Search - John Tabacco :: Realized @ 21 Walnut

Bizarre. That's the best way to describe Realized @ 21 Walnut, a somewhat conceptual avant-garde collection from New York artist John Tabacco. With songs and collages that include people moaning, someone repeating the word "cheesburger" and, well, lots of other strange things, this is easily an East Coast version of Frank Zappa. (The disc, incidently, is dedicated to Zappa.) At the very least you can give Tabacco (yep, real name) credit for completely disregarding the norm. These tracks can be unsettling - a guy sounds like he's being tortured on "Smokey Lee Webster Wrestles Wid IT" - but they're always thoroughly challenging. In between his instrumental muzak and recordings from a road trip years ago, there are in fact actual songs here. But those songs are still far from what's expected. Tabacco, with help from a few friends, takes on a show tune, '80s-ish R&B, and of course, ideas explored by Zappa. Strong influences from aliens, conspiracy theories, et al. are also present, revealing paranoia ("It's out there feeding on itself...it's following my every move.") Whether you want to use this for a haunted house or a case study in insanity, it's something different indeed.