Hunger’s Teeth was a recording that rarely left my CD player in the mid-1990s. 5uu’s, led by drummer Dave Kerman, was one of several connected American avant-RIO bands of that and earlier eras that expanded on the musical space staked out by Henry Cow and others decades earlier.
The title Live at A.K.W. Würzburg, Germany April 8, 1995 sums it up – this is a release of an archival 5uu’s recording from their 1995 European tour. The lineup consisted of Kerman, Bob Drake (Thinking Plague, Hail) on bass and vocals, Mike Johnson (Thinking Plague) on guitar, and Scott Braziael (Cartoon, PFS) on keyboards. The recording is of solid quality and more than a little raw at times – demonstrating the group’s musicianship and relentless energy. Most of the material is from Hunger’s Teeth while a few tracks are from the preceding Elements and the following Crisis in Clay. There are even two “covers” of Thinking Plague pieces.
It goes without saying that the 5uu’s music is challenging in multiple dimensions. The pieces are complex, often contrapuntal, and exhibit unusual phrasing. There are plenty of examples where timing and dynamics shift rapidly and dramatically.
But they are also songs, with strange (and in some cases, mildly disturbing) lyrics and delivery. Kerman’s writing has always seemed similar to that of Johnson, in that the compositions are instrumentally-focused even when vocals are included. Thus, these pieces require more than a little agility from Drake as he jumps between pitches.
In that sense, the album is at its strongest when demonstrating the group’s collective instrumental prowess. The dialog between Johnson and Braziael on Hunter-Gatherer is an exquisite example of this. But it would not be the 5uu’s without the singular quirkiness that the singing provides.
Live at A.K.W. Würzburg provides a compelling and illuminating snapshot of a musical outfit that changed forms over the course of several decades, but cannot be pigeonholed into any particular genre. Even without the studio experimentation that gave Hunger’s Teeth its unusual character, the group live is a primal force that couples intellectual vigor with explosive vitality.
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