The Sunburned Hand of the Man Albums (5)
'Fire Escape'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 9
Label Smalltown Supersound
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What The Critics Say
An amusing prospect that sounds great on paper but yields mixed results, Sunburned Hand of the Man invited Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, to remix some of the ensemble's jam sessions, and somehow managed to come up with their most coherent album to date. It makes some sort of sick sense, one supposes, that Hebden, whose electronica has veered from the beat-driven IDM/laptop pop of Four Tet to the electro-organic post-rock of Fridge to the more avant-garde sessions he did with legendary free jazz drummer Steve Reid under their own names, would be the one to remix the scattershot free folk of the Sunburned crew. Their stream-of-consciousness improvs are hit or miss; they sometimes manage to summon a furious ruckus that almost rocks, in their trademark off-kilter way, and it's Hebden's forays into free jazz-electronica that qualify him to understand just what it means to be "free" here. Most of these tracks meander discordantly and disjointedly in typical Sunburned fashion, or stagger and trip through wonky beats and manipulated live instruments in Hebden's standard cut-and-paste style, and there are some that stand up to the best of either artist's work. The most linear track is "Raw Backwards," a sinister spy theme mixed with psychedelic frug, but it's not even a minute-and-a-half long. "The Parakeet Beat" is straightforward enough with its layers of spliced beats and instrumental snippets from who knows how many sessions. The title track makes it difficult to distinguish where band ends and remixer begins and is probably the best example of pure collaboration. But the standout is "Nice Butterfly Mask": over a deep, flanged bass groove, disparate elements drop in and out of the mix -- moaning horn sections, guitar splatter and synth splutter -- all anchored by a live trap kit jazz shuffle. It's almost dancefloor ready...almost. ~ Brian Way, All Music Guide
'Complexion'
Release Date 1/1/2005
Tracks 6
Label Very Friendly/Manhand
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What The Critics Say
Complexion is a document of a live concert recorded by Sunburned Hand of the Man -- who had been crossing continents for nearly two years at that point -- at the Somerville Community Growing Center in Somerville, MA in August of 2004. Members for the gig included Chad Cooper, David Bohill, John Moloney, mjk, Paul LaBarque, Rich Pontius, Robert Thomas, Ron Schneiderman, Tony Goddess, and Valerie Miller. There are six cuts credited here, but there are no breaks between them. It's a long, free-form, flowing freak-out, where sounds are generated, coaxed, forced, and teased out of everything from guitars and percussion instruments to keyboards, unidentified string instruments, and who knows what else. Things begin softly, but within six minutes pick up steam. By ten minutes it's all getting away from the listener, taking her on some interior journey where excess, free expression, childlike indulgence, and experimentalism for its own sake become the sonic equivalent of rhythm, space, and sonic orgy. It may be spare in places but it will not leave you alone. By the time we reach the final 15 minutes, simple percussion becomes absent and returns as open dimension ushering us further into the psychedelic weirdness. Never letting go when the disc is over. Never. It may read like pure unmusical wank -- and in a way it is -- but it works too, it is an unforgettable experience to encounter. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'The Sunburned Hand of the Man'
Release Date 9/7/2004
Tracks 4
Label Wabana
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What The Critics Say
Who knows when the hell it was actually recorded, but this Wabana CD is actually a reissue of the group's first self-titled LP of the same name. In typical fashion it comes in a generic -- and we mean generic -- plain purple digipack with no information other than the skull and crossbones logo on the back, and a clear sticker on the front with acid dripped lettering proclaiming Sunburned Hand of the Man. There are four longish, untitled cuts here, though each of them blends into one long performance. Simply put, it's pure rhythmic, dope-fueled, primal freak -- and this is not a catch-all here, it's precise-folk strangeness from the only band worthy of being named under the "new weird America" moniker. Sounding like a cosmic jam that takes nothing into account but varying pulses with guitars, basses, flutes, garbage cans, synths, and chanted, intoxicated vocals by who knows how many people, this document is for those who've ever wondered but haven't heard. This is Sunburned Hand of the Man at their absolutely most untethered, unfocused, and free. And yet. Somehow it flows, like lava ruining everything it touches, this baby just goes, and goes and goes, and there aren't any records to put on after; it feels like it should be on endless loop to loosen everything in your synaptic mind and just let it melt. Killer. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After loads of self-issued CD-Rs, LPs, and other gee gaws, Rare Wood is the first officially released compact disc by Sunburned Hand of the Man. Strangely, rather than be a single gig experience like many of their other recordings, Rare Wood has the distinction of compiling five performances: two of them were recorded live on the radio for KDVS at the University of California, David, two others were recorded in the Netherlands, and a final one in the home of Tony Goddess in Gloucester MA, all between 2002 and 2003. This was a period in which the band was traveling around the world bringing their brand of subsonic psychedelic tribal primitivism to stages and radio stations. The titles hardly matter, because the way this collection is sequenced it feels more like a SHotM concert. Basses, guitars, un- or at least de-tuned guitars, synths, loops, drums and other percussion instruments weave around shouted all but unintelligible voices howling, growling, screaming, moaning and sometimes chanting. Only 42 minutes in length, it is also short for the group, who were joined by Chris Corsano on at least some of these performances. While nothing here is unlistenable, Rare Wood remains the least satisfying of the truly energetic freak folk craziness issued on LP or elsewhere. It feels like they were getting the improvisation system down here, but hadn't quite gotten to the point of being able to keep an audience intrigued for the length of a single gig. This one drags a bit, but there is still plenty to keep one interested. The difference is, you have to be allowed to be seduced by Rare Wood; unlike their other records, which are tension creators, this one merely meanders on the fringes without ever letting its full, heart aesthetic into the grooves. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'The Trickle Down Theory of Lord Knows What'
Release Date 1/1/2003
Tracks 5
Label Eclipse
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What The Critics Say
Recorded in the summer of 2002 at the Sunburned Hand of the Man's Charlestown, MA, loft space, The Trickle Down Theory of Lord Knows What first appeared as a limited LP release on Eclipse in 2003. The following year, that label issued a CD version, making the album one of the first Sunburned releases to gain decent indie distribution after a series of vinyl and CD-R appearances. Regardless of its date of creation, however, this music is temporally difficult to locate. Indeed, the development documented on Sunburned releases can often be only partially apparent, even to the trained ear (i.e., listeners familiar with similar intersections of lo-fi aesthetics and free improvisation). That may be because the group's trajectory isn't about "progress" in the traditional, songwriterly sense, but something altogether more difficult to quantify. Captured here is the emergence of a collective sound that draws upon, yet ultimately transcends, the style and impetus of its individual players. Like modern-day field recordings, the music was extracted "as is" from a June 20th session. As a result, songs occasionally cut abruptly or fade out mid-flow. Standard song structure is continually avoided in favor of webs of repetition against which the group manipulates shifting plates of tone and texture like sonic spells. On album bookends "Spell It Out" and "Rivershine," percussion supports a series of drones, alien melodies, and vocal incantations. On the desolate, disquieting "The Easy Ease," the group dispenses with pulse altogether, the music set adrift on a sea of murky low frequency, cascading bells, and fractured sound. "Show of Hands," with its persistent acoustic strum and electric leads, is perhaps the most conventional item on display, yet it too is disrupted. The song escalates into a chaos of ecstatic shouting and repetitive guitar possession, only to reemerge transformed and slightly subdued. Like everything here, it's only half coherent, lying somewhere between an end result (a "song") and the route to it. ~ Nathan Bush, All Music Guide
