Snufmeg and the Year 1978

   The year 1978 marked the beginning of a phase of creativity for Snufmeg, and the Cheese Mites, in which the scope was to broaden considerably in setting the foundation for future endeavors. WK built upon the discoveries made in previous years, and Johnny B Dub established a presence by creating material which would define major aspects of the Snufmeg craft. Although known to one another, this period finds them converging from separate paths, pursuing a vision which became the bedrock of Snufmeg.
   While 1978 holds remarkable importance, there still is doubt regarding the creation date of some of the material. "Cartoon Music," a cassette single released by Williwill, in all likelihood was created prior to 1978, and certainly not later. This piece is a short study of sounds and motifs meant to accompany the visual representation of animated behavior. Culled from pre-existing sources, Williwill champions techniques and modes later crassly aped by others for the mere purpose of remunerative exploitation. However, as in all things Snufmeg, the framework for development transcends that of general commercial technique.
   Lesser known was the composition "Radio Noise," found on the WK "Rarities and Friends" compilation. It was mysteriously uncredited and undated, although some experts have concluded that it was an early electronic experiment by Johnny B Dub from around the 1978 era. It is a brief development of a chord from electronic generators, which turn wildly into a menage of atonality.
   In Snufmeg lore, if "Cartoon Music" is a pinnacle of 1978, it's sister peak is found in "Vomit Your Senses." Written in February of that year, "Vomit Your Senses" (also know simply as "VYS") takes the raw simplicity of a rock music motif and combines it with a lyrical exploration of decay and cultural crapulence. It quickly became a standard in the community, as an expression of frustration at the most primal level. The earliest recorded version of VYS was in the collection "Live from the Lyle Garage" by Sin. This recording reflects Sin in its most primitive condition, Johnny B Dub and JP, sharing duties on vocals and various guitars. Included alongside VYS are an unfortunately edited version of "Rock Slide," full length versions of "Please Wait," "Black Suger,"(sic) and the near-epic length "She's All Alone." With the exception of "Black Suger," all pieces from this collection have found comfortable inclusion as Snufmeg traditionals.
   There was no shortage of material from 1978 to be found in the classic "History of WK" compilation. In addition for the previously noted "Backwards Tape" and "Delay," the year found such gems as "Blues Progression," "Backwards Trumpet," "Psychedelic Song," and two different songs entitled "R&B/Hard Rock." Also from that year was "Backwards Bells," "Avant Garde Drum Solo," "Avant Garde Bells Solo," "Guitar Solo," "Avant Garde Drumming," and the "Backwards Bells Variations," all found on the WK compilation "Rarities and Friends." Other selections are found in various authorized compilations.
   The groundwork was being set. The two greatest members of the community, WK and Johnny B Dub, were preparing the creative paths which soon would find them in a collaboration spanning decades, musical styles, philosophies and disciplines - the Cheese Mites.

Sources:
https://snufmeg.bandcamp.com/album/pros-jam-with-pros-the-snufmeg-scene-compilation-featuring-the-cheese-mites
https://snufmeg.bandcamp.com/album/cartoon-music
https://snufmeg.bandcamp.com/album/rarities
https://snufmeg.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-lyle-garage

Exploration of "WK - The Early Years" Part III

   The urge to post an entry per song, great though it may be, must be managed for the sake of coherence. Certainly, some compositions will require more particular and in-depth analysis, but others can be quickly grouped for convenience sake. This is not to say that a piece, such as "Backwards Tape 1977" can't withstand a singular dissection. Rather, some works speak better when grouped with similar sounding, or when similar constraints and conditions apply.

   This is best illustrated, following the singular assessment of "Piano Duet," in the following works, all from "The History of WK":

   Guitar and Drums (1975)

     

   Speeded up Stuff (1976) (also known as "Weird SFX")

   Weird Audio Collage (1976)

   Avant Garde (1977)

   Backwards Tape (1978)

   Delay (1978)

   Each of these six unique compositions expanded upon the technique of recording and manipulation established in the "Piano Duet" remix, and foresaw the role technical expertise and experimentation in recording and production were to play, in addition to classically traditional musical instrumentation finesse, in the palette of Snufmeg related music. From one to the next, a considerable honing of mysterious craft is developing, wherein the germ of creativity is gaining density like mass for a big bang. Missing from these works is the talentless nihilism of so many experimenters, the shallow and transparent craving for attention without voice, story or abstract concept. WK occupied a space where the traditional and non-traditional were never at odds. Rather, they propelled each other in a state of constant forward motion, free of the fetish of the concept of progress; a voice to ring and harmonize the mysterious frequency of the universe, the unknown. The middle section of "Weird Audio Collage" exemplifies such harmoniousness. The piece is introduced with wistful sweeps of tone, an exalting breath is manifest in pause, and what follows is a brief cadence of violin, drums and guitar, rhythmically celebrating the firmament, only to be overtaken by the churning anguish of an unsettled unknown. Likewise, "Avant Garde" (1977) is a prayer of harmonious exploration, modal and tonal. It is easy to overlook these transcendent yearnings impressed in recorded medium when one is bombarded by mercantilism. It is crucial to bear in mind the purity of purpose, the truly precious and sanguine nature of these compositions as artifacts of a culture and community, Snufmeg.

   The theme of Snufmeg recurs throughout the body of work of its adherents, WK, the Cheese Mites, to name a few. At the time of these early recordings, however, Snufmeg was not revealed, although its acolytes were converging, called by a voice they could not hear, much less know how to call it. The Spirit of Phynqafis filled all, yet hidden he was. The time for Phynqafis was still years to be. The groundwork set by WK was prophetic.
   Of special note, however, is "Delay." This piece marks a shift in creative channels. An overt influence of blues is noted, which has a profound effect on the basis of much of the Snufmeg catalog. The melding of blues with experimentalism forms the backbone for compositions for years to come, some swaying one way, and conversely.
   Additionally, "Delay" is significant not only for its content but the context of its creation. This year (1978) finds Snufmeg creativity launching into a new era. WK continues to create and record, as does Johnny B Dub with the unabashedly post-sixties rock influenced ensemble, Sin.

https://youtu.be/WQIK40WJ85c
https://youtu.be/lBH6yY9oWy4
https://youtu.be/oq1MXWkTDIs
https://youtu.be/jDPlmxWLkVM
https://youtu.be/mx5-nJZjcWE
https://youtu.be/ZbNPZzZ5sQ4

More Notes on "Piano Duet"

   The composition and recording of "Piano Duet," and the revision of it, both dated 1975, stand out as cornerstone pieces of music not only in the Snufmeg canon, but simply as music in general. It would not be altogether inaccurate to celebrate "Piano Duet" as a piece of nativistic organic music, that which has no precedence. However, as no such music exists, this selection falls as closely into that category as any. It must be noted that the arrangement and frame of presentation (being a recording) greatly infer influence from external sources - after all, pianos of themselves indicate at the very least a tradition of music in Europe going back generations, and the art of recording were by no means unheard of in musical environments prior to 1975. The point, however, is that to identify concrete musical influences for this piece is virtually impossible due to both the general level of apparent simplicity, and therefore universality of the composition, and also that to absolutely identify a specific influence at that time on the nascent creativity of WK is virtually an impossible task, for no such codification was structured at that time in his creative environment.
   Influences aside, "Piano Duet" consists of a simple motif, an accompanying melody and closes with a rhythmic pattern of tone clusters. These ingredients found longevity in Snufmeg, as they have throughout musical history.
   The era in which the "Piano Duet" and remixes was created and recorded was a groundswell for WK. As these recordings, his first, were collaborations with Ginhead (later to appear on "The Gavotte"), the greater body produced during the "pre-Cheese Mite" phase was also collaborative. A significant body was produced in solo fashion, but his submersion in the developing Tenafly scene was richly inspired by works produced with others such as John D, Todd R, and Beegs, all of whom shall appear later.

Sources:
https://youtu.be/9L4Vr09zzHk
https://youtu.be/4KaDt7hVrd8
https://snufmeg.bandcamp.com/album/the-history-of-wk-1975-to-1982-part-1-the-early-years

Thoughtful Entry for 13 May 2017

Snufmeg is.

It is a tent, so to speak.

The biggest pole holding up that tent is the Cheese Mites.

Phynqafis fills all.

Snufmeg was before Snufmeg became, and the Cheese Mites were of Snufmeg before they were the Cheese Mites and before Snufmeg was. Phynqafis was before Phynqafis was, and before all, because Phynqafis was before all, and yet one day long after Phynqafis was, Phynqafis became Phynqafis, as Snufmeg became after Snufmeg was.

As you follow this twisted road, you will find a warp in time where things and entities were before they became. That is in the Spirit of Phynqafis, and that is the nature of Snufmeg.

The shining light in Snufmeg, and in the Spirit of Phynqafis, is the Cheese Mites. They are, chiefly, Williwill and Johnny B Dub.

For the sake of those who lack an ability to grasp that which is ungraspable, we shall mark and peg the moment (approximately) in 1964, with the physical birth of Williwill, and the Johnny B Dub. There also is a beginning in 1975, as found in "The History of WK." Also a beginning is found in "Live at the Lyle Garage" by Sin from 1978. These dates, however confuse matters.

"The History of WK" lists 1975 as the year farthest back, although scholars believe 1974 is a more realistic date. Nonetheless, taking 1975 as the earliest recording of note, the trajectory of the Cheese Mites and Snufmeg, in the as yet unnamed Spirit of Phynqafis, was set. No recording holds the germs for life as strongly as held in the "Piano Duet" recordings.

Musicologists will debate the unquestionable importance in the canon of late Twentieth Century music, its simple motifs, the profound influence of the technologically enhanced variations. In it, quite simply, all music flows, as if a prismatic filter bending the rays of abstraction into pressurized variabilities savored by the auditory sense. Certainly all music afterwards, particularly by those in the shadow of Snufmeg, owes deference to the "Piano Duet" recordings.

Sources:
https://youtu.be/9L4Vr09zzHk
https://youtu.be/4KaDt7hVrd8
https://snufmeg.bandcamp.com/album/the-history-of-wk-1975-to-1982-part-1-the-early-years

This is the Introduction

You have found your way to the Official thought pad and reflective space for the most significant, and criminally overlooked, musical force of creativity - Snufmeg and it's community (of greatest importance - the Cheese Mites). This forum will be erratic in its reflection upon timelines and approach, due in no small part to the variegated output of the community. Certainly, there will be inconsistencies, but these in no way lessen the importance, depth and breadth of the entities linked together under the banner of Snufmeg.