This is an all-improvised, mind-blowing, punk AF soul-meeting between Chris Corsano, one of America's premier avant-garde drummers, and two legendary SoCal punk pioneers: guitarist Joe Baiza (Saccharine Trust, Universal Congress Of) and bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE).
The bulk of this LP consists of studio recordings made deep in the Mojave Desert (Landers, CA to be exact) in December of 2023. The Corsano Baiza Watt Trio had never played, or even entirely met, before this session; what you hear is the surprise and fierce delight of 3 great musicians coming together in real time. The first track, "51 Card Solitaire," begins abruptly in mid-flight, capturing the exact moment that recording began, as the trio played together for the very first time.
The LP's explosive last 2 tracks are taken from the trio's first-ever live show, in Watt's long-time home base of San Pedro, CA, in front of a joyous, fully lit audience. The level of group interaction revealed in these 7 tracks is truly startling. Corsano's buoyant multi-dimensional kineticism is in full effect; Baiza effortlessly mixes noir-ish, bopping single-note phrases with feral string scrapes and vicious chord-flailing; Watt holds down strong anchoring bass lines like the sailor he is, then flies abruptly, thrillingly off-script.
This incredible LP is the debut release from Yucca Alta Records, a subsidiary of Yucca Valley Material Lab, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in the Mojave Desert that provides accessible and equitable arts education and is a platform for expanding cultural awareness. Through residencies, instructional workshops and public programming, we encourage artists to develop new skills and investigate new modes of making. All proceeds from sales of this record will be put towards funding future YVML programming.
