and he proves it on this track. Some glistening, cutting guitar tones lead the way on Aquatron Brother, Surf tones bending around some more of that effective percussion simplicity. Could this Super Hero be included within the imagined series from side one? Would Aquatron Brother front a group of dudes laying down Dick Dale riffs in 1965 Hermosa Beach? If not, can we make that happen on some other time line, just for shits and giggles? Sugar Pussy Boom Boom rocks the keys in a way that would make KK Barrett pound his tom toms really heavy or Su Tissue stand up and take note (at least before she went to The Berklee School). I imagine this one as being inspired by a beloved cat, but your view could be more prurient. 2Hot2 Cuddle (Right Now) mixes beginner sitar with wah-wah keys and warbles, plus more of that astute work on the drums, while the vocals alternate between Space Age "aaaaahhhhhhh)" and the glossolalia from the innermost places of Soul. Yeah, definitely tough to get all touchy-feely when you're jumping between the Starship Enterprise and James Brown on the T.A.M.I. Show. Get down with it and make the moves later, it'll keep. Wait a sec, maybe Galatapus just wants to forego the cuddle and get right on over to home base, what with the "oh baby" that gets placed right there in the middle. Is getting hot in here? I Intend To Stay's penultimate track, Still Alright, brings the listener even further out into space with crinkled key tones to start before a neat drum machine beat and some more of those handclaps mix it up within a fast-paced song about being alright; at least that's what the lyrics suggest. This song should be a hit single, and Disaster Amnesiac should hear it out of car windows and at Target now and at Grocery Outlet in the future for ever and ever. I wanna be alright, and Still Alright makes me feel that way. Just as in any great, effective ritual, I Intend To Stay ends with a short, poignant wave goodbye in Anti Climacto, wherein those great keyboards are joined by plaintive thumb piano and scrap yard percussion tones. Some crows caw, and then, out. Again, a simple, quick wave goodbye.

Wrapped in a cover that features an odd yet intriguing portrait of Galactapus on its front and genuinely lovely calligraphy on its back, I Intend To Stay is a damn near perfect specimen of personalized musical vision, effectively put out into the world, and this world is surely better for its appearance. It would have moved those expert crate diggers who wrote those Left Field Americana columns, and it sure has moved Disaster Amnesiac's perceptions to those cherished musical spaces that I crave so much. Get with Galactapus!

Pet The Tiger-Gaze Emanations; Public Eyesore Records #145, 2020

 

OK, class, raise your hand if you've ever bought a record just because of its cover art. Disaster Amnesiac asks rhetorically, because I figure that anyone that's ever been a music consumer has done so. I also ask in reference to Pet The Tiger and their 2020 release, Gaze Emanations. See, the music on this album was inspired by the visual art of Oakland CA based painter, poet, and musician Brian Lucas. 

Made up of twelve improvised pieces, performed by a group featuring several SF Bay Area New Music luminaries, Gaze has struck me as I've listened to it as a really good example of what happens when musicians listen to each other as they interact. The music here seems to be defined as much by the silences that happen as by the sounds that emanate from the perspective rigs of Bryan Day, Tom Djill, Philip Greenlief, Cheryl Leonard, Tom Nunn, Suki O'Kane, Gino Robair, and David Samas (can one call the human voice a rig?) Many times over, this group gets down to some seriously primal spaces within their interactions, spaces that do indeed match up with the Lucas's similarly adept use of "the gaps" within his visuals. Disaster Amnesiac, being somewhat familiar with most of these players and their voices, has tried to isolate who is doing what, and I pretty much have given up in order to just let the sounds flow into my perceptive field. 

I have also wondered if the sequence of Gaze is in accord with its actual performance, in light of the fact that some of the later pieces seem to have a bit more heat generation as opposed to their predecessors. Not that that's a complaint, for, again, the feels that arise from hearing these great improvisors meet and listen, and then respond to what they hear bear the marks of the mastery that we can all agree that they display. When that heat gets thrown, it's all the more noticeable for those previous moments of contemplative dialogue. Astute use of restraint can be such an effective route to ecstasy, and this crew knows all about how to make that happen within their musical pursuits.

I'd recommend a pairing of headphones and the inner booklet's reproductions of all twelve pieces that give Gaze Emanations its song titles. Find a cool quiet spot, slap this disc on, and prepare....to.....drift.........

It's probably what Brian would want you to do.

Sticks And Stones-Unbreakable Strings; self-released, 2007

 

A week or so back, Disaster Amnesiac was rooting around in the "S" box of CD's, looking for some Stooges to listen to, when I came upon Unbreakable Strings, the 2007 release from San Francisco-based Sticks And Stones. Upon seeing it, I figured that it was high time I play the disc again, having probably not done so for good number of years. 

It's quite possible that I bought the disc from drummer Sam Adato at his drum shop on 9th St. in the City, or that Sam just gave it to me. So many years later, it's tough to remember the details. As I remain a a music nerd, and feel genuinely interested in what people are doing musically, especially people like Sam, I am glad to have kept this one. 

Sticks And Stones are/were an instrumental band that pulled from various strands of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal to get their point across. Disaster Amnesiac hears the influence of guitar greats such as Michael Schenker, Alan Holdsworth, Edward Van Halen, maybe a bit of Frank Marino, Randy Roads et al in the six string approach of guitarists Gretchen Menn and Mickael Tremel. Perhaps a bit of Davie Allen in there, too. You know, players that played. I can't seem to make exactly who is soloing at certain times, but it's clear that whomever it is is very interested in the more melodic side of the guitar's solo sounds. That's not to say that they don't get down into the rough stuff at times; just listen to May Be the One or The Bat Signal for proof of that. Plenty of heaviness in those tracks. Still, one can clearly hear the sound of players that practice their craft, and get things said with their own, thought-out and worked out instrumental voices. It's also really cool to listen to and feel the way that the rhythm guitarist within a given piece keeps things harmonically interesting within the context of the song's movement. There is just so much great guitar going on within Unbreakable Strings, as further evinced by a faithfully executed version of Kashmir by way of the Dixie Dregs, a cool tribute to Roads on Stay On the Roads, with its spot-on quote from one of Randy's shining Blizzard of Oz moments, and the close to ballad lyricism of Siddhartha. Menn and Tremel swagger, swing, shred, and riff in dozens of exciting ways, all the while never seeming to rest on the lazy "cool" that sometimes seems to infect guitar players, especially in urban scenes. These two never slack, and it's fun to hear them dig in. 

Along with all of this great guitar playing on Strings, the listener is also treated to the bitchin' drumming of Hard Rock master drummer Sam Adato. Disaster Amnesiac feels confident in saying that Sam's talents would shine within any musical form, but it seems safe to say that hard 'n heavy guitar music is his forte (I have heard him swing the shit out of a Surf band, just fyi). Just pick any song on this disc: the rolling, stomping Wagon Wheel and A Line In The News, or energetic Turn the Page, with its fast fills, or the intricate Struck Sleepless; you'll find Sam's big bass drum, crackin' snare, and tasteful cymbal beats all over the place. The man just drives these tunes in ways that are rock solid and just perfect for the task at hand. Sam additionally adds really subtle percussive touches throughout, spicing things up with shakers, cow bells, and tambourine shakes. Disaster Amnesiac can recall going into his shop and seeing him in front of a practice pad or sitting at one of his many drum kits so many times. Sam seems to live and breathe drums, and that dedication really shines within the music of Sticks And Stones. 

Taken as a whole, Unbreakable Strings is a very well thought out and executed slice of Progressive Instrumental Hard Rock. Bring your ambitious listening side to it, for the players in Sticks And Stones certainly brought and executed theirs. 

Naturaliste-Temporary Presence; Almost Halloween Time/Gertrude Tapes/Public Eyesore/Unread Records, 2020

 

Wait, what? More product from the Public Eyesore/eh? Records nexus? If things continue apace over there, it'll be SST Records circa 1988 all over again! Pace yourselves, dudes! Not that Disaster Amnesiac is complaining, especially when really fine releases such at Temporary Presence by Naturaliste show up in the mail. 

This quartet, made up of Bryan Day, Christopher Fischer, Charles LaReau and L. Eugene Methe, seems to have, in whole or in part, convened in Shanghai a couple of years ago, borrowed some instruments from a shop there (presumably to be paired with whatever unique rigs these guys were able to get past customs), and laid down some heavy sounds. These sounds were then augmented with sounds from the group members' various studios, and the whole thing pressed up onto a nice, thick, black slab of vinyl for the public's consumption. 

That public should be very damn glad to have access to Temporary Presence, too. Well, at least those members of the public that enjoy improvised Electro-Acoustic and Noise sounds whirling about their senses. See, this work fires on all cylinders within those aesthetics. Within its mix of strange piano chords, percussive clatter, keening feedback, and disembodied voices, the album treats the listener to two sides of consistently gooey and downright deep sonic exploration. Each piece is paced in such a way as to hook your senses in. Once this happens, their effect burrows down further and further, taking your mind with it. Disaster Amnesiac has been particularly enamored with It's Just the Air Conditioner, side two's longer track. This piece lowers a sonic boom that is consistently mind altering. Seriously, when that track has played in my house, things have just stopped and I've been frozen into a state of pure, immersive bliss. It's here wherein all of the various elements just combine into a very compelling whole, one which is just so consistently pyschoid and downright deep as to be a mind blower with every single hearing.  Elsewhere, you have the mysteriously titled The Swallows Have Returned with its ominous thrumming electrics and warped piano, Vitals which features some cool,  by turns glassy and popping percussion, and At the Worst Of It, which concludes things with a nice, thick atmosphere. All the tracks on Temporary Presence just exude this undeniable mood; clearly something special transpired at Sandy Music in Shanghai. 

Along with the great sounds, Temporary Presence benefits from a rich and sumptuous package that has some great Bryan Day asemic writing and cool type face. Dunno if the inner sleeve insert is just a blur by design, but that's kind of cool in its own way as well. 

As usual, Disaster Amnesiac is chuffed to be on the receiving end of another package from the House of Day. Temporary Presence checks all of the boxes for me. Seek this one out, as it probably will for you if you're at all inclined to dig the kind of psychedelia that Naturaliste are so adept at dishing up. 

EKG-200 Years of Electricals; ernstkarelbandcamp.com, 2021

 

If Disaster Amnesiac was tasked with explaining effective ways to interact with Electro-Acoustic music to a person not familiar with its dynamics, I would consider using the graphic image of EKG's 200 Years of Electricals as a kind of portal into the discussion. One sees a small patch of grass, some chaff, and not much else, yes? Not so fast. One can delve further into the grass, getting down into the roots and the dirt and the filaments of the chaff, further and further, breaking these elements down into their constituent pieces. This act would surely reveal new dimensions, new thoughts, new insights into the tableaux. Far from being a simple patch of grass, this space is transformed into a world of interaction. 

This insight can be used for listening and analysis of 200 Years as well. Comprised of four pieces, this recorded has Kyle Bruckmann and Ernst Karel delving into their two decades long collaborative world, turning over the elements with which they interact and then combining into various zones of sound wonder and manipulation. St. Paul Suburb, episode 1, for example, fuses field recordings with analog electronics for a lengthy trip that takes a listener from Mayberry to Sirius B, with many stops in between. One isn't going to get through this trip without sitting back and paying some attention, but if one allows the time and attention, many cool sounds bubble up, or slash out, or emerge from the clouds of previous movements' dynamics. Again, it's really all about the focus that you bring to it. Periodicities mit Wurlitzer shows a very clear example of how Electro-Acoustic music often has a goal of taking the timbres and methods of instruments and seeking to find unexplored or under-explored facets within them. Disaster Amnesiac has sworn that I've heard said Wurlitzer and its amp hum here, but can by no means be certain. Ditto the oboe that Bruckmann plays. Are those clicks and clacks coming from its pads, or are they emanations of some other sound making device? It's all really heady and fun if you put your attention to it. Likewise, Rondo has scratching, scraping scenes that have me wondering what physical element is being played live or manipulated for its result, after which it flirts briefly with a more Noise-based feel before fading off. St. Paul Suburb, episode 2 floats along, mostly in a pensive quiet, with what sounds like wind hitting a mic for that field recording vibe again. 

Reading the press blurb for 200 Years of Electricals, Disaster Amnesiac sees that it is the result of many years' work by Bruckmann and Karel. Clearly, they've labored over its pieces in order to make a statement of Electro-Acoustic music that pleases them. After this recording releases next month, go into their sound garden, and start digging. If you're paying attention, you'll find a lot of neat stuff to please your ears as you go 'a grubbin'.