Jackie-O Motherfucker – Live on WFMU / Freedom From / Cross Pollinate

There’s this band. We’ll call them Jackie-O Motherfucker, because that actually is the name of the band. When I first read the name of the supporting act for the Godspeed You Black Emperor shows at the Warsaw in Brooklyn was Jackie-O Motherfucker, I couldn’t be more excited. What the fuck kind of name is that? It was 2003, and I was deeply entrenched in my “post-rock” phase. A month prior to the shows at Warsaw, I witnessed brilliant sets by both Godspeed… and Black Dice, a group I was unfamiliar with at the time but who I quickly came to love and respect. Following that experience, I began postulating what the fuck this Motherfucker band was going to sound like.

Waiting in line on Driggs Aveunue, a young, shy-looking kid with short hair came up to me and asked if I had a spare ticket for the show tonight. As a matter of fact, I did. I don’t remember why, but I did. Maybe when I bought the ticket I figured I’d have a date, but never got around to asking anybody to join me. Yeah, that sounds about right. In any event, the kid introduced himself as Anthony and we’ve been good friends ever since. He happens to run a little website called The Hype Machine, but that’s not what this story is about. It’s about me. Actually, it’s not about me, it’s about Jackie-O Motherfucker.

Both Anthony and I were tremendously impressed by the performance that evening given by Jackie-O. Although I did not immediately seek out the band’s recordings, the sounds they coaxed out of an array of offbeat instruments left an imprint in my brain. When I received Fig. 5 and Liberation from Ian, I was hooked. Unfortunately for me at the time, those recordings were out-of-print. In fact, the first actual Jackie-O Motherfucker material I had on a compact disc was a recording of a set they recorded at WFMU in Jersey City, which was aired on Brian Turner’s program on April 8th, 2003 — the same week the band was in town supporting Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I think it is my favorite recording of theirs I have ever heard. It is the essence of the band; a collage of divergent sounds that somehow sound haunting and beautiful when juxtaposed against each other. The turntable manipulations, while not as innovative or experimental as a Christian Marclay, draw together what would otherwise sound like a disjointed cacophony of noise. It is the very definition of bent. I would recommend being very, very stoned when you listen to it.

The band’s Freedom From CD-r (2001) was, as it’s name makes obvious, was released by the Minneapolis-based label responsible for supporting a plethora of fabulous noise bands located across the globe. Birchville Cat Motel, Hair Police, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Noxagt, Alan Licht and Christina Carter all had cassettes, LPs, CDs or CD-rs issued by the label. Swanfungus favorites Sightings released their first recording on Freedom From. The most popular Freedom From cassette, I believe, featured Beck and Thurston Moore. In any event, the Jackie-O Motherfucker CD-r is a blast of fucked-up, mind-bending noise. I’m talking about un-music. Even for JoMF, it’s a bit of a stretch to sit and listen to the entire thing in one sitting. The band’s Cross Pollinate LP (1996) was the band’s second release, following the infamous Alchemy – Shit to Gold, displays the young band as a still-evolving phenomenon, combining schizophrenic guitar meanderings with no shorting of unusual-but-catchy melodies. Imagine if Jimi Hendrix played Hank Williams backed by the Swell Maps. It’s that cool.

Also, Jackie-O Motherfucker holds the distinct honor of being the only band that’s gotten high on stage every time I’ve seen them. Nice folks, if they’ve over-packed a bowl they don’t mind sharing with the audience.