Turnip King shredder and distortion enthusiast Cal Fish is releasing an album of solo material as part of his new sound collective, I would want to be somewhere. Buried behind an amalgamation of “meditative flute drones, appropriation of radio, Jimi Hendrix, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, layers of iPhone transmission, and folk songs,” What’s Jood? explores the commodification of identity through our increased reliance on technology. Fish is quick to note that though the lyrics are obscured, their content is important nonetheless. A portion of the record was recorded over folk singer Linda Thompson’s Dreams Fly Away, and traces of her voice peek through during moments of distortion.
In a statement about I would want to be somewhere, Fish explains the concept behind the collective:
I think it came from the sense that I had finally realized the extent to which my construction of reality had undergone intense detemporalization and despatialization caused by consumerist indoctrination and mediation of social relationships by alienating technologies.
To quote Deleuze, what I am longing to escape is my physical ties to ‘the intensification of capitalism and appropriation of mass media by the global elite that create zombie like subjects and prevent people from thinking creatively.’ However, the whole predicament is that you can’t escape by moving to a different place because capitalist power structures mediated by technology transcend physicality. At the very least, I don’t know where to go, so I would want to be somewhere.
I would want to be somewhere’s first releases include What’s Jood?, Raffi Kelly’s Alberta, and Baby Stefaldi by JACK? (aka Jack Whitescarver). In February, the collective released The Piano Man, a mixtape that includes Fish, Kelly, and Whitescarver, among other friends. The releases are now available on uniquely made tapes and CDs, and for a limited time on bandcamp.
I would want to be somewhere’s aesthetic is well-represented in the video for Cal Fish’s “SELFOWN”.
Stream What’s Jood? below:
Cal Fish tour dates:
June
15 Philly at The Petting Zoo w/ Free Cake For Every Creature
16 DC w/ Heaven’s Gates, UVF Rays, Free Cake For Every Creature
20 New Paltz, NY w/ Old Table and Quarterbacks
28 Mt. Taurus in Cold Spring, NY as part of Dan Goldberg’s curated Mountain Shows
