Ultimate Frog, The

Duets of McAuley's acoustic guitar (sometimes dobro) with: violin (the legendary Leroy Jenkins), bass (Ken Filiano), drums (Alex Cline), or Other Guitar (Nels Cline!!!). Lots of quiet near-jazz picking, and lots of "off"-sounding microtones from Jenkins on violin.

Some pieces have a pretty and lyrical sheen overall but don't sit in a purely happy place; there's always a tinge of darkness or dread lurking in there. A few get outright abstract.

DISK ONE
1- Dissonant, with strongly sour-toned violin.
2- Cascading acoustic guitar, a bit sad.
3- A touch of country twang. Tight, tense plucking verging on Derek Bailey
4- Gongs: Slow, shimmering, majestic.
5- Violin: Curious pecking, then some scribbly bowing. Fast but sparse.
6- Fast scrappy improv. (w/bass)
7- Mid/fast, a placid mystical air. Pretty. Strong melody at the end.
8- Twangy, folky violin. Gets chaotic and scribbly.
9- Dissonant. Dark but with moments of serene folkiness.
10- Clattering guitar duet.
11- Clashing, w/drum kit
12- Guitars: Gentle, shimmering, lyrical, quite nice.

DISK TWO
13- Mid/fast guitars, between blues and new age. Nice.
14- Violin: Quiet start, gets scrapy and scribbly and loud
15- Slow and airy
16- Fast but relatively low-key. w/bass.
17- Violin: Almost romantic.
18- Cool woodblock percussion, placid desert-Western guitar. Catchy riff later.
19- Guitar/dobro: dense, tangly, with some lone bashed chords.
20- Fast, upbeat, exhiliarating. Touches of quieter King Crimson c.1981. w/drums.
21- Near-droney, like an engine warming up. w/violin
22- Fast fingerwork on guitars, almost classical
23- Jangly, darkly twangy, good rhythm. w/bass
24- A pretty and sad piece, lovely. Solo guitar plus rain sounds.