It’s been a while since I’ve delved into some weird stuff. Not for lack of trying, though. The wells have simply dried up; or rather, I’ve been too busy ruminating in end-of-semester angst to seek out new weird stuff, let alone sit down and write about it.
But fortuitously, I’ve crossed paths with something truly unique, something so absurd that it’s yanked me from my pit of despair (and writer’s block). Wholly improvised, entirely unhinged and totally bizarre — the Soronprfbs made manifest — is the work of Porcelain Vivisection.
Let’s get into it.
Band From the Black Lagoon
My first encounter with Porcelain Vivisection was in the midst of a good late-night doomscroll session. As I flipped hastily through video after video, aggravating my chronic texter’s thumb, something jarring crossed my screen.
Bathed in technicolor lights, magnified by a fuzzy low-angle camera shot, was a man in a Gill-Man mask.
“I’m showing h–le,” was his guttural cry. “I’m showing h–le at the Waffle House.”
Normally, I’d write off such content as overdone memeage, but there was something different here.
The camera panned around the room to reveal a band — all Gill-Men — and the discord of plaintive saxophone, throbbing bass and disaffected drums became transformative.
I was reminded of Clown Core and its eccentric, self-contained universe. I thought of Frank, a movie that made me an insufferable teenager, and the off-the-cuff, highly metaphorical lyricism of the film’s eponymous character.
I was shocked to learn that what I was seeing wasn’t esoteric brainrot humor, but rather an actual music video from an actual band. I had to know more.
Punk Jazz
The Brooklyn-based band consists of comedian Neel Ghosh, guitarist Nick Sala and Asher Herzog. They’ve dropped two releases so far, a 24-minute dirge titled “PURGATORY” and a five-track album titled “Tea Time (Legacy).”
According to the band’s instagram, all of their work is entirely improvised. Their song that first captured me, “Showing H–le & Taco Bell Paint n Sip,” is a sprawl of eclectic jazz discordance. Sharp sounds and slogging rhythms become a vivid audiovisual texture.
Although Porcelain Vivisection tags their releases with the label “punk,” (as well as the more enigmatic “lizard”) I’d argue that they’re undeniably jazz. But maybe those two labels aren’t that different.
There isn’t much information publicly available about the enigmatic group (a trait I’ve always found fascinating in alternative bands), which only deepens their sense of “lore.”
I find myself endlessly intrigued by all of it: the carnality of “vivisection,” the grimy musicality paired with sweaty shirtless bodies and the unexplained Gill-Man motif. I suspect there’s a level of (possibly metaphysical) cleverness behind it, or a brand of expertly-contrived nonsense only derived from artists. It’s absurd. It’s philosophical. It’s Porcelain Vivisection.
-J
