GILGONGO RECORDS

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WASTELAND JAZZ UNIT / TIGER HATCHERY - split 7"

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WASTELAND JAZZ UNIT / TIGER HATCHERY
Split 7" from two mid-west units with a slew of releases on American Tapes, 905 Tapes,
5nakefork, Nashazphone, Fag Tapes, etc. Wasteland Jazz Unit bring on an onslaught of
overblown reeds / electronics, a wall of scathing noise, while Tiger Hatchery offer a more
traditional serving of dynamic and abrasive free jazz.
Art work by Andy Burkholder: http://andyburkholder.blogspot.com/

Vital Weekly 770:
An interesting disc as it shows a drift, evolution, devolution in free Jazz towards noise, though this would be a mistake, mistakes of appearance in nature also can fool the evolutionist. Tiger Hatchery is unmistakable free jazz in the tradition and recognition that makes it hard to say why the term "free" can now be applied, as its anything but free, as specific as a Big Mac rather than a Whopper… though I suspect the term is one of difference from what was once a more tight musicology, in pushing freedom we can arrive at something which sounds like noise, Wasteland Jazz Unit's drums and reeds have almost but not quite disappeared into a miasma of sound. I say sound and not noise, just as a triceratops is no relation to a rhinoceros or a whale shark is far removed from a whale, though appearance and diet might hide the biological fact, noise is not a release from the constraints of music, even though it is free of them, its freedom is not an evolutionary step but a radical alternative… Still enjoyable listening is to be had here, but its music and musicians, all the way down, or rather still pretending that horizons can be traversed… cutting edge… etc. High Modernism at its best. (jliat)

Crucial Blast:
Two aggressive free-jazz outfits are assembled on this 7" from Gilgongo Records, who match up the extreme improv-skronk of Wasteland Jazz Unit with the howling free-fire Ayler-esque jazz of Tiger Hatchery.

Wasteland Jazz Unit's "Coma Flares In A Razor's Coil" is a non-stop inferno of apocalyptic jazz-noise, not really jazz at all, but a Borbetomagus style nuke assault of howling sax and screeching clarinets that vomit black blood all over a torrential blast of blown-out electronic noise. This jam isn't as ear-shreddingly abrasive as some of their other stuff, but the relentless blowing and violent fire breath scorching against the violent electronic chaos is pretty extreme stuff, no doubt about it. It's sort of like a battle to the death between Borbetomagus and a harsh noise wall artist a la Vomir or Dead Body Collection. A vicious improv-racket that'll clear your skull out; it's fucking awesome, and one of their "thickest" sounding recordings yet.

On the other side, Tiger Hatchery deliver a less destructive free jazz track called "Sour Star"; frenzied drumming and howling saxophones start it off dark and mellow, but pretty quickly the band launches into a high energy improv workout in the FMP tradition, but with some detours into extended dark droneology . The hard, blood-splattered blowing and aggressive energy makes this one for fans of the ugexplode/Weasel Walter sphere of hardcore free jazz revolt. I really gotta check out more from these guys.