Cliff Snell, Terminal City Weekly, May 2005
“[A]n idiosyncratic sound evocative of that dislocated space between waking and dreaming.... beautiful and meticulous."
Album Description
Angel Trumpets Clicking Death is Lee Hutzulak’s eighth album and second under his own name (he released six as leader of the semi-legendary country noir ensemble Dixie’s Death Pool; his first solo album, Princess Builder, was released in 2003). A guitarist, singer/songwriter, composer, performer (Infinity Mattress, Blim City Planners), and producer, Hutzulak works with a wide range of musicians on his albums, creating miniature studio epics characterized by a startling variety of atmospheres, evocative vocals, melodies, and quirky pop hooks, all suspended in a drifting cloud of sound, static and silence.
From the Label
Lee Hutzulak’s second solo release is a surreal mix of melodic noise, musique concrète, glitch, electro-acoustic microsound, improvisation, and song. Angel Trumpets Clicking Death unfolds with a natural ease in creating its essential experience. Some of the more unusual elements include tinfoil, broken glass, Styrofoam packing chips, salt, water, a bicycle tire, a garment steamer, and an electric ice box.
About the Artist
Performing from 1991–2001 as leader of Dixie’s Death Pool, Lee Hutzulak produced miniature studio epics, characterized by a startling variety of atmospheres, evocative vocals, melodies, and quirky pop hooks. Moving from Victoria to Vancouver in 2000 was the beginning of the end for DDP, and after the release of “Soon” in 2001 the live ensemble pretty much ceased to exist. Work in the studio continued though: numerous sessions with DDP regulars and a few special guests were crushed, sifted, stirred together and over the course of a couple years crystallized in what the Wire called “a thing of delicate atmospheric beauty”: Princess Builder. Lee’s music has always struck a balance between song and sound, combining electro-acoustic ambience, musique concrète, and improvisation. This process generates an ever-expanding library of sounds, focusing on texture, tone and space — essential materials of future recordings and mixer based performance. On the flip, a desire to keep it immediate, and perhaps as a reaction to increasingly complex set ups, Hutzulak continues to explore, both as a soloist, and in small improvising ensembles, the acoustic guitar, a few choice effect boxes and all manner of extended technique.
Arrington de Dionyso (jaw harp)
Jonah Fortune (bass clarinet, piano)
Julian Gosper (electric guitar)
Johann Groebner (sticks, bells)
Madoka Hara (slippers)
Lee Hutzulak (acoustic & classical guitars, amplifier, glass, garment steamer, ice box, Styrofoam, bass, bow, Farfisa, FX pedals, Korg XD5, percussion, piano, prepared CD-Rs, SH32, voice, VS1680, all words except for “Here Come the Shakes” co-written w/ Brad Sanderson, xylophone, water, tinfoil, bicycle, bowl, free running iodized salt, trombone
Todd Hutzulak (clarinet, electric guitar)
Todd Mason (sampler)
Chandan Narayan (extended autoharp)
Hank Pine (cello)
Thomas Shields (SH1000, Korg Poly 6)
Matt Skillings (drums)
