Brown Wing Overdrive - ESP Organism (2008)

New York City trio (via Washington, D.C.) Brown Wing Overdrive are a hand-in-glove fit for the Tzadik label's Lunatic Fringe series. Their label debut, ESP Organism, is a complete flip to wig city combination of warped electronics, Jew's harp, processed banjo, mystic shamanic chants, and percussion and found objects, all wrapped together in a systemic manner. They place noise against dynamic, organization against improvisational chaos, and these seemingly disparate elements are glued together with an irreverent yet healthy sense of humor. These guys are musical outsiders by choice, and these ten tracks showcase all different sides of that equation. There are moments here of pure screaming glee, such as on album opener "Acupunctured," where a repetitive chant, an out of tune banjo, digital delays, and woven noise and percussion instruments become their own animated sound universe. Elsewhere, on "Eye Slew," the power electronics become somewhat shrill and frequencies in the upper range of the tolerance level are irritating before they give way to frequency shifts and changes as feedback and sine wave generators bend and twist pitches until they become something akin to space aliens making body function noises — yes, it is funny. Still elsewhere, on the brief "Lonely Geist Heist," treated duck calls, guttural chanting, feedback, and loops collide in a mantra of absurdity and rank obnoxiousness. Needless to say, Brown Wing Overdrive's "music" isn't for everyone, but there are some adventurous souls who will no doubt take great delight in being assaulted by it for 46 minutes — laughing their asses off all the while. What the album really accomplishes, however, is to scratch at the scab that covers curiosity as to what this would be like live, because the album seemingly only hints at the genuine sonic madness that this trio might be able to accomplish in a performance setting. Review by Thom Jurek

Tracklisting:

01. Acupunctured 8:35
02. Triple Essence 6:16
03. Perils of Flight 3:20
04. Predator/Prey 2:15
05. Eye Slew 7:10
06. Cryptic Syntax 2:07
07. ESP Organism 6:03
08. Lonely Geist Heist 2:15
09. Pyramid of Dots 2:43
10. Sphere of Sensation 5:04

Credits:

Chuck Bettis: Vocals, Electronics
Derek Morton: Banjo, Engineer, Artwork, Electronics
Mikey IQ Jones: Percussion, Jew's-Harp, Vocals, Electronics, Objects

John Zorn: Executive Producer
Kazunori Sugiyama: Associate Producer
Scott Hull: Mastering
Heung-Heung "Chippy" Chin: Design
Peter Gannushkin, Colleen Venable: Photography

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