This was originally released late last year, and had I known of its release, it surely would've made my year's-end Best Of list, but hey, I'm always late to the party. Originally released on the US label, Thin Wrist, it's just been reissued on the German imprint, Tak:til, and it getting wider notice, as it should.
Interestingly, and importantly, 75 Dollar Bill are a duo featuring the talents of Rick Brown on drums, and guitarist, Che Chen. Che Chen's background in music, other than his appearance on a number of avant-improv discs, is not one I know well, though I'm certainly familiar with the rather excellent and eclectic career of Rick Brown. He is one of the mainstays of the post-No Wave avant-rock scene which gave birth to such greats as The Scene Is Now (yes, of course I love 'em!) and Mofungo and several outfits who were centred around the Lost label in the 1980s. He was also in Information, the duo featuring Chris Nelson from TSIN, as well as Blinding Headache, a very early No Wave-ish band who also featured Willie Klein from Mofungo. And let's not forget Fish & Roses: their Dear John CD from 1990 on the Ajax label is a beautiful thing. Also featuring the voluminous talents of Sue Garner on board, F & R mined a similar musical vein to TSIN: atypical avant-pop w/ multi-layered songs that stuck in yer craw without you even noticing. And then there's other band's Mr. Brown led, such as Timber, V-Effect, Run On (with Alan Licht, a man who clearly knows way too much about LaMonte Young, a hindrance which has kept him unemployable his whole adult life).
In short, percussionist Rick Brown has a long and storied non-career in the history of underground NYC rock 'n' roll from the past 40 years. That is, in between holding a straight job, being a political radical and a nice guy. Now that the introductions are out of the way, let us briefly ponder and appreciate this rather excellent recording. There are four long tracks on Wood/Metal/etc., two well over the 10-minute mark, two briefer, and they flow into each other perfectly. Brown plays a variety of percussive instruments and handmade horns, rhythms shuffling ably; Chen plays a minimal brand of guitar noise which sounds part Reed/Cale (or Moore/Ranaldo) and equal parts Ali Farka Toure. In fact, Malian, or North African blues in general, clearly casts a large shadow over what they do, and more than anything else, 75 Dollar Bill sound like Ali Farka Toure jamming with The Double, the Jim White combo I wrote about here last year. That is, of course, a great thing, as is this LP. Best 'new' release I've heard in a while. Get it.
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