why we love this

A veritable feast of ideas is set to bewilder with great enthusiasm. Nuke Watch indulges in unexpected juxtapositions of organic and electric elements. Just when you think it is strange, it gets stranger.

about the record

Whatever you think it is - it is not. By the same token, it really can be whatever you want - electronica, jazz, improv, noise, new age, ambient - it’s none and all of these. Like the primitive visual illusion it’s named for, Pepper’s Ghost is a projection of a thing, not the thing itself.

The Nuke Watch method, like that of Aaron Anderson and Chris Hontos’ other primary project Beat Detectives, leans almost entirely on live improvisation, with some advanced studio alchemy in post. While the Beat Detectives' palette draws from club music tropes, Nuke Watch blends recognizable tones (hand drums, woodwinds, keys, fretless bass) with sounds of unknown provenance, the line between organic and synthesized instrumentation unintelligibly smudged. What is real and what is projection? It’s hard to say. What do our ears tell us? This is where we arrive at Pepper’s Ghost.

Warped as the sounds may be, the playing belies a crew of deeply expressive, learned improvisers who have honed their craft. Their friendship and psychic connection enhance the ritualistic rhythms, mutant modular synthesis, nimble keyboard runs, absurdist sampling, and unidentified skronk. They are wonderfully complemented across several tracks on this set by Cole Pulice’s levitational, sublime saxophone.

As unhinged as this might all appear, once the mind and music meet on the same wavelength, this is profoundly moving, energizing, and uplifting Alive Music that recalibrates the sense of what music can be.