WEAPONS OF ASS DESTRUCTION (2006)

IF YOU ARE ON THIS ENTRY LOOKING FOR THE 2002 ADULT FILM STARRING BELLADONNA, THE POLITICAL THEORY BOOK BY ALFONZO RACHEL, THE HABANERO-LACED HOT SAUCE, OR THE RECORD BY DUNGEON MEAT THEN I AM VERY SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU. HOWEVER, MAYBE YOU LIKE COMPLETELY TUNELESS MUSIC TO FUCK TO, OWN THE LIBS TO, TO DOUSE ON YOUR FOOD, OR JUST SIMPLY TO LISTEN TO? IF SO, STICK AROUND.

FORTY MORE MINUTES ALONGSIDE MATS GUSTAFSSON AND THURSTON MOORE, DISKAHOLICS ROUND OUT THE SOLID CASE FOR THEM BEING THE WORST BAND THAT EVER LIVED. THREE ALBUMS OUT OF THREE OF ROTE AVANT IMPROVISATION THAT GOES NOWHERE AT ALL, SUCCESSFULLY EXPLORING NO MOOD, BREAKING NO GROUND, AND ONLY REALLY ANNOYING ANYONE WHO LISTENS.

JIM PLAYS SYNTH AND WHILE THIS BLOG IS ABOUT HIS WORK AND I'VE GENERALLY BEEN KIND, HE HAS TO SHOULDER SOME OF THE BLAME HERE WITH HIS SHITTY TONES AND ANTI-SOCIAL CREAKING AND BUZZING. YOU'RE IMPRESSING NO ONE MATE. GO AND HAVE A WORD WITH YOURSELF.

I HATE THIS AND I HATE DISKAHOLICS. DUD.

ACOUSTICS (1994)

FABLED AXEMAN HENRY KAISER RETURNS TO JIM'S SIDE ALONG WITH ACCLAIMED VIOLIN PLAYER MARI KIMURA AND ALTO PLAYER JOHN OSWALD TO PUT TOGETHER A HEAD-EXPANDING HOUR OF ACOUSTIC JAMS. THE COVER TELLS US THIS MUCH:

THIS RECORD IS FREE IMPROVISATION AT ITS SMUG WORST. BEFORE I EVEN GET INTO THE RECORD ITSELF I HAVE TO POST UP THE LINER NOTES IN FULL. I AM ALL FOR A BIT OF KNOWING HUMOUR BUT THIS GOES RIGHT PAST THAT AND INTO A REALM BEYOND.

THIS IS UNLISTENABLE AND INTOLERABLE. THE PRESENTNESS OF ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS SEEMS TO LEND AN ADDED DIMENSION TO OBNOXIOUSNESS THAT THE PERCEIVED DETACHMENT OF SYNTHS (EMULATING ACOUSTIC SOUNDS) OR COMPUTERS (NON-ORGANIC NEW SOUNDS) CANNOT. IT'S LIKE SOMEONE IS BEING AN ASSHOLE RIGHT IN YOUR FACE. AND HERE IT'S FOUR GAPING ASSHOLES FOR ONE HOUR (THAT FEELS LIKE 3!)

IT FEELS LIKE A PARODIC FREE EXPLORATION GROUP THAT FRASIER CRANE WOULD TAKE HIS DAD ALONG TO SEE, ONLY I AM THE MARTY CRANE HERE AND EVERYONE ELSE GETS THE JOKE BUT ME. MUSIC LIKE THIS PARALYSES MY OWN SENSE OF INTELLIGENCE BECAUSE I START TO DOUBLE- AND TRIPLE-THINK MYSELF. THIS IS AWFUL, MY KNEE JERKS. BUT SOME PEOPLE REALLY DEVOTE THEIR LIFE TO THIS CRAFT, I COUNTER. BUT IT STINKKKKKKKKKKKS, I YELL, TRYING TO REASSERT THE PRIMACY OF MY GUT.

THIS SHOULD BE SHOT OUT OF A CANNON. DUD.

DISKAHOLICS ANONYMOUS TRIO (2001)

FAIR TO SAY THE ONE OF THE TWO 2006 RELEASES BY DISKAHOLICS DID NOT FLOAT MY BOAT (THE OTHER, WEAPONS OF ASS DESTRUCTION, AHAHHA, IS AS-YET-UNREVIEWED).

I JABBED THIS OFF FIRST TIME I HEARD IT. IT MAKES THE LIVE IN JAPAN DISC FEEL LIKE OUT TO LUNCH OR SOMETHING; JUST THREE GUYS IN ATONAL WANKATHON HEAVEN. I'M NO PHILISTINE: I THINK I UNDERSTAND THE *NEED* FOR FREE JAZZ AND ITS PLACE BOTH AS MUSIC AND VITAL COMMENTARY. I JUST DON'T PARTICULARLY LIKE IT ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S DONE IN AN OBNOXIOUS WAY LIKE THIS. 

GUSTAFSSON REALLY DOMINATES THIS ONE. IF CHUNKY SAX BLAPPING AND UNSTRUCTURED GUITAR NOISE DOES IT FOR YOU THEN DO CHECK THIS OUT. THEY'RE ALL PROS AT WHAT THEY DO: WHAT THEY DO IS NOT FOR ME.

I DO THINK MATS, THURSTON, AND JIM SHOULD BE BANNED FROM WORKING TOGETHER. I EVEN CONSIDER JIM LEAST GUILTY HERE. DUD.

SHINJUKU GROWL (2010)

IN MY EXPERIENCE OF THE WORLD OF FREE JAZZ THERE ARE ESSENTIALLY TWO APPROACHES THAT HAVE ATTEMPTED TO WREST CONTROL OF THE SUB-GENRE:

1. A CHAOTIC AND SPONTANEOUS EXPLOSION OF SOUND WHERE ALL THE INSTRUMENTS SOUND APPROXIMATELY AS YOU'D EXPECT BUT THE NOTES AND INTERPLAY IS ALL HAPHAZARD: FREE IN THE SENSE OF UNRESTRAINED. THINK ALBERT AYLER'S SPIRITUAL UNITY, JOHN COLTRANE'S LATER WORKS, ETC.

2. A MORE MEASURED AND INTELLECTUAL EXERCISE IN WHICH INSTRUMENTS ARE 'EXPLORED' IN TERMS OF ALTERNATIVE POSSIBILITY: SCRAPING STRINGS, PLAYING THE BODY OF ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS, USING FEEDBACK, BOWING CYMBALS, ETC. 

WHAT SHINJUKU GROWL PRESENTS IS MORE THE FORMER, WITH SOME ELEMENTS OF THE LATTER.

 

O'ROURKE PLAYS GUITAR ON THIS BUT IS REALLY A SIDEMAN TO MATS GUSTAFSSON'S HONKING SAX FURY ALONG WITH TWO STORIED ACCOMPLICES ON BASS AND DRUMS. AFTER A FEW MINUTES OF SCRATCHING IN THE DIRT MAKING UNORTHODOX (AND YET, ENTIRELY UNIMPRESSIVE AND UTTERLY RUN OF THE MILL) SOUNDS, THE ENSEMBLE LAYS INTO THE MUSIC WITH A CONVINCING FURY. AT POINTS IT FEELS AS IF THE DRUMMER IS ATTEMPTING TO HAMMER HIS KIT INTO THE FLOOR WHILE GUSTAFSSON'S LUNGS NEARLY COME OUT OF THE END OF HIS SAX.

SHINJUKU GROWL, RECORDED LIVE IN TOKYO, FOR PEOPLE WHO NEVER REALLY GOT ON BOARD WITH THE POST-PETER BROTZMANN SCHOOL OF EUROPEAN FREE JAZZ SUCH AS MYSELF, IS A TITANIC CHORE TO LISTEN TO. IF YOU LIKE JOHN ZORN AND OTHER RESTLESS NASAL SOUNDS SUCH AS CAR ALARMS AND METAL GIRDERS BEING BENT THEN THIS ONE IS FOR YOU. 

I JUST FEEL THAT ON THE WHOLE THE AXIS OF PEOPLE BROUGHT TOGETHER ON SOME OF THE SYR RECORDS SUCH AS O'ROURKE, THURSTON MOORE, AND MATS GUSTAFSSON, WAS ULTIMATELY A TOTAL MISTAKE. 

DUD.

MELBOURNE DIRECT (2006)

IN WHICH THE STRONGEST CASE FOR KIM GORDON AS A MODERATING INFLUENCE ON SONIC YOUTH IS MADE: THIS RECORD, CREDITED TO THURSTON, LEE, AND STEVE OF SONIC YOUTH AS WELL AS JIM, GIVES 80 MINUTES OF FLOOR-SPACE TO THOSE BITS OF SONIC YOUTH GIGS THAT COME BETWEEN THE TALKING AND THE START OF THE RECOGNISABLE BITS OF SONGS.

IN SHORT IT IS 80 MINUTES OF PERCUSSIVE TAPPING ON ELECTRIC GUITARS HOOKED UP TO A SMALL ARMADA OF FX UNITS, CREATING ATMOSPHERIC BILLOWS OF SOUNDS AND UNFORMED EXPLORATORY MOMENTS. THERE ISN'T ANYTHING APPROACH A POP SONG HERE, AND STEVE SHELLEY'S CONTRIBUTIONS RARELY EVEN COULD BE FILED AS 'BEAT-KEEPING'. 

HUGE RESPECT FOR ALL OF THESE GUYS (MY LAPTOP LOCKSCREEN EVEN FEATURES RANALDO FROM THE INSET IMAGE OF THE ASCENSION BY GLENN BRANCA) BUT THIS LAPSES INTO TOSS AFTER NOT VERY LONG. HAD IT BEEN EDITED DOWN A LITTLE AND PERHAPS GONE THROUGH SOME DYNAMICS, MAYBE EVEN DARED TO PLAY WITH MELODY AND RHYTHM A LITTLE, I COULD HAVE SAID IT WAS A GOOD EXPERIMENT. 

BUT IT'S NOT. IT IS BASICALLY WANKING WITHOUT TECHNIQUE. OK OK THERE IS SOME TECHNIQUE AND SKILL IN COAGULATING 4 PLAYERS INTO THIS SOUND AND NOT HAVING ONE BECOME OVERLY-DOMINANT, AND IT IS NOT LIKE THIS RECORD IS CHARMLESS (THE LAST 8 MINUTES PICK UP!).

BUT I THINK I AM GOING 'DUD' FOR THE SECOND TIME IN 2006 AND THE SECOND TIME WITH THURSTON MOORE. COME TO THINK OF IT JIM'S 2006 RECORD WITH CHRIS CORSANO KINDA SUCKED TOO. NO WONDER HE TOOK SOME TIME OFF MUSIC SHORTLY AFTER.

DUD.

LIVE IN JAPAN VOL. 1 (2006)

I ALREADY WROTE ABOUT THIS ON LOADS OF LOAD SO HERE IS THE ONLY CROSSPOST BETWEEN THAT BLOG AND THIS.

POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS TERRITORY FOR LOAD RECORDS HERE AS THIS IS A BONAFIDE RELEASE BY A BUNCH OF DUDES WHO WERE ALREADY CELEBRITIES IN MUSIC AT THIS POINT. I CAN'T QUITE EXPLAIN WHY BUT THIS SORT OF TURNS LOAD INTO A BIG INDIE EVEN THOUGH THIS RECORD IS POINTEDLY AGAINST ALL THAT SORT OF EVENT RELEASE SHIT BY BEING A SPONTANEOUS GRAB OF SOUND FROM A SHOW.

DISKAHOLICS ARE SONIC YOUTHIST THURSTON MOORE, SAXOPHONIST MATS GUSTAFFSON, AND GENERAL MUSIC GUY JIM O'ROURKE. AND IF YOU'RE THINKING "THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE LINE-UP FROM A SONIC YOUTH SYR SERIES RECORD" THEN YOU'D BE NEARLY RIGHT AND ALSO NOT FAR OFF SOUND WISE. IT'S IMPROV EXPERIMENTAL NOISE WHERE BARELY ANY OF THE INSTRUMENTS SOUND LIKE THE EXPECTED TONE/TIMBRE/OUTPUT OF THAT PARTICULAR INSTRUMENT.

LIVE IN JAPAN JUST STUTTERS ALONG NOT REALLY EXPLORING ANY MOOD. IT'S AN INTRO WAITING TO GET TO AN ACTUAL JAM. IT IS NEGATIVE SPACE IN MUSIC INCARNATE. THERE ARE MORE OFFENSIVE RECORDS THAN THIS - IT IS ACTUALLY QUITE RESERVED - BUT CHRIST THE IDEA OF SPENDING MONEY ON THIS SEEMS ABSURD IN 2020. MAYBE WE HAVEN'T LOST AS MUCH AS I THOUGHT WE HAD.

 

GENUINE DUD OF A RECORD.