Gamera is their finest moment… though I think TNT was the last album of theirs I really enjoyed all the way through.
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oh yeah - i love this track so much, not PR, just so good …
Not sure i have any - but i have all the Gastr del Sol stuff and most of the O’Rourke stuff
but will definitely check out the other recommendations too
I don’t think i ever enjoyed myself as much as i did just getting lost in the high energy of a Sea and Cake gig, i’m sure McEntire was sweating buckets by the end, i love them so much too, wish i knew what Prekop was singing mind you !! I love it when musicians jump ship between bands and change instruments etc, i think that attitude leads to freshness for ideas, but if you want chops you have to be like Parker I guess and just master the instrument - they’re all great musicians, great off-shoots too when they did their own things
I want to believe you, but what is the Futurama skeptical squinty meme? I keep up as best I can, and appreciated his break, but he’s back to being super prolific with the Steamroom stuff and it’s basically a full time job to keep up with his output 
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They were generally on fire in the nineties - I think I saw the first London gig, maybe Upstairs At The Garage or somewhere similar, and it was terrific.
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true to question that for sure …well - i just couldn’t find the phrase to represent most of his easily accessible stuff, i did even get imports for a while but yeah - i gave up the impossible completist thing a long time ago and i have no idea about the other reference (yet) 
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not sure he does either. on several occasions I’ve spotted him with cheat sheets of song lyrics down by his feet 
Sea and Cake are awesome live though. particularly because of Claridge’s bass playing. I’ve literally never enjoyed a bass guitar so much. and I’m a drummer (who obviously loves McEntire as well).
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Claridge was superb - a reminder of how critical a good bassist is as an anchor. He isn’t with them anymore is my impression. McCombs now right? I wonder why Claridge isn’t playing anymore. A huge loss.
I played with Sam here a couple years ago and he seemed super nice. Archer joined him (maybe all tour, maybe just because he was from Lexington, KY and thought it’d be an excuse to visit home?) Anyway they played a few pop songs, but his synth work was also masterful.
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I used the idea of music torn out of my soul above, coincidentally from the same year, and certainly from a Chicago label of sorts, when i came across this in that time of searching out stuff it blew my mind - i don’t recall a single track/song with as much resonance for me from that era/since as this one (the opening track with the simple plaintive trumpet before the WAY-looser noisier Lynchian stuff and awesome tape chewing and hot bass) and as far as i was aware nobody listened to this stuff, it was only showing up on YT fairly recently which made it hard to share back in time
I don’t know where these guys came from or went, but this is a terrific album, the opener gets me in the way a lot of the tracks referenced above does and it’s got this quintessentially Chicago-output feel to me - i can see why the rest of it wasn’t commercial, i’m sure for it to hit these shores (Scotland) it must have been selling over there and folk know these guys - i’m not sure much of it would translate to live 1:1 but it’d have been special to see them try
The bass player seems to be the only member of the band to do much other stuff which i haven’t researched - the album as a whole is an incredible statement, it really is fantastic ! i wish i was this loose/free - i find it all strangely meditative despite the heat and juxtapositions
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wow
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the trumpet on the opening track …like a weeping willow … like the second tracks staggering and detunes intro…thank you for sharing You Fantastic…
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i played trumpet at school which is why i think it has a place in my heart, he’s no Miles but there’s so so much feel in there despite the simplicity of the line, it layers beautifully - the trumpet is sparser after that, it takes quite a few listens to get a frame of reference with it, it’s like listening to an early Lynch soundtrack without any pictures, quite surreal but calming … it’s something else all right !
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I did enjoy the role of the trumpet as the song progresses…almost had a defective surface ( at least I imagine)…understating can be as effective as overstating …chicago always reminds me of firehose
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Darin rules. He’s a super friendly dude. I don’t know You Fantastic, but he’s a great guy and plays here periodically with my friend Tim Barnes and did a tape and collaborates with my friend Al - tape on Loin Seepage called “Rawthug”. Oh also, check out his tapes with Robert Beatty / Three Legged Race!
Looking at the Discogs page, Thymme Jones is in the band which means they definitely went on to great stuff outside of Darin: namely Cheer Accident who will melt your mind live (and embarrass you if you have to share the stage). He also is in Dead Rider (see also US Maple) who are supposedly fantastic too, but I’ve missed them every time they’ve played here 
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I had a hunch (i half expected to hear you were in a band with one of them, or were one of them or something) - this is super great to know there’s stuff to chase (so it may not have the trumpet, but there’s stuff to find from these folk - this is potent stuff, you don’t do that then vanish) - these Thymme Jones’ links are really exciting, but probably super hard to check out through the usual channels - glad i linked that up now - good stuff - will hit google on those for sure
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Not played with Darin, but he’s a pretty open-minded dude who probably wouldn’t say no if there was an appropriate forum - he’s just really down with exploration from the little I know him. He’s always been helpful and generous with his time though when I reach out for ideas about playing St. Louis (though it hasn’t worked out ) It seems like he lives a quiet life outside of St. Louis still, but travels the world playing with Tweedy and O’Rourke (here and there), and more interesting to me: improvises in a supremely powerful way with his upright bass with all kinds of random formats. Didn’t he do On Fillmore with Glenn Kotche too? I DID open for them once back in the day.
Definitely check out Cheer Accident. Vast catalog, so I wouldn’t know where to start with their recordings. That and Dead Rider are definitely around, Dead Rider is on Drag City I believe, so they’re not exactly small potatoes.
Did some digging. Darin’s duo with Robert/Three Legged Race is called Attic Talent:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/6145335-Attic-Talent - I’m pretty sure there’s another tape, but this one is a little dude Robert did before Cropped Out one year.
Here’s Darin’s duo with Al called Rawthug:
His duos with Loren Connors back in the day are great and I see he’s done some stuff with Tyler Damon too, who is an incredible drummer worth peeping (especially his duo with Tashi Dorji).
Blah, endless connections, veering off track.
I DID jam “Millions Now Living…” on my way home and I’m pleased it still holds up. That was the last one I really loved. Parker is great, but the jazz vibes became too strong I think - for what I wanted out of them anyway. Leave that for Chicago Underground or Isotope 217. The weirdness sort of faded away and it got a bit slick for my taste.
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having fun rummaging through these new names - Cheer-Accident have a varied style for sure in the few clips i’ve seen - but there’s a nice ‘arc’ to this song i hadn’t expected
looking forward to checking out some more - Chicago underground obviously do it for me, big time, i can’t get enough of that - i think it’s why TNT resonates the most, my misspent adolescence was lost indulging in Jazz, but also Reich which is why TNT hits all the buttons
I remember chatting to Rob Mazurek after one of their gigs, reminiscing of a shared love of trumpet and drums and iirc he had his first break in Edinburgh (somehow), maybe his first release or something - it was a weird story as i recall it - the Duo and Trio were incredible, the drummer had incredible touch
Now i think about it, my Thrill Jockey highlight might actually have been seeing The Lonesome Organist live, he probably had a trumpet along with everything else - phenomenal to see it, and again terrific plaintive music - clips are thin on the ground, a strange talent
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I heard LO was fantastic but never got to see him :/.
I opened for Chicago Underground/Isotope217 in 01 right after that 2nd album (I think - Synesthesia?) came out and there’s a song where Chad Taylor plays vibes with one hand and kicks ass on the kit with the other. Rob was running early Reaktor patches on a laptop…it was fantastic. I’ve lost the thread of their recordings long ago, but they played here maybe 6 years ago and it was dynamite.
Rob’s solo album on Astral Spirits is a fucking bold noise jam worth listening to ( https://robmazurek.bandcamp.com/album/chimeric-stoned-horn ) , but his best stuff recently that I’m aware of is the Black Cube SP/Sao Paolo Underground stuff. Here’s a recording I made of their last show here with video a friend made. I would’ve made some slight edits to the EQ, but they shredded. Rob’s modular fell down and he’s just screaming with it over his head like a maniac. Stressed me out! I think that’s in the 2nd half.
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Here’s a couple of Tortoise links that are maybe capable of swinging folk on the fence about their stuff (it seems that Parker does do multi-instruments after all) - it’s good to see them do their thing well filmed
and another blast of something from TNT for good measure
and why not …
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great stuff in there - getting on a bill with Bill tops getting on a bill with Chicago Underground/ Isotope 217, just, wow, there’s a world between them tho, sort of !!
I think the last thing i bought from Rob was Exploding Star Orchestra - i love that he has evolved, like all good artists - will check those vids when i can give them a bit of attention
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