Experimental music is by its very nature a risky endeavor. Occasionally something outstanding occurs, at other times the attempt is best forgotten, but far more often the results are moderately successful; add collaboration into the scenario and the dangers of failure are only heightened, a circumstance that makes the meeting of NYC psychedelic free-rockers Oneida and veteran avant-garde composer Rhys Chatham even more impressive. What’s Your Sign? documents their recent encounter, and it’s a prime example of raw, robust, experimental energies available on vinyl, compact disc, and digital November 11 through Northern Spy.
Amongst this collaboration’s numerous positives is multi-generational appeal, with What’s Your Sign? at least potentially roping in adventurous listeners spanning from NYC’s minimalist era all the way up to the current moment’s thriving experimental scene. That Rhys Chatham remains active and relevant beyond this record only increases its contents’ vitality; nobody pulled him out of retirement for this session, and in fact this is the multi-instrumentalist-composer’s second release this year; the other is the very strong Pythagorean Dream on the Foom label.
Chatham’s musical background stretches back to the late ’60s as he studied under electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick and played in the groups of essential drone-minimalists La Monte Young and Tony Conrad. His compositions date back to 1971, but perhaps due to his role as the first musical director of Manhattan’s The Kitchen, his didn’t get a full-length recording out until Factor X hit racks in 1983.
In the late ’70s Chatham’s artistic direction was profoundly altered through a performance by The Ramones. Subsequently, he became a component in the compositional wing of the city’s No Wave scene alongside Glenn Branca, an associate who Chatham utilized as guitarist for performances of his Guitar Trio back in ’78. But as Branca recorded earlier and more, much of the NYC avant-punk-experimental spotlight fell upon his profile, though with the arrival of the masterful Die Donnergötter in 1987 Chatham’s rep spilled beyond the city’s boundaries in earnest.
Underground ears of the era feeling frustration with the same old R&R thing considered Die Donnergötter a revelation. It greatly expanded the dialogue between the period’s avant-garde and subterranean post-punk uprisings, and today the record is in the creative DNA of many an ensuing experimental enterprise including Oneida, the Brooklyn group debuting on record with A Place Called El Shaddai’s roughly a decade after Die Donnergötter’s emergence.
Oneida’s been prolific since, maintaining a high level of quality throughout the new century even as they strained against playing it safe with 2009’s triple album Rated O and kept at it as a group amid members Bobby Matador and Kid Millions’ exploring side-project People of the North and drummer Millions’ various affairs, the main one being Man Forever.
Notably, What’s Your Sign? isn’t the first meeting of Oneida and Chatham, the two principals having meshed on stage to reported success in 2012 as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival in NYC’s Merkin Concert Hall. However, what goes down gangbusters once in a live setting might not translate to a recording environment, particularly four years hence.
Indeed, Chatham stated he was a tad worried about the collab mainly due to his perception of Oneida as predominantly a rock entity. In a cool twist, the LP starts out in just that mode, with “You Get Brighter” exuding surly post-Sonic Youth noise rock attitude considerably enhanced by gruff shouted vocals harkening back to NYC’s dangerous days. A secure foundation established, the interweaving textures deepen the track and point the way toward increasing levels of abstraction.
Following cut “Bad Brains” wastes no time getting there. If a hat tip to the celebrated DC/ NY hardcore band, the sound doesn’t reflect it (which is the best kind of homage), instead combining steady aural choppiness with spasms of abrasion as the intensity ebbs and flows; later in the piece near psychedelic resonances momentarily arise before the track culminates with unexpected calm.
After a jazz-tinged free-rock beginning, “Well Tuned Guitar” tightens up structurally with an incessant rhythm line pursuing an extended journey into Krautrock territory as glistening guitar propulsion underscores Chatham’s continued artistic potency; just play this cut directly after Die Donnergötter’s “Drastic Classicism” to get the gist.
“The Mabinogian” reverts to the looseness of “Bad Brains” but with agitated form festering beneath the surface as the situation gradually turns downright noisy. By contrast, “A. Philip Randolph at Back Bay Station” rises rather quietly with flutes (Chatham’s first instrument) prior to erupting into a wild merger of Fire Music and hard psych. The jazzy angle intensifies in “Civil Weather” courtesy of the double trumpets of Chatham and Oneida’s Hanoi Jane, and as the track progresses the psychedelia briefly morphs into a celestial vibe for the LP’s finish.
Like the best in true experimentation, What’s Your Sign? displays its rough edges but never succumbs to mere fucking around, even at its most abstract. Through focus and daring, Oneida and Rhys Chatham have made a record of distinction.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
