DAVE KERMAN / 5UU'S | CUNEIFORM RECORDS

DAVE KERMAN / 5uu's
Jon Beck • Randy Coleman • Greg Conway • Dave Kerman • Udi Koomran • Sanjay Kumar • Keith Macksoud • Mark McCoin • Deborah Perry • Charles Turner • Curt Wilson

Inspired by Europe's Rock In Opposition movement of the late 1970s, drummer/composer Dave Kerman formed the 5uu's in Los Angeles in 1984. The band's name was derived from gang graffiti spray-painted on local buildings. The 5uu's later joined with fellow Los Angeles experimentalists The Motor Totemist Guild to form U Totem. Following 2 albums as U Totem, Dave has recorded five additional albums under the 5uu's banner.

Dave Kerman has played on Cuneiform recordings by Ahvak, Blast, Motor Totemist Guild, Present, Thinking Plague, and U Totem.

THE QUIET IN YOUR BONES

RUNE 3361

"In November 2015, I decided to get back into writing music, after a 12 year break, to make this demo. It took 8 months of full-time work, between December 2015 and July 2016, to compose & record. Then a 7- month break, during which I was the musical director for a project with Theatre Basel. February thru December of 2017 was again full-time work, rearranging much of it, replacing most of the original midi instruments with real ones, editing out parts that felt “compromising”, and fine-tuning the whole shebang, as best I could.

Though many parts of this recording used looping and cut & paste, most of it was played in real-time.

One thing I had in mind was that each song should display a sense of theatrics; The lyrics were written in the first person, to hopefully portray a kind of actor’s soliloquy. So, apart from a couple of instances, the singing is that of a lone voice, without any kind of accompanying harmonies." – Dave Kerman

Dave Kerman : words and music, instruments
Michele Fuchs : vocals, trumpet, euphonium
Liesbeth Lambrecht : violas on 2
Bill Gilonis : twangy guitar and bass clarinet on 4
Dave Willey : organ solo on 5
Keith Macksoud: bass on 9
Joel Trieger: intro guitar on 9

Mostly recorded at home in Basel, Switzerland, 2016 - 2020.
Stereo drums recorded by Luc Wiesner at the Ai Ca Gicle rehearsal room, in Basel.
Guest artists recorded at their own abodes.
Mastered by Bob Drake at Studio Midi-Pyrénées, Caudeval, France.

Buy this album

ABANDONSHIP

RUNE 158

Abandonship is the 5uu’s sixth release. It features compositions, lyrics (printed in the CD booklet), and multi-instrumentation by Kerman, vocals by Deborah Perry (Thinking Plague) & sound sculpting by Udi Koomran. It is a emotionally intense, densely-layered, and compositionally complex work, inspired by such dark R.I.O. bands as Univers Zero and Present, and a logical progression of the 5uu’s multi-faceted, prismatic sound.

"The results are mesmerizing...Kerman is still the unsung shaman of unbridled convolution..perched on a precipice high enough to make most indie rockers appear ant-sized."- Alternative Press

"...a frighteningly coherent statement that with time should eventually stand as one of Rock In Opposition's finest momements" - Expose

Buy this album

REGARDING PURGATORIES

RUNE 135

Regarding Purgatories, the 5th album by drummer/composer Dave’s long-lived 5uu’s project, features a completely revamped version of the band. He has enlisted what amounts to a avant/progressive supergroup to back him here, including vocalist Deborah Perry [Thinking Plague], bassist Keith Macksoud [Present] with guest keyboardists Charles Turner [5uu’s] and Sanjay Kumar [U Totem]. The music has a new edge & this release marks a new sound for the band, as well as a break from the sound of the two previous incarnations of this band.

"5uu's recorded intermittently over the years until returning in 2000 with Regarding Purgatories. While credited to both Dave Kerman and the 5uu's, the Cuneiform CD is primarily a solo vehicle for composer and multi-instrumentalist Kerman, who wrote all the music and performs much of it on overdubbed guitars, keyboards, drums, bass, vocals, and noisy effects. Regarding Purgatories is an intriguing CD that should appeal to many fans of the European RIO groups and their spinoffs, particularly the Art Bears, a post-Henry Cow trio featuring guitarist Fred Frith, drummer Chris Cutler, and vocalist Dagmar Krause.
The recording has a dark and Gothic mood similar to the Art Bears and early King Crimson. Kerman favors dense constructions with layers of distorted guitars and keyboards driven by martial drumbeats and unconventional percussion. Irregular melodies and skewed rhythms are interspersed with sinister drones and chants and embellished with buzzing, clanking, scraping, and other abrasive sounds. Not exactly a walk in the park, Regarding Purgatories is rather heavy going at times but still compelling by virtue of its sheer sonic inventiveness...." – AllMusic

Buy this album

POINT OF VIEWS

RUNE 85

Point of Views reissues their first two lps: Bel Marduk Tiamat, about which Chris Cutler said "For a 1st album, it is a wonder", and Elements, which features the addition of The Motor Totemists Guild and is the embryonic blueprint for U Totem. It also includes their 7" single the final recording by this version of the group. It is an essential document for those interested in the development of a distinctly American version of R.I.O. inspired progressive music.

Buy this album