Long time Ball of Wax listeners following along here may be thinking right about now, “Sure, I’m digging all these songs, but when are you going to mix it up? When are you going to throw off the shackles of rhythm and melody, and, you know, get weird?” I’m happy to announce that time is now, and our sonic disruptors are the brilliant duo of Sandesh Nagaraj and Jonathan Rodriguez, otherwise known as Till the Teeth.
“Quirquincho” – named, I just learned, for an adorable South American species of armadillo – starts with a hand drum sound, and includes various rhythmic elements and even some guitar, or guitar-like instruments, but quickly becomes something very different indeed. Rhythms cross and intertwine, are suspended and replaced with coughs, hums, and field recordings, to create a sound work that feels both improvisational and intentional, composed and collected. Machine-like sounds make an appearance, their mechanical pulse soon giving way to the relative (if deceptive) peace of nature sounds. Perhaps this was our little armored mammal friend, dodging fearsome vehicles as they scurry across a road, finding safety in the desert for a moment. Those mechanical sounds return, though, buoyed by a looping, sighing violin, before it all ends with another cough. Is this the quirquincho’s final moment, felled by sickness, or a human or other predator? Or have they escaped to safety, clearing their throat before heading off to the next challenge? Or perhaps it’s just a brilliant, idiosyncratic piece of music with an evocative title. We may never know.
If these sounds speaks to you, Till the Teeth has just released a new EP that is just as wondrous and strange. I highly recommend adding it to your Bandcamp cart (along with Ball of Wax 69, of course!).