New Batch – Personal Archives
4.17.18 by Ryan Masteller

If you’re like me, you’ve been doing all kinds of stupid stuff here in 2018 EXCEPT paying attention to what Personal Archives was releasing. This is a flaw in my (and your) character – there is no reason that we should be April deep into an entire year without some coverage of Bob Bucko Jr.’s label. God knows he’s out there, fighting the good fight across this great nation of ours, touring like his life depends on it (it does – it’s probably a medical condition), preaching the gospel of Personal Archives far and wide. This man is a national treasure. We should treat him like one.

So what’s he cooked up for us? (Tape-wise that is. He releases these round things too sometimes. Some are larger and – plastic? Some are smaller and composed of digital code that are read by “lasers.” As if that’s safe!)

SAXSQUATCH & BRIDGE BAND – “APOGEE”

Behold, the elusive Saxsquatch in his natural habitat – behind the mouthpiece of a saxophone, fronting a swinging band in a studio environment! Hey, at least he’s not causing mass panic by traipsing through the woods like his cousin, or dancing in a hamburger costume. Saxsquatch, aka Jarad Selner, has joined forces with Bridge Band, featuring Cousin Will Benoit, Jakab Selner, and Jarab Selner – no relation … oh wait, probably there’s a family relation – and released “Apogee,” a tape featuring some damn fine slow jams and jazzy runthroughs. Who says the kids don’t swing these days? Actually it’s me – I scream that at all the kids who happen to wander too close to my porch. But still, I won’t be yelling that at the Selners and Cousin Will, because they just put me at my ease, just like my old records used to do… Who said “records”?!

MATTHEW AS MORE – “APOCALYPSE NEVER”

Oh, Matthew, legalize LSD? I mean, we can’t even do the “herb” right, let alone the thing that they used for MK Ultra. Whatever. At least you’re trying, which is more than I can say for those ridiculous potheads, am I right? With their Cheech and Chong and their vans and their filthy ponchos. I don’t even know what I’m talking about anymore. What I do know is “Apocalypse Never” is some righteous throwback action to the turbulent sixties, when rock was real and fueled by whatever chemical compound found its way into the bodies of all the hottest musicians. I’m not usually one to be enticed, entranced, hypnotized, possessed by this rock and roll stuff, but “Apocalypse Never” can soundtrack my blacklight party anytime. And is it just me that wants Matthew As More to share a stage with Brother John Terlesky so bad right now?

WILMOTH AXEL – “RESONATION”

Pac NW psych enthusiasts Wilmoth Axel return, as the PROPHECIES FORETOLD, to Personal Archives, having released a handful of other stuff there over the years. Nurtured by spirits and steeped in tradition, the band take another crack at their brand of free-associative freewheeling, blazing their own path through the brazen psychedelia their shamanistic forebears envisioned. Again, prophecies, coming true, etc., it is like the god-DANGED rock version of the book of Isaiah or something. Once again, the sixties are invoked, we have to, we must. Pump that resistance through our veins like we depend on it for life! Huh? What? Oh, it’s ok, I’m on the BROWN acid.