When outlaw jazz drummer Mike Pride kicked off his ambitious, “album-a-month” project in Fall 2019, we examined the first couple of those releases, one with just him on marimba and another with just him on drums. In checking back in, we see Pride had most recently made a duet album with outlier artist id m theft able, who makes noise with his voice and various objects. A true experimentalist’s experimentalist.
Pride has collaborated with id m theft able long enough to have a name for this partnership: BUNDA LOVE. They made a couple of records already but not for more than a decade. Giving Pride’s productive mood, the time seemed right for LP #3.
Foreman’s Mustache is the charm, a wild result where id m theft able to make compelling, improv sound using his mouth, a steel drum and any object that comes within his reach (he once ripped open a soccer ball on stage and played it like a lute). How does this all sound with the ever-unpredictable Pride on drums?
It’s well outside ‘normal’ music to be sure, but the two have a symmetrical thing going. Pride is able to blend his drums with id m theft able’s vocal, which has a percussive quality to it along with some saxophone voicings mixed in for “Ayuh by Sample.”
There are a lot of sounds where it’s far from certain where it comes from. But Pride does reach for other instruments, like organ, glockenspiel, autoharp and cassette machine. Neither is regulating themselves to set roles, this is sonic art made by all available means on whims.
id m theft able is heard snarling like a wild boar on “A Beacon of Bunda” and goes on to make other animal sounds as Pride finds the right timbres to match him whether it’s drums, percussion or glockenspiel.
An ominous sounding organ opens “Bunda Love in the Custodians Closet,” paired with desperate cries from id m theft able. id m theft able is heard chanting nearly imperceptibly in an extremely low tone during “The Day Anna Gave Me the Mannequin Hand.” The two then proceed to thicken the percussive fog and then lift it, leaving behind a barren noise-scape.
Squeaky scrapes prevail on “The House That Bunda Built,” where id m theft able is able to use his voice as just another instrument so effectively, and Pride later metaphorically sets off some fireworks on his drum set.
Mike Pride & id m theft able are a match made in heaven…or rather, the outlying regions of heaven where few dare to tread.
Forman’s Mustache, the 4th album in Mike Pride’s “12 for 40 Series,” is now obtainable via Pride’s Bandcamp page.
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