Among the Rocks and Roots released one of my
favorite 2019 surprises, Raga, which
I wrote about immediately after hearing it (it came in the mail; I popped it in
within five minutes, not knowing what to expect; I was blown away). It remains
a go-to tape when I want a faceful of blistering weirdness – on that front it
fully delivers. Samuel Goff comprises half of Among the Rocks and Roots (he’s
also a founding member of RAIC), and here he steps out on his own with Transmissions, his first-ever solo
release. How does it stack up against the utter onslaught of Raga? Well, it’s still an unmistakable
assault on the senses; and while it may not be as traditionally “heavy,” with
pummeled instruments and breakneck pacing, it absolutely delivers on the
madness and intensity of Goff’s other project.
What’s most noticeable about Transmissions is the variety it displays from track to track, and
this makes sense given the fact that it contains field recordings collected
over the course of a year; these are sourced from Goff’s travels to Santa Cruz
and Cochabamba, Bolivia, while the rest was recorded at the University of
Richmond in Virginia. While “Pikeville” mixes free jazz and backporch Kentucky
folk, “Transmissions, Part One” blends together scrambled, er, transmissions
until they resolve into a cauldron of boiling static. These things juxtaposed
against each other serve to heighten their individual characteristics – and
this is even before we get to the rhythmic stuff! That’s right, both
“Snakebite” and “Cochabamba” hit you with more traditional rhythms, with the
field recordings of “Cochabamba” doing some incredible heavy lifting as they
inject the thirteen-minute track with surprise movement. (Not to mention the
choir – really nice touch.)
At this point you’re only halfway through, and the
second side of Transmissions bears
out the contrast between noise and rhythm and local sounds/music as sound art
in infinitely intriguing ways. Goff transcends genre with ease, swirling everything
together until each element fits perfectly in its own place, no matter how much
it contrasts with something else. This is the logical next step following Raga, a half-turn to the interior
workings of how one participant processes the world around him.
--Ryan
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