Microwaves: Discomfiture Atlas (Three One G)
Purchased from label through Bandcamp
If you know me, you know I've been in many bands, in addition to whatever pickup work I sometimes secure. It's a pretty broad range of idioms I've played: traditional jazz, not quite traditional jazz, free jazz, free improv, string band, second line, rock bands, etc.
This also means I'm working other people who themselves have been in many bands, in addition to whatever pickup work they secure. The question starts to become, how much do I enjoy any of them? How influenced am I to listen to a group because a friend is involved?
I ask because I've played with Microwaves a number of times. Never a complete set, just one to three songs at a time. Point being, I have a relationship with this band that probably colors my opinion of their work.
That said, we were hovering around one another's orbits for many years before working directly with one another. Guitarist Dave Kuzy told me his high school rock band opened for a rock band I played with in the mid 1980s. My response was, "I hope I wasn't rude to you." He assured me that we personally didn't interact.
I knew the Microwaves name when I picked up their first CD EP, Professional Systems Overload. Song titles included "Jet Jaguar" and "Robot Monster." I thought, I like those things, I'll check it out. One player was listed as Roman, which I thought was also a reference to the movie Robot Monster. Turns out, John Roman is actually his name.
I'll skim the details at this point, who was seeing whom, listening to whom, various contact over the years. Skip ahead to being ask to play on a track for their previous LP, Via Weightlessness. Two takes and I was done, with a minimum of coaching. Easy. Fun. I was done about twenty minutes after arriving. This lead to me playing with them on occasion.
There was a new LP for 2022. Do I need to go into the challenges of recording between 2020-2022? One of those for Microwaves was their longest-standing bassist dropping out. If you know anything of the story of this album, it was recorded with two of the band's former bassists, Adam MacGregor and Steve Moore. Adam was in Creation as Crucifixion and leads Brown Angel; Steve is most famously half of the minimalist-prog (is that a thing?) duo Zombi. One side is played by each.
The obvious thing to do is analyze each side based on who's playing. I know enough about Microwaves' process to know that often (but not always) songs start with an idea by Dave, which he demos and then the material is worked out collectively.
Listening to each side, it's clearly all the same band, but there are differences. I don't know that it's fair to say Steve brings a more traditional style of playing to the group, but I think he does bring a more melodic touch. It's by degrees though, it's not a huge leap in approach between each side. Adam is more determinately noisy, processed, maybe even abrasive. I know he wouldn't be offended by me writing that.
In what ways can this band's music be described? That's always an issue, is it not? First of all, it moves briskly. Each side has seven songs, only one lasts over three minutes. It's all very compact, get in and get out of each song. The music jerks and twists. Bands such as this are often compared to Capt. Beefheart. There's some indirect lineage I suppose, but there's nothing that I hear in Microwaves that refers back to the blues. The music is intense, yes there's some metal in there, maybe some punk rock, but those comparisons break down and don't really matter when listening.
There's something I've never read in reviews of Microwaves albums that I think is essential. They're funny. Sometimes really funny. It's not the obvious comedic stylings of someone such as Weird Al. Microwaves are kind of....ridiculous. I don't want that to sound like a put down. I absolutely admire them for it.
So, do I like the music? I do. It doesn't hurt that I am friendly with the people involved, but I'll always have an appreciation for this "angular" (another overused descriptor) music.
I spent a few extra dollars to buy the half blue/half pink vinyl. I admit I get hooked in by such things a little bit. It does look great.
I never urged my wife to see them. I never try to drag her to anything that I don't think she'll enjoy. Microwaves and my band Bombici were, strangely enough, booked to play a holiday party in December, and permitted to bring guests. Microwaves came out and crushed, with me on the last two songs. My wife's reaction was (I can't say this is verbatim), "I appreciate what they do, they're good at what they do." I'll take it.
Microwaves have been around a long time. There's no Pittsburgh band like them. I hope they stay at it for many more years to come.
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