Other Music – Incidents Out of Context

Released more than a decade before the great New York shop of the same name opened its doors, Other Music was a Bay Area group of percussionists and synthesists who issued two records, the first of them being Incidents Out of Context. To say the record didn’t stand a chance in the marketplace is an understatement. It was released by Flying Fish Records, a Chicago label best known as the home to bluegrass and folk legend Doc Watson, and no doubt confused completists expecting foot-stomping barn music. Liner notes, in fact, seem almost apologetic in attempting to describe the music: “One becomes entangled describing arcane tuning system, instrument-buildings, and intricate electronic circuitry.” Instead of banjos and fiddles, Other Music’s work features marimba, dulcimer, synths, metallophone, drums, guitar and trombone. Its best known member, Henry S. Rosenthal, earned early attention in Crime, the incendiary SF punk band whose song “Hot Wire My Heart” was covered by Sonic Youth, but Incidents Out of Context is hardly punk. At its best, the album’s measured, mesmerizing rhythms and melodies, which are all tuned using La Monte Young’s “just intonation” approach, wend their way into your head with their labyrinthine polyrhythms and swirling time signatures. It’s unavailable on streaming services and has never been issued on CD, but the original LP version is surprisingly easy to find for under $20. – Randall