Arnold Dreyblatt & Megafaun, Appalachian Excitation

When a disk goes on and you think, "what?", it's a good sign. That was my reaction when I listened the first time to the pairing of Arnold Dreyblatt (string bass, composer) and the roots-psych trio Megafaun on their first collaborative effort Appalachian Excitation (Northern Spy 044).

The "what" has to do with the unexpected way the music goes about it. They rock or march but in an unusually primal, almost minimal way. Primal in that there are elemental intervallic drones that can combine with advanced harmonic droning chords or just trance out with rock drums beating underneath.

Megafaun is Phillip Cook (here on banjo, modified electric guitar and "moog lap steel"), Bradley Cook (electric bass, acoustic guitar and mandolin) and Joseph Westerlund (drums, percussion and electric guitar). Take that and add the "excited" string bass of Mr. Dreyblatt (I take excited to mean played by means of a motorized friction or other than with the hands in general?).

When you get to the third piece, it's multi-layered sustains without beat, cosmically irradiating like an elaborate cartoon sun. They get such interesting sounds and there is enough change within the unified structure that it is mind-bending and acoustically interesting without straying too far on either side of the both/and.

The final cut gets back into a march beat and another series of trance-beated drone repeaters.

I cannot say this sounds like anything else, except if we were on another planet and were treated to a performance of the folk-rock the "natives" had independently created? The fact that it's different is one thing. The fact that it locks together and does it all very properly indeed is another thing.

It's a weirdo winner--from all hands! Seriously.

Lee Ranaldo, Between the Times and the Tides

Right. Lee Ranaldo, the guitarist from Sonic Youth. He has a solo album out that's interesting. It's called Between the Times and the Tides (Matador).

The songs are something that Sonic Youth could have done--they have that pulsing-winding chordal sectionality about them. And there's a neo-psychedelic feel to the music. Having Lee sing all the vocals gives it a slightly different thrust. His voice is fine, but of course if you are a Sonics listener you can hear some of the others chiming in. That takes about two seconds to get beyond and then you are set for a very enjoyable set of songs.

He plays in the guitar style that is a so important half of the guitar sound of the Sonics. The songs stand out. Everything has an edginess that makes it good and the songs are memorable at the same time.

You like the Sonics, you will like this. It's different enough that you should hear it and probably buy it.