Rick Walker’s “heavy” metal chain-covered drum kit and ring-modulated teakettle performances imparted structure and gravitas to what began as a simple improvised guitar riff in 11/8. The Artist General (a.k.a. Michael Masley) then performed an impromptu rant that was later diced, spliced, and layered into a quasi-linear narrative. The post-Iommi guitar tone resulted from running a Euthymia ICBM fuzz, into an Electro-Harmonix Micro-POG with Sub-Octave cranked, into a Crowther Prunes & Custard, into a clean Rivera Venus 6 amp.
lyrics
Warning (Artist General/Michael Masley)
When questions beg for answers owed...
we need to push the envelope in the opposite direction
We need to take BACK what was STOLEN from us
Hang 0n...it's here
pay attention
TRUTH IS WILLING BUT THE PRESS IS WEAK...
truth is willing but the press is weak
truth is willing but...the press is weak
SOW THE SPIN, REAP THE WHIRLWIND
Whose interests are served?
Oilmen in POWER, oilmen, oil...OILYGARCHS...
Think about it...Are you such a FOOL?
The ROOT of All EVIL ...given to you by the Devil—aMoral Loss Leader—for Pro-LIFE?:
Pro-WAR...You War-Pharisees...War-Pharisees,
goin' to war & makin' money—but you're a CHICKENHAWK
multi-millionaire—and your skin isn't in the Game, someone else's is—
and they’re going to come back missing an arm, a leg, an eye, a mind, a LIFE...
how would you feel—patriots! how did that happen?—
how do you think?
the Devil made a deal with you and you accepted it, didn’t you?
Americans?...something's Rotten...
What is Goin' ON here? We need to take a New LOOK,
a REAL Look, A Real CLEAR Look, an UNFLINCHING Look,
How 'bout a WIDE-EYED LOOK, What's-Goin'-ON-Here...
how 'bout That:
Think About It (think about it),
SERIOUSLY Think...
bad enough that we were drunk now we're asleep at the wheel,
a sleep at the wheel...
DEMOCRACY SURRENDER MONKEYS DEMEAN THE COURT
BAD JUSTICE...NO BANANA!
…the flesh is willing, but the spirit is willing, but the flesh is, spirit, but the flesh is…You RUN from the truth!
...how does it Feel...to serve the Great Deceiver?
not, not that, no…left right middle, up down east west north
the North pole has melted...the North pole has MELTED...gone ...physically gone
We...fucked up...none of this is real,
none of this is real,
it never HAPPENED...it's ALL a game...
think about it think about it think about it...
nothing seems to work
...and that's the ultimate embrace...
metaphysically speaking...
THAT is our FLAG & it's INVISIBLE...
that other world that you sorta recognize
and sorta don't
(metaPHYSICALLY speaking,
metaphysically speaking, metaphysically speaking)
it's where we're AT—We don't have to go ANYwhere—we're Everywhere.... here and NOW is Everywhere ForEver...
Savor it.
Take a minute…Take it or leave it…it adds UP—
we need to go to the next LEVEL, the next Level... (the next what?)
...not that not that not that not that, no: no...
The atoms that make our bodies...are from the STARS...
the heavier elements formed in supernova explosions...
that's just how it is, that’s what it is, it's who we are…
That's just how it is, that's how it works:
The universe is HUGE!
credits
from Hologramatron,
released May 27, 2010
Artist General: voice and lyrics
Robert Powell: pedal-steel guitar
Michael Manring: bass
Rick Walker: chain-link drums, teapot
Barry Cleveland: electric guitar
Mark Wingfield is always recommended listening for fans of Jazz or Fusion guitar (among the names usually dropped you'll find Alan Holdsworth, Terje Rypdal, Pat Metheny). Nevertheless, this isn't just pure Jazz. I seem to hear more traces of progressive rock than in his other recordings, but probably that's just an early impression... Carsten Pieper
A killer live experimental rock LP from Chris Forsyth with the rhythm section of Sunwatchers, full of blistering energy. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 30, 2021