One of three tapes received from Public Eyesore / Eh? Audio this season is Collab #3: If It Works, It’s Obsolete (EH?125) credited to Bong Watt.
Bong Watt are pretty much a “dream team” of American mavericks for this listener – Al Margolis, i.e. the mighty If, Bwana who was an indie cassette pioneer in the 1980s with his Sound Of Pig label, going on to invent his own brand of wayward electro-acoustic performance and process art in the 1990s (and finding a kindred spirit in the UK with Adam Bohman); Mike Watt, the bassist from Minutemen and fIREHOSE, personal faves from the US hardcore politico-rock movement of the 1980s; and Walter Wright, whose name is new to me – but anyone who moved in the same orbit as the great illustrator Ed Emswhiller merits a pot of gold in his briefcase. Wright is more than just an improviser, working across video, computer art, and performance, and has done a number of thrilling actions in experimental television in the 1970s. (He did the cover art too.)
On these 2023 recordings, the threesome manifest some of the hallmarks that make them an obvious fit for this label, i.e. hand-made instruments, toys, household utensils, possibly broken or maltreated electronic gear and synths, and an abiding sense of fun-absurd chaos-merchant mentality guiding their very spontaneous movements. Indeed the shared commitment to “barely works” when it comes to assembling their equipment set-up is clearly expressed in the album title also. Some listeners may be hoping for energised noiseino-splurge as these three mustangs gallop around the ranch, but instead what comes over on today’s listen is the subtle combination of broken, crumbly textures, constantly being tried and retried in a healthy atmosphere of try-anything experimentation. Unique sounds, one-of-a-kind, replete with all the personality I’d expect from these larger-than-life characters. (15/07/2024)