Ambient dread, devastating visual music, and explosive instrumentals: A trio of new albums from Sutekh Hexen, Chuck Johnson, and Bill Orcutt perfect for experimental music lovers
If experimental music isn't your thing, check out Brontez Purnell's homage to new jack swing plus a sweet little power pop EP by the Goods on Dandy Boy Records
Just a friendly reminder that the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) is still accepting submissions for its Bay Beats program—but only until July 31.
A refresher: Bay Beats is a new program set to debut this fall curating works by local musicians on a digital platform run by the SFPL. Based on similar programs run in Nashville, New Orleans, Minneapolis, and other cities across the nation, Bay Beats will give out a $250 honorarium to any artists selected for the platform. The main restriction is you must live in one of the nine counties to apply (sorry, Sacramento and Santa Cruz).
More specific details on how to apply here.
— White Crate
DREADFULLY GRIM AMBIENT
“Dissolving the shadow-self.”
If most music is best suited to a specific place, then here is a new work that knows not rainbows or sunshine. Summoned from the depths of some dark abyss arrives P:R:I:S:M, a collaboration by Oakland’s Sutekh Hexen and Canada’s Funerary Call (aka field recording and experimental artist Harlow MacFarlane). Though released on Oakland “sonic warfare” label Sentient Ruin Laboratories, P:R:I:S:M deviates from much of their discography in being far more like ambient music, not metal. But it is dreadfully grim ambient music, and if there’s any source of light at all that emerges from these dragging wisps of funereal tones, then it’s the voice that appears throughout. A tortured voice, but a human voice still, aspiring for the prismatic.
— Ronny Kerr
FUZZY FIZZY WAILS
A new crushing midtempo power pop EP from Dandy Boy Records? Sign me up. The Goods—made up of singer-songwriter Rob Good (Sob Stories, Cocktails, and Re-Volts), Paul Wiseman, and Cherron Arens—arrive from Oakland with an occasionally sideways quartet of songs punctuated by snare and sung through dust. Fuzzy, fizzy little shots of a wail.
— Ronny Kerr
STRANGER THAN FICTION
In film scores, the enveloping nature of ambient meets the experimental drama of contemporary classical. Film serves as a natural medium for this fusion, allowing the music to accompany the visuals without being distracting, all while crafting a distinct and captivating atmosphere. Film music is, of course, visual music. Even with closed eyes, sound is clearly moving and painting pictures.
In the soundtrack for the true crime and psychological thriller docu-series Burden of Proof, Chuck Johnson viscerally illustrates the show’s themes, such as the cumbering weight of devastating truths as well as betrayed trust and family destruction:
“As missing evidence is uncovered, lie detector tests are failed, and past abuses are revealed, a rich, complicated narrative emerges while Stephen is left to wonder the price he has paid by pursuing this painful search for closure.”
While film can easily sensationalize truth and turn trauma into a spectacle for greedy eyes, Johnson’s compositions remind us that truth is stranger than fiction. On my favorite track, “Interrogation,” dissonant and bittersweet chords accompanied by somber drums shape the austere ambiance that reflects the sparseness of information and the absence of answers. There is little more depicted than what is simply unfolding. No epic cinematic storytelling and no tricks; just an allowance for the ears to reach out, albeit hesitantly, for these sounds.
The soundtrack is out now on London label All Saints Records.
— Elise Mills
EXPLOSIVE INSTRUMENTAL DUO
Two musicians—and a burning fire. Upstate NY-based drummer Chris Corsano joins SF experimental guitar wizard Bill Orcutt on Play at Duke, a newly released live performance taped at Duke University last year, capturing synergy only possible for two confident, qualified instrumentalists that have played together for a decade. Reminiscent of drummer Rashied Ali’s epic free jazz experiments created in counterpart with just one other musician (e.g. Duo Exchange with saxophonist Frank Lowe in 1973 and Interstellar Space with John Coltrane in 1974), the music confesses its simplicity immediately, and yet somehow expands and evolves over time into fireworks far more explosive than what one could imagine from just these two ingredients.
For more like this, seek out The Flower School, a new album by tenor saxophonist Zoh Amba with Corsano and Orcutt recorded earlier this year at Hyde St Studios in SF. Also check out Orcutt’s American primitive guitar improvisations on Jump On It, released in May.
— Ronny Kerr
COMPLETELY FREE TO BE
“Ghosting is a clear form of communication.”
As eclectically inspired as new jack swing—the late 80s hip hop-dance pop-R&B fusion from whence its name—No Jack Swing is the latest release by queer punk writer, dancer, and multi-hyphenate Oakland artist Brontez Purnell. Co-released by Dark Entries Records and Brooklyn-based QTPOC art collective Papi Juice, the album has one important sonic thread: the Amen break. But don’t expect jungle or drum and bass. It’s mostly midtempo funk alternative, with the lead single “Girl from Ghost Town” rhythmically reminiscent of the massive 1992 pop rock chart-topper “Two Princes” by Spin Doctors (hopefully no one hates me for that comparison). But the album’s centerpiece is the highly personal “I Got Joy,” organically built upon and unfolding out of gospel tapes from Purnell’s childhood singing with the New Zion Missionary Baptist Choir of Belle Mina. Joyful? Because it’s completely free to be whatever it needs to be.
— Ronny Kerr
SHOW RECS
Our top show recommendations for the coming week:
[club] Brown Amy, Ray Reck (Live), DJ Caro, Infinite Jess — July 21 at Underground SF
[club] Manda Moor — July 21 at Halcyon
[club] House Party ft. Finishher, Mars Kumari, Oddity.mp3, Tom Marsi — July 21 at DM for location
[ambient] Latitudes 19 ft. Joel St. Julien, CGRSM, Seasons — July 22 at St John the Evangelist Episcopal Church
[club] Body High ft. Obstac B2B Bored Lord, Avi Loud, Blossom, Varsha — July 22 at Fluid 510
[club] Mortes Excitatio ft. Technopagan, Miss Crafty, Clarity, Romii, Suspiro — July 22 at TBA Warehouse
[classical] SF Symphony, Lettuce — July 23 at Stern Grove
[rock] Pardoner, Marbled Eye, Smirk — July 23 at Great American Music Hall
[hip hop] Larry June, Monroe Flow, Dvme, the Alchemist — July 23-24, 26 at Fox Theater
[alternative] Tori Amos, Tow’rs — July 26 at SF Masonic Auditorium
Want even more? Join our Patreon to get access to the full Bay Area concert calendar, featuring specially curated recommendations for upcoming Bay Area shows.
