AprilCadence2013

SAM KULIK,
ESCAPE FROM
SOCIETY,
Hot Cup 113
THANK YOU / LAST TRAIN
TO PARADISE / MORE THAN
YOUR DOG / SO YOU WANT
TO BE A SLUG? / MIDDLE OF
NOWHERE / BELLARTHUR
AN ALBINO / SOUTH PHILLY
DAZE / AMY'S SONG / THE
WINTER STORM / I FLIP MY
RHYTHMS / TEN LITTLE
INDIANS / TRES DEDOS
MARRON / THE VERGE* /
INFINITE SHIT+. 69:30.
Sam Kulik (vcl, brass, g),
Kyle Forester (b, kybd), Ian
Antonio (d), Matt Nelson
(sax), Tom Blancarte (b on
*), Jeremiah Cymerman (cl
on *), Amie Weiss (vln on *),
Moppa Elliott (b on +). No
recording dates or locations
given.
New Issues
157 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013
and decay, along with the propulsive brushwork of
“Pierre.” The long title track fairly sums up his percussive
approach from this period, and unlike other tracks it's
got a narrative logic to it as well. Terrific stuff overall.
Jason Bivins
If Hot Cup records is known for anything, aside from
dazzling improvisations at the margins of the genre
“jazz,” it’s for a kind of conceptual insouciance and
sometimes sheer piss-taking that invokes Zappa’s
old question “Does humor belong in music?” Multiinstrumentalist
Kulik took out an ad on Craigslist last
year, inviting responders to help him write a song.
These 14 selections are the result. There is very little
holding them together, and this is no deficiency; rather,
Kulik is eager to explore the sheer difference of the
poetic contributions he received. He favors gauzy sonics,
and likes to pepper all the tunes with lots of little
“out” details like farty, muffled brass that reminds of
Greg Kelley. Most of the tunes have less to do with
what you’re reading this magazine for than with indierock
rhythms, disjointed funk, or a kind of quasi-circus
feeling and polytonality that, yes, recall Beefheart and
FZ (“Slug” and “More Than Your Dog”). But within this
general approach, Kulik finds a whole lot to say. The
farfisa, layered brass, and slightly laconic, slightly nasal
vocals of “Last Train to Paradise” or “Ten Little Indians”
sound a bit like a Beck outtake: there are fine horn voicings,
bouncing floor tom, and some psychedelic smears
here and there. He pours menacing hum into “The
Verge” (with guest musicians fairly mewling against
banjo). Don’t blink, though, or you might miss the leftturns
Kulik also favors. There’s a dose of hipster country
on “Tres Dedos Marron” and “Middle of Nowhere”;
distorted, multi-layered vocal fragments and horn
canon on “Albino”; jittery, electro-funk on “South Philly
Daze” (reading the confessions of a narcissistic aspirant
artist) and “Winter Storm” (the latter with some nice
polyrhythms and brass voicings); and on “Rhythms,” the
close-miked horns create the effect of slapdash percussion
on metal barrels. Aside from horn obbligatos
here and there, you really have to wait for the closing,
18-minute “Infinite Shit” to hear the musicians stretch