Three Tune Tuesday #186 .:. Avantgarde: the case of Secret Chiefs 3

The subject of my #ttt blog this week is, the great and terrible Secret Chiefs 3! And the proper tags that can clarify where we are, would be: #avantgarde, #experimental, #progressive-rock, #experimental-rock, #electronic, #instrumental, #orient, maybe even #industrial. Do not expect sweet pop sounds and sticky melodies; you have been warned! Proceed further into the post at your own risk.

Secret Chiefs 3, aka SC3, is an experimental project by composer and multi-instrumentalist Trey Spruance, former guitarist of the avant-garde American band Mr.Bungle. It appeared at San-Francisco in 1995. The list of participants is constantly changing, and so it the instruments used and the sound, as well; in this music one can hear violin, cello, saxophone, organ, darbuka, various obscure ethnic string instruments, prepared guitars and much more. Trey Spruance, the founding father turned SC3 into a perfect experimental music project, within you may play literally anything.

During its 30-year career, SC3 performed music by John Zorn (the 2008 album "Xaphan: Book of Angels Volume 9"), Afghan melodies, even the songs from The Beach Boys repertoire! Studio recordings and live performances are dramatically diverse, perhaps the only obligatory feature is the presence of Turkish, Arabic, Indian motifs - which is very very very up to me! But it is difficult to withstand a lot of such music in huge quantities (also: it is not necessary!). SC3 are good and irreplaceable as a kind of musical enema, a means to clear out pipes and refresh musical perception, and they cope with this task in my playlist perfectly. (Well, I rather will not say they are irreplaceable. Sergey Kuryokhin and Muslimgause wave a hand up and say "hi").

I chose three tunes for today's blog. I don't know which melodies in their back catalogue are considered the "greatest hits", but I suppose it is impossible to choose - due to the variety of styles, different listeners will consider a different tracks. In any case, I did not include 'Vajra' in the selection, tho it is often played at concerts - for it is too long (16 minutes).

So, worth your attention: The Secret Chiefs 3!