Avant-Garde
Sonic Ammo ca.1968!
Led
by keyboardist-composer Joseph Byrd and featuring the perfectly witchy vocals
of Dorothy Moskowitz, the United States of America made music wholly unlike
that of the other bands of its day - or any day, for that matter. On the band's
sole, self-titled 1968 album, the group draws on Byrd's background in the avant
garde and crosses proto-electronica (early synthesizers, ring modulator) with
psychedelia for a sound that even today remains both strange and futuristic.
The
United States Of America found the perfect way to permanently hardwire
space-age electronic music to heady psychedelia on their highly desirable 1968
debut. At the center of the U.S.A.ﾒs fiercely experimental universe were Joseph
Byrdﾒs kaleidoscopic musical excursions and Gordon Marronﾒs searing violin,
each orbiting around the icy-cool vocals of Dorothy Moskowitz, keeping this
tumultuous sound from spinning out of control in every direction. Almost
predictably, the U.S.A. disbanded before recording a second album, but the
brilliant, self-titled effort was certainly one for the ages.
"Portishead
and Broadcast love this record. The Fall used ﾑComing Downﾒ on their last LP.
Made in 1968, this is hewn from the same lysergic, ur-electronic seam as Silver
Apples and White Noise, with a Zappa-like satire and lashings of Love
nastiness. Songs veer from psych rock to sunshine exotica, tape cut-ups and
ring modulators filling in the gaps. Dorothy Moskowitz sinisterly narrates on
sadomasochism and how square the squares are."ﾗMojo
Sundazed
is proud to now present this 1968 debut of space-age electronic psychedelia in
its ultra-rare and unique mono form, pressed at R.T.I. and on limited edition
colored vinyl.