HR050 — Bwana Dog — Joint Venture — C60 — 1987
original cassette cover as released by Harsh Reality Music
Side One:
Transfer Of Identities
Concealed Tensions / A Place Forgotten
Razor
Side Two:
Sucking Breath
Crazy Old Father
Virus Theory
Fall Into Line
Accidental Associations
White Feet
Transfer Of Identities
Concealed Tensions / A Place Forgotten
Razor
Side Two:
Sucking Breath
Crazy Old Father
Virus Theory
Fall Into Line
Accidental Associations
White Feet
Cassette cover used by Margolis and McGee on their Sacrifice Of Reason Tour, October 1987
ARTICLE/REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
Bwana Dog was the duo of Al ‘If, Bwana’ Margolis and Hal ‘Dog As Master’ McGee. There is an interesting back story to this tape. I’ll quote liberally from information Hal provided…
During the weekend of July 10-12, 1987, Hal and Debbie Jaffe, who together ran the Cause And Effect tape label, held a hometaper pow-wow at their house in Indianapolis. Among the gathered were Manny Theiner (SSS Productions, Pittsburgh), Gregg Puchalski (Powder French, Pittsburgh), Al Margolis (If, Bwana, Sound Of Pig label), Doug Walker (Alien Planetscapes), and Carl Howard (Nomuzic, Audiofile Tapes label).
The assembled jammed and partied throughout the weekend, though no recording took place. After the weekend Doug proceeded on to Memphis to visit Chris Phinney and the members of Viktimized Karcass (Carl would later follow), which would result in the HR047 Alien Karcasscapes ‘Victims Of The Flame’ and HR048 Viktimized Karcass / Alien Planetscapes ‘Live July 18, 1987’ tapes.
Crucially, for this article, during the weekend summit in Indianapolis, Hal and Al planned their Bwana Dog ‘Sacrifice Of Reason’ tour for October of that year. Between July and the beginning of the tour, the duo created two mail collaboration tapes to provide merch to sell on the tour: ‘Joint Venture’, linked above, and ‘Sacrifice Of Reason’, linked below.
The ‘Joint Venture’ tape opens with ‘Transfer Of Identities’, which quickly establishes what sounds and FEELS like a cavernous drone and space effects symphony conducted in an urban environment. Throughout its 12+ minutes we experience pummeling, pulsating electronic thunder blasts, a playful melody, and myriad swirling soundscapes and effects, creating a continually varying soundtrack for hurtling through the cosmos. LOTS happening there!
‘Concealed Tensions / A Place Forgotten’ is a bit different, sounding like an avant-garde chamber ensemble. Explosive blasts that sound like a cross between electronic timpani and fire breathing dragon set an intense rhythmic pace, along with rickety dancing block/metal percussion while Hal dreamily sings.
‘Razor’ has a similarly intense orchestral feel, with different but equally heavy weather patterns that give the music a hair-raising edge-of-your-seat vibe, and eventually reaches noisily intense peaks.
Side Two kicks off with ‘Sucking Breath’, which sounds like a psychedelic tape manipulated string ensemble performing in a time warp. This one conjured up images in my mind of the finale to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
‘Crazy Old Father’ is a fun tune that blends a flirtatious avant theater soundtrack feel with flying saucer effects and a Residents styled choppy children’s song.
‘Virus Theory’ feels like trekking through an alien forest, with associated field recordings, glacial sword crossing screech, ghostly atmospherics, and other fun effects. After a few minutes chaos ensues, working toward a head spinning finale of the main theme plus shrieks, tones, pulsations and more.
I like the rhythmic and lightly melodic pulsations that carry ‘Fall Into Line’, accompanied by effects mangled voices, echoes, grinds, and spectral musical samples. This would be great soundtrack music for some hallucinatory horror film.
The set wraps up with two brief 2-minute tracks. I like the dreamily disorienting effect of ‘Accidental Association’. And ‘White Feet’ is a cool blend of soundscapes and toy-ish keyboard melody.
Hal notes that on the Bwana Dog tour they usually performed two sets, the first with Hal on vocals and Al playing bass, and the second being free improvisation with Hal playing Moog synth and Al playing bass.
As we’re celebrating the Harsh Reality label (and we’ve got this nifty poster) it’s worth mentioning the October 30th Memphis show, which was the last on the tour. Mystery Hearsay was scheduled first , followed by Viktimized Karcass, and then a 45-minute Hal McGee solo set, which is documented on the Dog As Master ‘Live In Memphis’ tape, linked below. By the time Bwana Dog started playing it was only 15 minutes before closing time at The Antenna Club and the remainder of the show was shut down. The Bwana Dog set can be heard on the ‘Painting’ album, linked below.
Bwana Dog was the duo of Al ‘If, Bwana’ Margolis and Hal ‘Dog As Master’ McGee. There is an interesting back story to this tape. I’ll quote liberally from information Hal provided…
During the weekend of July 10-12, 1987, Hal and Debbie Jaffe, who together ran the Cause And Effect tape label, held a hometaper pow-wow at their house in Indianapolis. Among the gathered were Manny Theiner (SSS Productions, Pittsburgh), Gregg Puchalski (Powder French, Pittsburgh), Al Margolis (If, Bwana, Sound Of Pig label), Doug Walker (Alien Planetscapes), and Carl Howard (Nomuzic, Audiofile Tapes label).
The assembled jammed and partied throughout the weekend, though no recording took place. After the weekend Doug proceeded on to Memphis to visit Chris Phinney and the members of Viktimized Karcass (Carl would later follow), which would result in the HR047 Alien Karcasscapes ‘Victims Of The Flame’ and HR048 Viktimized Karcass / Alien Planetscapes ‘Live July 18, 1987’ tapes.
Crucially, for this article, during the weekend summit in Indianapolis, Hal and Al planned their Bwana Dog ‘Sacrifice Of Reason’ tour for October of that year. Between July and the beginning of the tour, the duo created two mail collaboration tapes to provide merch to sell on the tour: ‘Joint Venture’, linked above, and ‘Sacrifice Of Reason’, linked below.
The ‘Joint Venture’ tape opens with ‘Transfer Of Identities’, which quickly establishes what sounds and FEELS like a cavernous drone and space effects symphony conducted in an urban environment. Throughout its 12+ minutes we experience pummeling, pulsating electronic thunder blasts, a playful melody, and myriad swirling soundscapes and effects, creating a continually varying soundtrack for hurtling through the cosmos. LOTS happening there!
‘Concealed Tensions / A Place Forgotten’ is a bit different, sounding like an avant-garde chamber ensemble. Explosive blasts that sound like a cross between electronic timpani and fire breathing dragon set an intense rhythmic pace, along with rickety dancing block/metal percussion while Hal dreamily sings.
‘Razor’ has a similarly intense orchestral feel, with different but equally heavy weather patterns that give the music a hair-raising edge-of-your-seat vibe, and eventually reaches noisily intense peaks.
Side Two kicks off with ‘Sucking Breath’, which sounds like a psychedelic tape manipulated string ensemble performing in a time warp. This one conjured up images in my mind of the finale to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
‘Crazy Old Father’ is a fun tune that blends a flirtatious avant theater soundtrack feel with flying saucer effects and a Residents styled choppy children’s song.
‘Virus Theory’ feels like trekking through an alien forest, with associated field recordings, glacial sword crossing screech, ghostly atmospherics, and other fun effects. After a few minutes chaos ensues, working toward a head spinning finale of the main theme plus shrieks, tones, pulsations and more.
I like the rhythmic and lightly melodic pulsations that carry ‘Fall Into Line’, accompanied by effects mangled voices, echoes, grinds, and spectral musical samples. This would be great soundtrack music for some hallucinatory horror film.
The set wraps up with two brief 2-minute tracks. I like the dreamily disorienting effect of ‘Accidental Association’. And ‘White Feet’ is a cool blend of soundscapes and toy-ish keyboard melody.
Hal notes that on the Bwana Dog tour they usually performed two sets, the first with Hal on vocals and Al playing bass, and the second being free improvisation with Hal playing Moog synth and Al playing bass.
As we’re celebrating the Harsh Reality label (and we’ve got this nifty poster) it’s worth mentioning the October 30th Memphis show, which was the last on the tour. Mystery Hearsay was scheduled first , followed by Viktimized Karcass, and then a 45-minute Hal McGee solo set, which is documented on the Dog As Master ‘Live In Memphis’ tape, linked below. By the time Bwana Dog started playing it was only 15 minutes before closing time at The Antenna Club and the remainder of the show was shut down. The Bwana Dog set can be heard on the ‘Painting’ album, linked below.
RELATED RECORDINGS:
Dog As Master/If, Bwana – ‘Painting’ (Recordings from various stops on the tour)
https://halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/painting
halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/painting
Dog As Master/If, Bwana’ – ‘Live In Toronto’
https://halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-toronto
Bwana Dog – ‘Sacrifice Of Reason’
https://halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/sacrifice-of-reason
Dog As Master – ‘Live In Memphis’
https://halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-memphis
Dog As Master/If, Bwana – ‘Painting’ (Recordings from various stops on the tour)
https://halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/painting
halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/painting
Dog As Master/If, Bwana’ – ‘Live In Toronto’
https://halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-toronto
Bwana Dog – ‘Sacrifice Of Reason’
https://halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/sacrifice-of-reason
Dog As Master – ‘Live In Memphis’
https://halmcgee.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-memphis