Ace in the Hole: Ear to the Underground / Caterwaul sessions, vol. 2

Hi, I'm DJ Caterwaul.

I'm the coordinator & occasional host of "Music to Soothe the Savage Beast," a weekly radio show every Tuesday night from 10pm-1am on KUNM 89.9 FM here in Albuquerque. The general focus of the show is freeform rock styles- everything from punk to indy/alternative to avant rock to outsider/weirdo stuff & way more, with lots of room for deviation. Ear to the Underground, vol. 1 was a compilation of local bands that I'd had up to play live on Savage Beast, managed to get recordings of, and picked some tracks to showcase the bands. It all came together pretty quickly, thanks to Mike Day helping master it, and all the bands providing info.

This compilation has been so long in coming, it's already ancient history. As you can see below, the earliest recordings took place at the end of 2004, and the most recent were over 2 years ago. I don't really have any excuse, & it's certainly no one's fault but my own. Life just kept getting in the way, for a really long time. Simon Welter put in countless hours with me on this, fussing with the sound through various programs until it was as perfect as it was ever gonna get. I like it a lot, and Simon deserves mad props. He also facilitated most of these recordings by agreeing to engineer the live sessions that they came out of.

So here finally, for historical record if nothing else, is a snapshot of some really great music that people were making in Albuquerqe over a 4-year period in the early oughts. The best part is, nearly all of these people are still active musicians in one form or another, most of them right here in town. You can go out & see them play live. And you should.

The following are notes on the individual bands/performers in the order that they appear on the compilation. The link to download the compilation itself is at the bottom of the page. Thanks for checking it out.

DCat

The Goodness Sakes- intro

Engineered & recorded live by Derek Caterwaul in KUNM's Studio C (then functioning as the control room), 11/30/04.

The Goodness Sakes were Drake Hardin- gtr, Keith Galler- gtr, & Emily (then Matlock)- violin in a lineup predating Mammal Eggs, whom you'll hear later. The film sample at the beginning is just a conceit of mine, taken from Ace in the Hole feat. Kirk Douglas. You'll be hearing from him later as well.

All Hurt- Duck / Tractor

More from Kirk D, followed by some of the gnarliest "rock" to be found on this disc.

Engineered & recorded by Simon Welter in KUNM's Studio A, 12/21/04.

All Hurt was Darrel Helm- perc./vox & Justin Mitschelen- keys/vox, with prerecorded assistance from Jason Helm. All originally from ABQ, they actually formed while living in San Diego, mostly for gas money to get back home for the holidays. All Hurt also played a few shows in Burque when they were here, including for this recording.

Below the Sound- Transparent Stature / Full Indian Belly

Engineered & recorded by Simon Welter in KUNM's Studio A, 5/31/05.

Below the Sound was Dennis Ponozzo- bass/vox, Chris Roy- gtr, & Brian Roy- drums. Both of these tracks can be found on their album, "Three," and here's the cover of the single for Full Indian Belly:

And here's a rough but ragin' video of BTS waaay back in the day, at the crucial all-ages venue Insurgo:

Check out Prison of Sound to see what some of these guys (Roy Bros.) are up to now.

Summon the Meteors- 2 tracks, untitled

Engineered & recorded by Simon Welter in KUNM's Studio A, 8/30/05.

Summon the Meteors was Saul Rodgar on drums/electronic percussion/looper & Skiv Borealis on bass/electronics/looper. Saul was also the artist responsible for Kipple, from the last compilation. Very little else has come to light.

Fando- Martian / Opeth

Engineered & recorded by Simon Welter in KUNM's Studio A, 10/25/05.

Pat Day- bass, Mike Day- gtr/vox, Brian Oneill- drums, Shawn Oneill- gtr/vox.

My favorite experimental rock group in ABQ, Fando evolved out of the creative collision of 2 sets of brothers in bands from the last compilation (Old Man & Proudass). They're still active, often under a variety of obscurant monikers. Capped off once again by an apt sample from Ace in the Hole.

Here they are, playing an Xmas show at Stove (RIP) several years ago.

And here's a video for "Get the slow one"

Mammal Eggs- La lune autour la tete des amis

Engineered & recorded by Simon Welter in KUNM's Studio C, 2/28/06.

Mammal Eggs was Drake Hardin- drums & keys, Rosie Hutchinson- violin, Keith Galler- gtr

Incredible experimental group that lasted too short of a time, but each show was a mindblower.

Keep an ear out locally for Teetotum, Drake & Rosie's latest thing.

The Grave of Nobody's Darling- Mary / tesla rant

Engineered & recorded by Simon Welter in KUNM's Studio A, 4/25/06. "Mary" © 2009 Seven Card

I believe GoND are still an active band here in town, and on this recording were simply Jessica Billey- violin, & Bud Melvin- banjo. Find out more at http://thegraveofnobodysdarling.com

and here they are, fairly recently:

Yoda's House- Piamono

Engineered & recorded by Simon Welter in KUNM's Studio A, 12/18/07.

Another home-for-the-holidays show for some of the musicians. It's always a tough guess as to who was actually involved in any Yoda's House lineup, but here's one possibility:

Joe Annabi - accordion
David Meilleur - Guitar
Lauren Kostelnik - Bass
Matt Wolf-Cecil, Graham Ansel, Ty Ryder, Nick Sedillos - Drums
Roman Wolf-Cecil, Max Richardson - Clarinets
Bryce Hample, Hannah Fraser, Dan Brigman - keys
It may have looked something like this show at the Peace & Justice Center.

and here's a more recent video, as Yoda's House was transitioning to Then Eats Them:

Bud Melvin- call in rant / It's a Crush / Nico rant

Engineered & recorded by Derek Caterwaul in the KUNM Control Rm, 4/29/08.

Bud Melvin is Bud Melvin on banjo and hacked/prepared Gameboy.

...not to give the impression that Bud rants more than anyone else on this compilation, but when he does, it's always entertaining, especially when he's got a flask of Wild Turkey in him. Bud still plays out on occasion, when he gets the opportunity. Otherwise...

Ipytor Gavyen Machislav- Stupid Handshake / paino song

Engineered & recorded by Simon Welter in KUNM's Studio A, 5/27/08.

Ipytor Gavyen Machislav is Clifford Grindstaff (of GoND, Shoulder Voices and The Jeebies, at least) on live drums, pre-recorded cassette tape, clarinet, bass, guitar, vocals, keyboard & an out of tune piano that was in the studio. Ipytor is the consummate mystery man, with practically no information to be found of him on the interwebs, at least in this incarnation. Wise man. Wierd man.

Keith Galler w/ Churchfires- Brogart

Engineered & recorded by Derek Caterwaul in the KUNM Control Rm, 8/26/08.

Keith & Shawn came up to Savage Beast together and alternated songs, with the other on backup vox & instrumentation. Keith Galler usually works with solo acoustic guitar. Here's a video version of Brogart at a backyard show, with the Mammal Eggs lineup:

(If I recall correctly, brogarting is when your bro comes into town and your other bro spends all of his time hanging out with him and doesn't invite you.)

Churchfires w/ Keith Galler- Mass Leisure

Engineered & recorded by Derek Caterwaul in the KUNM Control Rm, 8/26/08.

Both of these last two recordings were made in the same session, as described above. Shawn (also of Fando) had a lot of electronic gear I couldn't identify even if I could remember it, a practice amp and possibly a guitar. It's been a long time, sorry.

Churchfires online: http://churchfires.bandcamp.com

Sabertooth Cavity- el Pisaschi y Diablerist

Engineered & recorded by Simon Welter in KUNM's Studio C, 11/25/08.

Sabertoof is Matt G.- gtr/vox, Henry- gtr/vox, Kerb- drums, Nae- bass, Jeff- sax

One last word from Kirk the Jerk, before the 'Toof kick out the jams. Sabertooth Cavity still rock the house throughout ABQ, and have gone on a few tours as well.

And here's the link to the actual compilation, just below:

http://www.mediafire.com/?3xfexxd7il63h2t

ENJOY!

DCat