Peter Kris – Everything Possuelo Brought to the Table

2.16.21 by Ryan Masteller

The last time we checked in with Peter Kris was the Tabs Out Bonus Episode: 2020 Year Ender, where the mysterious German Army member joined Mike, Jamie, Matty, and me, along with a bunch of other esteemed guests, on a chaotic tour through a chaotic year. PK’s entry and contribution to the Zoom call was on brand – he was driving out in California somewhere, probably snarled in traffic, so all we saw was the interior roof of his car on video, maybe a hand or finger here and there – nothing else. 

I’m going to guess that he was driving a brand spanking new Tesla, because with all the GeAr cash coming in from so many releases and a reputation for aligning with cutting edge social issues – here climate change – there’s no way PK’s driving anything that burns gas to make it go. And just after typing this sentence I realize that that cannot be true, because PK’s ceiling was obviously made of some fabric, and Teslas have that cool tinted glass, which is awesome until your car gets crapped on by seagulls. Still, GeAr cash is GeAr cash, so it’s no surprise that “Everything Possuelo Brought to the Table,” PK’s new tape on Never Anything, is in fact a double – ANOTHER double, as this is not his first double tape on Never Anything (in fact, there are multiple Peter Kris double tapes in existence). So that’s two tapes for the price of two, a shocking twenty-seven tracks to last you at least until your number’s called for your Covid vaccination. That may be a while, who knows – it’s all about luck (and being over 65 years old) at this point.

So PK’s mournful, treated guitar accompanies us in stasis, a constant reminder that while we’re mostly waiting for things to make our lives better in one way or another, we’re also waiting to kick the bucket, as all living things eventually do. And that’s fine – I don’t mean to get heavy on you here (maybe Peter does), but inevitability is inevitability, and we just don’t talk about it. Maybe talking about it would actually refocus us on the things that actually matter during the time we’re alive (you know, like getting along with others), but us Westerners usually and willfully refuse to do so. So let’s get past that and wonder what Sydney Possuelo, Brazilian explorer, social activist, and ethnographer ACTUALLY brings to the table, and why PK has decided on highlighting him here on this tape. Possuelo, in my Wikipedia gloss, “is considered the leading authority on Brazil’s remaining isolated Indigenous Peoples.” There we go – a classic PK subject. Brazil loves screwing its Indigenous population over, what with deforestation and such, so let’s turn our eye there. 

That’s a rabbit hole for you, for me, for another time, but while you’re at it, “Everything Possuelo Brought to the Table” is a massive meditative document, like many PK releases, and is perfect for night driving while looking through your glass roof at the California sky beyond. (Don’t worry, you don’t have to look at the road, Teslas can drive themselves.) Peter Kris inhabits the space of the underpopulated and underrepresented parts of the world and gives life to them through carefully curated sonic texture. But he also has a great sense of humor – who else would organize their tracklist alphabetically? Nobody I know.

Oh wait, Pixies setlists were like that.

Tape sold out from Never Anything, but you can PROBABLY get it on the Dark Web. Just don’t use my search engine.

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