With (Junk-Saucepan) When (Spoon-Trigger)

Originally released in 1971 on the legendary Futura label, this first album from the Paris band Mahogany Brain is much less jazz-like than anything else on that label. Rather than mixing jazz with avant-rock like most of Futura's roster, Mahogany Brain take their cues from the Velvet Underground and, especially, Captain Beefheart. Their free-form avant-rock consists of messy bursts of guitar/bass/drums, amateurishly played while the leader, Michel Bulteau, spouts out Dadaist and surreal poetry in English. Hints of rock and blues melody and rhythm, as well as some psychedelic guitar noodling, emerge as if by accident, while the completely stoned band mangles rough sounds out of their instruments. Like Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, you either love it or hate it. Mahogany Brain's atonal rock meanderings don't sound too far from the No Wave stuff of the late '70s, although it might be even more unmusical. Adding in some flutes and even a piano on a couple tracks, this record is a little more laid back and psychedelic than their second album, Smooth Sick Lights, but no less cacophonous and strange. ~ Rolf Semprebon