HR140 - Jake Berry - Incidental Music For Contemporary Aquariums - C60 — 1990
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SIDE A:
ZONE UNDER THE BIG ROCK FEEDING FRENZY SIDE B: HEAVY SLEEP FELLINI SUNUP CAFÉ |
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
Jake Berry is from Alabama and Incidental Music For Contemporary Aquariums is his sole appearance in the Harsh Reality catalog.
Side A of this C60 opens with ‘Zone’, which consists of static waves punctuated by sundry bleeps and musical note blasts. No instrumentation is listed but I think I hear acoustic guitar strums, though it could be keys, which after a few minutes becomes ploddingly musical. All throughout the static flows like a stream, providing a backdrop for the intense, exploratory musical bits. ‘Under The Big Rock’ follows, being a psychedelically delirious, tape manipulated mix of swirly effects and whimsically weird piano concerto. It feels like an urgent multi-keyboard concert serenade while being swept through a cosmic vortex. For some reason the Residents’ Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats is coming to mind. Rounding out Side A is ‘Feeding Frenzy’, a psychedelic circus of frantically spiraling, variably speeded voices and effects.
Side B is dominated by the 21-minute ‘Heavy Sleep’. I like the playfully freeform yet alluring melodies that barely develop before careening into a rhythmic snoring pattern and an intermittent voice that droningly states, “Heavy sleep”. We eventually return to the music, which gets frenetically crazed, creating the soundtrack to what might be a fitful acid dazed snooze. Finally, ‘Fellini Sunup Café’ wraps up the set. It’s gloomier and more sedate than previous tracks, having an eerie but interesting soundtrack feel that would be ideal for an Ed Wood flick.
Overall, the deeper into this tape I got the more I was struck by Berry’s flair for creating high octane hyper-surrealism. I’d like to hear more from him. And I will! I had never heard of Jake Berry before and a Google search turned up very little information, though Harsh Reality label captain Chris Phinney found his Bandcamp site:
https://jakeberry.bandcamp.com
Jake Berry is from Alabama and Incidental Music For Contemporary Aquariums is his sole appearance in the Harsh Reality catalog.
Side A of this C60 opens with ‘Zone’, which consists of static waves punctuated by sundry bleeps and musical note blasts. No instrumentation is listed but I think I hear acoustic guitar strums, though it could be keys, which after a few minutes becomes ploddingly musical. All throughout the static flows like a stream, providing a backdrop for the intense, exploratory musical bits. ‘Under The Big Rock’ follows, being a psychedelically delirious, tape manipulated mix of swirly effects and whimsically weird piano concerto. It feels like an urgent multi-keyboard concert serenade while being swept through a cosmic vortex. For some reason the Residents’ Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats is coming to mind. Rounding out Side A is ‘Feeding Frenzy’, a psychedelic circus of frantically spiraling, variably speeded voices and effects.
Side B is dominated by the 21-minute ‘Heavy Sleep’. I like the playfully freeform yet alluring melodies that barely develop before careening into a rhythmic snoring pattern and an intermittent voice that droningly states, “Heavy sleep”. We eventually return to the music, which gets frenetically crazed, creating the soundtrack to what might be a fitful acid dazed snooze. Finally, ‘Fellini Sunup Café’ wraps up the set. It’s gloomier and more sedate than previous tracks, having an eerie but interesting soundtrack feel that would be ideal for an Ed Wood flick.
Overall, the deeper into this tape I got the more I was struck by Berry’s flair for creating high octane hyper-surrealism. I’d like to hear more from him. And I will! I had never heard of Jake Berry before and a Google search turned up very little information, though Harsh Reality label captain Chris Phinney found his Bandcamp site:
https://jakeberry.bandcamp.com