Run Logan Run – For a Brief Moment We Could Smell the Flowers

I will never, ever, in my life consider myself a jazz fan. That said, this blog has featured contributions from Valerio Cosi (regularly), Fire! Orchestra, Pharoah Sanders and The Comet is Coming, all of whom hail from the jazz corner of the room we call the musical world (and that’s just off the top of my head – if I wasn’t too lazy to search, I imagine I’d find quite a few more).

And now we can add Run Logan Run, a duo from the ever fertile metropolis of Bristol. I listened to three of their releases so far and this is my favourite but I like them all.

Of the names mentioned above, I suppose the nearest reference point is The Comet is Coming; certainly, they have that contemporary take on their material which makes it not just jazz, there’s loads more to it than that. It’s a good maelstrom to completely lose yourself in.

This is a lockdown album, which is making me feel a bit lazy, as loads of artists have put out lockdown albums now, and my two or three are still being faffed over (albeit I did quietly re-record 6 albums and replace the previous versions on Bandcamp). The first is nearly done though.

Oneida – Success

Whereby ‘Success’ is defined as doing what you do really, really well. By me, at least. And this album lives up to the title.

My love for Oneida – which I still don’t know how you pronounce – is a long-lasting one. One of my very favourite pieces of music ever is ‘Sheets of Easter.’ One of my very favourite albums ever made is ‘Rated O.’ These boys have form, and here do they bring it.

Stylistically, this is more like their early, garagey stuff, kind of a return to earth from their incredibly out-there explorations in the post ‘Rated O’ era.

Water Damage – But the Rat was Very Smart

Ok, serious mong time.

Two tracks, extremely repetitive, with an insane guitarist making noise over it, and I mean noise. I assume it’s a guitarist. Could be anything, really, with all the tech these days. I’m only assuming it’s guitar as I can make similarly insane noises when I want to, and it’s fun. They could also be labelled a super-group if you wanted to do that (ok, you’ve made your point – ed). Also, two bass players and three drummers? I just looked at the line up. There’s synth involved too. I have also made insane noises via synth. They too are fun. Anywho, it works.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I may be mildly catatonic. This sort of music certainly makes me glassy eyed, but I happen to really like that sensation. Or maybe it’s just the music that does it. And spreadsheets. They never fail.

Sula Bassana .​.​.​And The Nasoni Pop Art Experimental Band​-​Vol​.​1

This here dates from 2006 and is a remastered version, though I would be lying if I said I knew about the original.

This can be filed under ‘psych-rock’ for those of you who like to file things under headings. It’s not much like Electric Moon or most of his solo stuff; indeed, this seems to be a kind of super-group of the era, although you can label any musical collective where the members all have different histories a super-group if you want to. Do you want to? I’m not going to. That way madness lies. Also, this is how words/phrases lose their meaning.

The title, of course, implies at least another volume.