Cassette Gods writes...

CRANK STURGEON "Bark King Haggard" (Barfing Dagger Recordings)

Crank Sturgeon answered a cry from us Cassette Gods, even if we didn't know that we had made it! With all the talk about the role of fidelity (especially my own obsession with lo-fidelity) Crank Sturgeon was inspired to send us what he implies is his own murky masterpiece. Do I consider it a masterpiece myself? Of course. What else would I think when someone makes it a point to appeal directly to my personal taste? Well, maybe I'm being a little facetious. Here is the deal though: these are sounds as insistent as a stubborn child trying to force a square peg through a round hole. An insistence that manifests from the signature Crank Sturgeon sense of pace and editing; constantly shifting viewpoints, but always focused on the same well chosen group of timbres. The vocal-heavy moments of this cassette are somewhere between Popeye ramblings and a terrible case of OCD. Lyrics that make it through seem to be something like, "You can't be friends with my girlfriend," and other magical insecurities. Don't be misled though, this is music about being a child or at least how terribly childish we all actually are; not childish music. Masterful for the reasons that matter (you know, musical ones), not because Crank Sturgeon flattered my childish ego. It is always a wonder when someone can make music about being a fool without becoming a complete comedy act. I believe it is ok to laugh when enjoying CS music though.

Smooth Assailing scribes...

fuchs-octubre c20
[2007, psychform]

ah, crank sturgeon. one of the weirder of experimental music's weirdos. actually, that's a pretty lofty assessment... there's a lot of weirdos out there. he likes to give his songs titles such as: suddenuncle, henry the car's loose and personal favorite, real real pockcity aka: reel aaa reelaba epii pocity old reamble and rendering better global. he's also fond of costumes, makes contact mics that you can buy and once performed a show in a bathroom whilst he was going number two. he resides in maine, so that might explain something...

as far as i'm concerned, crank sturgeon's one of the most unique artists around. his combination of folksier elements (complete with stream of consciousness lyrical nonsense) with straight up noise puts him head and shoulders above most of his peers. while the sillier aspects might not strike a chord with purists, if you've got more of an open mind, it will become clear that crank sturgeon is more than just an acquired taste.

fuchs-octubre (a bastard combination of deutsch and spanish perhaps, fox-october?) is an album that showcases more of matt's abstract side than say miss latimer's gift or motion pictsaur. both of those albums put the noise up in the forefront and then rounded things out with weirder elements (vocals and sounds). the general theme gets established rather quickly with pot and pan-esque clangery in conjunction with matt's singing. it's noise folk and i like it a lot. the addition of an acoustic guitar on the following song makes it even more folk-like. the third track is in an experimental noise vein. sounds like contact mic fuckery along with crank's stammered utterings. there might be a guitar in there, or at least a chord from a guitar. next is a two minute long field recording from a supermarket. i have to say, i was drawn to the repetitive beeping of products being scanned in. the side will close out with vocal noise at first, but that will eventually turn into matt repeating something (that probably isn't a word) over and over again, in his car, and then finish with him voicing his displeasure with a slow driver in front of him. who can't relate to that?
the vocals will once again be the feature for the beginning of the b side, starting off with the repeated singing of "put your jar(?) back in". after that is less than a minute of minimal clatter leading us into similar territory as we heard in the first part of this second side. the enigmatic spoken word which follows is a definite highlight. you can't help but at least grin at some of the shit that he's saying like: having your nightly taste of nipple and twelve will get you ten, seven will get you five, that is a dime on a dame or a lady. it doesn't make any sense, almost seeming like he's flipping through the stations of his mind and spewing out different bits at random. the legitimate noise that breaks up some of those abstractions was the perfect touch. the end of the tape starts off with a recording of a meet-up with some (seemingly drunken) friends and turns into a weird orgy of chants, hollering, screams and shouts giving it a surreal, primal, vibe. awesome.
if you're looking for traditional noise sounds from the sturg, you won't find them here. what you will get is something that highlights the experimental portion of experimental noise. definitely not for everyone, but if you don't mind some quirkiness mixed in with your music, you could probably appreciate this.