Krakhouse - 2025 - Bastards Of Prog

(184:58, Cuneiform)

Here we have the debut album from Jesse Krakow  who is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, sideman and music director. He was a founding member of the NYC experimental rock band Time of Orchids, a touring bassist for Shudder to Think, guitarist for The Shaggs, and Professor at Bootsy Collins’ Funk University. It contains more than 80 tracks, some only lasting the length of a good Napalm Death number while others hit 10 minutes, giving us a total playing time of 2½ hours. It is a concept album, providing us with a three-act treatise on progressive rock, and is one of the strangest albums I have come across for some time.

One of the listings given to this by the label is “comedy”, and that would be right if you think of juvenile pre-teen humour as comedy, but I found it quite wearing and soon was wondering what on earth I was doing playing this, but I have always believed in listening to an album all the way through, and there are some real gems in here, but they can be somewhat difficult to unearth. The vast majority of this album is new material, with most of the songs featuring just Jesse, and one of the few covers is an instrumental take on Captain Beefheart’s “Old Fart at Play” and while I prefer the original, the Eighties style instrumentation gives it quite a different feel. This is one of the songs when it can be heard just how much of an influence Cardiacs have been on Jesse as there are some real pronk vibes going on, yet they are not listed in the press release (which says it has been inspired by “Weird Al”, The Mothers Of Invention, Minutemen, Ween, professional wrestling, four-track cassette recorders, WFMU, Andy Kaufman & The Muppets). Another name missing from that list is Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, although their humour was rather more surreal and intellectual.

It is definitely a very lo-fi album and is the sort of thing I would have expected hearing on Alternative Tentacles 30 years ago as opposed to Cuneiform in 2025. At times it is highly experimental, at others pronk is much to the fore, but at others it is just weird, and not generally in a good way. It certainly seems quite at odds with the incredibly interesting essays from Jesse on the topic of prog (I totally agree with the following statement, “Over time, “prog” has become a term solely used for a certain type of music that used to actually be called “progressive”, while “progressive” music has remained just that, which I suppose might make it “regressive”.”). Getting through to the end of the album was not an enjoyable experience as it felt more like an endurance event as opposed to something I was listening to for pleasure. I am also very aware that my tastes are not the same as many, so if this is something you feel you may be interested in I strongly suggest you give it a listen on Bandcamp prior to purchase. I do know it is not something I will ever be playing in its entirety again. 

Kev Rowland, October 2025

Links:
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/