For a couple of years in the late 1980's I lived for a while in the American city of Baltimore, Maryland. It was a pleasant place (although it has its problems like all American cities) and I enjoyed my time there. Oh oh and oh, how things have changed. Now, it would seem, they have capitulated to the powerful Insect lobby and invited the feared (and famed) Mosquito Death Squadron to wildly change the structure of sound within the city limits. Scarcely Doubt Laughing is the proof that MDS are here and among us, this take being recorded at the Talking Head gig in that fair city earlier this year. By now, this being almost the end of the year, I would imagine that the city's residents are just waking from their fearful nightmares and life is returning to almost-normal.

It will, of course, never be anything like normal ever again. They let the beast in their midst, after all.

I personally really like MDS because part of this outfit is one of my favourite Soundclick characters - Pilesar. The cast of characters in the band may also ring some bells, presumably Hell's bells because when you have a guitarist called Corpsefinger it's gotta be all downhill from there on... During the week or so I had this track hanging around I went to see the Moscow Composers Orchestra at the London Jazz Festival and I have to say they dovetail together as if they were made for each other. Both are live events, both are wildly chaotic - on the surface anyway - and yet each convey the true essence of jazz as performed by Charlie Mingus and the like. Seeing this kind of music close up and personal carries its own magic and it's almost impossible, I think, to convey it to an unseeing medium but surprisingly MDS have caught the set perfectly - ambience and all.

Even though most of it was waaayyy over my head, I did enjoy the gig and I did enjoy this track, probably moreso because of the connections it made. I can't pretend to be an aficienado of this kind of jazz, it just either makes sense to me or it doesn't. I have mentioned, I think, that I would like to see MSD (and all its other partners in crime, they know who they are) live and I think I'd get the same kick out of it. For sure, blaring often discordant jazz can be extremely off putting to a lot of people and I fully understand why - having hated it myself for the better part of my life. However, as I become more and more knowledgable about music and it's place in our lives I can - finally - see the point. And Mosquito Death Squadron make it beautifully.

Live jazz, love it or loathe it. Highly Recommended for those that do love it.

Scarcely Doubt Laughing: WHOA- you don't waste any time huh? This tune jumps DIRECTLY into some insane acid jazz. Nice rockin' up-beat tempo all the instruments are FANTASTIC, nice horns, organs. You're drummer is FANTASTIC too. Ever heard "Galactic," reminds me of that a lot. I really like where you guys stop and let the sax player kinda wail, and everyone jumps in and out. WARNING- this music isn't for everyone. If you like your tunes nice and easy- stay away. Mosquito Death Squadron makes you work to listen to them, lol. All kinds of crazy percussion, EXCELLENT instrumentation and unbelievable composition. Though for all the very engaging, eclectic noodling, it DOES fall right back into a coherent groove now and then. These horns SOUND like mosquitos- I REALLY dig that. FANTASTIC work here.

I don't have much to say about the recording- it's a live recording in what I'm assuming is a bar- or small club. Not great sound-wise, but what can you do. I KNOW if I had been in that bar I would have lost it- I would probably have followed you guys to wherever you were playing next, lol.

Awesome- the "song" itself doesn't really SAY much- and taken out of context it's difficult to really critique- but the playing is phenomenal, and if you guys can keep that kinda energy up for a 50 minute set- I'm sure you're one hell of a live band.

My hat's off- keep playin' guys. This is the kinda "artsy" jazz that would attract jazz-snobs, but ALSO the driving beat, and creative sounds of it, would connect with ANY audience. NICE.

Slap me in a dress and call me Sally but I do like Mosquito Death Squadron. Even after I have murdered thousands upon thousands (Ah hates mozzies!) of their compatriots, I still find the music they make quite remarkable to hear. Must be something to do with having endless pairs of legs I suppose. The band describe themselves as 'a runaway train of genre-bending mayhem' and I think I would be inclined to agree with them. Not something you would want to be putting yourself in front of if you have a mild disposition, or are a little nervous about loud noises - or even if you like music to be straightforward. The one thing I have never been able to say about MSD is that they are in any shape or form straightforward.

Bent as a 10 cent watch is the straight truth.

That has a lot to do with the members of the band, who also double as freak shows in their own right. I speak of course of Mandible and Pilesar (reviewer shudders). I really liked Baby Teeth Live (March 2006) moreso because it showed live musicians thrashing the crap out of their instruments, all caught in a nice live environment. It was that treatment that made it work for me, because it showed the musicians in the best possible light - making the performance work the trick. Knock On Wood sounds as if it were done the same way, and again it shows a great of tight musicians just blowing away without much of a thought about what others may think. For me, it is also the thing that makes this track work for me.

There's no doubt in my mind that over the last couple of tracks Mosquito Death Squadron have shown that they are a group of exceedingly competent and adventurous musicians. Although they have Knock On Wood down as Jazz fusion, and it does have a nice jazz slant in arrangement, the main feeling I got from the track was rock. That may have to do with the lineup (bass, drums, guitars) and the intricate, tight-as-a-ducks-ass licks the band spill out in all directions. To see this live must be awesome, because to hear it on MP3 is exciting enough to make me poop me pants. Despite it being a demo, this track is virtuso stuff and because of that it gets one of my highest ratings, although I will stress that not everyone will 'get' this but I do. Here is a track where the most potent element is the obvious fun the musicians are having playing this intricate, finely detailed music. Excellent track, troops.

Highly Recommended (or a must listen anyway, especially if you like class playing)

Having been bittin by these pesky critters before, I now know better than to just go diving into a cloud of them as I did in my first encounter. See, one of the active ingredients of MDS is the viral being most of us know as Pilesar, and that's always something best taken in moderation. Given it's mind warping capabilities, you understand. Earth Sound Revisited (December 2004) was exactly what it's title suggests; sounds of Earth given that the Earth is an electronic madhouse and populated with certifiable arual manics (with or without white lab coats). Here is what I wrote 'nothing quite prepared me for the nigh on nine minutes of test tones, random musical slashes, endless audio loops and other assorted weirdnesses that infest this track'

Yeah, you can fekkin gulp but I think we are prepared now...

So the REAL scary part of this sorry tale was that I actually ended up almost liking the damn thing. How weird is that? Nonetheless, I believe it was the active ingredient (Pilesar) wot done it. Almost everything this geezer gets on with is either a) painful, b)uplifting or; c) a combination of both. Pilesar is - of course - only one quarter of this form of life. There's also fellow Mandible mate Spencer, along with the cutely named Drob and Corpsefinger. Damn, this gets scarier the more I write doesn't it? Baby Teeth Live was recorded in Baltimore, MD and for a live recording it ain't too bad at all. Everything is as clear as a bell and the power of the performance is not lost which is just as well because the whole draw of this track IS the power of the performance.

For sure, you won't get much musical sense out of this track, unless you like looking at things upside down and sideways. What you will get is severe whiplash at the speed it attains, a slight ringing in the ears from the aural abuse and a new understanding of why I write the way I do. See, I LIKE this stuff. Really!! Coming from the grand traditions set by Grandmaster Frank (Zappa), bands like Mosquito Death Squadron are a logical offspring so if you like music from the far side, you will love this. If you want to hear a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer kicking seven kinds of crap out of their instruments, look no further. If you want something cute and cuddly, for God's sake look elsewhere while you still have a brain to see with. Funnily enough Baby Teeth Live completely rocks, ya know what I mean?.

Not for the foolhardy but Recommended for all that...

if having a long enigmatic name is essential to developing a strong
cult following and a solid sound (see sleepy time gorilla museum),
then mosquito death squadron has chosen well; while i cannot attest to
their cult following, the music was packed with energy and complexity,
and the band played solidly well throughout their set.

as jason, the drummer and dc-soar list member, announced last week,
mosquito death squadron (MDS) played a free show last night in a
relatively new DC dive bar called the washington ballroom (new by
standards of people who remember DC space, i suppose). this venue is
located in the formerly scary, but now scarily expensive, neighborhood
of columbia heights. the room is upstairs (all musicians cringe and
feel backs straining). since this is a converted row house, yes,
those are narrow stairs, and, yes, right again, the space is long and
narrow. well, not that long, really.

MDS made good use of a cramped situation, setting up a lead guitar, a
sax, a primary keyboard, a second guitar, a drum set, a bass, a tiny
second keyboard, and a host of interesting percussion instruments
(which included a cast iron skillet, my personal favorite).
fortunately, the wide array of instruments is manned by merely four
adventurous gents. had the player/instrument ratio been closer to
1:1, we might have been seeing them on a basketball court.

MDS is what i wrote about recently on this list: good local talent. i
will say it again. if what dc-soar wants is a local art rock scene,
then people like MDS are worth our investment. simply put, they are
really good and a lot of fun. my only (tongue-in-cheek) concern was
that the bass player was going to get whiplash or possibly impale the
solid pillar-in-a-maelstrom lead guitarist. fortunately for us,
everyone made it out alive.

TEN............HUT!!!!

Now I know that this sentiment (Thank You Meter Maid as it was wrote) is not normally the one you would offer to these fu....swi....c....irritat....er.....people of different departments, but let's just go over the ground should we? Normally, around about this time, I would be casually pulling my finger out of some poor unfortunate Parking Attendant's (read: extortionist) eye socket, having tickled their brains somewhat on the inside in order to make them change their minds. A useless task I know. It's a well known fact that automata are, well fairly dumb really. Abuse them as much as you want but you still ending up forking out the hard earned shekel for a mere sense of momentary satisfaction. Now I've tried the above method and I have to say it worked. The noise of teeth grinding is a bit embarressing I'll grant you, but hey beggars can't be choosers...

In case you are a-feared you have returned to Drivers Ed, fret no more. You may have gathered that the HUGE ring road constructed at the beginning of this review was so that I could avoid talking about the new track from Mosquito Death Squadron. It would appear that this is an annual infestation because the last time I had cause for fumigation was when I reviewed Earth Sound Revisited (December 2004) a track which lives on in my deepest nightmares. Here's what I wrote at the time 'Nothing quite prepared me for the nigh on nine minutes of test tones, random musical slashes, endless audio loops and other assorted weirdnesses that infest this track'

Yeah, ferkin gulping now ain't we?? Very Happy

Now I've never known a time when I was a big fan of 'tonebursts, impulses, noise and frequency response' unless it was wrapped around a nice plate of rock and more rock, and hold all the foolishness please. I eventually ended up with a grudging, ill-tempered respect for what ultimately proved to be an interesting foray into the world of free jazz, and not a funk in sight. With all this in mind I plowed into Thank You Meter Maid with all the ardour of an eight lane pile up, knowing probably deep within that it would certainly sound like one. Again though, I was pleasantly surprised by this tracks knowing musical taste, splendid (yeah really) splendid performance and a mix that let it all hang out through every unseemly nook and cranny. Surprisingly enough, I found I liked this track enormously both from an experimental soundpoint and as a class peice of high musical art. Don't be fooled by the silliness here, MDS has a few well known names under it's sleek bonnet and this is as tasty a peice of work as any I have heard from that quarter.

Highly Recommended (gasp!) (no, really....I DO recommend this) ....I'm not joking now.....

See?

Dude this is completely off my radar screen.

Here I am (slap) reporting back to you from (slap) the swamps of Born (slap) eo, as I dig up (slap) another interesting specimen (slap) of musical life a la Soundclick (slap). This time we are investigating the (slap) phenomenon known to the outside (slap) world as Mosquito (slap) (slap) Death Squadron. Judging by this lot (slap) they are also (slap) extremely kamikaze-like in (slap)their behaviour. So let's grab (slap) this 'ere track (slap) and leg it back to (slap) a place where (slap) being eaten alive is not a (slap) minute by (slap) minute struggle...

Meanwhile back at Gilmore Towers...

OK ya caught me. I couldn't afford to go to the end of my street, let alone Borneo. I made it up because I'm very silly. Speaking of which, there is silly element in this track. Pilesar is - in some way - involved with this track and that usually means that its time to really earn my reviewing spurs. Having made Mandible's Acka Fracka (also Pilesar) one of my Tracks of 2004, this is one track I did look forward to hearing. Don't ask me why, I dare not say Wink Pilesar contributes vocals, perc, drums and weird buzzes and burrs to this aided by faltron who also does vocalsm perc and feedback(?) and the elegantly named corpsefinger who supplies whistles, toys, saxophone, accordian and percussion. If that hasn't whetted your appetite, get these jewels from their website: For fans of:tv static, cars crashing, neighbors having sex... Shocked

Scared now? Well I fekkin am....

Nothing quite prepared me for the nigh on nine minutes of test tones, random musical slashes, endless audio loops and other assorted weirdnesses that infest this track like the damn mozzies we began this story with. Not an easy listen this, in any sane and reasonable world anyway. Darting from theme to theme with all the massed concentration of a reality TV show contestant, Earth Sound Revisited should really be taken literally because that is exactly what it appears to be. However, like a lot of the stuff Pilesar is involved with, it pays to look a little deeper. What you get then - apart from the earache from the more dissonant sections - is a really interesting strain of free form jazz. More Sun Ra than Mile Davies to be sure, but the musical reference is definitely there. Ultimately, like a lot of Pilesar related material this is going to take time to figure out what I actually think about it.

Certainly different but definitely carries a Government Health Warning and free bug spray.

this sounds like it was fun to make. very fun.
very interesting. i'd have to say i like it.
how do you do that? was it all samples or what?

nice beat. neat little noises. are those vocals?
great work. as soon as i refill my stash, i can assure you i'll listen to more.

Hey Tiglath,

Scarcely Doubt Laughing

Well, I was laughing and no doubt about it. Parts of this sound like you crossed an Elephant with a car horn – and had him play his trunk, accompanied by ambient toilet noises.

It’s a frantic piece of fun – it’s like a carefully orchestrated traffic jam, made to follow a descending melody line. More fun with variable speeds, I hear.

Well, you have a great time making these I Scarcely Doubt and I imagine you are laughing too!

Hung Expression Difficulty

This one had me laughing RIGHT OUT LOUD - while nursing by bruised ears. I can’t believe that this is very good for my speakers! Channel check indeed – what precisely ARE you channelling. Quite bonkers!

After 1:35 I turned it down. ‘Phase check…out of phase.’ The background sounds like an ice cream truck with a squeaky wheel. Oil that song! Oops, now it’s a wobbly wheel!

I’ve wondering, my strange friend, do you write these things or do they result from a direct attack of some sort?

Very humorous and oddly enjoyable! However, I hope I didn’t wreck my speakers.