Tone Scientists are vocalist-guitarist Bucky Pope (Tar Babies), bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen, Firehose, Stooges), and drummer John Herndon (Tortoise), with flautist/sax player Vince Meghrouni and keyboardist Pete Mazich, both longtime Watt associates, filling out the band. They released a 45rpm 7-inch for Record Store Day Black Friday in 2018 and now they are back with a 5-song EP, “Kiiroi Tori,” that solidifies the outfit as a blend of punkish rock, robust jazz, and hearty R&B. And good news for those just getting hip to the sounds Tone Scientists are laying down: the 7-inch (black vinyl) and the new EP (banana peel vinyl) are available as a bundle via ORG Music’s website while supplies last.
The Tone Scientists 7-inch drops “Nuts,” an exuberant bit of hard driving flute heavy business onto its A-side, the gist a bit like a gang of art-punk-wavers striving for a Booker T & the MG’s sort of groove. It served as an inspired harbinger of what has just arrived on the new EP, as did the flip side, a killer version of “Tiny Pyramids,” a Ronnie Boykins composition heard on Angels and Demons at Play by Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra.
The motifs established on the single are given room to productively expand on the EP, as the opener “Excuse Yourself” and the cut that follows “Struggle Bus,” both Pope compositions, spring from the longstanding mutual desires of Pope and Watt to broaden the possibilities of punk rock by delivering judicious injections of funk to the style.
The punk connection is deepest in “Those Isthmus Blues,” a co-write from Pope and Watt, which ushers a post-Beat punk-aligned spoken word sensibility (Pope dropping the names Dan Peters from Killdozer, Doc Dart from Crucifucks, and Clyde “Funky Drummer” Stubblefield, amongst others) into the utterly non-clichéd groove scheme as Mazich is given ample room to beautifully go off with his organ solo.
There’s another Sun Ra cover in the EP’s mix, this time a tune credited to the bandleader. “The Sun One” springs from the early R&B-inflected side of Sun Ra’s vast spectrum, a song that’s profile was significantly boosted through the 2CD compilation The Singles that came out in 1996. Here, Meghrouni handles Yochanan’s original vocal with aplomb. The band maintains the essence of the original while invigorating it with unstrained instrumental flair.
The roots of Tone Scientists’ sound can be traced back to some of the funkier excursions on Watt’s 1995 album Ballhog or Tugboat?, which featured Meghrouni amongst a deep bench of contributors. But there’s also the SST connection to consider. Minutemen, obviously, but also Tar Babies and Meghrouni’s band Bazooka were all part of the SST roster.
But it’s the instrumental “Kiiroi Tori,” a Watt composition, that delivers the EP its title and its standout track, rolling like a blend of Ethiopian jazz (think Mulatu Astatke) and South African jazz (Mazich’s piano bringing Abdullah Ibrahim to mind) as Meghrouni’s horns and Pope’s spiky guitar enrich the scenario. The “Kiiroi Tori” EP benefits from the simultaneous looseness of a side project and the sharpness of expert artistry. Here’s hoping for a full album in the not too distant future.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
