Search - Smegma :: 33 1/3

"A group improvisation with a heap of unfinished sixties business factored in. Free Music in its grandest and least superficial sense. A ritual of fusing all musics and non-musics at the level of the hum, the blap, the tink, and the boom." -- Richard Metzger "Once again, the times seem to have conspired to situate Smegma's consistent refusal of static generic form as the central working paradigm for a whole new generation of musicians." -- THE WIRE Dr. Id: piano, harp, vocals, samples, remco, samples, toys, duck calls, gongs, record player/Ju Suk Reet Meate: vibraphonette, vocals, record player, Sidrassi organ, alto horn, pocket trumpet, slide guitar, effects, Uzbek horn/Conroy: vocals, vibraband, ju-per, lil sidrassi/Burned Mind: trombone, drums, electronics, ju-per, lil sidrassi/Oblivia: record player, homemade records, toys, ju-per, lil sidrassi Overview 33 1/3 is Smegma's tribute to their twentieth-century avant-garde and out-jazz influences. The title is one part reference to the happy revival of passionate vinyl listening in the twenty-first century, and one part celebration of over thirty-three years of being one of the most freethinking and original American underground groups. Its focus, ideas, and determination has brought the group through more than three decades and to this day it remains unparalleled, original, and highly influential. Smegma. Seriously. They've been at it for so long now that you can't really even say they sound like anyone else. They're all here on 33 1/3--Oblivia, Ju Suk Reet Meate, Burned Mind, Conroy, Dr. Id--the core group drumming up their influences and pulling off another burning album of magnificent proportions. While Smegma has never really fit in anywhere, the group's influence on the modern avant-garde and improvised noise scene is absolutely undeniable. While it has had two feet firmly planted in avant-garde & free jazz, one must not forget its rock roots. Influences aside, no matter how much everyone else sounds like Smegma, you can bet that Smegma is always going to sound like nobody else. It may just be the greatest American band. Ever.