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Scarla O'Horror — Semiconductor Taxidermy for the Masses
(Bandcamp Not Applicable no#, 2024, CD / DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2024-12-08

Semiconductor Taxidermy for the Masses Cover art

When I first saw this band’s name — and I am probably not alone — I immediately thought of Gone with the Wind and Rhett Butler’s famous exit line “Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.” There the resemblance stops, but there is also a sense of Nurse with Wound, especially with the album title Semiconductor Taxidermy for the Masses. Scarla O’Horror is the experimental improv jazz group of James Allsopp (tenor saxophone and bass clarinet), Alex Bonney (trumpet and piccolo trumpet), Tim Giles (drums and electronics), and Isambard Khroustaliov (electronics). The album was recorded over the course of one day at Livingstone Studios, based on material generated by synthesizers configured to ‘listen’ and respond to what the musicians were playing, material to which the musicians responds in turn — a unique feedback between man and machine but the very opposite of Chat GPT style AI in terms of its spontaneity (not involving sampling or pre-training of any kind). A much more man-machine approach than Kraftwerk ever achieved. The three tracks “Raccoon with Wound” (another nod to Nurse with Wound), “The Rats of Gillet Square,” and “Ermine Chowder” are all different in sonic texture and mood. “Raccoon with Wound,” the shortest track (2:36) is an abstract free form jazz improv with a lot of noise. Jumping to the next track, “The Rats of Gillet Square” is a quantum leap forward and is a sonic wall of organized chaos. There is a lot of different things happening musically, with each musician going in a different direction, pursuing their individual muses. And yet, the exhausting on the listener piece somehow maintains its integrity over nearly twenty minutes of more free-form improv. “Ermine Chowder” clocks in at a mere fourteen minutes and is a sedate improv with the band sounding much more coherent. What comes to mind while experiencing Semiconductor Taxidermy for the Masses is Miles Davis at his most experimental and possibly Sun Ra. So if you are in the mood for some very out-there improv jazz, check out Scarla O’Horror’s Semiconductor Taxidermy for the Masses.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Scarla O'Horror

More info
http://not-applicable.bandcamp.com/album/semiconductor-taxidermy-for-the-masses

 

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