Nautical Almanac - Rooting for the Microbes
(Load)
The music of Nautical Almanac emerges from Diamond Eyes recording studio in bursts of obscure gestures and willfully inexplicable language. The duo of Twig Harper and Carly Ptak, ensconced in the bowels of the Baltimore building they own and are currently renovating, make music that's extreme even by the standards of the noise underground which they're so crucially involved. On homemade and modified instruments, along with all sorts of non-musical implements, they build confounding, teetering structures of sound in alien languages, and though they'd likely eschew the classification, are true experimentalists in the best sense of the word. The music of Nautical Almanac is truly outsider art, and not the type that was long ago co-opted by the mainstream art world for the curiosity of the privileged. This is the real deal, retro-futuristic folk art created by twisted and cunning minds, music for the people, music that just might qualify the duo as noise's true hippies if it weren't for the fact that the sounds aren't exactly those of peace, love, and happiness.
Such a philosophy, however, finds its hindrances in the same characteristics that make it work; namely that any group that's so dedicated to new sounds, no boundaries, and an almost stream-of-consciousness technique is bound to be hit-and-miss. Nautical Almanc are no exception to this rule, though one could make a strong argument that the "quality" or listenability of the music is a moot point, because the duo's goal isn't in the product as much as the process, and as long as Harper and Ptak are finding new sounds through exploration and subliminal communication, all is well.
Rooting for the Microbes is one of the most recent of many, many Nautical releases, but it's definitely the group's most high profile offering, with inclusion on the Load roster guaranteeing the disc distribution and press that Harper and Ptak haven't yet encountered. There's no pandering to the masses here, however, as the album finds the duo (with a solid group of contributors) making sounds that are just as damaged as the duo's usual output. Armed with their voices and an array of instruments and implements (Nautical Almanac explicitly state, however, that the album was made completely sans electricity/computers), they create confusing constructions of mangled sounds and warped voices. The personnel responsible for the music changes continually, as Ptak, Harper, and ten collaborators step in and out of the spotlight; only two of the album's tracks feature Nautical Almanac, proper, in its duo form. This makes for diverse music and a distinct lack of stagnancy. The sounds aren't always pleasing, but there's no time for the mind to become complacent within the realm of these mad scientists' creations. It may be easy for some, even noise fans, to dismiss much of Rooting for the Microbes music, and, in a sense, they could be right. This music isn't always easy listening, or even pleasurable listening, but the moments at which it isn't interesting listening are few. Different tracks "work" better than others, and the hour's worth of music on the disc could be taxing listening for most, but given Nautical Almanac's goals, it's hard to label Rooting for the Microbes anything but at least a partial success. Singular opinions of the disc's aesthetic will vary, to be sure, but it's hard to deny the merit of this first foray for the duo into bigger, more widespread waters. Squares take cover, a major league freakout has arrived.
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