Yuganaut – “Sharks” – [Engine Studios]

Naughty naugahyde in a Yugo? The car’s floor littered with
tiny toys, the passengers Stephen Rush tweaking keys, Tom
Abbs the midsection on items driving the transmission; low
notes floating from tuba, cello, bass and didjeriyahoo!
Lastly Geoff Mann is the man, dropping drums and trumpet on
the carpet. On some tracks, like “Vger” Mann gets way out
front (that is the most frantic track). But it’s often
te toys that are the engine. “Local Motive” is nothing
short of toy torture, frequently that carpet is nearly a
drone to work more subtle improvisations on top. The closer
defies the prototype as that is a Rhodes-fest of composition
by Rush. Not my 2112, but maybe you’ll connect. I liked the
seeming shepherd tones ever-rising through “Landfill/Sharks”
but my favorite was “Wrenchwork” which kept sending me out
to get Lost in Space. Seems the theme was part of the
improvising dream on that. Another nice Engine Studios outing.

-Thurston Hunger