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Cassette
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FTR 381CS
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"Deep new Quarantine Vibes from this hard lovin' Western Mass trio. Two of the tracks were recorded during Donkey No No's superb appearance on the QuaranTunes Zoom concert series (Friday May 14, 2021), the third was done three months later at an undisclosed location. The building blocks, as usual, are Omeed's alternately chipper and fragmentary guitar lines, Jen Gelineau's fluid viola/violin runs, and the weep and sizzle dynamism of Ted Lee's bowed cymbals. If their namesake metal donkey was harmed at any point during these sessions, you won't prove it by me. There is a bit less of rural heft on this tape than on some of the band's other releases. I'm not absolutely certain why this is, but I think it may be there are too many abstract elements in Omeed's playing to reconcile it with the straight line management required of true farmers. Call it creeping city slickerism if you must, but I don't think that captures its raison d'etre. The basis of Donkey No No's sound has always been based on slow-bore improvisation, and their music this time mirrors the unsettled feel so rampant back in mid-2021, evoking the clunky push-pull of continuously evolving disease and protection theories. The trio's earlier music had a much more placid center, built on a general benevolence of spirit quite lacking at the time of these performances. Since their creative process is organic, it's natural for these three to reflect the roil of the days surrounding them. The QuaraTunes tracks definitely evoke this. The August material has a heightened sense of composure to it, but there's still an acerbic bite to both strings and bows. The pre-electric feel that often lends their material some of the same ghostliness as the very earliest work by Dirty Three is definitely present, but the collective reluctance to embrace easy melodies gives everything a very modern cast. It'll be interesting to see if this change in direction is something momentary or more lasting. Either way, Donkey No No's music will be as cool to hear as always." --Byron Coley, 2022
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LP
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FTR 310LP
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"Second boss LP by this bossest of Western Mass trios. Comprised of Jenifer Gelineau on violin & electronics, Omeed Goodarzi on guitar, and Edward 'Ted' Lee on bowed cymbal, Donkey No No create the sort of instrumental hallucinations you'd expect to hear in the background of a film by Jodorowsky or Arrabal. It's very cool, because they use the very instruments you'd hear in some shitty Ken Burns documentary, in order to play music that would make Ken's sallow head explode if he tried to wrap his noggin around it. With sometimes scratchy violin as the ostensible lead instrument, theoretical comparisons to old timey music are inevitable. But Donkey No No's sound is old timey only in as much as its tendrils are as timeless as smoke. Every note they generate heads in such weirdly trippy directions you can immediately suss why these guys are such a favorite of Gary Panter (king of the hippies). Much of their flow is an unstoppable lateral gush, reminiscent of mid-points in long sets by classic-if-lost Bay Area bands like Patrick Kilroy's New Age trio or Serpent Power. They create an aura that is filled with breath and light in a way that few other bands have ever mustered. It's crazy to think that because they're a new band, on a label not known for its psych releases, that it's gonna take heavy duty psych heads YEARS to find the damn thing. Only when it is no longer in print, and Feeding Tube is an empty brush warehouse once again that the big boys will figure this one out. Which gives you a chance to get a jump on these turds. So do it. If you appreciate the sound of sliding through golden portals, this record was made for you. Whether you like curry or not." --Byron Coley, 2017. Edition of 300; Silk screen fold over covers by Neil Burke.
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