STUNK AND DRONED
Sonic paint risen from the fertile swamp of New York downtown loft land and in honor of the shining muse of San Francisco.
John JDubs Ward &
Derek James Lynch
Stunk and Droned emerged from the fertile swamp of downtown loft land in the early 80’s in Manhattan. Our jams in Derek’s huge space on Greenwich St. distilled the music we heard all around us. Nascent Hiphop, Breakdance and Graffiti culture at Roxy and Funhouse. Jazz at The Knitting Factory. Our own gigs at CBGB’s. Eno lived a few blocks to the north and Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed were a few blocks to the south. Derek’s loft was on the first floor. In hot weather we played with the large factory sized doors to the street open and often we looked up to see people standing watching. We wondered if maybe Lou or Mr Eno maybe checked us out briefly on their way to the deli.
Our sound painted the sonic possibilities of all this new energy onto our own landscape. We were friends from high school who, in the time honored Rock and Roll tradition, managed to escape from the suburbs of New Jersey to the city. Derek, at SVA with full scholarship was a rising young painter had been composing and transcribing Jazz arrangements since high school jazz band. I played bass, messed with tape and synths and was deliriously convinced this new future music, exemplified by Planet Rocks mashup of Kraftwork and an R&B sample was the way forward. The spaceship that would take us into the future was the control room of a recording studio.
When I landed a job at Sigma Sound Studios a few months later and they told me we were expected to learn the equipment in practice sessions, my first call was to Derek to get there cause we now had a world class studio at our disposal. We recorded expansive jazz piano improvisations over Linn Drum hiphop beats and Juno synth bass.
Unfortunately the tapes from the loft sessions and Sigma have been lost to time, moving and plumbing leaks but, these 10 tracks totally capture the spirit and sound we created then shaped by our experience now.
It was into this early loft music scene that Amy Zimerman descended like a shining muse from above. Initially she was friend of a friend but with a sharp wit, humor and the ability to bring sunshine to a room we all were soon enamored. Amy became Derek’s life partner up until she prematurely passed away in 2021.
This recording is dedicated to Amy. To her acute artistic and musical sensibilities, and, especially, to her stalwart grace, kindness and positivity.
released June 1, 2022
Derek James Lynch
Vocals, Lyrics, Guitar, Bass, Trumpet, Cello, Keyboards, Synth
John JDubs Ward
Mix, Beats, Synths, Blues Harp, Vocal, Lyrics (Old King Coal)
Ursula Ward
Vocals (So Hard, State Of Being)
Recorded and mixed At Totally Killing It, Rovaniemi, Finland.
tkiproductions.com
Derek James Lynch parts recorded at Lynch Art San Francisco.
www.lynchart.com
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“expansive jazz piano improvisations over Linn Drum hiphop beats and Juno synth bass”
TKI productions 