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Rollerball was initially a trio from Portland (Oregon) led by
Mae Starr (vocals, keyboards, accordion) that recorded
Garlic (Resistor, 1997), an album reminiscent of the new wave and
well-versed in contemporary dance/trance (the lengthy Slacks).
We Owned Lions (Pacific Wonderland, 1998) increased the doses of electronics: this
limited-edition album will be included in the compilation of un rarities
and unreleased tracks Porky Puppet (Wallace, 2002).
The addition of Amanda Wiles (sax) and Shane DeLeon (trumpet) caused a
major reassessment in the group's mission.
The sprawling Stone Cold Rhythm, the highlight of the mini-album
Einaugige Kirsche (Road Cone, 1999), is an exercise in
free-jazz jamming by a combo that is fluent in
Can, Pere Ubu and Pop Group. The suite often borders on a new genre of
futuristic and psychedelic electronica.
The ensemble increased the degree of anarchy and cacophony on
Bathing Music (Road Cone, 2000), whose tracks run the gamut
from classical music to dance-music.
The EP Zapatos (Cochon, 2000) and the four-song single
Carter Got A New BB Gun (Cochon, 2001) proved
the excellent state of mind of the band.
Their spastic, psychedelic, progressive and free rock peaked with
Trail Of The Butter Yeti (Road Cone, 2001), in particular with the
lengthy ambient-dub nightmare Butter Fairy.
More classical and jazz accents, and including occasional
electronic detours. Like the previous ones, an album that will grow.
Long Walk For Ice Cream (Cochon, 2002) collects two EPs
(Zapatos and Travels With Steam), the single
Sam Donaldson and some unreleased tracks.
Real Hair (Silber, 2004) and Behind Te Barber (Silber, 2005)
veered towards jazz-rock.
Rollerball (Wallace, 2006) was the last album with DeLeon, followed by
Ahura (Wallace, 2008).
Amanda Wiles and drummer/keyboardist Zac Stanley started the project Dramady with Better Forever (2008),
while Shane DeLeon launched Miss Massive Snowflake with the
orchestral/electronic pop of
Queen's Headache (North Pole, 2008).
Moodring, formed in 2005 by Mae Starr (vocals and keyboards), and Monte Trent Allen (bass and electronics), was confined to limited-editions EPs until
Scared of Ferret (Silber, 2009), featuring drummer Jesse Stevens and
clarinetist Michael Braun Hamilton.
An oppressing sense of claustrophobia and anemia exudes from
the disjointed freak-folk jamming of
Rintin Fire
(with trippy vocals and harsh electronic noise),
from the noir jazz of Into The Doom,
and from the
Middle-eastern music #9 (at a sleepy, dusty, rusty pace).
The highlight would be
Scared Of Ferret, a psychedelic pow-wow
in the glorious vein of the Holy Modal Rounders,
if it weren't too brief.
Another piece that ends too soon is the distorted tribal Bulbul Tarang,
that could represent a significant variation on the
Velvet Underground's bacchanals with free-jazz clarinet and white-noise electronics.
The tribal circus music of Shaker Tab is another creative zenith.
Horse ventures into dance music with mixed results.
The spaced-out ballads (Colin Wilson, The Weasel) fare a lot
less better, but may constitute the more "accessible" future of the project.
Shane DeLeon's
Miss Massive Snowflake, featuring
bassist Jeanne Kennedy, drummer Zacery Stanley,
trumpeter David Chaparro and saxophonist Caroline Chaparro,
returned with the humbler, more traditional but also better played and arranged
Songs About Music (North Pole, 2010).
The songs dispense with the experimental pretentiousness of the debut and stick
to the stereotype, mainly focusing on
political anthems such as
Good Morning,
An American and Shock and Awe.
The musicians probably have more to say than they are allowed by this format,
as proven in the seven-minute Good Night, a slow litany
decorated with instrumental noises that picks up speed and turns into
a demented collective singalong.
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