As a teen Kim Salmon blew his mind on the fusion of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, the stellar freakout of Sun Ra’s ‘Space is the Place’ and the generally unhinged groove of Can’s Ege Bamyasi. They showed him an alternative to just ‘playin the blooze’. Then Punk Rock came along! The earlier inspirations, however, where not idealistically opposed to the free expression espoused by the punk movement. Some of the freeform freakout fusion can be heard in Kim’s seminal band the Scientists on tracks like Nitro, Revhead and Human Jukebox, in fact most of what the band played throughout the nineteen eighties. As that band and decade came to a close Kim resolved to give free reign to that avant garde, jazz, in fact, downright weird streak, on his ‘solo’ venture The Surrealists. Their debut ‘Hit Me with the Surreal Feel’ is soaked in it all! Alas, as the nineties progressed, so did this band into a highly respected but conventional indie rock band. It did much successful touring around Europe, the USA and Australia on its own and with the likes of, U2, The Bad Seeds, Jon Spencer and the Cramps. It’s best known and best selling album was 1993’s Sin Factory.
With the 2006 reunion of the Surrealists, for the Spanish Azkena Festival, Kim was re-acquainted with the free jazz/noise/ fusion bug and resolved to get the band back together for at least long enough to work through what it started back in the late 1980s.
Recorded throughout 2008 and 2009 over a series of live sessions, ‘Grand Unifying Theory’ has the band given some framework compositions by Kim. The band - Kim, Stu Thomas and Phil Collings – then takes these ideas to the outer limits of punk/jazz/ thrash freakout!. The results are taken by Kim and producer Mike Stranges and assembled into the most far out music Kim Salmon has been responsible for to date! ‘Grand Unifying Theory’ with its polyrhythmic beats, its atonal keys, its heavy funk/punk grooves, its spaced out use of equipment buzz and Dictaphone is now being released on Low Transit Industries.
Kim Salmon is the driving force behind The Surrealists, Salmon, The Scientists, Darling Downs and was a main contributor to the Beasts Of Bourbon. This is the first Surrealists record in a decade and features vocal & recording assistance from Dave Graney & Clare Moore.
The Scientists will be performing at All Tomorrow’s Parties New York series with The Stooges & Mudhoney later in 2010 with a special schedule Surrealists show in the pipeline.
Track list: 1 Turn Turn 02 Order Of Things 03 RQ1 04 Grand Unifying Theory I 05 Grand Unifying Theory II 06 Pathological 07 Predate 08 Childhood Living 09 Kneel Down At The Altar Of Pop
Label: Low Transit Industries
Format: CD
LTID089CD
Release date: June 28, 2010
