JENKS MILLER & ROSE CROSS NC - BLUES FROM WHAT
three lobed 2016, edition of 747
"purgatorial jam outfit, an exercise, as their vaguely alchemical name indicates, in the swamp psychedelia of the Southern occult. Blues from WHAT is the first recording to capture the searing sound of the touring band's labyrinthine live performances. ...a lumbering electric processional, snaking its way deeper and deeper into the metaphysical backcountry... guitar, organ, and the breathing tambura proceed outward in an endless Terry Riley-esque burble... on the cusp of some imminent illumination." - THREE LOBED bandcamp
JM&RCNC's debut lp jumped to the top of my "most anticipated" list the moment THREE LOBED announced it - it's not exactly what i expected but it exceeds my lofty expectations - last year's MUSIC FOR SNOWDRIFTS (REC #29) was an unexpected boon - i never really got into MILLER's work under his name or as HORSEBACK or with MOUNT MORIAH, but SNOWDRIFTS won me over with it's moody smoky jazzy psych - i figured this lp would refine that formula, and i suppose to some extent it does, but it's not a next step, it's a formidable leap forward a la EXPO 70's power trio metamorphosis
BLUES FROM WHAT charges out of a hazy intro with a gritty gutsy riff and a "backing band" churnin a heavy cosmic blues groove or somesuch like some mythic BLIND FAITH soundcheck that unravels into a RED KRAYOLA freeform freakout / MV & EE "environs" zone, kinda like a hi-fi rendering of SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE - oh there's not actually a backing band, it's mostly just MILLER - anyway, i expected the blazed guitar attack like J MASCIS by way of MV & EE bleeding big muff fuzz blasting meets sky high TOM CARTER ecstatic improvisation, and the cool vocals somewhere between FLYING SAUCER ATTACK and MORPHINE or somethin like that, as surfaced a bit on SNOWDRIFTS as well as some of MILLER's previous works, but this no nonsense blues propulsion kinda caught me by surprise, and it kicks all kinds of ass - it kinda reminds me of ZELIENOPLE's SHOW US THE FIRE but with more oomph, or LOREN CONNORS band HAUNTED HOUSE's BLUE GHOST BLUES but less on the verge of a psychotic break
and that's just side one, which was already enough to seal the deal for me, then side two dials it back a bit and goes full on smoked out folk guitar meandering with a sweet tambura drone backdrop and touches of zoned organ, wandering into some freaked out fuzz and a march like mantra before arriving at a "pull out all the stops" blissed out waltz finale - side two is more in line with what i expected, even so it's quite a different affair than SNOWDRIFT, with highly regarded folks like MARISA ANDERSON, RAFI BOOKSTABER and WILLIE LANE coming to mind here -- BLUES FROM WHAT hits every target and rolls the score over
highest possible recommendation
LIMITED EDITION CASSETTES
