aboombong - apophenia (2022)

A new album for 2022. 

This one collects recordings from the last 7 or so years 

and weaves them together for your cortical pattern recognition system. 

Percussion & noise for fighting off the corrosion. 

artist: aboombong

album: apophenia

release: 2022

style: noise, field recordings, beats

players: me -drumkit, darbuka, dumbek, double sanza, tongue drum, field drum, tenor pan, guitar, piano, sequencer, treatments, feedback, field recording

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.

Alastair Galbraith

New Zealand's Alastair Galbraith is, to my mind, a singular musical voice that everyone should know - sadly few do. The first album I heard by him was mirrorwork. It changed the way I thought about the concept of "song" in ways that I can't really express. It is now available along with some of his other works at Bandcamp.

To my taste, the 2008 album Orb is, next to mirrorwork, the stand out from the four available on bandcamp.



But you really can't go wrong with anything that Galbraith has been involved with. If you can track it down his work with Plagal Grind is particularly nice.



Being immersed in Galbraith's works was a huge player in my being able to contribute in a small way to the Dustdevil & Crow records, which are really some of the work I am most proud of. Bendle's work is tilted on a different axis than Galbraith's, but they share some strange orthogonal relationship to each other and the rest of the musical world.

¡para!helion: Fourth - When Technology Fails

 Haven't really been paying attention, but Dave pointed this out to me last time I saw him...seems we've had almost 15000 downloads of this ¡para!helion record over at the Free Music Archive. I always felt like this was one of the best projects I was ever involved with...it seems others agree.



Recorded summer 1999, improvised live to two track.Players: Dave C- Trumpet, effects, percussion; Jeff K- Electric Balilaika, effects; aboombong - Clay Djemba, acoustic bass; Chris & co. - Djemba, additional percussion.

Mammane Sanni Abdoulaye

A great reissue I have been enjoying a lot lately. Mellow infectious and unique. For the story behind this release go to Sahel Sounds.



Sahel Sounds also included aboombong on a recent remix collection. If you missed it, you can download it free here and find the details here.

¡para!helion - Harper's Bizarre Film Fest

The last of the CDr's that Dave shared with me this winter is up today. This one is ¡para!helion as it existed before I started playing with them. One long track recorded live. Liner notes on the disc are as follows: "Harpers Bizarre Film Fest-O 1/10/97 -> Mono. Produced by Nobody. Special tech supports Radioshack corp of AM; Chinese Slave Labor Kingpins since 1959."Can't really tell you anything beyond that. Dave and Jeff with Chris on hand drums. Enjoy.



Don't forget you can support our work here at Pen & Mallet by purchasing something from aboombong , psychic enemies network, or azwarm, (name your own price) or making a donation via a "donate" button here at Pen & Mallet.

once and again - minus four - in stereono

The last blotter related for the time being (until Dave sends me more tunes), Once and Again - Minus Four - in Stereono is an eclectic collection of blotter tracks and improvisations from the original line-up of ¡para!helion. This one has everything from outright noise to mellow prettiness. Up next will be a live album by this original ¡para!helion line-up. Enjoy.



Don't forget you can support our work here at Pen & Mallet by purchasing something from aboombong , psychic enemies network, or azwarm, (name your own price) or making a donation via a "donate" button here at Pen & Mallet.

sludge the butcher

Another release from Jeff and Dave recorded in the 1990's, Sludge the Butcher. Some longer trippier tracks alongside some shorter odder ones on this release...in the end it all blurs into one beautifully incoherent whole. This one has a lot more sampling & tape manipulation/outright noise on it than Songs for Mommy but manages some definite ¡para!helion like passages as well. Whereas touchstones for Songs for Mommy might include Half Machine Lip Moves era Chrome, this one is much closer to territory opened up by The Residents or Negativland. Very much a DIY gem for the fan of outsider music. Enjoy.


Don't forget you can support our work here at Pen & Mallet by purchasing something from aboombong , psychic enemies network, or azwarm, or making a donation via a "donate" button here at Pen & Mallet.

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.

egyptian hip hop's daymare

A quick one. Just ran across this mix over at mixcloud featuring daymare from asynchronic.
Check it out here.

Egyptian Hip Hop - Eyoe Radio - Live At Field Day by Eatyourownears on Mixcloud

Although trying to stick to the theme of music only having Field and Day in the title EHH are another young band displaying a vast knowledge of good taste of music past and present, here is an hour of tunes selected by Egyptian Hip Hop recorded live for Eat Your own Ears Radio live at Field Day festival 2010

Tracklist / Chapters
Hard Boiled Babe-Lucy Mercier Descloux
Aboombong-Daymare
Unknown Artist- Blue Basket
Brian Eno-Deep Blue Day
Earth-Miami Morning
William Onyeabor-When The Going Is Smooth & Good
Black Moth Super Rainbow-Falling Through A Field
Kelp-Quick Broken Harp
Madlib-Indian Hump
Uknown-Unknown
Lucy Dragons-I Keep Waiting For Earthquakes
Fondation-Effervescence
6-05- Fantomas

Speaking in Tongues: Waltz Bop Shop Live @ Wavy Brain (video)

This one is from 1994 (95?). A show at the height of Waltz Bop Shop's Math-Punk Noisiness. A fun show dedicated to Marc Bolan with all the bands doing at least one cover penned by Bolan. Held in Wavy Brain Video (RIP). Features some good shots of the hardest working guitar amp in Albuquerque: Grant's Marshall. Enjoy.





And, of course - the mandatory plug for the new aboombong: asynchronic. Available (set your own price) in pretty much any digital format you could want.

¡para!helion-Fourth: when technology fails

This is the final ¡para!helion release here at Pen & Mallet. Due to human errors and technology failures, these tracks needed some significant work to remove unwanted clipping, digital feedback, and other nastiness. There are still some minor cracks, pops, skips, and screeches on the record. I think the music holds up, however, despite the rawer audio quality. These tracks come from the same sessions as greater than 3, so they include the trio plus some additional players here and there. Available wav, flac, ogg vorbis, mp3. Enjoy.

Album: Fourth: when technology fails
Style: late night dream states
Recorded summer 1999, improvised live to two track.
Players:
Dave C- Trumpet, effects, percussion
Jeff K- Electric Balilaika, effects
me- Clay Djemba, acoustic bass
Chris & co. - Djemba, additional percussion


Tracklisting:
1) Destroy!
2) From 11 to 6 to 3
3) Ring Modulator (echoplex)
4) String Drum

UPDATE: I have updated a previous post to make it easier to find all of the "lossless" posts now available on Pen & Mallet. You can, of course, search by genre, date, band name, or click on the "FLAC" tag as well.
UPDATE: This record is featured over at undomondo. They've got a lot going on over there. Worth checking out. Drop by and vote for ¡para!helion.

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).

Dream Smith (R.I.P.) - each kiss with a soft blanket

Dream Smith was a game programmer and musician who left us with a fairly substantial body of psych-folk songs that he released under the moniker Soft Blanket. During the later half of 2007, Dream joined a project led by my friends Will Dean and Kaley Davis called Cadabeso. Presented here today are two Soft Blanket songs recorded by Cadabeso during that too brief collaboration.

Musicians: Dream Smith with Cadabeso (2007)
Dream Smith: Guitar & Vocals
Will Dean: Keyboard & Vocals
Kaley Davis: Bass
me: Drum Kit
Style: Rock, Twee-pop, lo-fi
Album: Taken from How It Feels To Be Filled with Secret Sounds
These tracks recorded live to digital two track in Will's garage.


Tracklist: (get them here)
1) Conditions for Another Year
2) Ginger Girl Has Lived This Day Before

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.