Ball of Wax 57 Songs: The Vardaman Ensemble – “TG’s Hug Machine (B)”

Ball of Wax over its now 57 quarterly releases has reserved a significant amount of its bandwidth and compact discs to music outside of the norm. One of these outsider tracks is the hypnotic “TG’s Hug Machine (B)” by Portland’s Vardaman Ensemble. It has no commercial potential, and yet I cannot stop listening and exploring its many depths. A lone snap on a snare drum initiates the song. It hangs in the air like a deep inhalation before a race. This is grand and fleeting. Almost too soon cymbals and synths crash, and off we go. Over the next five minutes the Vardaman Ensemble charts a course over a syncopated soundscape full of seesawing droning horns(?), vocals (perhaps), and keys, plink plonking electronics, and synthesized tides. An atmosphere is formed like what I imagine Of Montreal would sound like if I drank too much Robitussin.  It’s dreamy, and I am not going to cough.