Steve Schmitt - guitar
Dave Abramson - drums
Simon Henneman - electricity bass
Sam Wambach - saxophones
Influences
Angelo Badalamenti, Phillipe Sarde, The Moontrekkers, Ennio Morricone, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Barry Adamson, Prince Far-I, King Tubby, Sergio Leone, Lee Perry, Scientist, Joe Meek, Augustus Pablo, Omar Khorshid, Yabba You, The Mofos, Link Wray, Ethiopiques, David Lynch, Secret Chiefs 3, The Cramps, The Tornados, The Shadows, The Pyramids, Tyler Johnson, Hokum tunes, Masaki Kobayashi, Roman Polanski, Kihachi Okamoto, Akira Kurosawa, Russ Meyer, Adrian Belew, reverb, Jimmy Page
2009/Shadow Instrumentals LP:
**If current instrumental music was always as majestic and as compelling
as this, I'd hang up my Retro-Italian Soundtrack collector's boots for
good. What we have here is the first definitive document from Seattle's
Diminished Men. From the explosive drum rolls of the opening track, the only cover on the record, "L'appel du Vere", from Roman Polanski's "The Tenant" (composed by Phillipe Sarde) to the darkly exotic finale "A Housewife's Dram", this record is a superbly crafted mosaic of whip-cracking vengeance, speakeasy hallucinations, and haunted geography. Besides the Italian western overtones, carnivalesque freak show backdrops, Khorshid Egyptian guitar passages, and flipped-out electronic space psych, are perhaps the best surf-inspired tracks I've heard in years. A thick damp fog must have been rolling in from the creek behind Randall Dunn's West Seattle studio when these recordings were made. Its spine-chilling how Dunn managed to make this record sound like the ultimate mid-60's Surf-Vampire-Western revival soundtrack. Elements of Joe Meek's best Moontrekkers productions cross with a dash of Badalamentian murder blues drama setting the stage for Steve Schmitt's cobra-twilight guitar work and Dave Abramson's drum kit outlaw splatter to leave their indelible stains across this 41-minute epic journey.
...............................-ALAN BISHOP
**The new LP is produced & recorded by RANDALL DUNN, who has worked with Secret Chiefs 3, Sun City Girls, Eyvind Kang, Sunno)), Earth, Jesse Sykes, Wayne Horvitz...etc. exploding drums, sinister organs and horns, face melting saturation and Tsunamic Compression. when was this thing recorded??? 1968? 1979? 2020? STEVE MOORE of Earth provides the vital Farfisa organ and Mellotron and trombone. Randall Dunn-analog synthesizers.
.....................................................................................................
Imagine the encounter between the universe of the original bands of Angelo Badalamenti and of Ennio Morricone, surfing music, the jazz and the psychedelic music. If I say you that what's more, their last disc, "instrumental shadow", is produced by Randall Dunn (that already did its proofs with Sun City Girls, Secret Chiefs 3, Earth, Jesse Sykes, Suno) )), Eyvind Kang. ..). Does Ca put you the water to the not mouth? And you have reason for this "instrumental shadow" is a small wonder!
This American quartet (guitar, low, battery, saxophone), coming from the scene of Seattle, did not realize beforehand that a single disc, "names of the dead", put to leaves the two volumes of the "american volume swells", go out only in cassette. Completely instrumental, "instrumental shadow" is a timeless, epic album and to the force évocatrice undisputable. To the listens of this disc, one imagines oneself turn to turn in the "red room" of Twin Peaks, or then to wander to horse in the middle of the Far West. Thanks to of superb arrangements, the Diminished Men have therefore shorn a disc to the delectable film mood. Besides, the disc opens by a return of the theme of the film "the tenant" of Novel Polanski, "the glass call" (composed by Sardinian Phillipe).
What's more already quoted artists, one thinks equally sometimes to Secret Chiefs 3 in its moments the more "morriconiens". They have besides turned with the latter as well as with the Master Musicians Of Bukkake (of which I strongly counsel you their last album "totem 1", gone out in the spring last). -ALTERNATIVE SOUND, France
Diminished Men's new album, Shadow Instrumentals (Abduction Records), partially draws on the fantastical Italian horror-flick genre known as giallo for sonic inspiration. The band's jagged, hard-charging, reverbed riffing evokes images of slit jugulars and accelerated heart rates, all the while swathing you in a velvety claustrophobia. If soundtrack maestro Ennio Morricone became possessed by guitarists Duane Eddy and Cliff Richard, and then the three cut a record in a Roma mansion spattered with ectoplasm, it would sound like the new Diminished Men opus. ........ -Dave Segal, THE STRANGER
I was underwhelmed on my first two listens to the Diminished Men LP on Abduction but on my third it's really getting somewhere. Sure, this Seattle band plays a sort of avant MOR, soundtracky modern-day surf instrumentalism that would seem polite enough to go down just fine as bumpers to just about any arts & entertainment reporting on your actual local NPR station, but, because their overall presentation is contained and controlled and stays well within the bounds of Randall Dunn's high-quality production aura, it's only now that I'm realizing that they play these themes rather ferociously, and that the stuff in between the themes is actually pretty out there. "Sutures In" is basically a solo synth noise jam and would probably never be an NPR bumper. .........-BLASTITUDE, Chicago
Diminished Men are grand theater, psychedelic, spaghetti-eastern music, presented under the tonalities of surf rock. Explodo-free jazz-groove drumming, deceivingly insane electric guitar, and swanky sax from your wildest Reeperbahn dreams. ......-Jared Nelson, NORTHWEST MUSIC BLOG
Diminished Men are mainly known for casting surf-rock into starkly noirish shadows and infusing it with kitsch-free drama. But they also veer off the reverbed, twangy path into more abstract, chilling territory ripe for scoring classic giallo films, fusing Goblin with Ennio Morricone.
.......................................... -THE STRANGER
NAMES OF THE DEAD(cd)
This is a stunningly original disc. It blends horror and surf nightmare sound, bending to create serious images and moods. Very well written and arranged.
4 stars........ -Phil Dirt, REVERB CENTRAL
We were just wondering...what they hell are you up to in this crazy world. Stop by and let us know. Push play on one of our tunes and dig it for a second. Stop and be grateful that we haven't all just spun so completely out of control, that we fly into the atmosphere and forget to appreciate one another. Thank you so much for your contributions to this world. We think you kick ass and deserve a Scooby Snack.
Yeah I'm really glad too because we had an amazing time in Boise, at least I did, ha. The crazy keyboard jam and all. It was fantastic. I even got away with a bottle of gin. funny. I hope to play with you guys in the future and I'm working on getting to yer level. I'd like to be on the road too man. It was great. Oh and if you guys need a opener to go on the road with you I might be your man. :)
Introducing THE SINISTER SURGEONS featuring members of; The Screaming Trees, Big High, and Mctuff (barrett, ari, van, and joe) at the Seamonster this Saturday October 10th no cover! 21+ 9:30 till close
I loved you guys. You are very talented and I'd like to buy a record soon! Let's do some shows together in the future. Hopefully I'll be able to construct a new group soon. You guys we're a incredibly powerful band. Very Egyptian and psychedelic. I loved it. You guys need to get up to Boise again.
