With an uncanny ability to make hectic chop 'n' change asymmetries sound suave and ducky, this American R.I.O. unit's irresistible tunes and overall spirit of infectious bonhomie recall Fred Frith during his peak Gravity/Speechless period. High praise indeed, but the manner in which these folks temper their jubilance with undertows of unease mirrors Frith's work with the members of both Etron Fou Leloublan and The Muffins on those two album, and indeed, the man himself appears in a guest capacity here on guitar and violin as does virtuoso avant guitarist Hans Reichel, who doesn't normally move around outside of improv contexts. Tone Dogs were led by two highly fluid and unusual multi-instrumentalists in the form of Amy Denio and Fred Chalenor and backed up by one Matt Cameron, who's soon depart for rock star land as drummer for fellow Seattle-ites Soundgarden. Both Denio and Chalenor would go on to do much remarkable work in the future, Denio with the E.C. Nudes together with Chris Cutler and Chalenor with Caveman Shoestore and collaborations with Soft Machine's Hugh Hopper. But this album is where it all started. And it's a whopper.
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***NOTE: THERE'S A MIRRORED MEDIAFIRE LINK IN THE COMMENT FIELD***
Har ! I tried playing this for you ages ago , and you dismissed it at the time.
ReplyDeletehur hur !
V Dorje
No hur hur here. You're thinking of Caveman Shoestore, Craig.
ReplyDeleteI saw them play probably 40 plus times between '89 and '91. They never played live with Cameron so far as I'm aware. What was fascinating was their continual experimentation with arrangement, in which the same songs would be presented in completely different contexts with new intros and bridges and wholly new instrumental sections. Their recording on Soleil Moon, The Early Middle Years is much more representative of what the band was about.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, Fred's Wandering Guru became the name of an occasional, fun band dedicated to the psychedelic music of the early part of the 20th century, essentially an amalgam of Sousa and Eisler covers performed as if arranged by Morricone. i think they released a cassette.
Cor, something on this weblog I actually own. I found the original cassette issue with the brick wall cover on the Bay a few years ago. Need to listen to this again.
ReplyDeleteStrange this was on C/Z. Terrible label otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI thank you for sharing this, I was looking for years and only now I have gotten, I wish them well and good luck!
ReplyDeleteMediafire link for this album:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediafire.com/download.php?afbs14a9u8xn1bx