Cassette Review // Adams/Bucko/Cunningham "Every Way But What Came to Mind" (Already Dead Tapes)

$5 //
Edition of 75 //
https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/ad305-adams-bucko-cunningham-every-way-but-what-came-to-mind //

Some squeaky strings bring about some percussion and then that old jazz horn comes blowing through as well.   The wheels twist and turn, a little bit like radio frequencies.    It begins to feel like the Flight of the Bumblebee as the drums just come pounding in like a ton of bricks falling over.

The sax takes over now, like on a dark corner with only one streetlight dimly lit to help you see the notes shine on through.   And then everything just breaks down into chaos, madness.    The drums slowly play us into some cool jazz now, the type you would expect to hear as some read their poetry about some pulp detective while growing more and more intense.

What I like about this sound is that as much as there are these horns (And people think "Horns = jazz") there are also the drums at the front of it all in ways, in an equal way of everything else.   And what people don't often realize (or forget) is that the percussion can really be what dictates the type of music you play, as you can hear more of the jazz influence here because of those cymbals and toms.

Slowly, steadily it begins to build a little bit like "JAWS" then just picks up into something a little bit funky.    A slight flutter and then silence.   The next song comes rambling in all at once with drums and horns.    I'm not sure how you'd work the words together, but much like math rock can take shape in skramz, I think this could be a combination of jazz with the word spazz, but, yeah, how to combine?

Everything is slowing down now, like it's broken and the wheel is about to fall off.   There is almost this moaning feeling now, like it's crying.    Then you can really just hear the strings take over.   A quieter, minimal vibe coming through now with rattling and delicate string plucks, tiny. 

Quiet, soft little back and forths begin to bring the flip side to life.  It begins to sound creaky now, like an old door opening and closing though there is also these droplets of water type of sounds coming through as well.  Now we go into this cool, almost Pink Panther type of sax.    It quickly builds things up and then they drop off.   There isn't a lot of percussion but I feel like I heard a triangle ding.

At one point it sounds like a buzzer is going through and at another the sound can be more like static.   Then the sax just comes back smooth again with the drums making their return.    Now we're on this wild car chase, taking sharp turns and only increasing our speed.   A slower humming drone now.   Perhaps we fell off the cliff.

Horns beep through and it has a definitive jazz feel but is also not quite like anything else I've heard before.    The sax has this great back and forth with the notes now.  Most of the time jazz reminds me of "Salt Peanuts" for some reason.   Is that wrong?  Does that make me not a true jazz person?  It's getting a little bit squeaky again, sharp like a saw.   And the sax keeps playing away.

The percussions comes back up to the front and then it just starts banging away with the sax blaring and these strings of suspense-- this just gets so noisy right here and I love it.  This is just wild even when it kind of slows down and no matter how many times I listen to it I feel like it still takes me by surprise around every corner.   Music doesn't always have to feel that way but perhaps it should start feeling this way more often.