Now for some fine metal explosions from the team of Mary Staubitz and Henry Birdsey. Lidless Hinge (SOUNDHOLES #112) was made from a godless melange of unspeakable metal objects and the lap steel guitar, a combination which as yet never occurred to any session musician who played for Muscle Shoals or the Wrecking Crew.
Having made their compact before the emperors of cast iron and stainless steel (they are implacable rulers over their domain), the duo proceed along their chosen course with determination and courage. The myth of “industrial” music is that it comprised recordings of banging metal with hammers inside a factory to obnoxious effect, when in fact this never took place; at a more recent manifestation of the spectrum, some performers have found it convenient to rotate a steel disc and apply needles or spikes to allow pleasing grindey drones to emanate inside the venue. In between these two extremes, Staubitz and Birdsey create ecstatic full-bodied choirs from their inert lumps and their harmonic intervals; never once getting violent or intending to crush humanity beneath a boot of burnished lead, yet nor do they settle for the wispy zones of aesthetic wheel-spinners, many of whom find they can accompany improvising saxophonists without any risk of loss of earnings. Conversely, I doubt any other musician would last for more than 35 seconds on a stage with this pair.
More new names to me; Staubitz is from Massachusetts and now in Rhode Island, has worked with the eccentric genius Angela Sawyer in New England, has sometimes recorded as Donna Parker. Amazingly, she’s even worked with Russ Waterhouse, who I met once in New York City. Pictured with a metal rake (Chadbourne would applaud) and wearing glasses, Staubitz looks like a no-nonsense schoolmistress who brooks no back-talk in class during lectures. (I mean this as a compliment.) She’s my new heroine. Birdsey from Vermont plays his lapsteel in Just Intonation tunings, hence the strong overtones and harmonic clouds from this great release. Look out for his Air Drain on this same label. Also plays as Old Saw. Also plays in Tongue Depressor with – surprise – Zach Rowden from the previous item.
I absolutely love this tape of strong resonating moments, each more delicious than the last, strong enough to in fact leave a taste of metal in the mouth of the listener, and I love the titles such as ‘Dross Melt’, ‘Face Laminate’ and ‘Choke Hitch’, as if the duo were working as smelters in a forge instead of flapping around in improv-music circles. Glorious. Essential must-have item. 100 copies only. Third of four cassettes received from the Soundholes label, from 23 September 2024.