Bitch'n'Monk

Bitch 'n' Monk, the London-based duo of soprano and guitarist Heidi Heidelberg and Colombian-born flautist Mauricio Velasierra, debuted their prog-jazz-rock fusion on the 20-minute four-song mini-album FulafalonGa (2014), containing Did He. They explored multiple ideas on We Are Peering Over (Lotus Arts Box, 2016). Cleanest Land opens as an operatic lied but ends like an abstract free-form vocal invocation in the vein of Joan LaBarbara and Jeanne Lee. On the other hand, Mother Shipton's Wayno is a lively cross between the Ambitious Lovers and the Art Bears with strong flute riffs that are reminiscent of Jethro Tull. Moolah is violent, dissonant and syncopated, with outbursts of distorted guitar. Apocalyptic Fantasies is a carefree polyrhythmic Brazilian dance. 68/69 combines free vocalizing and bossanova steps and ends in a sprightly instrumental coda. Vocals and flute duet at the beginning of the seven-minute Wee Nomad, which then decays into a surreal and mysterious atmosphere of droning vocals and fractured guitar strumming.

Renamed Witch'n'Monk, the duo assembled a few guest drummers and recorded Witch'n'Monk (Tzadik, 2020), produced by John Zorn, a more conventional (albeit pretentious) pop-jazz album. Swiss drummer Nicolas Stoker's funky and cartoonish rhythm is the real protagonist of Escarbando, and Gidon Carmel pens the disorienting tango The Cage.