LARRY WISH “Fable Table Cloth” C26 (Bumpy) & “Laire Wesh” C48 (Bumpy/Degelite)

By the end of the 202nd decade BCE*, weirder-than-thou prog-noise-rock champions Larry Wish served up two distinctly off-kilter albums, and they each work in tandem with one another to prove that the discipline of the tonally strange has it’s sub-genres -and their mastery- just like any other. 

On “Fable Table Cloth”, you can detect notes of King Crimson amidst the borderline of loosey-goosey-jam/improv and irreverent synth-pop. Far as I’ve heard, this is the most rawkin’ LW has gotten, and it’s almost anthem like, were it not…just…so…bizarre. These folx make Brainiac sound like New Order, I’m tellin’ ya!

On deck B was “Laire Wesh”, a decidedly familiar alter-ego, but more subdued, more quaaluded (yeah, it WAS possible, after all) and perhaps a li’l less rude that FTC. Less in-yo-face, but equally as noggin’ scratcherly/eyebrow-crinklin’. 

If you like the predictability of pop-structure, but that’s as far as you care to go with “the rules of song-writing”, Larry Wish (& His Guise) will keep you on your tonal toes the whole time while slippin’ in some catchy synth-work behind your ears, for sure.

https://bumpy.bandcamp.com/album/fable-table-cloth

https://bumpy.bandcamp.com/album/laire-wesh

and/or

https://degelite.bandcamp.com/

—Jacob An Kittenplan

*that’s end of 2019, folx

LARRY WISH & HIS GUYS"The Mouth is the Most Promising" (Bumpy)

As a prog fan, Larry Wish is the top shelf, stoner rock solution to hypnotic grooves, eery vocals & harmonies, unique prog drumming, and lots of subtle, mathy counterpoint sure to sooth the most savage/progarchive/ reader. Out on the newly started Minneapolis’ Bumpy Label, this was actually recorded in 2012. It shows the listener a dense world of imagination where coherency and genre blend into unconventional instrumentation, all while maintaining heavy rhythmic grooves that are not nearly as unfamiliar. Often reminiscent of the more cogent Beefheart albums (such as Bat Chain Puller) some of the songs are heartbreakingly complex in both macro- and-micro- arrangement.

The bass work of Sam Kramer and drumbeats of Katelyn Farstad (also of Itch Princess) are dense and unpredictable. The synth work by Aaron Baum goes exceptional with Wish’s powerful vocals and Tim Hudson’s clever guitar work. The album takes all sorts of turns including a drum solo by Wish and straight prog-deconstructions of abstract motifs into nearly free jazzesque proportions.

My favorite track was “Above a View of (Of View)” which was probably the catchiest and most memorable tune. “Riding His Bike on A Noun” is a sonic synthesizer suite with some interesting timbres and drum machinerhythms. “Christmas of a Town” is where it gets REAL proggy. I mean like strap yourself in for some dischord and dense resolution proggy. “HiFive” has a distinctly intelligent resolution and a tempo shifted riff of note. “Chaptermin” closes the album on an almost funky level of groove. As a whole, the album leaves an impression and the hypnotic riffs prevail.

Definitely for the listener who likes a challenge, get one of the limited tapes now over at the Bumpy Label!

https://bumpy.bandcamp.com/album/the-mouth-is-the-most-promising


--Josh Brown