Articulations: Poems, Polemics, & Pop Songs

aboombong presents the words and voice of artist and poet Raul Dorn floating on a jumble of post-punk, art rock, and ambient soundscapes.  

It is available from bandcamp, pay what you will. Proceeds will go to support arts education in Las Cruces, NM, so, really, pay what you can. Enjoy. Spread the word. 

Artist:aboombong presents
Album: articulations: poems, polemics, & pop songs
Style: Post punk, No Wave, Basement Tapes, 
Release: 2018
Me - music, guitar, drum kit, percussion, piano
Raul Dorn - words, singing, chattering 

Thorn - solace of noise (2018)

Artist:thorn
Album: solace of noise EP
Style: Punk, No Wave, Basement Tapes, Garage
Release: 2018
Me - music, guitar, drum kit, percussion, accordion, piano
Raul Dorn - words, singing, chattering 
Matt Thorne - additional guitar on "Stoner Girl"
Where the fuck is Lamb?

Cover photo: Micaela Adams

After a 30 year break, some of the members of AOS collaborate on three noisome garage tracks from their basements spread out across the western US of A. This one was intended to satisfied an itch I had for some stupid punk songs. Getting Raul involved, of course, ruined any chance of things staying stupid, and Matt saved Stoner Girl from being stuck in inept guitar purgatory. Raul and I have another batch of decidedly non-punk songs in the works, out sometime this year. Stay tuned.

Sister Black Lagoon

First it was the The Sisters Doom, now Sister Black Lagoon. More from the fertile roots of the Las Cruces, NM music scene circa the mid 1980's Raul, from AOS and his long time collaborator Alex have let their first EP as Sister Black Lagoon drop. Since fishy love was all the rage at the Oscars...it is time for you to give it a try yourself.

I-25 - various artists (1988)

An old buddy from Las Cruces just posted this compilation from 1988 on his Soundcloud. It includes AOS and a one-off project I was in called Ferdinand and Imelda's Ragtime Band (with Grant from Choke) Lots of variety from the spectrum of mid-eighties college underground styles and future members of Vague Choir, & Jonny Cats. Those of you who pay attention to posts here will recognize Gahenna Noy$ Choir, The Young Professionals, and Dynamo Stairs (still going strong almost 30 years later). Digitizing this has been on my to-do list for ages, so thanks to David Wheeler (of Studio 603) for this. 

Backyards: a film by Raul Dorn & Circle of Bears

Raul from AOS made this video for his son's band Circle of Bears. For more visual art from Raul go to http://matrixfineart.com/raul-dorn-2/  or https://www.oacgallery.com/artist/raul-dorn/. Sound and vision.

Southern Romance Song (Circle of Bears covers AOS)

A vocal painting from Raul and his son. Seems to be the week for father son projects 'round here. 

The original

Circle of Bears - Daylight (the next generation)

A.O.S. resident genius Raul Dorn had a kid a couple of decades ago. He's a musician.
This is his band.
I like it. -



That's his dad on the left - you can hear dad sing here

The KRUX of the matter

I was an undergraduate at NMSU when KRUX was born. At the time, in the mid 1980's KRUX was as cutting edge as any college station in the nation. They were instrumental in promoting Anxiety of Silence and other local bands, as well as introducing unsuspecting college students to artists like The German Shepards, Blue Daisies, Hair Shirt, and Elliot Sharp. Over the years, the quality at KRUX has wavered up and down, but I've been listening over the last few days and am glad to hear that the station is in top form these days.

You can find out more/listen here or here or at http://www.kruxradio.com/

For some KRUX nostaligia - A.O.S. 

The Sextants: 1987 demo

Back in the day when A.O.S. was working to dominate the local college music scene in our little corner of the American Southwest, our main rivals in town, along with The Young Pros, were a group of  upstarts called The Sextants. I just ran across this track of theirs from 1987 on soundcloud, so I thought I'd share it with ya'll. 

And to facilitate the head to head comparisons and a nostalgia overload - here's The Young Pros (doing a cover of an A.O.S. song)



and A.O.S.'s DIY cassette release from 1988- Rip It Up - Enjoy

Splayfeet - live August 11th, 1988

Back in the 80's I was a founding member of Splayfeet. I came up with the name and pretended that I would be able to play bass and guitar. They wisely kicked me out after the 2nd rehearsal and then became one of my favorite bands. This is a video of a concert at the same venue, The Corbett Center Pit, where A.O.S. was playing in this video. The band name and the bass line from the second track are the only evidence of my involvement in the project. Splayfeet features Mark Earnest (of Dirt Communion, Mr. Vague, The Young Pros), David Liso (from Choke), Rodney Cupp (of Waltz Bop Shop, Cranky), and Jon Nicholls. Also, watch for Dave Chavez from The Jonny Cats and his bitchin' pimp hat taking care of sound. Thanks to David Liso for posting this over at the internet archive(click on the link if the embedded player doesn't work...it's been acting kinda wonky).

Mark Earnest: 25 years of Anxiety

25 years ago The Young Pros. did a cover of the A.O.S. song 667. The Young Pros were the band that launched the career of one of America's best kept secrets, Mark Earnest. Readers here at Pen & Mallet have met Mark before through his work with Dirt Communion, but Mark has had a long and active career fronting a variety of great bands and since 2003 has really come into his own releasing solo albums well deserving of their critical acclaim (available from the indie labels Slothrop and Unsmashable as "Mister Vague"). If you don't believe me, ask Alan Sparkhawk of Low who recorded and co-produced the album “Allergic To Everything” in 2007.

Today we have a special treat. Mark is just about due to release a new album called Beautiful Somewhere on Unsmashable Records (look for it in mid-April) and he has included his version of the A.O.S. song "Katchina," a song that has been part of his live set forever. I have put together a special Pen & Mallet ep. release that includes Mark's version of Katchina, as well as that The Young Pros. version of 667 from 25 years ago. It is hosted by the great Free Music Archive. Check it out.



Beautiful Somewhere features a great line up of collaborators including members of the Reno bands Cranium, Blunderbusst and Nancy Plays Nurse, as well as Mister Vague alumnus Marcus Mayhall. Mark will be collaborating with aboombong on a new release in the next year for something that should be quite different for both artists. Stay tuned.

You can hear more of Mark's music at Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/markearnest

Keep up with Mark on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Earnest-Music/157249844333406

Here is a video of Mark doing Katchina at a recent gig.

AOS - Eggs Are Tasty (video)

From 1987, AOS live at the pit. Thanks to David Lamb for sending this one to me. This is the video of the concert I posted earlier. Camera work by David Liso who would end up in Choke in the 90's. Pretty rough quality but it gives a good sense of the band and the era. Raul's charisma and energy as a front man comes through on the video, methinks (dig those shades). He was the real nexus for any success the band had. Most fun for me was seeing old friends in the audience looking chic in their 80's hair cuts and youthful innocence.



AOS live in the Pit (Sponsored by KRUX, the NMSU student radio station)

Some aboombong updates: asynchronic was recently reviewed at the mighty Snap Crackle & Pop...alongside some of the best music on the web. Also featured at Hot On The Heels of Love. Ran across a very nice review of asynchronic over at Shot By Both Sides , looks like a good place to find new music. And Babelfish tells me this review is positive and eloquent. Also at Kalachakra with some nice comments, and asynchronic has even crept into the political discourse at analytic analeptic, if you haven't heard it yet, you should check out this political pundits music. If for some reason you don't want to get it direct from me (set your own price), asynchronic is now available through Napster, Songorilla, iTunes, Amazon, and will be showing up in your favorite download store soon....

A.O.S. - Live and Raw in The Pit

This one was recorded in the summer of 1988 at New Mexico State University's Corbett Center "Pit" Amphitheater. It was also one of the first performances to include an AOS stage show. Dubbed something like "At home with A.O.S.," we brought all the furniture from the living room of our house, set it up on stage, and spent the day watching T.V. & hanging out. Seemed like a good idea at the time, at least until the Las Cruces sun decided to start cooking the concrete on all sides of us. By show time the temperature on stage was over 110. As we played I was sweating so profusely that puddles of perspiration were forming on my drums, sending up a dramatic splash each time I hit them. Sponsored by KRUX, the NMSU student radio station, there is a video of this performance floating around. If David ever decides to digitize his copy and upload it, I'll be sure to post it here.

Available today are two versions of a recording that my old roommate Marc provided to me recently (thanks tons Marc). First up are the raw .wav files of original AOS songs from his cassette-rip of the concert. These are followed by a selection of tracks that my brother ran through pro-tools for some noise reduction and equalization. They are posted as separate albums on the internet archive. Take your pick. Enjoy.

Album: A.O.S. - Raw in the Pit: (wav, FLAC, mp3, Ogg Vorbis)
Recorded: Summer of 1988
Players:
Raul Dorn - vox (see some of his paintings here)
David Lamb - Bass
Matt Thorne - Guitar
Me - trap set

Raw tracks:

1) 667
2) Rhyme of the Reason
3) That's My Heart
4) Southern Romance Song
5) Laughing
6) Bad Brick
7) Mary Mary in the Lavender Pumps
8) Confession Time
9) Robert
10) I can hear the monsters
11) The Graveyard Song
12) Rip It Up
13) Core Canto

Cleaned up selections (mp3, ogg vorbis):

1) 667
2) That's My Heart
3) Southern Romance Song
4) Laughing
5) Bad Brick
6) Mary Mary in the Lavender Pumps
7) Confession Time
8) Robert
9) Rip It Up
10)Core Canto

AOS: The very first show

Well, my plan to post the NMSU experimental music tapes from the early 80's fell through as my cassette deck bit the dust this weekend. Luckily, David sent me a little surprise in the meantime that can fill the gap while I work on a replacement. This is a video of the very first A.O.S. show. I had no memory that this video existed. David dates it as 1988, but my memory says it would be summer of 1987 (my memory is often wrong). I'm only sure about a couple of things from the show. 1) It was windy and very, very hot; and 2) I had the worst drum monitor ever and couldn't hear a thing. A.O.S. has quietly moved up the Pen & Mallet charts and Rip It Up is now the most popular album posted here, so maybe some of you will enjoy this blast from the past.



Sound quality is pretty variable, but a few songs sound alright. This is really all about the images. While watching, dig the vintage skaters in the background, the big hair, our low-budget equipment, and the really bad audio/video sync. The first song is 667, one of the band's more popular numbers that we never managed to record (although a cover version by Mr. Vague's old band The Young Pros is floating around, and I may post it if I can get permission).

Update: David (bass) found a newspaper ad for the show. Turns out it was April 25th, 1987. Click for a closer view. I am a little baffled by the "Aussie" theme, I must admit. Opening for the best "Tan-Woman" contest...good time slot to assure somebody shows up. =/;^)

Serving up FLAC all day

As promised, lossless FLAC versions of recordings posted here at Pen & Mallet.

ABOOMBONG: aboombong
Waltz Bop Shop: All My Idears are Flawed in Sum Way + Quartet
Waltz Bop Shop: Name Dropping at Angela's and Melting
Choke: Choke (e.p.)
Choke: Hard to Swallow
Choke: (video) Live AIDS benefit Show
The Jonny Cats: Last- Ode to Sergio
Swayback: Outer Space Tonight
AOS: Rip It up! + live tracks
Psychic Enemies Network: Valis (with bonus tracks)

These links will, of course, also allow you to download in MP3 and Ogg Vorbis. Let me know if you have a request for a FLAC version of any of the other files already posted.

Slow Mohicans in the Family

I am in the process of going through my many minidiscs in order to put together a collection of unreleased ambient and experimental tracks. It's not ready yet, so I am doing a quick detour today.

My brother has a new release out, Slow Mohicans, so I thought I would spread the word. If you have Rhapsody, you can preview it (if you don't, you can set up an account and listen for free).

The record is available on iTunes, on Rhapsody, at CD Baby, and at other fine outlets. More information and plenty more music is available at the Skin & Barrel website.

The CD Baby page allows you to hear 30 second snippets.

A.O.S.: Tripping back to the 80's for some post-punk art rock- Rip It Up

We go back to the 80's for this one by Anxiety of Silence. A post-punk art rock band featuring David Lamb, from Cattle Mutilators and Manson Family Christmas fame, his art school compatriot Raul Dorn, and my brother Matt on guitar, A.O.S. was known primarily for Raul's on-stage antics (which included Iggy Pop levels of danger and head-worn architecture), elaborate stage sets, and catchy college-radio friendly tunes. The song "love riot" managed to top the local college radio charts, and A.O.S.'s legendary performances at the annual Art Students League fund raisers held in the NMSU art department sculpture graveyard were a sight to behold. Very much a band of the time, some of this stuff sounds pretty dated to my ears, but I was surprised while preparing this post with how many of the songs hold up.

Album: Rip It up
Style: Post punk art rock with touches of goth & punk
DIY Cassette release from 1988

A.O.S. were
Raul Dorn - vocal
David Lamb - Bass
Matt Thorne - Guitar
me - drum kit

Get Rip It Up

Side One (note - tracking does not match list on cover)
Southern Romance Song
Love Riot
Katchina
Bad Brick
Laughing
That's My Heart
Side two
Bitter Grass
Rhyme of Reason
Confession
Rip it Up
Core Canto
Mary Mary in the Lavender Pumps

Thanks to Darin for the scan of the original artwork.

As a bonus, I have included some songs from one of the Art Student League Halloween shows. This one is from 1988 and was recorded by a fan on a reel-to-reel 2-track. Most of the tape is unusable due to "wow and flutter" issues, but I pulled the ones that I thought good enough to preserve. On the way to this show, Matt's homemade guitar amp fell out of the van at about 35 MPH. It lasted for most of the set, but you'll hear its final gasp on the end of "I can hear the Monsters." My old roommate Linda Rosul adds some additional vocals on "Caw Crow."

Tracklist:
Caw Crow
I can hear the monsters
Robert
The Thing (part II)
Get it


Enjoy