JAAP BLONK “Joyous Junctures” C60 (Eh? / Public Eyesore)

Jaap Blonk is a friggin’ weirdo, but that shouldn’t matter to any of you who read any of this because you’re probably just as big of a friggin’ weirdo if you like all this outsider crap. And I include myself among that number, because I’m writing about all this outsider crap, like all the time. So does it even mean anything to refer to Mr. Blonk as a “friggin’ weirdo” even? I’m not sure it does.

The Netherlands’ answer to … I can’t even think of a contemporary. The Netherlands’ answer to No One, then, Jaap Blonk does a lot with his mouth, making noise, intoning passages, incanting spells. I don’t understand a word he’s saying, because Dutch is not even remotely a second language to me. Which turns out to be fine as the meaning often ruins the whole deal for me. Here, on Joyous Junctures, we get the vocalizations overtop synthesizers, random noise bursts, other baffling instrumentation, and it’s all an incredible ride on the roller coaster of Blonk’s madness. Did I mention there were 27 tracks on this thing, and that it lasts an hour? That’s an awful lot of Blonk, and an awful lot of fun.

In fact, it’s so fun that I wouldn’t hesitate to refer to it as space alien music encountered by the crew of the starship Enterprise throughout their intergalactic travels. Plus, Blonk’s been around so long, I bet he’s been to outer space himself at some point. Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

http://www.jaapblonk.com/

http://www.publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php

http://www.publiceyesore.com/

--Ryan

BILL BROVOLD "Superstar" (Eh? Records/Public Eyesore)

The Spaghetti-Western-turn’d-peyote-dust’d-Carnie-After-Party that is Bill Brovold’s “Superstar” is undeniable.

Air-tight, contrapuntal rhythms thriving independently without referencing one another under lock-step grooves that gracefully distract from BB’s between-the-notes virtuosic LUTHIERY, plus, butter-as-smoothe executions of every. single. stringed/skinned. instrument. made/given…

Despite being infectiously danceable, it’s easy to see why Eh? Records would pick up such an irreverently executed series of studied jamz: their freakish nonchalance expertly yields infinite kinetic interpretations that are…staggering. Dead-in-the-tracks inspiring.

Mayhaps I’ll rephrase: without passing into any mantric, ceremonial mood, Bill Brovold’s “Superstar” says two things in two million different ways:

Get Concertedly Active.
Stay Concertedly Weird.

http://www.publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php?eh=99
and/or
https://billbrovold.bandcamp.com/

--Jacob An Kittenplan

LSJ "Misty Nights" (Eh? Records/Public Eyesore)

LSJ embody pretty much every explorative element that Eh? Records specializes in promoting, blending multiple field recordings of ambiance and percussive toil, electro-acoustic feedback, disassociated sound clips, and tape processing, all without ever showing the head or tail of any one beast, resulting in a robust sound ecosystem to get lost in, in different ways, with each listen.

On “Misty Nights”, a series of sonic vignettes is patiently strung together. Hazily, slippery, an atmosphere of comfortable solitude in post-apocalyptic emergency room scavengings reveals itself. Impervious to superficial drama, the search wades through minor disturbance and rubble with clinical, practiced ambivalence.

http://publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php?eh=098


--Jacob An Kittenplan

FELIPE ARAYA "Punata" C52 (Eh? Records/Public Eyesore)

When not using the built-in mic of his cellular phone to steal the sound-souls from Bolivian & Chilean passersby, Felipe Araya acts upon his cajon like so:

rub, smoosh, flutter,
clack, swipe, squeak,
massage, caress, shuffle,
drag, scrape, massage,
tinkle, creak, shudder!

&do not look for rhymes or reasons here.

Then, he plots Andean flute, Earth winds, footsteps.
Oh, do not look for rhythms or raising hairs.

As kerfluffle ubiquifies unto ambiance-hood,
and seismic groans drone plaintively below twinkling scraps,
do not look for rams or rustles near.

………………………..
found within are field recordings from South America, electro-acoustic compositions via treated solo cajón, flute, & pretty much most sounds harvestable via natural frictions & jigglings about.

http://publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php?eh=096
and/or
https://felipearaya.org/

--Jacob An Kittenplan

LEONARD * DAY * JERMAN "Isinglass" C48 (Public Eyesore / Eh? Records)

Your average Josephine, when asked “What adjective would you use to describe the potential for this rock?” might reply “throwable” or maybe “stackable”, perhaps “cleavable”, but not likely “wobbly”, and even less likely “contact mic-able”, but, hey, Cheryl Leonard is not your average Josephine.

Possibly allergic to conventional instruments and/or western tonality in general, she produces and amplifies her own unique timbre-sets from such self-fashioned instruments as “driftwood pipe organ, Kelp Flute, and Kelpinet”. She also utilizes Japanese bowls and gongs, as well as contact-mic’d sand and wobbly rocks on hardwood floors (of which I have had the pleasure of seeing live, in tandem with progressive ballet)…aaand driftwood mobiles softly clinking together. This recording doesn’t include the myriad sculptures she’s made from horns & jawbones & pinecones & turtle doves & pear trees. She’s prolific in both her soundmaking and soundmaker production. If you’re not already, get acquainted via the link to her website below.

This specific release finds her collaborating with like-(out-of)-minded explorers Bryan Day and Jeph Jerman, they, themselves deft and prolific and here coaxing reverberant drones out of “household objects, invented instruments and radio transcievers”, the resultant being a surprisingly pleasant amalgam of ambient, drone, and percussive noises that feels both deeply narrative in composition and outright eternal in delivery.

To note, Eh? Records, out of Sam Framcisco, is putting out some truly outside-the-tetrahedron experimental/noise, so go on over and have an ear-gander at the samples available on their website.

http://www.publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php?eh=89
and
http://www.allwaysnorth.com/
http://www.bryanday.net/
http://ribexibalba.com/jj/

-- Jacob An Kittenplan