Degenerate Art Ensemble / Bastress, The
Album: Bastress, The   Collection:General
Artist:Degenerate Art Ensemble   Added:Mar 2006
Label:Tellous  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2006-04-16 Pull Date: 2006-06-18
Week Ending: May 21 May 7 Apr 30 Apr 23
Airplays: 2 1 2 3

Recent Airplay
1. Jun 13, 2009: Music Casserole
Tits And Honey
4. May 04, 2006: Baptism of Solitude
Oni Gorshi
2. May 17, 2006: Foreplay and Sex Wax
Lucky
5. Apr 26, 2006: The Evil Twins
Dreams From Wounded Mouth
3. May 16, 2006: America's Least Wanted
Tits And Honey
6. Apr 25, 2006: Radio Of Imagination
Tits And Honey

Album Review
Ben Wolfson
Reviewed 2006-04-15
Quirky avant–big band with rock sensibilities. The songs sometimes remind of After Dinner or Iva Bittová, and frequently the pieces change direction, not quite as stop-on-a-dime as Naked City, but with a similar effect.
FCC: 5
Best: 4, 6, 9, 10, 11

1: slightly squeaky vocals with some reeds, with a very After Dinner-like build into a kinda goofy canterburyesque section, then rocks out.
2: Great active bass line, power trio beginning and entering horns like a more aggressive Virgil Moorefield, horn squalls, then some hard jazzy soloing (nice trumpet work) over extremely busy accompaniment.
3: Off-kilter music with distorted, hard to make out, echoed female vocals. The words aren't quite screamed, but they're pretty harsh sounding. Then a man declaims text from Les Miserables—Inspector Javert denouncing Jean Valjean. -2:47 that abruptly stops and a series of soft, moody solos (can't quite tell what instruments) until -0:58, at which point the vocal craziness begins again.
4: Rollicking rhythm section supporting upbeat unison parts in the front lines. -4:44 things get sparser; more abstract & “modern” sounding (some dissonant string parts, not as melodic) for about 1:30, then the main theme from before reenters more prominently. Bass solo --> distorted guitar. Changes come more rapidly towards the end.
5: FCC! Bass put very far forward in the mix. First 1:30 completely instrumental and not unlike 2, so you could just play that with no worries. But -2:10 lots of “get me the fuck out”s.
6: Very pretty song, vocals plus (sounds like) accordion and occasional plucked bass. Liberal use of echo, very cinematic.
7: Alamaailman Vasarat/Hamster Theatre–like, starts off with horn stabs, some distorted guitar, all in all more than a little circus-like.
8: Screamed vocals, stop-start.
9: Absolute chaos, horns and guitars and bass all going off at once. Full-band blowouts alternate with energetic soloing.
10: Violin, soprano sax, and bass trio in the beginning; drums & guitar enter; very good, mid-energy jazzy playing; jaunty.
11: Starts off low, almost ambient, somewhat reminiscent of the Dirty Three or Friends of Dean Martinez; vocals sound similar to in 6 (though lyrics, which are in English, aren't the best). -3:14 violin squalls and the pace and volume pick up dramatically, wordless ululations and off-kilter riffs. Ends with a righteous clatter.

Track Listing
1. Oni Gorshi   6. Dreams From Wounded Mouth
2. Beast With A Bellyful Of Bedsprings   7. Bitchslap
3. Bastress   8. Transmission
4. Tits And Honey   9. Lucky
5. Smoking Car   10. Cod Liver River
  11. Smoking Baby