Jaap Blonk & Terrie Ex - Thirsty Ears [Terp Records]

Recently released on the Dutch, Terrie Ex-founded imprint Terp Records is "Thirsty Ears", a collaborational effort by the labels' founder on electric guitar and harmonium whilst the long-term composer and producer Jaap Blonk contributes his voice and additional layers of electronics to the nine tracks of the album. Fully based on an improvisational approach we see the duo exploring both worlds of intense Spoken Word poetry accompanied by distinct, atmospheric, yet dark'ish sound spheres as to be found in the opener "Sound" as well as minimalist, tongue-in-cheek outings like "Cratchy" or the off-kilter loops and playful bleeps catered in "Gilded Flurries" which provide a hyper-psychedelic soundtrack for a journey into one's inner self, an exploration of the subconscious led and guided by retrofuturist microbots. With "Some Hubbub" we see guttural vocal explosions of utter madness, scat and Dada-influences meet with sparse, improv guitars, "Let's Go Out" evokes a feel of imminent danger paired with a feel of psyched out romanticism noir, "Netherbends" takes us back to a Blues-infused lunatic asylum of sorts and "Who's Knocking?" fuses improvised guitar strumming with buzzing electrical noises to a great, isolationist Post-DesertRock effect, evolving into a recording of Donald Duck on acid throughout the tunes final minutes. Furthermore we've got "Amicable Plops", a funky affair providing more full-on madness in terms of its vocal side before the final "Fog Hunt" digs deep intro retrofuturist, electrical noises created by alien apparatuses of unknown scientific use and scraping percussions as well as hardly defined guitar-related tones. Excellent, yet very leftfield stuff for those in the know!

Album artwork on Instagram!