Owl Xounds, "Gypsy Monks On Holiday" C-30 (Curor Recordings, 2007)

Owl Xounds, "Gypsy Monks On Holiday" C-30
Curor Recordings, 2007

For those spirited heads who like their free-jazz fused with a touch of the cosmic, and their feet dipped wet with wide-open infinity, Owl Xounds' exuberant outer-space jams are as awesomely pleasing as they are wildly unpredictable. On "Gypsy Monks On Holiday," the usual Owl Xounds Exploding Galaxy duo of Adam Kriney (drums) and Gene Janas (upright bass) are joined by Mario Rechtern (saxophones, electronics) and Gene Moore (electric guitar). This high-bias tape boasts three sprawling live improvisations from two separate performances. The bombastic and wild-eyed "Sambs Samosa And The Circular Saw" and the brief attack of "We Are But Three Small Faces" were both recorded live at SUNY Purchase , NY on 2/19/7, while the organic mutant jazz "Are Those Your Graham Crackers From The Wiccan Ceremony Last Week?" was cut live one day earlier at the Flywheel in Easthampton, MA on 2/18/7. Mario Rechtern's saxophone threatens a savage mutiny on "Gypsy Monks..," but Adam Kriney is so at the top of this game on this one he's shot straight through Maslow's pyramid of needs and wants and wound up blasting somewhere through a stratosphere of technical wizardry. Keep an eye on Owl Xounds, these space-jazz cadets are headed somewhere brilliant, sparkling, and totally uncharted.

Liz Allbee/Sharon Cheslow/Weasel Walter, "Plants That Kill" (Curor Recordings, 2007)

Liz Allbee/Sharon Cheslow/Weasel Walter, Plants That Kill cd-r
Curor Recordings, 2007

A three-way collaboration between Liz Allbee, Sharon Cheslow, and Weasel Walter, or the sound of a tropical disease as it seeps through your pores, peeling away the last remaining layers of your earthly senses and leaving only a caterpillar filled brain-case behind in Peruvian nightmares? Plants That Kill is a no-wave trip spiraling deeply into endless reverbrations of Ayahuasca dreaming and inspired-by-toxins tropical death-jazz. An electric brew of poisonous improvisations whose exotic variety of tone and colour lure you inwards, just as the venom seizes your nervous system, leaving you frozen in place, sweating to the sounds of an immense Amazon Rainforest totally indifferent to your desperation and impending decomposition. Each of "Plants That Kill"'s ten tracks are named after a particular sample of fatal flora, a concept credited to Liz Allbee. The cd's sleeve art also reflects this concept, with a leafy green aesthetic that is as enticing as it is forbidding. I'm completely blown-away by the music on this disc, as each member of this trio performs in ways I'd never have expected from them, making "Plants That Kill" even more of a toxic treat. I would be in a state of total shock if this cd didn't sell-out soon, but that could just be the green talking.

Heavy Hiatus

Well, as of Friday, August 24th 2007, my time in Iqaluit, Nunavut is over. I'll be leaving on a plane for Edmonton, Alberta, stopping there overnight, and then continuing on to Kelowna, B.C., arriving sometime in the early afternoon. To those of you who have sent me goods to review in the past month or so, thank you for your infinite patience!!! Jacob (of Ettrick), M.P. Lockwood, Rubber ((), Teenage Whore Tapes, Curor Recordings, et al. I will get to everything you've sent me as soon as I can. I'm leaving Kelowna Sept 1st on a house-hunting road trip for a week, but starting Monday I'll have a few reviews posted before I leave, including: Ettrick's Feeders of Ravens, some tapes from Curor Recordings, and hopefully by the end of the week I'll have finished writing questions for the 3rd and final part of the monstrously epic Rubber (() Cement interview!

In the meantime, please check out the new-ish review of White Mice's BlassstPHlegMEICE, posted below.

Peace!