TSKF This Saxophone Kills Fascists, Ghost In The House Second Sight
This Saxophone Kills Fascists
This Saxophone Kills Fascists / Live Alive
(self-released / Fidalgo Island’s Beautiful)
In today’s absurd political climate, one of the most absurd episodes has to be the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which purported that Hillary Clinton was connected to a Satanic child-trafficking ring run out of the Washington, D.C. pizzeria Comet Ping Pong.
Unwittingly caught in the middle of this mess was musician and artist Arrington de Dionyso (of Old Time Relijun and Malaikat dan Singa), who had painted a mural inside Comet Ping Pong and received threats and harassment from credulous trolls.
It’s not surprising, then, that de Dionyso’s new project is pointedly political. Its name, This Saxophone Kills Fascists, is a direct reference to the label that reads “This Machine Kills Fascists” seen on the guitar of folk and protest singer Woody Guthrie.
It also takes inspiration from ‘60s spiritual free jazz, like Albert Ayler and late-career John Coltrane, with de Dionyso channeling the intensity of those saxophonists, often over-blowing and opting for sheer impact rather than nuance.
Although only in existence for a few months, the project already has several physical releases, including a self-titled CD-R and the live cassette Live Alive, both of which compile material also available digitally on Bandcamp under different titles.
Side A of Live Alive features a 32-minute set with drummer Sam Klickner and saxophonist China Faith Star, bookended with two spoken-word recitations: de Dionyso’s “This Saxophone Kills Fascists Manifesto” and Martin Niemöller’s poem “First They Came...”
Klickner matches the spirit of de Dionyso’s free-form bleatings with spasmodic bursts, providing space among the fierce blasts, and the set on side B is perhaps even more messy and unrestrained, with a larger 5-piece ensemble.
The 74-minute CD-R begins with de Dionyso borrowing the melody of the French national anthem “La Marseillaise,” an apt quote, considering the anthem’s lyrical themes of revolution and anti-tyranny.
De Dionyso demonstrates his invented instrument the Bromiophone, a contrabass clarinet made from PVC pipe, wrenching out guttural, animalistic sounds atop Klickner’s clanging percussion.
The CD-R ends with an intriguing diversion—a looping, lurching groove recorded using a record lathe cutter onto a plastic plate, for a unique type of low-fidelity. Just as de Dionyso’s message is not subtle, This Saxophone Kills Fascists is often blunt, swinging its musical arms violently, born from anger and discontent.
Ghost In The House
Second Sight
(Public Eyesore)
A friend once referred, somewhat comically disparagingly, to the sinister sounds and musique concrète of the British act Nurse With Wound as “haunted house music”.
That came to mind when listening to the new album Second Sight from Ghost in the House, which evokes a sort of playful, eerie mood while providing transportive, experiential qualities—sure, it’s a dark, haunted house but the ghosts are friendly rather than terrifying.
(Simpsons creator Matt Groening once wondered if Casper the Friendly Ghost was once Casper the Friendly Boy, but this writer digresses.)
The core quartet explores the scenarios presented by filmmaker and multi-instrumentalist David Michalak, intended to evoke vivid pictures (with the titular “second sight” being music-invoked visuals) from hard-to-place sounds and occasional storytelling. Michalak (on lap steel, bass, “sonoglyph 2” and “box of junk” among other things) is joined by oboe and English horn player Kyle Bruckmann, instrument inventor Tom Nunn (who plays instruments including the “friction twister”, “ghost plate”, and “crustacean”) and percussionist Karen Stackpole who employs a number of gongs and metallic and wooden percussion, sometimes suggesting an Asian influence.
Free from the constraints of consistent rhythms, Second Sight oozes freely with a dizzying array of sounds and a fog of mystery. Various animals make cameos, such as Alaskan seals and penguins on the squeaky “Warning Signs” or bat voices on “The Bats (are hanging upside down)”.
One constant on the album is the melding of dark forces with playful attitudes, like on “Innocence Walks a Dark Path”. which combines ominous drones with the recurring “nanny nanny boo boo” melody.
However, the album takes a grotesque turn with “Dockside Discovery”, with spoken-word vocals that describe a severed head being pulled out of the water, among wispy sounds and disquieting noises.
But, for the most part, the aural variety and mischief on Second Sight make it a welcome experience into unknown depths.