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Pet The Tiger -
Hail The Traveler
CD



1. Lunchroom Pet
2. Long Emergency
3. Mourner's Dirge
4. Under the Gun
5. Garden of the Gods
6. River of Terror
7. Surges and Tides
8. Victory of Breath
9. Dawn
10. The Underworld
11. Eaten Alive
12. Captive Soul
bandcamp



Lunchroom Pet
David Samas with Peter Whitehead
Gamelan Encinal: Stephen Parris, Daniel Schmidt, Derek Drudge, Kim Nucci, Sophia Shen, Patrick Liddell, Joel Nelson, Maria Siino, Lucas DeLeon
Elegy and Bardo
David Samas: invented instruments, voice
Tom Nunn: invented instruments
Bart Hopkin: invented instruments
Peter Whitehead: invented instruments, voice
Pahoehoe
David Samas: invented instruments, voice
Tom Nunn: invented instruments
Bryan Day: invented instruments
Susan Rawcliffe: original ceramic flutes
All of this music was composed and improvised by and for Pet the Tiger instrument inventors collective led by David Samas.
Lunchroom Pet was recorded by Stephen Parris at Littlefield Hall, Mills, Oakland California, 2018
Elegy, Bardo and Pahoehoe were recorded by Bryan Day at the Nunnery in 2017 and 2018 and mixed and mastered by David Michalak.
Photography by Paul Winstanley |
Reviews: (Vital Weekly) The man behind Pet The Tiger is one David Samas, of whom I had not heard before, and for some of these pieces he receives help from various people, all creators of new instruments. These are Tom Nunn, Bart Hopkin, Gamelan Encinal, Peter Whitehead, Susan Rawcliffe, and Bryan Day. Pet The Tiger is also an ensemble; the information is ambiguous here. On Bandcamp, everything is labelled as "invented instruments", except Susan Rawcliffe playing "original ceramic flutes" and Samas occasionally using his voice. The music is mainly played improvised, but there is, perhaps, some coherent playing. Many evolve around scratching, scraping and blowing on objects, strings, and surfaces. Yet, despite that, these pieces have quite an attractive amount of variation. Some pieces are drone-like, modern composition-like and some straightforward die-hard improvisation, occasionally erupting into noise ('River Of Terror'; appropriate title there!). There is even a folk song in the guise of 'Under the Gun', with elements of free improv but a song of pop music qualities. It shows the tremendous variation in approaches, which works well for this kind of music. Even when not every track is a winner per se, it works very well. This is a long album with nearly 70 minutes, but so be it. Overall a most pleasant trip, of which only one thing is lacking: the visual component. I'd love to see these instruments! - Frans De Waard
(Felt Hat Reviews) Another release by Public Eyesore but this time with a great number of positive surprises. Pet The Tiger is a collective led by David Samas. An uncanny type of collective as it is a pack of instrument inventors and improvisors. There are a few names here which are familiar thanks to the previous work of theirs that I know from other records. Peter Whitehead in particular whom I know from Out Of Round Records and his other solo cds but also Lucas DeLeon, Sophia Shen, Joel Nelson and of course Bryan Day who is standing behind the whole Public Eyesore. I could possibly say that those are archival records as they were recorded a few years back but at the same time they still sound fresh and especially when you think of how much has happened in creative lives of all the musicians here. 12 tracks which are played quite entirely on invented instruments - improvised and composed together. And what a diversity of styles. Track 1 could be easily mistaken for Javanese or Balinese gamelan as it has similar vibe and the instruments used are played in a way you normally associate with this style. Track 4 where Peter Whitehead sings could be easily a folk protest song - has a lot of Americana flair but done in a much more interesting way thanks to composition and the usage of different instruments. Garden of Gods blends a vibe that you can experience probably through Indian ragas but with more experimental approach. River of terror on the other hand brings this bliss to an extreme halt where improvised music is blasting quite a murky and catastrophic vibe. Surges and Tides on the other hand is a modern composition ambience with natural instrumental drones. There is more surprises in the tracks here as they are all done not only with natural sense of virtuosity but they blend so much of the sonic poetry and drama that is a rare find. Try it for yourself, you won't be disappointed! - Hubert Napiorski
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