Nubdug Ensemble/Amanda Chaudhary-Split E.P.; Pest Colors Music/Catsynth Records, 2022

 

Another year begins, and Disaster Amnesiac has found himself lucky enough to be the recipient of the annual Jason Berry/Amanda Chaudhary card/CD! 

As is always the case, this dynamic duo fills a release with visionary and creative sounds. Berry continues his quest of blending twisty rhythms with harmonic sophistication, aided by a stellar cast of SF Bay Area musicians. It's been stated at this blog before, but it bears repeating that the bigger musical world should be noticing Jason's work more. He's building a very unique body of work, one that blends Jazz, Art Music, Funk, Rock, Prog and whatever other elements that fit into his vision. These and more are to be heard on 52 Pickup and A Chip and A Chair. And oh, how these pieces are performed! Fans of through-composed, highly refined music should take note, if they've not already. Berry's elegant work bears up to repeated listening, a dynamic that said fans seem to crave. It's there y'all, grasp it! Disaster Amnesiac was especially delighted by Chaudhary's contribution Sam Sam's Theme. She conjures a very specific Klezmer vibe; I find myself mentally strolling along some Bowery street with a graceful cat (Sam Sam is a resident of Amanda's domicile) and loving it. That, plus deep Ambient on For Luna (RIP) and heavy urban Funk plus wild horn charts and screaming guitar on Merp Friend, the latter pushed by G. Calvin Weston on the drums! Chaudhary's aesthetic vision also continues to grow apace. 

The reader may or may not be acquainted with Jason Berry and/or Amanda Chaudhary. If they are, then they've probably already received this short split EP and its foretaste of longer releases to come. If not, they can pretty easily find them within the interwebs. Either way, Disaster Amnesiac would urge that they listen, and listen well, as it's a fun ride, showcasing two very distinct and refined musical modalities as they emerge. Varese said that the modern day composer refuses to die. Berry and Chaudhary are living exemplars of this dynamic.

Galactapus-The Rainbows Of Wrong-self released, 2022

 

A couple of years down the line, and here we have brand new sonic insanity from Galactapus! The Rainbows Of Wrong continues and expands upon the Galactapus aesthetic: take a plethora of musical influences, blend them within the ever-fertile Galactapus brain, and produce highly listenable music. Now, Disaster Amnesiac will not assume that if you're a "normie" you'll "get it", but, speaking to the fringe elements of musical culture, y'all most definitely gonna "get it", and that you most definitely should, like, right now.

The listenable quality comes from Galactapus's clear genius for song writing. Each tune of the disc, from the Post Punk Surf pulp mashup of Turning Into A Boob to the operatic and Classical elements of Anal and the surreal metallic drama of Giftworm and the towering, mighty heights of Radio Kolossos (which Disaster Amnesiac hears as the centerpiece of the entire album), is just that: a song that one can and will sing or hung along to as they listen. The fact that Galactapus seems to using a fair amount of junk shop grade instruments within these musical matrices makes The Rainbows Of Wrong that much more impressive of a feat, at least from a musician/technician aspect of appreciation. Still, on a more simplified and basic tip, I feel as that anyone who really takes the time to listen to the album will agree that it contains a ton of great music, something which can't be faked whether one is playing a $2 children's glockenspiel or a $10,000 electric guitar. One either has it or they don't, and Galactapus most obviously does. There are no futile, time filling exercises here, only killer tracks that blend seamlessly into one and other in musically thought out ways and manners, ones which you can dance or thought-bliss out to. There's room for all of that and more on these rainbows.

The entire world is going insane and out in Minneapolis Galactapus is offering up a perfect soundtrack for the insanity. As stated in 2021, you just really ought to get with Galactapus. Find the debut on vinyl from that year or the CD of The Rainbows Of Wrong from last year, you'll hear what I'm sayin'.

Oh, and dude, what kind of mics did you use? It's OK if that's your trade secret. Once can still delight in the mysteries of Galactapus.

Charles LaReau-Stasis; eh? Records #121 cassette

 

Judging from the tones that he gets on this eh? Records cassette, the sense that Disaster Amnesiac gets is that Hangzhou-based Charles LaReau is a no nonsense kind of guy. He uses tapes and electronics in order to build up long form, granular drone pieces on Stasis, ones that eschew exercises in fanfare. This entire cassette has a mellow, and certainly contemplative feel to it, one that's perfect for use as background to reading or thought processing. It's been rainy and cloudy for the past few days where I sit, and the sounds from Stasis have served as a suitable soundtrack for staring out the window at clouds and puddles and the drops therein. One wonders what electronic devices were utilized for these tracks; whatever they were, they must have been spare, as everything here has a sleek simplicity that would evince an almost complete lack of bells and whistles. No Jazz Hands happening, just a lot of dreamy washes and trills that scroll by within the attentive musical head. Asian Ambient must be a thing already, and Charles LaReau is doing solid work within that presumptive micro-genre.

Guro Skumsnes Moe & Philippe Petit-self titled; Public Eyesore Records #151, 2022

 

To paraphrase Peter Tosh here, Disaster Amnesiac is comin' in hot with an off the cuff review of Guro Skumsnes Moe & Philippe Petits' stunning new self titled CD from Public Eyesore. Just got the dang thing today and I'm just so jazzed on its sounds that the need to wait has been sloughed off like manners during a political debate. Gotta write about it NOW, because this, THIS is what I'm talking about when it comes to Experimental/Industrial/Electro-Acoustic music! 

Three tracks, two long and one short, of a duo that explores the deeper recesses of their respective rigs (basses, analog synths, voices, and turntables) and the explorations reach into deeply satisfying sonic realms. Moe and Petit peel back the niceties and get downright gritty with each other, and it's a treat to listen to them do it. Whirling, twisting sonic hurricanes! LSD trails! Doom Metal bass riffs! Plurp-ey synth burbs! Pealing feedback! Random weird melodic fragments! All of that and more have this duo concocted in a release that is so pleasingly in the pocket of what Disaster Amnesiac currently wants from his Experimental/Industrial/Electro-Acoustic listening time. I'm listening right now, and all that I can do is smile at their astute presentation, one which brings the best and most effective elements of these genres to peak levels of fascination. Clearly Moe and Petit have done a ton of work in the sound art world; they bring it all to their tables, and do it with confidence and poise fitting of their resume. In short, this stuff rocks. 

There have been a few recent releases from the Weirdo Music side of our world that have felt mannered and kind of bland to Disaster Amnesiac, but Guro Skumsnes Moe & Philippe Petit is WAAAAAAAY not that. You guys need to get some kind of cool logo so that Henry Rollins can tattoo it on his left calf.

This is a rant, brought about by two vinyl records that I received for review.

 

Let's go back three years, shall we, and bring up the specter which was then being floated to the masses. As Disaster Amnesiac recalls it, we were being told that a terrible disease was emerging, and that it would kill millions of people. At first we were told to wash our hands with more diligence. A few months later, we were told that society would have to be shut down for a few weeks "to slow the spread". A year or so later, we were told to have a vaccine injected into our bodies, which would surely save many lives and keep this emergent disease in check. Some of us questioned that dictate, and some of us lost our jobs for having done so. Some of us were no longer able to afford our expensive mortgages, and thereby had to sell our houses and a lot of our property in order to find new places to live, places in which the pressure to conform or be cast out would not be felt as harshly. Mr. and Mrs. Amnesiac soon found ourselves within that newly emerging demographic. After a brief interval in which a leap of faith move occurred, I found myself within a smaller house, in a new state. Within this smaller house, there is just barely room for Disaster Amnesiac to store LPs or even a turntable. This is the situation which I find myself in. I accept it gladly, because ultimately, God's will is greater than mine. Amor Fati suits me just fine. 

All that said, I obviously cannot review LPs, even as I'd really, really like to do so. I just can't listen to them, currently. Perhaps that situation will change someday. Who can say? What I can say is that actions and decisions ALWAYS have unintended consequences. It's Disaster Amnesiac's hope that the masses will, next time, choose a bit more wisely as to these decisions and actions. There are two brand new, unsealed LPs sitting atop a stack of boxes of other LPs, crowding a corner of my house. An insignificant sight by any objective measure. But, still, for me, they are a potent symbol of what can happen when people do not take into consideration the fact that there will never not be unintended consequences from decisions. Next time, people, please try to use your critical thinking skills with a bit more aplomb. 

Merry Christmas.

Random Photo!

 

Disaster Amnesiac visiting with Casey Sonnabend near Santa Cruz, CA spring 2012. I drove down from Oakland with Brian Lucas, who used this photo along with his text at the City Lights Books blog. Casey passed away in October of this year. He was a tremendously friendly and fascinating guy. Many thanks to Brian for including me in that fantastic day's journey. 

Live Shot #71!

 

Jazz musicians playing at a Sunday brunch in Albany, CA, ca. 2014. The restaurant didn't have live music for that long, unfortunately. The band did good versions of standards, no surprise there.