Geography of Dissolution

El Guapo has spent the last five years building a reputation as DC's hardest-working avant-punk outfit. The road hasn't been an easy one. In the time most bands form, record, tour, break-up, reunite, tour again, and break-up for good, the group has gone from minimalist guitar/drums duo to power trio to experimental quartet to drums/guitar/bass/oboe/bass clarinet/sampler/drum-machine duo. Founding members Rafael Cohen and Justin Moyer have refused to allow personnel and instrument changes stymie their exploration of every musical style from electrotrance to free improvisation. As a prelude to the release of its record "RE: Solve" (due from DC indie Mud Memory Records in late 2001), El Guapo offers the groundbreaking epic, "Geography of Dissolution." These two live sets -- the only existing recording of the band's eight months as a quartet -- document the group's controversial decision to abandon conventional rock devices and explore uncharted experimental territory. The subtle, call-and-response harmonies of "Zelda" and outright bravado of the now-legendary "Information Session" showcase the band's uncanny ability to fuse Albert Ayler's improvisatory sensibility with the traditional pop songcraft of the Velvet Underground. This is music with a broad vocabulary that finds its roots in a diverse assortment of styles but, rest assured, is music that you have not heard before. Four American tours, numerous East Coast dates with the All-Scars and Quix*o*tic, and time spent recording with renowned saxophonist/composer Anthony Braxton have shaped the band's ever-evolving musical agenda. "Geography of Dissolution" forces Suicide to meet Fela Kuti on Xenaxis' terms.