HR085 - Malok - Today He Had A Son, He Ha - C60 — 1988
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Side A:
An Innocent Of Guilt Side B: I Think & I Die |
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
Malok is an artist from Waukau, Wisconsin, who has been creating his own unique poetry, collages, sound and mail art since the 1970s.
Side A consists of ‘An Innocent Of Guilt’, which begins with chaotic stop/start, cut-up tape manipulation fun. The rhythmic effect of the tape surgery is like a cross between meteors zipping by and hip-hop. Garbled spoken word blends with an array of chirping and chimpanzee screeching and other weird effects and an organ that’s like a lo-fi free-jazz drunken Phantom Of The Opera. And the layers build to a tumultuous symphony of spoken rants, vocal grunts and howls, chattering and screeching animal uprising, and wildly haunting keyboard melody. The best part is the skittish rhythmic flow of the tape and its surrounding animal, voice and effects parade.
Side B features another side long epic, ‘I Think & I Die’. This starts off as another multi-layered collage, and while similar to Side A, it struck me as feeling more deliriously lo-fi experimental psychedelic. I love the fusion of animalistic sounds, spacey vibes, and rumbling drones, to create something slightly denser than the A side. The organ melody is, at first, replaced by something ‘sort of’ melodic, though far more spacey and exploratory. Then we transition to what sounds like a lo-fi, homemade Sun Ra keyboard freak out and tribal jam, enhanced by eerie sci-fi alien effects. After that is a bit that sounds like Malok got Derek Bailey to contribute guitar, with help from an old Fisher Price See ‘n Say Farmer Says toy. Lots happening here and Malok transitions through a number of varying themes that draw on and build on the ideas from Side A, at times having a Residents Third Reich ‘n Roll feel. Cool tape. Side B excited me the most.
Malok is an artist from Waukau, Wisconsin, who has been creating his own unique poetry, collages, sound and mail art since the 1970s.
Side A consists of ‘An Innocent Of Guilt’, which begins with chaotic stop/start, cut-up tape manipulation fun. The rhythmic effect of the tape surgery is like a cross between meteors zipping by and hip-hop. Garbled spoken word blends with an array of chirping and chimpanzee screeching and other weird effects and an organ that’s like a lo-fi free-jazz drunken Phantom Of The Opera. And the layers build to a tumultuous symphony of spoken rants, vocal grunts and howls, chattering and screeching animal uprising, and wildly haunting keyboard melody. The best part is the skittish rhythmic flow of the tape and its surrounding animal, voice and effects parade.
Side B features another side long epic, ‘I Think & I Die’. This starts off as another multi-layered collage, and while similar to Side A, it struck me as feeling more deliriously lo-fi experimental psychedelic. I love the fusion of animalistic sounds, spacey vibes, and rumbling drones, to create something slightly denser than the A side. The organ melody is, at first, replaced by something ‘sort of’ melodic, though far more spacey and exploratory. Then we transition to what sounds like a lo-fi, homemade Sun Ra keyboard freak out and tribal jam, enhanced by eerie sci-fi alien effects. After that is a bit that sounds like Malok got Derek Bailey to contribute guitar, with help from an old Fisher Price See ‘n Say Farmer Says toy. Lots happening here and Malok transitions through a number of varying themes that draw on and build on the ideas from Side A, at times having a Residents Third Reich ‘n Roll feel. Cool tape. Side B excited me the most.