[jico.]

The Pendu Gallery [psr.pendugallery.com] in Brooklyn has released a fantastic comp of New York area bands called Getting Rid of the Glue. The title is taken from a statement made by Henry Cowell when introducing performances by John Cage, Christian Wolf, Earl Brown and Morton Feldman at a New School concert in the 1950s. As Cage remembers it, Cowell was describing how these mavericks were dispensing of the “stuck” habits of music formality. That’s awesome, and someone had to make the fucking move and they did it and here we are all just free and open and killing any and all strictures of “rules.” This can be an anarchistic slop fest but thanks to the curatorial aesthetics of people like Pendu Gallery we can approach the madness knowing we are going to be hearing some worthwhile innovation. This comp is a good un natch, reminiscent of the Space is No Place comps from Psych-o-path Records [psych-o-path.com/catalog/home.php] in 2002 where we first heard Mouthus and the where-are-they-now Breast Fed Yak [birdmanrecords.com/breastfedyak.html]. Some known names here especially Excepter [excepter.com] who are constantly in some kind of flexible flyer of rubbery bomp and slap groove and Talibam! [trashfactory.net/talibam] and Maria Chavez [myspace.com/mariachavez] and Big A Little A [sleeep.com/aa]. The new kids, at least new to our old fogey country ears, are as sprightly and damaged as you ask for. Killer kutz from Dirty Churches [myspace.com/11687144] and Fessenden and Eager Meek and a great track from free jazz pioneer Daniel Carter [aumfidelity.com/carter.html] where he’s blowing classic outside toneskree with noise knobbers Old Ghost [myspace.com/ghstmth] and something called Mialessot [myspace.com/mialessot]. Carter is amazing. He has been on the boards with his horn since the early loft days of late ‘60s into ‘70s NYC, a poet – recently published Work In Process (Pitchfork Press) – a high-minded thinker, theorist and he has a history of playing in and out of all kinds of contemporary marginalia from no wave dementia alongside The Contortions to jamming with first gen hardcore bands. His solo, duo, etc. work is consistently astounding particularly his membership in the long running 4tet Test [aumfidelity.com/test.htm] with Sabir Mateen [http://home.earthlink.net/~ribas/sabirmateen/], Matt Heyner and Tom Bruno, considered by many the premier free jazz group of the last ten years. Daniel has been laying it down with Old Ghost and Mialessot for a little while now, they have a previous CDR What If? (Pendu Sound). And there’s what is seemingly a related cassette release by K.P./Daniel Carter/Demian Richardson on the St Cono Strada label outta Brooklyn. With the current interest in reeds in free noise, particularly the embouchure munch of Heath Moerland (Sick Llama) and John Olson (Wolf Eyes, Dead Machines) and certainly Paul Flaherty, Carter is in a welcome stream of NOW. As he has been always.
Can’t really go another minute without mentioning Richard Kern’s [taschen.com]. Although Richard originally made his name for his NY-SKUM films and photos (with Lydia Lunch [www.lydia-lunch.org], Lung Leg [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_Leg] and so many other immortals), in recent years he has earned his crust doing photographs for men’s magazines. Some of his earlier volumes have hinted at this, but Action (with its accompanying DVD) really brings home the departmental bacon, if you know what I mean. The material is technically softcore, meaning there’s no male/female genital-based interaction, but everything else is present and accounted for. Once you get past the buzz of the visuals, however, you start to see that Kern’s eye and artistry have not been corroded by the marketplace. Some of these shots are as insane as anything he’s ever done. They’re just a bit more titillating is all. And why is that a bad thing?
San Franciscoites Tarantel [tarentel.com] have the distinct misfortune of being compared to the dated vibe of what nerd crits dubbed post-rock. This would’ve killed off most bands at this point and these guys have been playing since ‘95 or so. But they were and are so much more than that and have supremely developed into a pretty damn fine experience of instrumental psyche/drone/percussion fuckeroo. Judging by the first two installments of their limited four-LP series Ghetto Beats On The Surface of The Sun (Music Fellowship) [www.musicfellowship.com] they are in full majesty. An involving musical goodness here.
Dave Shuford (of No Neck fame) has a great album out now with his combo D. Charles Speer [dcharlesspeer.com] (which also features Jason Meagher and Marc Orleans). Some Forgotten Country (Sound @ One) [soundatone.com] is very much song-oriented, like a somewhat less-crazed version of Jason’s Coachfingers [www.coachfingers.com] or something. The vibe is a bit countrified (a la Mallard [http://members.aol.com/tedalvy/mallard.htm]), but because Shuford’s who he is, there are odd operational frequencies hovering in most of the record’s corners. But that’s not to say the music isn’t full of uh..:”good pickin’” and whatnot. It just doesn’t end there.
Hanging out at the Ultra Eczema [www.ultraeczema.com/] / Freaks End Future [www.freaksendfuture.com] merch table at ATP this last December a very interesting young woman came by asking to trade for an oversized art mag. Tyfus traded some vinyl which she was excited by but we had nothing but a pocketful of lousy Euros which we bartered to her. Our luck, as her mag is some boss sketchings of young ladies in various states of ennui and trance rhythm alongside mind-freak illos. Her name is Pauluna Makela [Pauline.makela@gmail.com], she’s part of a Finnish art collective of sorts called Kutikuti [www.kutikuti.com] and her mag is called Mystic Sessions Volume 1. The drawings were done under the influence of Sunroof!, Wolf Eyes, Sunn O))), Vodka Soap, The Melvins, The Skaters, Prurient, Earth, Gate, Khanate and Burzum(!) — whoa, if this is the future of northern European femme-life then maybe there’s hope yet for this dreary sphere.
Chicago band Dark Fog [www.darkfog.net] has been hailed by Jim Derogo, but I’m not gonna hold that against them. I mean, what the hex? The band’s second release is a double LP called The Ultimate Cult of Psychedelic Psychosis (Original Sound Recordings) [www.originalsoundrecordings.com] and it really kinda hits a soft spot here. Like other hard-psych-revisionists, these guys seem to have learned some of their guitar and vocal moves in a post-Dinosaur universe, but we were never too big on yappy emotive vocals anyway (unless it was Stackwaddy). That said, the band still manages to conjure up a good wad of psychedelic guitar overload, and the packaging is so excessive (silver foil, color gatefold, etc.) it’s really pretty cool. I mean, nobody ever said, “subtlety rules.” Right?