The Third Eye

I love collaborative albums and seeing two underground artists working together, melding their creative powers, and seeing what comes off it. This brings me to an upcoming release between two eccentric musicians: Sound Animal and A.J. Kaufmann. These two artists play by their own rules and let the chips fall where they may.

They’ve teamed up to create a new psychedelic record, Run Play Now, which will be released on November 28th. A.J. is based in Poznań, Poland, and Sound Animal is in California. After working together a few times, they decided to make a new record they say is “experimental, komische, and untameable.” On Run Play Now, these psychic troubadours “playfully celebrate the glories of life while living in this dangerous era.”

Sound Animal played the e-drum kit on each piece and then sent the tracks to A.J., who layered on a wild lead electric guitar. “A.J. is a delightfully hedonistic musical rule-breaker, his instrument singing out across the landscape like a vibrant young songbird who has just learned to fly to the rooftop, to the tip top of the chimney, hawks be damned. His playing is unpredictable, yet with an easily recognizable style full of noisy verve and distortion,” Sound Animal tells us.

For twenty years, A.J. has played in various bands in multiple genres. He’s also a poet with his own writings on his blog to prove it. He specializes in komische in his many records through labels such as Ramble and The Swamp. His real name is Adam Majdecki-Janicki, and he is a wildly prolific artist.

Sound Animal is also prolific. She usually played the internal synth on this new record using a MIDI controller keyboard. She also added other instruments, such as a silver flute and sometimes vocals, and then transformed the sounds through several months of design. Sound Animal has released many experimental albums over the past several years, sometimes through the labels Kryrart and Camembert Electrique. At home in California, she says she “creates music too layered to reproduce in person.”

Run Play Now is a deliciously weird record comprised of 12 mostly instrumental tracks. “Glory Storm” kicks things off with A.J.’s fluid and wild guitar playing and SA’s elaborate soundscapes. The song is a chaotic jumble of various noises, but it still feels coherent. “Carry No Light” introduces bizarre vocals to the mix, and like many of the tracks, there’s a somewhat sinister undercurrent. Sound Animal and A.J. Kauffman are making subversive psych music here, which could be described as “brown acid rock.”

“Head for The Hilltops” has a crunchy, fuzzed-out guitar riff and a lunatic e-drumbeat that beats like a heart about to explode. “Back Room” has some excellent guitar work from A.J., as he creates unique, atonal sounds that cut through Sound Animal’s background soundscapes. “Unimaginable” has another cool guitar riff and is more of a standard psych-rock song. The jumble of noises isn’t as strong, and the guitar playing is also slightly bluesy.

“Paradise Birds” may be the weirdest track – and that’s saying something on a record like this. Sound Animal’s synth creates fascinating noises, and the vocals are erotic chants. SA’s electronic noises are always interesting, but this one was by far the most intriguing piece. “Escape Vista” is short at just over two minutes, bringing what I detected as that silver flute and a mildly Asian sound.

“Autophagy” is lower-key than most tracks, introducing some Nine Inch Nails-style industrial sounds and a chiller vibe. “Light Housekeeping” is one of the longer songs at more than six minutes, and has some vocals. Like “Autophagy,” the song is built on ambiance and feels almost spiritual.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Run Play Now, and now that I have the advanced copy on Bandcamp, I plan on listening throughout my workdays to set the weird mood. Sound Animal and A.J. Kaufmann are two exciting artists unafraid to take creative risks and share their weirdness with the world. It might be impossible to listen to everything they’ve released because there’s so much, but Run Play Now is one record you should prioritize. The album drops on November 28th, so keep your eyes peeled for the release.

Support Sound Animal by finding her on Bandcamp, her official website, or social media (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube).

Support A.J. Kaufmann by finding him on Bandcamp, his official website, or social media (Twitter. Instagram).

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