20 Years of Jackie-O Motherfucker’s Flags Of The Sacred Harp
By the time the Portland, Oregon-based multi-dimensional and esoterically experimental outfit Jackie O Motherfucker released their subliminal classic of 2005, “Flags Of The Sacred Harp", the band had already unleashed an incredibly lustrous body of work since its cosmic conception in the early to mid-1990s by its mainstay, Tom Greenwood. With titles such as the brilliant masterpiece “Fig. 5” that featured such classics as “Beautiful September (We Are Going There)” and “Amazing Grace,” and 2002’s “Change,” that also featured gravitational giant, the 11-minute mantra “Everyday,” the ever-expanding evolution and nocturnal nature of the band were changing at a rapid pace, while simultaneously balancing the electrifying ecosystem that contains brilliant ballads, and free form fallout. Hailing from the same harmonious hills as Dead Moon, Nu Shooz, Wipers, Grails, and several others, Jackie O Motherfucker hijacks the hive mind of humanity and paints directly onto its skull with poetic pastels and atmospheric acrylics that can be seen from any point in space if you steady your gaze. When you think of the 1990s, you might not recall it being anything other than the end of the original spirit of The Grateful Dead, and its foundational frontman, Jerry Garcia, or the cultural takeover of bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and several other entries into the grunge movement. But independently free-thinking music was at an all-time high as bands like Sun City Girls, Cerberus Shoal, Thinking Fellers Union Local Club 282, Six Organs Of Admittance, and several others tore through the medians of the mind, and spiritually separated the poetic plasma from the biblical blood fiercely and creatively.
Once the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based noise-rock outfit Jonestown dried up after several releases in the early 1990s, Greenwood, along with saxophonist Nester Bucket, eagerly established JOMF as a duo upon its first incarnation. Conquering the cosmic community of their new home, known as the “City of Roses,” the veteran musician and multi-media artist quickly began building a biblical body of work that would suddenly shift into this melodic mayhem of great proportion. With over 40 rotating members within the collective’s three-decade-long reign on society’s subconscious, we’ve seen members such as Jef Brown, John Flaming, Josh Stevenson, Samara Lubelski, Barry Hampton, Natalie Mering, and several others leave their melodic mark on the lysergic-inducing legend that is JOMF, making the band’s harmonious history even richer beyond cosmic comprehension. Nearly a decade into their metaphysical magic, something changed in 2005, and to this day, continues to rattle the rudimentary realms of experimental music and the ultimate freedom that comes with the tonal territories of esoteric expression. Featuring an impeccable ensemble of musicians such as Tara Jane O’Neil, Themba Lewis, Stevie DePaola, Adam Forkner, the great Honey Owens, and several others, “Flags Of The Sacred Harp" is a melodic masterpiece as it sonically stirs the never-ending night into a feverish dream of tonal textures and lysergic-based liberation. Featuring tracks like “Rockaway", “Good Morning Kaptain,” and the oscillating opus “The Louder Roared The Sea,” the album enters its second decade of esoteric existence by continuing to build on the same ideology of making music, this overall experience that continues to change as the world and the people in it do.
Photo: Sean Jerd
Originally released on ATP Recordings (All Tomorrow Parties), a London-based label founded by Barry Hogan and Helen Cottage in 1999, “Flags Of The Sacred Harp" sees a proper reissue on Fire Records, and features incredible covers by Townes Van Zandt and Public Enemy, as well as never-before-released live recordings of “A Mania,” and “The Louder Roared the Sea.” The band recorded what would become their most groundbreaking album to date, “Flags Of The Sacred Harp." A spellbinding effort that displays the band’s artistic bravery, similarly to the early days of CAN, or Amon Düül, they headed into a local studio, Supreme Reality in Portland, Oregon, run by engineer Rich Wells, to capture the cosmic contents of perhaps the group’s most compelling work to date.
