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Composed by Modergrade featuring Vinich (track 8), I.D. (track 8) and Net Pirate (track 9).

Written by Dmitriy Troshkin, Victor Vinich (track 8), Ilya Komlev (track 8) and Vsevolod Dostoevskiy (track 9).

Synthesizers, programmed and arranged by Dmitriy Troshkin and Victor Vinich (track 8).

Percussion by Ilya Komlev (track 8) and Vsevolod Dostoevskiy (track 9).

CGI by Dmitriy Troshkin.

Artwork by Anna Riet.

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Ken Rubenstein -- Invert and Transcend

CD -- $11.99 

Tell us about your recording studio.

Well, there are tons of wires and things. I have attached a pdf of how it's wired. The bottom line is that all signals end up routed through a old Soundcraft Spirit mixing board into an old VF160 Fostex standalone multitrack. I use lots of midi, all coordinated with a Behringer FCB1010 which has been pretty heavily programmed. But I don't sequence and I don't use a computer.

Where do you come by the expression of Eastern modes in your music?

I listen to so much international music, that it's just very deeply embedded in my brain, at this point. I love Indian music very much (Carnatic and Hindustani), as well as Bulgarian, Irish, Scottish, Turkish , Chinese Pipa, Japanese Koto, Vietnamese traditional and so on. Honestly, very often timbre will dictate what ends up happening harmonically. Pitch bend by means of the tremolo bar and pedals sort of makes things sound a bit more authentic.

Tell us about making the "Invert and Transcend" track.

That's one of my favorite tracks. It came out good. Charlie Zeleny and Wendy Parker sound very good on that tune. It's complex, but very songy. Truthfully, it was initially inspired by Shakti's "Lady L", but then went off into La La land. Charlie is so important to my music, now. I think he is an exceptional musician. We tracked Charlie's parts at Colin Marston's studio in Brooklyn. I sort of conducted/counted him out for that very last section of the tune.

You stike me as a student of guitar. What is your focus on these days?

I just love music, Bryan. Sadly, I am mostly restricted to guitar based tunes. I wish I was less anchored down to the guitar. But it's sort of unavoidable. I always write with the guitar on my lap. My technique of playing is intrinsically connected to how I write. They kind of feed each other. My friend Mark Kissinger one time referred to it as a snake eating itself. These days, I am just trying to get better and write more elegant and sensible music.

Are you in the process of making of new album? Singular pieces?

Most definitely. I have all new material written for my next record. It's MUCH better than the Invert material. It usually takes me 12 centuries to get a CD done. But major changes are now taking place in my personal and professional life, which will help get things underway finally. I also occasionally collaborate through the Internet with friends on standalone, Internet based songs.

This tape was the result of discussions on the subject of doing meditational music. McDonald writes, "I also wanted to stretch in other areas and see what I could do, and so proceeded to sit down and work up the four pieces for side two, which range from spacey music all the way up to stomp jazz. It was a lot of fun to do." Side one is a well-focused realization of ambient loop themes that blend and revolve around one another. Side two changes the pace a bit, while remaining within the realm of meditative music. Most of the percussion is live, by hand, rather than dependent on the sequencers, and as McDonald says, "Getting it down generally required multiple takes - though the furious drumming at the end of "Skeleton Dance" was executied in two passes (causing terrific envy amongst drummers hearing it because it was done so easily; however, I have the advantage of being able to think in Middle Eastern drum patterns)." Steven's current work includes music based on ancient Egyptian themes.

In the tradition of early Violent Femmes, along with DiY groups like Private Studio's Squigbelly Phlegmfoot and Baltimore's Groovy Like a Pig, Lords of Howling is an acoustic conglomeration of folk street band with a punk edge along with some nods to Captain Beefheart and maybe Tom Waits. Great songwriting and playful musical invention make it all work perfectly and still seem completely natural. There's a whole lot of material here that makes Long Dry Spell a sure fire on your regular rotation list. The combination of sheer songwriting talent and musical adventure, with a more than generous amount of craziness makes this release one of the best I've heard all year.

The follow-up to "Long Dry Spell" (reviewed in DiY Report 29) is every bit as perfect a collection of magnetic particles as it was. The guitar work here is simply wonderful, coaxed to play a variety of endless sounds that somehow manage to be musical amongst backcountry story tellers whose stories are the prize -- who cares if they're lies. The music here is an environment. Living and breathing. But musical and full of song. Bits of Waits, Femmes, Beefheart may be used as reference, but you'll start there and never look back. Highly recommended.

GAJOOB began life as a print zine about cassette culture in 1987, edited and published by Bryan F. Baker. It's been online in various forms since 1992. GAJOOB.org is partly archive of many thousands of indie, underground and DiY cassettes, CDRs, vinyl and other albums, as well as letters, photos, and other material sent to GAJOOB over the years. I am busy digitizing and building an online library of it.

GAJOOB also features new releases, focusing, as always, on music with a more or less independent ethic. We list digital-only and netlabel online releases as well. Our listings often include interviews and discussions, embedded streaming audio, video, photos, letters, etc. Artist profiles evolve over time as these things are added. 

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