US Maple - Sang Phat Editor

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Released
1997

Label
Skin Graft Records

Reviewed by
Michael C.Lund

Contact
The SKiN GRAFT
Entertainment Group
PO Box 257546
Chicago, IL 60625
USA

Visit Skin Graft

Last Edit/Update
20 January, 1998

U.S. MAPLE

SANG PHAT EDITOR

Track Listing

1. Coming Back to Damnit
2. Songs That Have No Making Out
3. La Click
4. Mountain Top
5. (symbol)
6. Missouri Twist
7. Through With Six Six Six
8. Home It's O.K.

          When music reaches a certain level of originality, language becomes insufficient to describe it. U.S. Maple's second album Sang Phat Editor (released on the eclectic Skin Graft label) is that unique. There really are no words that can effectively describe the gasping, sighing qualities of singer Al Johnson's vocal style, the impressionistic percussion of drummer Pat Samson, or the rivaling, oddly lilting guitar strummings of Mark Shippy and Todd Rittmann.
          The title of the second track on the album -- "Songs That Have No Making Out" -- really goes further in defining U.S. Maple's sound than anything else. U.S. Maple's songs consist of perpetual starts and stops. It would be wrong to refer to their halting style as consisting of many breaks or shifts, because the songs never settle into any conventional arrangement for very long -- there are no real patterns to break. Individual songs constantly mutate; momentarily, all attention will be focused on the musings of a single guitar, or the tappings of a drum, but then, without warning, the other musicians will join in to support or counter the soloist. On a similar note, the members of the band often wander off to explore unpredictable tangents in the midst of songs. Breaking off from the forward flow of a given piece, a guitarist will stop and pick at the strings of his instrument for a short while, or stroll away with his companion-guitarist to elaborate on some melodic possibility. Al Johnson will occasionally assume center stage and deliver a short vocal expression or two, before being engulfed by the music once more.
          The final impact of the music is one of spontaneity -- an element sorely missed in most of the music currently being offered. Sang Phat Editor is not an album for everyone, but, for those who enjoy to hear something fresh and unprecedented, this release delivers exactly that.
          For those already familiar with U.S. Maple and/or the Now Wave scene, it may be of interest that this album, like its predecessor -- Long Hair In Three Stages -- was produced by the prolific Jim O'Rourke, and the band received assistance from Frederick Lonberg-Holm and Julia Pomerleau (of Bobby Cohn) on "La Click," while The Flying Luttenbachers delivered 'camouflage' on "Mountain Top."

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