Album Notes

After forming some (five?) years ago, Wordblender has continually expanded the boundaries of several artistic genres: funk, rock, poetry, spoken word, Latin/jazz... it is all incorporated, at one point or another, into the beautiful madness that is Wordblender.

On their studio albums (In Vino Veritas/Nectar/Tainted Ambrosia) multi-instrumentalist and consummate experimental musician Pnapper, with the occasional guest musician, wrote all the music, played all the instruments, engineered and produced the discs. Hedonist/scribe/poet R J May wrote all the poetry and spoken word, capturing both his vivid imagination and oftentimes bleak & jarring view of the real world as seen through weary, humorous eyes.

Since playing their first live show in the summer of 2003, the reputation for this eclectic and unique music/spoken-word collective has grown rapidly. Their near-legendary live shows, from Seattle to Portland and beyond, have solidified a bemused and committed following. By gathering an exceptional group of musicians and lunatics, dubbed "the Full Nut Explosion," the live show has at times featured drums, bass, two guitars, two keyboards, trumpet, flute, dual & dueling saxophones, trombone, congas, bongos, percussion, a megaphone, and of course their dark poetry. The live show truly lives up to the band's signature "MUSIC & SPOKEN WORD, LIKE YOU'VE NEVER HEARD".

As the new year dawned, Wordblender was invited to play for Seattle radio station KEXP's "Sonarchy Radio" program, a weekly live hour devoted mainly to cutting edge and experimental local acts.

And so on March 27, 2004, Wordblender took the Full Nut Explosion with them into Jack Straw Studios in Seattle's University District.
The band featured
R J May: words/stories/poems/voice
Pnapper: trumpet/guitar/keyboard/percussion/vocals
Jeff Miller: saxophone/flute/keyboard/percussion/vocals
Josh Gilmore: bass
Jon Oswalt: drums
John Ransom: saxophone/percussion
Dudley Taft: guitar
The show was broadcast in real-time on KEXP (90.3 fm & 91.7 fm Seattle) and over their streaming web simul-cast (www.kexp.org). The hour-long set was engineered and mixed "on-the-fly" by host Doug Haire.

That live show is what is captured on this latest CD from the band that never fails to amaze and titillate. With no studio overdubs, this 12-song live recording features unreleased versions of songs culled from the band's three full-length studio albums, some hybrid versions, and two poems never before available on CD: "Africa" and "Psychoanalysis".

Finally hearing this incendiary live phenomenon on CD is something every fan of Wordblender will appreciate and thoroughly enjoy. Buckle up...