Looks like the Bay Area garage label Castle Face Records, run by John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees), Matt Jones, and Brian Lee Hughes, will be busy this year with a bunch of exciting releases! While the label probably began as a way to for Dwyer to release his own music, as well as prolific local friends like Ty Segall and The Fresh & Onlys, in recent years Castle Face has begun to expand their focus. Sunwatchers is a great example. The New York-based collective, comprised of Jim McHugh and Jason Robira of NYMPH, Peter Kerlin of Chris Forsyth’s Solar Motel Band, and the experimental musician/composer Jeff Tobias, reside on the opposite coast from the label’s Bay Area epicenter, and don’t make garage or punk music proper–though their bombastic, jazz fueled approach certainly does bear a resemblance. Okay, sure, this threadbare analogy is being stretched thin, as Castle Face is more than just a “garage” label, and Dwyer’s musical resume–stretching from Pink and Brown all the way up to Thee Oh Sees (is that a straight line or a circle?)–is definitely multi-varied for being such a “punk”. The point is, the addition of a band like Sunwatchers is a welcome one, and I suspect in the years to come, as the label’s focus continues to widen, their roster will offer some very interesting triangulations on the “punk” lineage. Whatever that means!
Look for Sunwatchers’ self-titled LP to come out on March 11th, and if you’ve read this far, you might as well check out what Mr. Dwyer has to say about the band. Trust me, this is gonna be good…
“Hard to pin down, harder to hold onto.
Bent circuit board snake charmers unfurl across hexagonal grids.
A seemingly familiar sound but then you realize you have your ear pressed against a reflection.
Sunwatchers are a distorted prism to so many past greats.
Reminiscent of Ethiopiques, John Handy Band, Terry Riley, Art Ensemble meets Laddio Bolocko.
Forever swirling saxophone blended belly to belly with elastic guitar and tin foil thin phin (a Thai instrument not unlike an electrified tenor guitar or sitar).
A whirlpool of repetitious interpretations.
Militaristic marches ascend into meditations.
These songs map out great pyramids and deep buried labyrinths.
They are massive.
They are leviathans.
The band is comprised of NYC improv heavy hitters:
Jim McHugh – Guitar, Electric Phin
Peter Kerlin – Bass
Jeff Tobias – Alto Sax
Jason Robira – Drums
and sitting in are:
Dave Harrington – Guitar, Synth
Ben Greenberg – Guitar
Cory Bracken – Vibes, Percussion
Dave Kadden – Keyboard
Jonah Rapino – Fiddle
Notable side projects include Dark Meat, Arthur Doyle’s New Quiet Screamers, NYMPH, and Chris Forsyth’s Solar Motel Band.
AND with amazing cover painting of Handsome Jimmy Valiant by artist Scott Lenhardt.
A strange but somehow sensible match made in heaven.
Dream machinery.
Just plain far out.
Look for traces of this one in your brain jelly afterwards.
Cheers.”
—John Dwyer, Thee Oh Sees
