Gigantomachia

Recorded 8/8/08 in Portland, OR, The Naked Future is a quartet of four drunken wizards conjuring up a heady brew.  Their diverse backgrounds – from the classical, rock and experimental realms – forge a release modernist in its construction with more than a pinch of old time alchemy.  ESP is proud to welcome them to its circle with their first CD release, Gigantomachia.
                  
After several solo albums and many shared projects pianist Thollem McDonas lays the unrelenting line on which futures can be built.

Delirious percussion is provided by John Niekrasz, a drummer and composer from Chicago. He is a disciple of Indian tabla master Pandit Lachu Maharaj and performs with Ecstatic Peace recording artists Poor School, syllabic-structuralists Why I Must Be Careful, and tight improv trio Thicket. He has collaborated and performed with such artists as John Wiese, Wally Shoup, John Gruntfest, and Doug Theriault.

Greg Skloff's "powertool" school of bass-fiddling is well refined, having graduated from such diverse groups as cloaca clock, Captain's Daughter, Thunder! Thunder! Thunder! and Counterfeit Monsters.

From his first solo works on Pine Cone Alley, his continuous work with the Old Time Relijun and solo work on K Records, Arrington de Dionyso has followed a trajectory to land him here, squarely in the Naked Future, handling the duties of conductor and bass clarinet.

Personnel

Arrington de Dionyso: bass clarinet, contralto clarinet
Thollem McDonas: piano
John Niekrasz: drums
Greg Skloff: bass


Track Listing

All compositions Pine Cone Alley (ASCAP)

Credits

Recorded and mixed by Nicholas Taplin at the Silo, Portland, Oregon on 8/8/08
All pieces recorded as improvised by The Naked Future according to the conceptual direction of Arrington de Dionyso

Producton Manager: Tom Abbs
Mastered by Douglas McGregor
Artwork by Arrington de Dionyso
Band photo by Lucy Greene
Design & layout by Miles Bachman & Fumi Tomita
Spcial thanks to Robert M. Keefe

Press Quotes

Whether it's Tuvan throat singing, the bass clarinet, or yet-unnamed homemade instruments—which all share familiar deep drones and free-jazz runs—Dionyso is consistently and ferociously breathing out. "It's a step away from hyperventilating," he says. "It's a very lucid, aware kind of space." The exertion becomes trance-like. - Andrew R. Tonry  (The Portland Mrcury)

And his (Thollem McDonas) music cannot be categorized. He could easily be the next underground indie-folk star or the next hip jazz experimenter. But fortunately for McDonas, none of that matters. The work he produces is varied and original; his influences are incredibly disparate. One minute he is running through a Tom Waits sounding piano and vocal piece. The next minute drops into a grooving samba tune. And best part is that through all these styles, McDonas manages to keep an almost entirely original voice.
 - Ryan McDermott (One Final Note)

Thollem McDonas, a fresh, disciplined avant-pianist with classical chops and an attractively extreme viewpoint. - Greg Burk (LA Weekly)

Musicians: Arrington de Dionyso / Thollem McDonas / John Niekrasz / Greg Skloff