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 

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.

Vague Choir - Great Big Fight

The latest from Vague Choir. Vague Choir is headed up by now guitairist, and former Splayfeet drummer/frontman Mark Earnest and is at the center of the flourishing Reno, Nevada genreless genre scene. Check it out. 

Also check out Mark's cover of a couple of old AOS tracks here.

bendle - jesus

One of my favorite new releases, a little tune called jesus is from a great friend here at pen & mallet. The main instigator behind dustdevil & crow, bendle has been doing his own thing musically since the late seventies (e.g., the door and the window and The 49 Americans and many, many other projects you can check out at his bandcamp page). This one is a collaboration with rob tarana and has been in heavy rotation since I downloaded it.

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

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.

blotter - songs for mommy (a ¡para!helion side project)

Well folks, if you are reading this, it means that your humble host is now a daddy. In anticipation of the upcoming event, I have prepared a few posts ahead of time so that I can get you that exclusive DIY music you want with a single click. Given that motivation, this one seemed the most obvious place to start.

Songs for Mommy is the brainchild of Jeff from ¡para!helion and features an eclectic set of musical experiments in collaboration with David Chapman and others. Recorded in Albuquerque in the 90's with a few live shows under various names (including Blotter), I was given permission by David to share it with you when I saw him on a brief holiday visit to New Mexico. A couple more CD's worth of these excursions coming in the near future as I focus on feeding, burping, changing, and sleeping. Enjoy.


Last year was, truly, the most productive year of my life. Given the two aboombong albums, an azwarm album, the boomdispenser remixs, and collaboration on the DUSTdevil & crow sophomore album, that would be true if life were just about music. But last year also saw completion of my Ph.D. and, the beginnings of the most important production of my life, my beautiful son. I have been a truly blessed individual of late. Random donations for the little one's music education are gladly accepted via the "donate" button here at Pen & Mallet.

amnemonic, dustdevil & crow: what I did for summer vacation

This summer has been a particularly enjoyable and productive one. While completing the azwarm album and the boom dispenser remixs project (as I have mentioned previously), I was honored to be asked to collaborate on the newest Dustdevil & Crow album, while speaking softly you can hear the insects sing. It was completed recently and is now available on the Free Music Archive. I have also added amnemonic over at the FMA (HERE). The FMA is a great resource, chock full of amazing music with easy access to high-quality MP3's. It also allows you to create custom mixes with an easy to use interface. I have created a mix with both while speaking softly you can hear the insects sing and amnemonic that will allow you to listen to or download both albums in one click. You can also easily embed this player or send it to your friends to help us get the word out (always much appreciated).


For those audiophiles out there who are looking for lossless versions of either of these albums, well, of course, they are available. Bendle has put both Dustdevil & Crow albums up at his bandcamp page for free (along with lots of other goodies), and, of course, all the aboombong releases are available in lossless formats on bandcamp (name your price) as well. Don't forget that I will email a special access code to anyone naming a price of $5 or more that is good for limited edition bonus material from amnemonic. You can also get access to this bonus material by donating directly using the "donate" buttons here at Pen & Mallet, or the "tip the artist" button at the Free Music Archive.

UPDATE2.1: Thanks to Dying For Bad Music and The Couch Sessions for helping to spread the word. And check out this short film featuring the opening minutes of Cromsby Grovernor's Jujujaiponmolam. Also a NSFW friend of the show note: Swellco & Swellco are getting some notice for exposing the underbelly (and more, much more) of the city that loves you back.

aboombong - amnemonic (the new album)

The new one is here. Start spreading the word.

Artist: aboombong
Album: amnemonic
Release date: September 11, 2010


Style(s): afro-asian noise, post-rock shoegaze, musique concrète, minimalism, noise, drone, post-punk.
Toys: amplified tongue drum, Turkish darbuka, New Mexican wooden-headed goblet drum, Igbo Ekwe (two tone log slit drum), Ibo Ekpiri shaker, Vietnamese jack fruit danmo, camel bells, elephant bells, goat bells, 16-tine Thai temple bell, Mimi's souvenir travel bells collection, Trinidadian tenor steelpan, 5-string table-top electric guitar, Kawai K3, one-man-army chants, Stylophone S1 orchestra, harmonica, drum kit.

Tracklist:
1) Cheshiahud Loop
2) From Cracked and Bloodied Fingers
3) Cromsby Grovernor Worthington's Jujujaiponmolam
4) Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, & Wang Hongwen in Dahomey
5) Noon

"Restrained" would not be a good word to use to describe this one.

As with all the aboombong releases, this one is available for download from bandcamp in a variety of formats (including lossless formats) and you can name your own price. Please note that there is a special limited edition bonus track available for the first 200 folks who name a price of $5 or more over at bandcamp, or donate (from the button below) $5 or more to Pen & Mallet. I will email you a unique, one-time use download code with instructions for retrieving your bonus track in gratitude for your support (which goes directly to pay for things like drum sticks, guitar strings, cables, distribution, and an occasional bowl of Phở).

UPDATE: in a totally uncoordinated coincidence, the new dustdevil & crow, while speaking softly you can hear the insects sing is also out. It was a real honor to be invited to work on this one. Check it out and spread the word.
UPDATE2.7: The first review of amnemonic is in and it made me blush. Now featured over at Disquiet with some very positive words. Also thanks to Nadia for a nice review over at the couch sessions and to Estonia's Recent Music Heroes for a very positive(?) review (google translate had a hard time with the Estonian, but I see a rating of 10.0 and lots of nice phrases scattered throughout) ; and thanks to Disruptive Platypus, Dying For Bad Music, Living Exposed, The Sound of Eye, The Sirens Sound, geometria innamorata, & Exile on Moan Street for helping to spread the word. The latest review of "asynchronic" over at rym deserves mention as well (by Ily, August 14th).

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. =/;^)

Choke: Live in Las Cruces (Video)

Dave posted this over at the internet archive...
Thanks Dave.

This broadcast on community cable.
AIDS Benefit show on October 5th 1991
Shot and edited by
Keif (from Waltz Bop Shop)
and Jon (from Jonny Cats).
Show put together by the future Mr. Vague
(who is also in Dirt Communion- available on bandcamp).

Choke: Hard to Swallow- 4-track demos

I have been in a lot of loud bands. Although it is not readily apparent from the recordings the band put out, Choke was easily the loudest. In the last post on the band, I noted that there were some tracks missing from the Gauze/Total Reverence cassettes due to my copies being destroyed. Well, I have tracked down a DAT that includes some demos we sent to my brother prior to the recording session for the eponymous e.p. It contained rough mixes of the missing tracks. These all ended up on the e.p., but these 4-track versions give a better sense of what Choke was like as a live band. I have also added a straight to ghetto-blaster track that I like - a catchy little punk-ish diddy [update: Grant tells me it is called "Pine-Sol"]. To me, Choke wears its influences on its sleeve with these cuts- equal parts Stone Roses, Cocteau Twins, Big Black and Ritual Tension. But I am hardly an objective listener. Anyway, here they are (flac, ogg vorbis, MP3). Enjoy.

The players:
David Liso- guitar, vocals
Grant Garner - bass
Matt Sneddon - guitar
me - drum kit, hammond organ, headphone feedback.

Choke: Hard to Swallow-4-track Demos

Track list:
1) Browse (scraping nails mix)
2) Barcelona (jet set)
3) Alexander Orchid (Hammond Mix)
4) Pine-Sol

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

Choke: eponymous e.p., gauze/total reverence, and lo-fi noise

I think I am most comfortable thinking of myself as an experimental musician. For me this means I experiment with the process by which the music is created. In this sense, Choke was the most experimental band I have been involved with. This is true despite the fact that the product of Choke's experimentation ended up being closer to pop music than anything else I have played. This experimentation in large part involved doing things to break the band's members out of comfortable roles and habits. So, for instance, 4 of 5 the songs on our eponymous e.p. were based around guitar parts and bass lines written by the drummer (me) who can't play guitar or bass. Add to that a guitarist on bass and a bassist on guitar, turn it all up past eleven even on the pretty songs, and...well, just listen.

Style: Post-punk dream pop with a quick detour into prog-noise.
The players:
David Liso- guitar, bass, vocals (check out Dynamo Stairs)
Grant Garner - bass
Matt Sneddon - guitar
me - drum kit, steel pan, hand drums, metal objects, loops, samples

Choke (eponymous e.p.) (FLAC, Ogg Vorbis,MP3)
Produced by Matt Thorne (a Skin & Barrel Production)
Track list:
1) Alexander Orchid
2) Barcelona
3) Browse
4) H20
5) Sheltering

Note: the player plays the whole e.p.

Choke released two DIY cassettes, Gauze and Total Reverence. My copies were, ironically, all but destroyed in a crushed box during one of my many moves. I was able to salvage all but three tracks off of the cassettes thanks to scotch tape & razor skills learned in my experimental music classes back in the day. The track Green Hand, in fact, was put back together from almost a dozen splices using several cassettes. The three missing tracks are a great version of Barcelona, a version of Alexander Orchid that includes a hammond organ part missing from the version above, and a slower noisier version of Browse. I will work on finding clean copies of those tracks. I'll upload them if they become available [update - Now available here].

Choke: Gauze/Total Reverence
Style: shoegazer, rave, post-punk, dream pop.
DIY cassette releases from the early 90's.
Recorded in our rehearsal studio using 4-track cassette machine

Tracklist:
1) Mortar
2) Sex Trial
3) Shine
4) Crushed box/grill
5) Bliss
6) Poundcake
7) Circles
8) Tanta Figa
9) Green Hand
10) H20 (clank mix)

Note: player plays all ten tracks

For archival purposes, I am also including two unfinished bonus tracks. These were recorded live to ghetto blaster in our rehearsal space. Both songs were eventually part of our live set list, but they were never properly recorded. There is something about these takes that I like: Lo-fi noise.

Rehearsal Tapes
1) Untitled
2 ) Sturwelpeter


Enjoy.

Waltz Bop Shop: All my idears are flawed in sum way

Album: All my idears are flawed in sum way
Style: post-punk proto-math-rock with a good dose of no-wave
Limited release cassette from 1994

Waltz Bop Shop:
Keif Henley- Guitar, rants, crying
Rodney Cupp - Bass, vocals, lyrics (aka Cranky)
Me- drum kit, samples

I am a terrible record keeper. My copy of the cassette master for this release has no cover, no information about recording date, and no song titles. I tried to remember the track names, but I know I got some of them wrong. I am guessing on the date based on the track Kenneth! What's the frequency? That cursed REM song came out a few months after we recorded Kenneth...and they couldn't even get the phrase right. Of course, Game Theory beat us to it by about 7 years anyway, so who are we to complain.

Update:
My much more together compatriot Rodney has sent me the corrected song titles (see below). I have updated the file names at the internet archive as well...looks like I only got 2 out of 8 right.

Tracklist:

1. Self-Congratulatory Non-Conformist

2. Tax Shelter
3. Kenneth! What's the Frequency
4. 8 1/2
5. Dress Code at Tito's
6. Liquid Gang
7. Evening News
8. Feeble (Kiss Me Boy! Kiss Me!)

Get it (FLAC,Ogg Vorbis,mp3) or original post.


Note: the player plays the whole album