From The Headphones — The Red Scare, Daniel Carter / Telepathic Band, The Mercury Impulse, Moiii
Post-Independence Day Weekend: Sunday, 7/7…
Headphones are on. It’s uncomfortably hot outside and the air feels like it’s been trapped in a sun-baked car for hours, so I'm content to remain seated near the air conditioner and write a little bit.
If you’re reading this and fully committed yourselves to the 4th of July holiday season, noisemakers and all, I hope your fingers fared well.
It’s difficult to believe that we’re well into the 7th month of 2024, a monumental election season to wade through and endure as work monopolizes time and makes the days that pass forgettable.
Currently on my nightstand is a copy of No Slam Dancing No Stage Diving No Spikes: An Oral History of the Legendary City Gardens. I picked it up a while ago at Farley’s Bookshop in New Hope and finally found an opportune time to crack it open during a recent day trip down the shore. I missed out on City Gardens, the legendary Trenton-based venue that hosted some wild gigs and an array of artists and bands representing the underground’s top-tier from the 80s and 90s. City Gardens eventually shut down in 2001, leaving behind a legacy worth capturing for posterity. I’m about halfway through the book, jealous of the time and place detailed within its pages. It makes me wonder if a similar volume could be conceived for The Trocadero, which, during the rare moments of freedom I took full advantage of during my teen years, was my Philly-based home away from home. I don’t get nostalgic often, but I do miss that place.
Recent listens and thoughts:
The Red Scare
Smoky Mountain High
Released: 6/14/24
Solid Brass Records
Preservation of the jagged and emotional output of bands like Shotmaker and Grain seems the Solid Brass M.O. The latest band to be spotlighted and released back into the wild by Solid Brass is The Red Scare, a high-impact Knoxville-based post-hardcore band whose activity spanned from 1997 till 2001. Rife with the necessary throat-scraping and guitar-throttling, Smoky Mountain High is a new 25-track compilation featuring the Capillary Lockdown (1999) and Strangers Die Everyday (2001) LPs, singles, and live tracks recorded at WNYU.
For the uninitiated, The Red Scare brandished spring-tone bass throbs (“Post Meridian”), gratifying rhythmic pivots (“Crushing Blows”), and shouted stanzas delivered with as much passion as vitriol. Finding common musical ground with San Diego post-hardcore band Heroin, who had apparently been held in high regard by The Red Scare, I’d also cite Unwound’s self-titled single for reference.
All singles and splits are appropriately compiled on the B-side of the first LP, ending with a corrosive rendition of Real Life’s 1983 single “Send Me An Angel” that’s been stripped free of its dance pop intent.
Additional to the band’s consistent aggression, notable are some of the production decisions made across both of the LPs, sound collages (“Risking Your Life With A Capital R”) or layered dialogue (“Internia / Distance to Empty”) varying up the mix or bridging cuts. A clear path of evolution in terms of sound and scope identified when comparing both LPs, the four WNYU performances that finish this collection reveal how well the band’s live sound had been captured in the studio setting, no audible drop in intensity or evident production tweaks.
Links:
The Red Scare — Bandcamp
Solid Brass Records — Official / Bandcamp
Links, knowledge, and sounds were handed over courtesy of Us/Them Group:
The Red Scare was formed by four college friends in Knoxville, TN, in August of 1997, bringing together Matt Hall's explosive and unique drumming with Kip Uhlhorn's frantic guitars, Abby Wintker on bass, and Adam Ewing on 2nd guitar.
The Red Scare began playing locally, building a name for themselves with short but propulsive sets likened after those of the Sleepytime Trio and Gravity Records heroes, Heroin. By 1998, Jon Asher had replaced Adam Ewing on guitar and the band embarked on their first tour with Milemarker, Orchid, and Hail Mary.
Capillary Lockdown came in November of 1999; an album of apocalyptic visions and propulsive, almost overwhelming rhythms. The album was released on vinyl by Hand Held Heart and CD by Troubleman Unlimited.
In June of 2000, they toured again with Orchid and Lightning Bolt and then recorded Strangers Die Everyday at Inner Ear Studios. On this release they melded together explosive songs like "Risking Your Life With a Capital R" and "Smoky Mountain High" with strange metallic collages. The guitars, while still edging on brutal, also emit dreamy segments like that of the title track. This would prove to be their final album together as Uhlhorn moved to New York City. He would go on to form Panthers (with 3 members of Orchid) and eventually, Cloudland Canyon. Matt Hall went on to play in New Brutalism.
Telepathic Mysteries, Vol. 2 is the second installment in a series from musicians Daniel Carter and The Telepathic Band featuring, Patrick Holmes, Matthew Putman, Hilliard Greene, and Federico Ughi. Based in the loaded categorization of “improv” or “free-form” jazz, subcategories that immediately (and lazily) bring to mind aimless cacophony and excessive discordance, Carter and crew sound vibrant to my ears, their passages and phrases finding balance even after erupting into the occasional maelstrom (“Applesauce Pleasuresource”).
No, there are no sturdy, metronomic passages and, yes, there are moments of erratic disharmony. There are also threads of exquisite melody and organic, shapeshifting expression (“Mayaland”). Telepathic Mysteries, Vol. 2 sounds coherent to me, a running dialogue composed of flowing verses and weighty strikes.
Telepathic Mysteries, Vol. 2 is out now via 577 Records.
Links:
Daniel Carter / Telepathic Band — Bandcamp
577 Records — Official / Bandcamp
Links, knowledge, and sounds were handed over courtesy of 577 Records:
Telepathic Mysteries, Vol. 2 is the second volume from the Telepathic Mysteries recording session, documented at Sear Sound, in NYC in 2019.
Named after the sort of improvisational style that can only be accomplished after a decade or two of collaboration, The Telepathic Band is made up of long-time friends and collaborators Daniel Carter, Patrick Holmes, Matthew Putman, Hilliard Greene, and Federico Ughi. With Daniel, Federico and Matthew having played together since 2009 and Federico and Daniel collaborating since 2001, they have developed their own language and together play extemporaneously and strategically in increasingly genre-defying projects.
This most recent album is classic Telepathic Band approach, celebrating their imaginative tradition and daring sound while edging towards a dissonant tension and gentle reprieve that signals a new era in their sound. Possibly their darkest project yet, the extended tracks enter a more mysterious realm, while drawing from new classical and orchestral influences particularly reminiscent of Impressionistic composition. Matthew Putman plays Debussy-esque melodies on piano and psychedelic dub keyboards. Patrick Holmes delivers eerie, lyrical clarinet solos, and Hilliard Greene offers his own harmonies on bass. Federico Ughi again challenges the assumed role of a percussionist, diverging from steady rhythms, to offer uniquely spontaneous and open drumming, while Daniel Carter returns to his perennial role as a multi-instrumental and chamber-focused informal facilitator, easing the spaces in between features and lending an added measure of coherence between musicians.
As multi-instrumentalists and deeply imaginative artists, the group offers haunting and impressive performances imbued with a sense of mysticism, as part of a larger journey towards an indecipherable destination. The Telepatic Band, or smaller versions of the ensemble, are the house band for the Forward Festival, live music events organized in Brooklyn New York, Tangier (Morocco), and Canale Monterano (Italy) on a regular basis.
Given the improvisational nature of the music, each song is an inimitable one-off, live show.
For “Infinite Repetition,” which is an almost 10-minute electro-ambient work by THE MECURY IMPULSE, organ keys are pressed lightly, formulating a pensive soundtrack for a convincing swarm of perceived bug-like organisms whose frenzied trills eventually overwhelm the piece, the significant onset of activity resultant from either migration or invasion. Either way, all obstacles—living or inanimate—sound compromised.
THE MECURY IMPULSE is an industrial-leaning duo composed of JR Robinson (Wrekmeister Harmonies) and Mark Solotroff (Anatomy Of Habit and BLOODYMINDED). Their upcoming new album, Records Of Human Behavior, 8/23/24.
Links:
The Mercury Impulse — Bandcamp
Wreckmeister Harmonies — Bandcamp / Instagram
Mark Solotroff — Official / Bandamp / Instagram
Links, knowledge, and sounds were handed over courtesy of Earsplit PR:
Experimental drone/dark ambient/noise duo, THE MERCURY IMPULSE, will release their debut full-length, Records Of Human Behavior, on August 23rd, today unveiling the record’s first single and preorders.
THE MERCURY IMPULSE was created in 2024 by JR Robinson and Mark Solotroff. Robinson is well known for his group Wrekmeister Harmonies and Solotroff is best known as the frontman of Anatomy Of Habit and BLOODYMINDED.
Robinson and Solotroff were first introduced to each other in late 2011, during the formation of a group of musicians that would perform with Robinson in January 2012, under his Wrekmeister Harmonies name, at the Museum Of Contemporary Art in Chicago. This ensemble, drawn from the city’s metal, experimental, classical, and improvised music scenes, came together to play a live score to Robinson’s film, You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me.
Solotroff and Robinson continued their collaboration over the following years, performing as a duo and in large ensembles, including multiple legendary shows at Bohemian National Cemetery, as part of the Beyond The Gates series, which Robinson spearheaded.
This in-person creative relationship paused in late 2015 when Chicago was no longer the home base for Wrekmeister Harmonies. Over the years, the two had developed a strong friendship while working together, and although music was shared at points in time after Robinson left Chicago, it wasn’t until early 2024 that the idea of a new approach materialized, based on recordings that Solotroff had sent Robinson for a proposed Wrekmeister Harmonies album.
Sparked by Robinson’s initial work with a set of existing unreleased recordings, the two set about recording new material, heavily driven by analog synth and guitar noise, and marked by a conscious decision to work rapidly and not risk damaging the creative freedom that they were enjoying in the process.
Records Of Human Behavior is the result of approximately three months of active collaboration between friends. While the intensity of early Throbbing Gristle and the vast space of Lustmord are touchstones the album has a rawness expected from Solotroff’s contemporary analog synth drone/ambient releases combined with the expansive sonic landscapes that Robinson’s albums are known for.
In advance of the record’s release, today the band unveils “Infinite Repetition” with Solotroff noting of the track, “I hadn't planned on adding something new to my list of active bands and collaborations at this point in time. JR and I had discussed and had worked on music together that was meant for Wrekmeister Harmonies, but which ultimately wasn't used. Something stuck with us, though. We worked at a pretty good pace on these tracks, and when we reached this song, ‘Infinite Repetition,’ it was like our already wide-screen view blasted out into some sort of IMAX aspect ratio. I think it's given us a clear view of where we might take things next...”
As a fan of Dana Schechter’s Insect Ark project, I connected to the darkly patient mid-tempo motion of “Turtle Legs,” the first single from MOIII’s upcoming self-titled release, as a similar level of factory-centric persistence began to take shape. Despite being evocative, though, the eerie dissonance and steady rhythm of “Turtle Legs” shifts unexpectedly into electronic elements, a revolving wave of static maintaining the pace as additional fragmented sounds and distant No Wave-redolent guitar scrubs are introduced, heightening the track’s effectiveness and bringing commotion to the movement which itself already sounds set beneath an infinite shadow.
MOIII is the work of Scott Shellhamer (American Heritage and Ghosts And Vodka) and Jason Butler (Bonnie “Prince” Billy). With percussive aid from Thor Harris (Swans, whose current roster interestingly features Schechter) and synth work from Surachai, MOIII’s first full-length is being issued via Someoddpilot Records on 8/2.
Links:
MOIII — Bandcamp / Instagram /
Someoddpilot Records — Bandcamp / Instagram
Links, knowledge, and sounds were handed over courtesy of Earsplit PR:
Experimental metal/electronic duo MOIII will release their eponymous debut on August 2nd via the newly resurrected Someoddpilot Records.
MOIII is a study of opposing forces. Born sometime in 2018, and parented by Chicagoan Scott Shellhamer and Austenite Jason Butler, “dark-light, pink-black, soft-hard, sunny-stormy” are all descriptors that would apply to their self-titled offering.
Shellhamer (most noted for his work in American Heritage and Ghosts And Vodka) and Butler (under his Thee Conductor moniker includes Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Glenn Kotche) come from opposite musical worlds but have somehow created an inspired body of work complimenting each other’s strengths in their respective writing approaches. They recruited Thor Harris (Swans) and Surachai in the studio to round out the impressive soundscape.
Inspired by Swans, Caspar Brötzmann, and Einstürzende Neubauten, this is a record that’s difficult to classify. Ultimately, it’s heavy and dark, manipulated by an industrial hand, complemented by kids making music with toys. It's free and independent-minded, tough and gritty, loud and delicate. Truly an original sound, and a completely original record. Enough to resurrect the long-mothballed Someoddpilot Records for a worldwide digital and limited 12” vinyl release.
Through intuitive experimentation they’ve organically found something new, snapping disparate ideas into place like an old puzzle you’ve never seen before, but one you instantly recognize. That is the feeling of what the best new music does. It’s like art sprung from the void between musical categories. Nasty guitar soundscapes juxtaposed with light finger picking mixed with dark-ambient electronics shape this album into a catchy and dirty sailboat ride into a storm of uplifting particulates.
Comments Shellhamer, “The album as a whole is an effort to join two disparate music worlds. One member who fancies metal, punk, ambient, and industrial. The other who prefers more thoughtful orchestrated pop/folk and the likes of Vince Guaraldi. We got in a living room with modest equipment and one microphone and MOIII was the result.”
In advance of the record’s release, today the band unveils first single, “Turtle Legs,” noting of the track, “This song started in a pretty standard way for us. We just kept on adding layers. Too many. Once we started using Surachai's parts, the song really took on a whole different form and feel. Thor Harris hit the studio with us and tracked the real drums on this one. He is a very delightful human.”
Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead
