Chattanooga Pulse

Arrington de Dionyso
Malaikat dan Singa
(K)

One of the most startling and arresting albums I’ve encountered this year has got to be the latest release from Arrington de Dionyso, best known as the front man of the Olympia, Washington band Old Time Relijun.  It’s loosely rock-centric, but the sounds are so alien and disorienting that most listeners will probably scratch their heads and wonder where on earth this recording came from.  First of all, the entire album is incomprehensible because it is sung in Indonesian, and the liner notes reveal that some lyrics are translations of snippets taken from poet William Blake and also from the mystical, Kabbalistic work the Zohar.  Knowing this only complicates things.  At times, de Dionyso practically spits out the words, with an ardent, dramatic delivery, and at other moments, like on “Mani Malaikat,” he snarls like he’s starting an argument.  However, when de Dionyso wants to sound particularly wicked, he pulls out his secret weapon; this is the ability to do multi-phonic throat singing to create unsettling, otherworldly drones.

Labelmate Karl Blau, playing bass and percussion, serves as the album’s straight man and anchor, and for a few songs, de Dionyso is even joined by his Old Time Relijun bandmates.  When on guitar, de Dionyso leans toward a garage-rock approach, but his instrument of choice seems to be the bass clarinet, which he plays wildly and freely.  Comparisons are difficult, as the album keeps listeners on their toes using foreign rhythms and percussion in the mix.  Although the closest (American) point of comparison would probably be the Sun City Girls, Malaikat dan Singa is not as messy, irreverent, or hit-or-miss.  By the time the listener thinks he might have the album figured out, de Dionyso throws a curveball by borrowing a motif from Serge Gainbourg’s “Requiem pour un Con” for “Tak Terbatas.”  It’s definitely not an album for everyone, but it’s for the adventurous type who embraces the unfamiliar.

Summer Dregs
From Gold to Green
(myspace.com/summerdregs)

Summer Dregs is the name of the virtual Chattanooga super-group organized by keyboardist and songwriter Carl Cadwell, presenting the results of fruitful collaborations with choice musicians and singers from the area.  Cadwell is currently a member of the soul-funk band the Distribution, but it is Cadwell’s previous band, Infradig, that immediately comes to mind when listening to the Summer Dregs’ debut, From Gold to Green.  It’s ostensibly an electro-pop album, but it goes beyond that by defying pop repetition with constantly changing sound sequences.  The electronics are animated and effervescent, with an infectious, hopeful, and bright delivery, and the recording itself is incredibly clean, surely the result of seemingly endless clicking and dragging and micro-tuning so that each piece is in its own proper place.  Certain electronics-heavy bands bear comparison, like the Domino bands Four Tet and Caribou, and fans of the Postal Service might find Summer Dregs to be more sonically dense and intricate.

Josh Green, drummer for the Distribution and Infradig, contributes his talents on most of the tracks, including “To Convince Whom,” with notably busy and tight freestyle beats.  The vocal performances are solid, from people including Reeve Hunter (Chinasaur), John Totten (The Quiet Ones), Robert Heiskell, and Chris Ammons (Jairus), and the most memorable ones are from Ryan Dixon (The Heroes Are Horses) and Stephen Nichols (The Good Players).  Dixon sings with an easy, friendly pop charm with a hint of earthy folk goodness, and Nichols harmonizes using an effortless, assured delivery that’s somewhat reminiscent of Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip when he’s in ballad mode.  Studio wizard Mason Neely adds his touches on alternate mixes for “Bones” and “A,” which features some choice, vaguely disco-flavored string arrangements.  What is served up on From Gold to Green isn’t exactly dregs, but the distillation of some of the finest pop talent Chattanooga has to offer.