NATHAN VENTURA"Asshole With A Clarinet" LP(Anonymous Dog)

It's always nice when the true unknown weirdos get a shot at the "big time," and Nathan Ventura's first LP surprised me so much by it's very existence that I almost fallen out of my chair. I've enjoyed his highly limited homemade tape releases for the last year or so (past CG review) and I'm so pleased that he has found a benefactor in Anonymous Dog Records. The record isn't out yet and I'm just going on the sample on the web, but I think you might find something to like here if dig deep basement warble and fucked up hillbilly jams.  Pre-order/stream the vinyl on Nate's homepage and check out the rest of the label's releases here.

NATHAN VENTURA "Coming Home in a Nutcase" c31 (self released)

"When I was younger I used to shit in a paper bag..."

So begins this new album by Nathan Ventura, whose last tape I put on my best of 2011 (which I just listed as Untitled Tape I got at Gay Gardens). The previous one was more of weirdo folk thing with some harsher elements. The first side of "Coming Home in a Nutcase" is a spoken word piece that gets started with with some rough industrial rhythms before transitioning into an absolutely gorgeous/ominous organ and horn dirge and just keeps going on from there into worlds of clattering percussion and other assorted madness. The B-side continues the out of tune drifting soundscape, but features some fucked up hillbilly singing in addition to the spoken passages. I really appreciate Nate's "anything goes" attitude and skewed sense of sonics. Each side flows from one segment to the other, but I've been told it was as solo recording made in pieces and assembled after the fact. Great editing, deep weirdness. For fans of the 1800s singing bull tribute band and other such entities. This stands outside of anything that is going on in music right now. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.

write him at nathanrainer@verizon.net and check out the music at his campsite.