Observations of Deviance
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obsofdeviance.bsky.social
Observations of Deviance
@obsofdeviance.bsky.social
3.5K followers 1.5K following 4.5K posts
"Observations of Deviance has become a Wire deadline weekend staple." The Wire (UK)

David Mittleman

DJ @wfmu.bsky.social

Vinyl collector

Writing @ We Jazz Magazine

https://wfmu.org/playlists/OV
Posts Replies Media Videos
obsofdeviance.bsky.social
New episode archived @wfmu.bsky.social

Tucson Tour Report: Bitchin Bajas Interview

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Tucson Tour Report: Bitchin Bajas Interview / Indie underground synth-legends Bitchin Bajas @bitchinbajas toured at the end of 2025 in support of their latest album for Drag City Records @dragcityrecords “Inland See.” During that tour the BBs thrilled Tucson, Arizona fans with their sonic prowess. Before their performance, Tucson based OoD host David Mittleman interviewed the group about their new album and working with Jazz musicians such as Mike Reed (The Separatist Party) and Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society); the interview highlights a three-hour special devoted to their supreme synth synergy. A huge thank you to the awesome dudes @woodentoothrecords for hosting the Tucson show, giving me space to interview the band before the show and loaning me their #vinyl copy of Bitchin Bajas “BB01 - Live! Graut?”
January 11, 2026 at 11:35 PM
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More
Lobby cards
January 11, 2026 at 4:44 AM
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Hey! I’ve got one of those.
EL GRITO E MUTILADO protagonizada por ALAN BROCK • JENNIFER STOCK • MICHAEL HARRIS • TAWM ELLIS • DARCY BROWN UNA FRENETICA CAZA POR UNA HORRENDA BESTIA! TECHNICOLOR CINEMATOGRAFICA ANAHUAC, S.A. MONTERREY 104-MEXICO, D.F.
January 11, 2026 at 4:43 AM
obsofdeviance.bsky.social
On the next episode

Tucson Tour Report: Bitchin Bajas Interview

Sat, Jan 10, 7-10pm(ET) @wfmu.bsky.social

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Bitchin Bajas photo, the trio in shadow with vivid digital graphics behind them
January 9, 2026 at 10:01 AM
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Eternal Music Society
by Eternal Music Society
(Knotwilg 2026)

Sofie Herner: Drums
Henrik Wallin: Guitar
Andreas Malm: Drums
Andreas Johansson: Bass

knotwilg.bandcamp.com/album/eterna...
Eternal Music Society is a Swedish supergroup emerging from the fertile experimental scene of Göteborg and Malmö, centered around the visionary Discreet label. The band unites members from some of the most distinctive underground projects of the past decade, Enhet För Fri Musik (Discreet), Skeppet, Frihet, Neutral, Leda (Knotwilg), and Kröppskanedom (Morc) to name a few. Each known for pushing the boundaries of free music, drone, and avant-rock. Together, they form a collective that channels the raw spirit of improvisation into a dense, hypnotic whirlpool of fuzzy noise rock. Their sound revolves around dirty, overdriven guitars, a deeply grooving bass, and relentless, repetitive drum patterns that lock into a trance-like pulse. Twin drummers not only emphasize rhythmic precision but create a subtle, almost psychoacoustic phasing that blurs the line between structure and chaos. Addictive, looping riffs rise and fall like waves, evoking a sense of ecstatic propulsion. In short, cloud-busting psych headbanging for the initiated. Gearing up to the festival, Knotwilg Records will release a limited edition LP by the group,
January 9, 2026 at 7:39 AM
obsofdeviance.bsky.social
Fanjiry
by Damily
(Bongo Joe 2026)

"Fanjiry, a new album by Damily, one of the pioneers and most influential figures of tsapiky, the electrifying music born in southern #Madagascar ... the project marks the beginning of a new, more intimate chapter"

damilyband.bandcamp.com/album/fanjiry
After decades spent shaping the sound of southern Madagascar, Damily returns with Fanjiry, his most intimate and focused record to date. A key figure in tsapiky as a guitarist and composer, and a driving force behind a genre he helped define, Damily has long expressed himself through the voices of the singers accompanying his bands. With Fanjiry, he takes a singular step forward: for the first time, he carries his compositions himself through singing — not by claiming the role of a singer, but as a natural extension of his playing and personal storytelling. Known for igniting village ceremonies and carrying the fever of Toliara far beyond Madagascar’s shores, he makes a shift here — not away from trance, but deeper into its core. Recorded and mixed in just three days at Studio Black Box with analog sound engineer Peter Deimel, Fanjiry reduces tsapiky to its essence: a single guitar and a single heartbeat. Damily plays alone, yet fills the entire space — bass, rhythm, melody, breath and pulse merging into a dense, vibrating and constantly moving sound. Each riff becomes architecture, each harmonic opens a door onto memory, childhood landscapes, and those nights when music heals, connects, and pushes back the dark.
January 9, 2026 at 7:18 AM
obsofdeviance.bsky.social
FYI, here's what YT uploader said.
"This is from a cassette tape that was sitting in a box with my other cassettes that moved with me over the last almost 40 years and wasn't listened to from 1986 until I uploaded it unaltered to YouTube. I got it from a tape-trader friend, who in the mid-80s was a big Sonny Sharrock fan who was trying to promote gigs for Sonny. No stem-splitting or other software existed at the time the tape was made and I never altered it. I don't have the entire gig. This piece was stuck on the end of a tape with other material on it."
January 7, 2026 at 5:11 AM
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Essential Free Jazz, Spiritual Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz #vinyl

I have a vintage German pressing but it’s nice to finally find a US 1961 original.

Jimmy Giuffre is sorely underrated.
STEREO 1ue Contemporary Music V6-8402 OTHESIS THE JIMMY GIUFFRE Front Label Gatefold Back
January 7, 2026 at 4:34 AM
obsofdeviance.bsky.social
First #vinyl finds of 2026
Arthur Blythe Metamorphosis STEREO Contemporary Music V6-8402 OTHESIS THE JIMMY GIUFFRE Steve Lacy
January 7, 2026 at 4:29 AM
obsofdeviance.bsky.social
Unexpected things received in the mail.

To Kill A Child Of Troubled Times
by Quite Sane
(Atelier Harlem 2025)
2-LP #vinyl
Album front Label Gatefold 479/500 hand numbered
January 6, 2026 at 6:00 AM
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Junior Byles aka King Chubby ((2 February 1948 – 15 May 2025))
Photo by Leroy Jodie Pierson
January 6, 2026 at 2:34 AM
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Adam Rudolph, member of Mandingo Griot Society #vinyl
Mandingo Griot Society With Special Guest Don Cherry, front cover, vinyl
January 5, 2026 at 8:40 AM
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Dude seems to really be into CATS!
gatefolds - LP & CD with Cat designs
January 5, 2026 at 2:56 AM
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Much contemporary ambient Jazz leaves me cold (e.g. Leaving Recs, some Inter'l Anthem, Andre 3000). There's exceptions, on IA, but a lot is meandering.

Adam Rudolph's HU VIBRATIONAL is the real deal. Exceptional rhythm science, balance of acoustic/electric, deep musician communication, plus CATS!!
2 LPs and one CD, CATS on all the covers. Cat
January 5, 2026 at 2:55 AM
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Roy Ayers x Toni Tornado
drawing of Roy, skin is red hued, black Hari, bald background Toni in red suit, red/black tie, red/black background
January 4, 2026 at 10:06 AM
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🪐🚀Sun Ra🚀🪐

Sign of The Myth #vinyl

recorded 1973, released 2014
Front Label Back SIDE A: SIGN OF THE MYTH (16:12) THE EYE OF HORUS (6:54) SIDE B: HIDDEN COSMIC TREASURES (10:32) THE TRUTH OF MAAT (12:51) SUN RA: KEYBOARDS AKH TAL EBAH: MELLOPHONE, PERCUSSION KWAME HADI: TRUMPET, PERCUSSION MARSHALL ALLEN: ALTO SAXOPHONE, OBOE DANNY DAVIS: ALTO SAXOPHONE JOHN GILMORE: TENOR SAXOPHONE ELOE OMOE: BASS CLARINET, PERCUSSION DANNY RAY THOMPSON: BARITONE SAXOPHONE RONNIE BOYKINS: BASS CLIFFORD JARVIS: DRUMS ATAKATUNE: CONGAS JAMES JASON: ANCIENT EGYPTIAN INFINITY DRUM RECORDED & MARCH 1973 AT VARIETY RECORDING STUDIOS, NYC / COSMIC MYTH MUSIC - BMI PRODUCED FOR RELEASE BY MICHAEL D. ANDERSON ARTWORK BY EMILY KAPLAN ROARATORIO P. 0. Box 300574 MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55403 WWW.ROARATORIO.COM © 2014 SUN RA ARKIVE © 2014 ROARATORIO ROAR35 •
January 4, 2026 at 9:07 AM
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Lester Bowie 🎺
Gatefold detail, Live at Mandel Hall, Art Ensemble of Chicago
January 4, 2026 at 6:48 AM
obsofdeviance.bsky.social
New episode archived @wfmu.bsky.social

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4x4 grid of 16 album covers, full details via link in post
January 4, 2026 at 3:24 AM
obsofdeviance.bsky.social
Just Landed #vinyl

VIBE RIDE
by Hu Vibrational
(New Dawn 2025
Front Label Insert Back
January 2, 2026 at 11:26 PM
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Free download!

bsky.app/profile/obso...
Download code
January 2, 2026 at 10:53 PM
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Birds of Venezuela
by Jean C. Roché

jeancroche.bandcamp.com/album/birds-...
Among many of his amazing records I came across Jean C. Roché’s Birds of Venezuela, beautifully produced LPs of birdsong. I began to plan a trip to Amazonas, to record the unearthly song of potoos and Yanomami shamanism. (David Toop) The bird on the cover. The potoo, this metal-looking bird is one of the sonorous curiosities of this mad nature, the sound that he produces essentially is a death song that David Toop listen, in his 1978 expedition, but was unable to record. Amazement playing its role. The bird songs which i had recorded in the West Indies in 1969 made me inclined to find out more about those of the nearby South American continent, and convinced me, moreover, that musically speaking, they possessed an unquestionable originality in comparison with those of Africa and Europa. I therefore decided to carry out a series of orthonological trips on this continent, starting with the North: Venezuela, and so, with this in mind, i disembarked at Caracas on 27th May 1972. The unusual musical volume of this tropical country made its impact on my arrival in town, where the unbearably shrill chirping of the cicadas overwhelmed me each time I passed under a tree. At night fall, around even the meanest of ditches filled by the daily rain, myriads of toads and frogs struck up a concert, which, through its sheer intensity, muffled all other surrounding noises. When I penetrated the forest, I could hear bird species literally by the dozen and individuals by the hundred, all calling and singing together at dawn and at dusk... (Jean C. Roché) Jean-Claude Roché (May 11, 1931) is an French ornithologist and wild life field recordist. Roché recorded bird songs worldwide for over 30 years and released over 130 records out of his recordings. credits released January 25, 2020
January 2, 2026 at 8:55 AM
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Electronic Beauty Noise Analog Improvisation Latin Body Movement Rhythm Science #Vinyl

Sat, Jan 3, 7-10pm(ET) @wfmu.bsky.social

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PITA, Vibe Ride, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Hamiet Bluiett
January 2, 2026 at 7:53 AM
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110,000 miles on my 2013 Honda Civic, still going strong into 2026!
Odometer shows 110,000 miles
January 1, 2026 at 12:50 AM
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Observations of Deviance

Exclusive Musician Interviews @wfmu.bsky.social

STREAM ▶️ wfmu.org/playlists/OV
DJ Haram Pat Thomas Peter Evans Fabrice Géry Melvin Gibbs Darius Jones Yusuf Mumin David Murray Kahil El'Zabar Sasha Berliner Oren Ambarchi Christer Bothén Philip Orenstein Sir Richard Bishop Amina Claudine Myers James "Plunky" Branch The Dwarfs of East Agouza
December 30, 2025 at 10:20 PM
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Dial Up
by Rempis/Adasiewicz/Corsano
(Aerophonic 2025)

Dave Rempis – soprano/alto/tenor/baritone saxophone
Jason Adasiewicz – vibes
Chris Corsano - drums

aerophonicrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dial-up
Tracks 1, 2, 3 recorded at Constellation in Chicago by Cooper Crain on January 10th, 2025 Tracks 4, 5 recorded at The Sugar Maple in Milwaukee by Dave Zuchowski on February 2nd, 2025 Mixed and mastered by Chris Corsano and Dave Zuchowski Artwork and cover design by Lasse Marhaug Produced by Dave Rempis Special thanks to Mike Reed, Nolan Chin, and all the staff at Constellation, and Adrienne Pierluissi, Robert Szocik, and all the staff at the Sugar Maple credits released December 26, 2025 There are super groups, and then there are SUPERGROUPS. This trio, comprised of three prolific journeymen improvisers whose work has been recognized across the globe, is neither. This is a band of down-to-earth, hard-working musicians, whose focus and dedication to the music is exceptional. That’s not to say that these three don’t have a combined CV that straddles a who’s who list of contemporary music across multiple scenes. But their ethos is one that emanates from their midwestern locale – a heads down approach to collaborative work. The trio first came together at Chicago’s Hungry Brain during a month-long Thursday residency that Rempis organized in September 2024. Corsano’s recent relocation to Chicago was an overdue opportunity for them to collaborate again, after regular work with the quartet From Wolves to Whales alongside Nate Wooley and Pascal Niggenkemper in the mid-teens. And Adasiewicz’s recent return to the music following a multi-year hiatus has meant he’s at the top of the list for any new groups Rempis puts together, after many years of work together earlier in their careers.
December 30, 2025 at 9:23 AM