Christopher Alan Durham – Six Psalms from Quarantine (All Gone)

I mentioned All Gone in FOAP #10, and here’s label creator CAD releasing another in a string of solo tapes under his own name. This is a close spiritual cousin to post-Xpressway NZ artists like CJA and Pumice and various ’90s Siltbreeze VU obsessives. Six Psalms is his best so far. It’s totally unintelligible as “songwriting” but as “bummer song atmosphere” it is very crusty and pleasing. Once again All Gone is a solid location for mangled awesomeness. Dip your chip into the dip.

CJA – I Wanna Go Out & Play EP (self-released)

Speaking of CJA, here’s a newish digital EP from a master of mangle. Most of his music would be considered too sluggish and crude to qualify as music, but I am a huge fan. Armpit, one of his many bands or duos or whatever it was, rivaled the Dead C for disembodied rock music. You can dig in anywhere with his stuff, but this 2020 one has all the elements, half-remembered distorted chords played on the worst gear, strange vocalizations and meandering acoustic guitar journeys.

Brief Futurians Bandcamp Appreciation:

Just a reminder that this CJA-related band is in full flower online. They mash-up Hawkwind/Chrome/Dead C/Godz into cassette sludge. Add perfect Xerox punk Sci-Fi visuals, two-chord drone-outs, and laser-blasting analog synth farts. Beth Ducklingmonster is the “singer”, who sounds like a Bantha getting strangled by Tusken Raiders (don’t pretend like you are too cool to understand this sentence). Spock Ritual from 2011 is the perfect launchpad for your favorite invaders and is occasionally almost meditative for them. Check out “In Search of Spock” to hear Beth really take it into the Nebula.