Dan Warburton wrote a very complementary review of a cd I played on. Appreciated.
Even if you didn't know that Weasel Walter, the mad driving force behind the wonderfully vicious and perennially exciting (but currently on sabbatical?) Flying Luttenbachers, is a musician singularly dedicated to "speed, velocity and violence", you could probably guess as much by looking at him on the cover of Apocalyptik Paranoia, all decked out in studs and bullets. But pop the disc into the machine with trembling hands and you may be surprised by the delicate spiky acoustic guitar (Henry Kaiser, one of Weasel's most frequent playing partners since his move to California a while back) and skittery toms and woodblocks on the opening "Scintillations". Think Bailey and Bennink – and that's a compliment. But by the time track two – "Raging War" indeed – kicks in, you know you're back on WW's familiar battlefield. Kaiser's on this as well, but here he's gone electric and plugged himself into something simply monstrous. Sounds like cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm has too. Not that the fourth member of the quartet, trumpeter Forbes Graham, can't handle it all. It's a trumpeter's treat, this album: as well as Graham, Peter Evans (whose lips by rights should be insured for about as much as Jennifer Lopez's ass) and Greg Kelley (no slouch when it comes to blowing himself silly either) also make appearances. Nor is it all apocalyptik: on "Still Life" and "Threnody" - a nod to Penderecki there? - Weasel and Kaiser return to the acoustic intricacy of "Scintillations", while Kelley and Evans huff and puff each other's houses down. Of course, if it's too nice for you you can always skip forward to "Mass Erection" and burn your own house down – or crank it up loud enough and wait for the neighbours to come and do it for you.–DW
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