(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Boston ensemble Sunburned Hand of the Man, led by Jon Maloney,
a distant relative of the
No Neck Blues Band, specialized in incoherent
jams not too dissimilar from the
Sun City Girls' anarchic jams.
Their career was devoted to a 50-volume work that began in 1998
with Mind Of A Brother (Manhand) and
Piff's Clicks (Manhand), not to mention the unreleased
Loose Bugs (1998- Spirit of Orr, 2009),
and continued with monumental releases
such as: Headdress (Records, 2002), a collection of live performances of 2001 (with
Dave Bohill on guitar, percussion, flute, keys, electronics;
Conrad Capistran on keys, electronics;
Chad Cooper on vocals, electronics, congas, percussion, winds;
Phil Franklin on drums, trumpet, percussion;
Critter Jordan on vocals, djembe, percussion;
John Moloney on vocals, drums, percussion, organ, harp, horn;
Marc Orleans on lead guitar;
Rich Pontius on guitar;
Richard Thomas on guitar, reeds, percussion;
Rob Thomas on bass, drums, percussion);
Jaybird (Qbico, 2001), recorded in 2000 by the same ensemble,
containing
the 16-minute The Jaybird (that after six indulgent minutes becomes a nightmare of epic proportions, all distorted screams and hypnotic jammming),
the nine-minute percussive orgy Leaving the Nest
and
the subliminal low-energy 18-minute jam Eggshell Blues,
but also pointless and endless detours like Soss the Quilled Investigator and Too High to Fly No More (14.06);
Trickle Down Theory Of The Lord (Eclipse, 2003), one of their most abstract
and loose works,
the nine-minute Show of Hands being the highlight
and the nine-minute Rivershine being their avantgarde chamber sort of composition;
the double-disc Closer To The Bone (Manhand, 2004), containing the 22-minute Repercussions For The Pilgrim and the 28-minute The Fracture;
Sunburned Hand of the Man (Skull - Wabana, 2004);
etc.
Each is a chaotic assortment of ghostly free-jazz, psychotic space-rock jams, ambient droning, ethereal folk ballads.
Rare Wood (Spirit of Orr, 2004), mostly recorded live, includes
Easy Wind, a cauldron of distorted spoken-word, electronic noise, grotesque Captain Beefheart-ian jamming;
Gyp Hawkin', 10 minutes of percussive doodling;
Camel Backwards, a subhuman blues chant blurred by distortion and echoes;
Glass Boot, a chaotic collage of vocals, noise, tribal drumming and spastic jamming.
The proceedings are as amateurish as rock musicians can get. But, then, that is
precisely the point.
The Secret In Disguise (2004) is another clumsy, improvised set.
Like all prolific acts, Sunburned Hand of the Man produce little that is worth
having.
Anatomy Vol 1 (Manhand, 2005), the live Complexion (Records, 2005 - Very Friendly, 2006)
and Wedlock (Eclipse, 2005) were mostly full of filler.
The EP The Mylar Tantrum (2006) contains the 22-minute piece.
KnifeLifeLike (Manhand, 2006) is a double 7".
Fire Escape (Smalltown Supersound, 2007) was basically a series
of improvisation by the band remixed in studio by
Four Tet's Kieran Hebden.
Between 2007 and 2009 they released about 20 recordings:
A Taste of Never (2007),
Get Fuck (2007),
The Pegadrift (2007),
Z (2007),
Locked / Loaded (2007),
Weekend at Burnie's 2 (2007),
Glik (2008),
Gluk (2008),
Fuckethead (2008),
The Spacial Crime Symbol (2008),
Chinese Perfume (2008),
Charlie's Itch (2008),
Ego Enema (2008),
London Zero (2009),
Four Rockets (2009),
The Ox of Oh (2009),
Tailwind (2009),
Sensitivity, Without Permission (2009),
etc.
The double-LP A Grand Tour Of Tunisia (2009) collects studio improvisations by the lineup of Paul Labrecque, John Moloney, Sarah O'shea, Robert Thomas and Ron Schneiderman.
By 2024 they had amassed more than 150 recordings:
A (2010),
Zee Curfew (2011),
The Tingle Of Casual Danger (2012),
My Accident Volume 3 (2014),
Megasis (2014),
Sante (2015),
The Lid of Fortune (2016),
Lick (2018),
Get Wet With The Animal (2018),
Foam (2018),
Meadow Glen Malloy (2019),
Burnieleaks 3 (2019),
Intentions (2019),
Covered in Mud (2020),
Absolute Flake in the Forest (2020),
Pick A Day To Die (2020), assembled from recordings dating as far back as 2007,
Vulgarisms (2021),
Hypnotape (2023),
Tumble Dry (2023),
Nimbus (2024),
etc etc etc.
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