Tag Archives: Dennis Duck
Sissy Spacek/Smegma
Ballast
CD
Helicopter, H 88
Ace Farren Ford, Dennis Duck, and Ju Suk Reet Meate (three original members) are joined by Rock ’N’ Roll Jackie (35 years in the band), John Wiese (approximately 10 years), and a cast of others form the current third phase Smegma. Personnel of this album, “Ballast”, consists of this line-up plus Charlie Mumma, a member of Sissy Spacek since 2008.
The source material of “Ballast” was recorded at home and on the Los Angeles radio station Dublab, but what we hear is not exactly Smegma and Sissy Spacek performing together as a live group. Wiese’s production of the recording is a kind of un-doing of the live group playing, forging it into a new collage of sound. It reminds us of genome editing which results in diversity, and sometimes in mutation, of organisms.
The title of the album, “Ballast”, refers to a weight on a ship which improves it’s stability, but it is also a term for an electrical component that regulates electricity so as to not destroy the other components. It’s double meaning fits between the cover art and the collage process which is constantly partitioning and interrupting the elements of sound.
—Takuya Sakaguchi, from the liner notes
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Airway
Live At MOCA
Helicopter, CD/Digital
HEL 98071
Release Date: August 8, 2018
Airway began as a solo project of Los Angeles Free Music Society member Joe Potts. The first release was the Airway 7-inch, which featured subliminal messages to coincide with an art exhibition in Tokyo. Since their August 1978 live debut at the LACE Gallery, the group has performed many concerts with different large lineups, always with Joe Potts’ subliminal message experiments as a central feature. Airway’s “Live At LACE” LP, first released in 1978, and introduced to Japan by Takuya Sakaguchi, was a direct influence on the projects Hijokaidan and Merzbow. In their 42-year history Airway’s discography to date includes the albums “Live At LACE”, “Beyond The Pink Live”, a split LP with Hijokaidan, “Live At Mark Moore Gallery”, and now “Live At MOCA”.
“Live At MOCA” was recorded January 30, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. The line-up includes: Ama, Ted Byrnes, Chip Chapman, Dennis Duck, Ace Farren Ford, Juan Gomez, Joseph Hammer, Kevin Laffey, Maya, Fredrik Nilsen, Joe Potts, Rick Potts, Tom Recchion, Dani Tull, Vetza, John Wiese, with additional sounds contributed by Team Airway Japan: Takayuki Hashimoto, Jojo Hiroshige, Kazuya Ishigami, Katsuyoshi Kou, Toshiji Mikawa, Masahiko Ohno, Atsushi Reizen, Takuya Sakaguchi, Shizuo Uchida. The recording was made by Tamaki Ueda, and was mixed by John Wiese. The cover was designed by Tinytown.
Joe & Joe
s/t
Helicopter, CD/Digital
HEL 98072
Release Date: August 8, 2018
Joe & Joe is the duo of Los Angeles Free Music Society staples Joe Potts and Joseph Hammer. Utilizing the Chopped Optigan and phonomontage techniques respectively, they create an immersive environment of great detail and gravity. Their performance at this year’s No Response Festival in Cincinnati marked the project’s first excursion outside LA. Their subsequent midwest tour is documented by this release.
Joe Potts has composed electro-acoustic music exclusively since 1973, creating art/sound installations and performances internationally. A founding member of the LAFMS, he is also the man behind the curtain in Airway, combining walls of sound with subliminal treatments, utilizing both live musicians and the audience itself as electronic signals which are processed and manipulated. For the past 20 years he has been composing for an instrument known as the Chopped Optigan, a seventies optical sampling console organ that he has customized and rewired in order to create dense undulating chords of up to 64 notes at a time.
Joseph Hammer has focused on tape loops since the early 80s, using phonomontage as a live process to assemble source material by hand with vintage magnetic audio gear. As part of the LAFMS, his groups Solid Eye, Points of Friction, Dimmer, and Dinosaurs with Horns have had an active presence alongside his constant solo practice.
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Airway
Live At Mark Moore Gallery
Helicopter, CD
HEL 95121
Release Date: December 15, 2015
Airway began as a solo project of Los Angeles Free Music Society member Joe Potts. The first release was the Airway 7-inch, which featured subliminal messages to coincide with an art exhibition in Tokyo. Since their August 1978 live debut at the LACE Gallery, the group has performed many concerts with different large lineups, always with Joe Potts’ subliminal message experiments as a central feature. Airway’s “Live At LACE” LP, first released in 1978, and introduced to Japan by Takuya Sakaguchi, was a direct influence on the projects Hijokaidan and Merzbow. Airway’s discography to date includes the albums “Live At LACE”, “Beyond The Pink Live”, a split LP with Hijokaidan, and now Helicopter is very pleased to present “Live At Mark Moore Gallery”.
“Live At Mark Moore Gallery” was recorded June 21, 2014 in Culver City, California. The line-up includes: Don Bolles, Ted Byrnes, Dennis Duck, Ace Farren Ford, Michael Foster, Juan Gomez, Fredrik Nilsen, Joseph Hammer, Kevin Laffey, Jorge Martin, Joe Potts, Rick Potts, Dani Tull, John Wiese, and Vetza. The multi-channel recording was engineered by Jorge Martin and Greg Lenczycki, and was mixed by John Wiese. The cover was designed by Tinytown with photographs by Don Lewis.
This release continues a series by the label documenting West Coast artists. Other editions so far include The Haters, Damion Romero, Hive Mind, Smegma, John Wiese, and Sissy Spacek.
Smegma—Mutant Stomps LP
Helicopter, HEL 94111
These American legends of outsider avant-garde need little introduction. Since becoming core members of the Los Angeles Free Music Society over four decades ago, they have retained their focus, determination and unmatched originality, influencing generations and never ceasing to advance further avenues of progress. Mutant Stomps is a result of Smegma’s living room recording sessions at their pink house in Portland. All tracks were produced 2012–2013, with one dating back to 1975 for good measure. The line-up of Dennis Duck, Ace Farren Ford, Rock and Roll Jackie, Ju Suk Reet Meate, Madellyn Villano, John Wiese and Donkey Flybye deliver a consistently amorphous, surreal-concrète sound.
The full length LP comes in an edition of 100 copies.
Tracklist:
1. Vout #9
2. Mutant Stomps
3. Hot In There
4. Variations VII
5. Code 61
6. Jug Band Waltz
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Smegma
Color Buk
Actuary
Bacteria Cult
Pulsating Cyst
Dog
June 16, 8pm
The Handbag Factory
1336 South Grand Ave, LA
Smegma – Wild Blue Yonders LP (iDEAL Recordings)
Released in conjunction with Smegma’s concert at Perspectives 2012 in Västerås, Sweden. Each cover customized by members of Smegma. Edition of 100 copies.
Lightbulb 2012
