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Surprising Wooden Clocks

by The Whistling Joy Jumpers

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1.
Get The Go 01:45
2.
We Can Could 02:16
3.
Me And You 01:44
4.
Now 03:29
5.
Good Afternoon Song 01:14
6.
Welcome To The Better Day 03:35
7.
On Your nose (Star Power) 03:41
8.
Love And Desire 01:51
9.
The Land OF The Shake 03:18
10.
Keep The Keep 02:04
11.
Will You Be Ready 02:11
12.
Good morning Song 01:20
13.
Our True Day 02:20
14.
Stand Your Ground 02:05
15.
The Happy Good 02:34
16.
Join The Camp 02:14
17.
Good Evening Song 03:38
18.
On Your Nose 02:26
19.
Hooray For Victory 02:22

about

The Whistling Joy Jumpers - Surprising Wooden Clocks
Release Date: May 7th
Ft/ Jad Fair (Half Japanese), Thollem McDonas (Tsigoti, Hand To Man Band), and Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

credits

released May 6, 2013

The world of improvised music is vast, but the present entry into the catalog of creative
improvisation might catch one completely and fascinatingly off-guard. The Whistling
Joy Jumpers are a wholly improvised meeting between Austin composer/artist/poet
Jad Fair, keyboardist Thollem (on a rare non-acoustic instrument) and percussionist
Brian Chase. Thollem and Fair began working together via filmmaker/animator Martha
Colburn, including performances at SFMOMA and Site Santa Fe. The nineteen pieces
on Surprising Wooden Clocks were cut as duets for keyboard and voice/strums at Fair’s
Austin home, with Chase adding percussion via cell-phone recordings made and sent
from New York. There’s something both immediate and unfussy about how this disc was
made; however, the casual trappings of a home/mail recording never supersede the trio’s
weight.

The Whistling Joy Jumpers operate in an area rarely experienced, lying somewhere
between rugged, lived intensity and childlike whimsy. Indeed, Thollem calls this work
“children’s music for adults.” But there is an underlying textural complexity: Thollem’s
electric keyboard work ranges from nearly classical poise to grungy masses, lending
an almost industrial clamor or Ra-like space burble to Fair’s stream-of-consciousness
twang and Dadaist sound-poetry. While Fair’s world is extraordinarily singular, a bevy
of recordings such as this one show how important togetherness and inclusiveness are
to the work. A muscular and fleet percussionist in contexts ranging from post-punk to
free improvisation, Chase’s stripped-down clatter ranges from unruly scrape (the nasty
“Me and You”) to delicate hand percussion and distant footfalls, all rendered with a lo-
fi alien sheen. Together, the Whistling Joy Jumpers bring thoughtful orchestration and a
compellingly unruly wail to these youthful, improvised song-poems. One thing remains
constant in this diverse and charged set: every time you hear Fair count off, you never
know what you’re going to get.
-Clifford Allen
Brooklyn, NY

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Thick Syrup Records Little Rock, Arkansas

Thick Syrup Records is an independent record label from Little Rock, Arkansas. it specializes in indie rock and underground music. Notable releases Jad Fair, Bob Bert [Sonic Youth & Pussy Galore] Half Japanese, David Markey [1991: The Year Punk Broke], Velvet Monkey’s, Don Fleming ... more

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