Separation
Separation is my debut album and can be purchased at CD Baby for only $9.97! Review: "Patrick Napper is a man of phenomenal talent. This record reflects the talent and truth behind what he does. I can honestly say that he has a voice that is unmatched here in Seattle. The range with which he uses his voice is truly incredible and diverse. Another incredible fact about this album is that Patrick played all the instruments himself. Others may call themselves musicians, but Mr. Napper defines the term. The way he plays all the instruments, it is hard to tell what he usually plays (I won't tell you!). Patrick would be an excellent session player behind any musical instrument. BUY this record!!! You will thank yourself!!!" - Rick Klu
OmniVoid-Combustion
"Hard Rock with both an edge and a hook, great stuff from some of Seattle's hottest musicians. Omnivoid is amazing to hear and captivating to watch!" Reviewer: Bob Rivers, DJ/Host KZOK 102.5 Seattle "This band is fantastic!! This CD is full of great songs with different textures. The guitar playing is exceptional. The chord progressions are unique. I can't wait for a full album!!" Reviewer: Andy Roberts
OmniVoid-Ignition
"Omnivoid strikes again with a CD that is top notch. The songwriting and production is exceptional. Dudley Taft's riffs are perfect for the songs, blazing while complimenting the complex rhythym passages. This CD is worth every penny and more!!" Reviewer-Andy Roberts "Hell ya! This cd kicks ass! A new and extremely kick ass style of Hard Rock." Reviewer: Jeff "Omnivoid is here to rock hard and stay long! This is real Rock! Talent, flare, experience. This band didn't just show up for ‘show and tell’ time. Omnivoid is here to rock hard and stay long! Drop the pedal to the floor and let your Rock N' Roll fantasies erupt!" Reviewer: Andy Guyer - DJ KFNK “Funky Monkey” 104.9 Seattle
Wordblender-In Vino Veritas
Wordblender's In Vino Veritas is an extraordinary album that is nearly impossible to categorize. Spoken word? Yes... but no. There is a light on in the underground music/art scene and that light is Wordblender. This Seattle-based music & poetry fusion is led by R J May’s words and Pnapper’s musicianship. Together they weave an interesting tapestry of sound. Their debut CD, In Vino Veritas, houses songs of emotional depth and breadth spanning across multiple genres of music. The lyrics are read aloud, not sung. Spoken, not rapped... but yet this is not a typical "read your poem to the sounds of a meandering piano" translation. Pnapper's musical compositions give R J May a perfect foil for his poetry & stories; unique artistic expression unheard of in music circles of today. In one fell swoop they have changed the Spoken Word genre for the better, they have upped the ante. This album is heavy, not heavy-metal mind you, but heavy emotion, heavy imagery, heavy wordplay. It is high art best listened to alone after a long night out on the town... in the wee hours of morning when you sit, half blown apart by the wretchedness of being inside yourself. It is presented as a moving book that flows song to song or chapter to chapter. It gets under your skin and will not let go.
A quick rundown of Wordblender’s In Vino Veritas:
The opening jazzy diatribe of "Red Envelopes" encapsulates alcoholic desperation that moves to the sexy lounge groove of "Barstool". "Lover, Dance For Me" is pure love mixed with naughty fetish sex-kinks layered deep in the trenches of a bizarre hybrid of industrial groove. "Telescope With a Cervix Lens" dives into the deep territory of feminism with funky horn flavorings. "Dissection In a Late Night Chair" describes love under the influence of a massive drug infusion that totally warps reality while spitting out truth. "Wednesday" is a long tale of alcohol at its worst that then hits bottom during "Mirror Lens" and further watches a friend take her life in a heroin overdose the next day ("Thursday"). "Mirror Lens" has an epic symphonic crescendo and "Thursday's" piano chords will make your eyes overflow. This album is not without humor. "Coors Spring Water" has a fun groove that hits the funny bone (complete with muted trumpet). "Depression, Deception and Loneliness" is perhaps the CD's best track... a sleazy sex story of one-night stands that will be celebrated by anyone who has played the singles bar-scene with reckless abandon. "Inhale" is a jab at cigarette addiction played to a hyped-up techno groove that melts into the whacked "Solo Fingers" and beyond into the non-stop vocal vomit of "Zit". "After the Movie" is the culmination of a great album as it's musical chords instantly induce tears... the album fades away slowly, having filled your mind with a million jagged pieces of emotion that will give you flashbacks for days, weeks, even years.
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Wordblender-Nectar
2003 saw the release of two new WORDBLENDER CDs: Nectar and Tainted Ambrosia. WORDBLENDER has picked up where their debut recording left off and grown exponentially. Why two full length albums at the same time? Apparently the material was abundant, falling into two very different categories. Nectar is the “day” to Tainted Ambrosia's “night”. Yes, the two albums are that different.
Nectar is based loosely on R J May's travels through Central America. Pnapper, the musical force behind WORDBLENDER, has enhanced the lyrical imagery with music that spans a multitude of genres, interweaving a Central American vibe throughout the proceedings. The sights, flavors and colors of Central America burst forth with aplomb. Various guest musicians have added to Nectar's uniqueness. This is "art" for the ears.
Nectar is an hour-long journey into exotic places. Far removed from the bleak landscapes common in R J May's poems/stories, this album is a positive force, one that documents new and unending possibilities for future WORDBLENDER endeavors.
A 16-page full-color booklet with all lyrics is included. The cover alone oozes a tropical breeze and endless summery skies. Check the dictionary: nectar is "the drink of the Gods.”
A quick rundown of Wordblender’s Nectar:
The journey of a flying insect is how the CD begins (“Cross-Pollination”). Flute and a funk groove is the foundation of “Bliss” and finds May intoning, “this is life, a moment, bliss, a lifetime this.” Mysticism and tribal trance carry “Inner Mountain Flute” into dark caves as a shaman leads us into a hallucinogenic trip. There’s a slow build up to the top of Tikal’s “Temple IV” (Guatemala) for a ceremony to meet alien ships in the eye of a hurricane. Humor is the key in “Montezuma,” a true story that takes RJ May from Nicaragua to Montezuma, Costa Rica. The funk is back for the tongue-in-cheek sexual innuendo of “Nectarine”. A slab of psychedelic reggae comes next in the form of “Tracers”. The instrumental “Morpho” precedes an exotic track called, “The Storm” that heats up sex and romance to new poetic heights. The great groove of “Chameleon” takes us to the end: a reading of “Stars and Sand” with only the ocean waves as backdrop (a perfect ending to a delectable album). The creative force of R J May and Pnapper have given the world another enjoyable experience. Nectar offers new discoveries with each listen.
Wordblender-Tainted Ambrosia
Prolific? WORDBLENDER has managed to release three full length CDs in two years. 2003 harkens the arrival of both Nectar and Tainted Ambrosia. Two albums, two very different themes, created by two artists (Pnapper and RJ May) bursting with artistic energy. WORDBLENDER is a music/spoken word/mish-mash of nearly every possible genre of sound found in modern culture. They seek to expand the boundaries of what has become a predictable landscape of spoken word and music.
Tainted Ambrosia is a dark piece of work, a complete and total contrast to Nectar (released on the same day). As far as substance is concerned, this album seems to be the true follow-up to their debut record In Vino Veritas. The main ingredients: alcohol, alienation, depression, reclusiveness, sex, childhood psychology, suicide, addiction, overdose, blame, confusion... and a bit of humor thrown in to taste.
The artwork adds to the music. Renowned artist Rick Klu did the original artwork for the cover and booklet. A 20-page full-color booklet with all lyrics is included.
Tainted Ambrosia plays like a book reads, moving from chapter to chapter with a flow aided by random vocal recordings and samples from movies. RJ May claims that the album is an "exorcism of personal demons." Indeed, some of these poems rattle the very essence of the soul. Pnapper answered May's battle cry with music that rides the edge of a razor, leaving a trail of emotions, forcing the brain and body to react. This is serious stuff. Art for the ears!
A quick rundown of Wordblender’s Tainted Ambrosia:
“Cross-Pollution” opens the CD with a horn section setting a groove that undermines a call to the gods: “Is anyone listening?” The guitar work on “Seven Year Void” is nothing short of disturbing circus music and May’s words offer no forgiveness. “Twelve By Six By Zero” addresses a certain 12-step program from an impossible non-recovering standpoint. Fans have claimed “Tired” to be Wordblender’s first true masterpiece, a song that eventually finds funk within veins full of painkillers. The phone call to a porn shop that precedes “Stop at Blue Video” is hilarious… and then the song, driven by the sound of a straw moving in and out of a Big Gulp, is both naughty and pathetically right on. “Hot Dog” must be heard to be believed. “Like Lizards Crawling through My Skin” is another funky/jazzy gem delivered with raw abandon (this track is oddly compelling). “Mr. Sun” marks a turning point of the CD; even in its deep freeze this is the last ray of hope. From here on out we wander through a sonic labyrinth that is icy and wicked. “Telescope With a Diamond Lens” throws a fuck-you finger at family issues while riding a sonic heaviness. Performed acoustically, “Cemetery Life” deals with the darkness of a broken relationship. Immediately following that is a tear-jerker (“Dodging the Ghost”) that deals with an overdose and ends in a brutal vocal assault (this song is obviously the follow up to “Thursday” from In Vino Veritas). If you as a listener are still hanging on, “X” will blow your ears out. “Another New Year’s Eve” and “Where Am I?” end the assault on the senses much as the CD started: by finding no answers, no gods to get answers from, nothing but “the gray emptiness of dawn.” Indeed, at the end of the rainbow, the ambrosia lies putrefied. RJ May seems to be drowning in his own shit, and willingly so. Tainted Ambrosia is a fascinating listening experience.
Wordblender-Live On Sonarchy Radio (KEXP)
Since playing their first live show in the summer of 2003, the reputation for this eclectic and unique music/spoken-word collective has grown rapidly. Their near-legendary live shows, from Seattle to Portland and beyond, have solidified a bemused and committed following. By gathering an exceptional group of musicians and lunatics, dubbed "the Full Nut Explosion," the live show has at times featured drums, bass, two guitars, two keyboards, trumpet, flute, dual & dueling saxophones, trombone, congas, bongos, percussion, a megaphone, and of course their dark poetry. The live show truly lives up to the band's signature "MUSIC & SPOKEN WORD, LIKE YOU'VE NEVER HEARD".
As the new year dawned, Wordblender was invited to play for Seattle radio station KEXP's "Sonarchy Radio" program, a weekly live hour devoted mainly to cutting edge and experimental local acts.
And so on March 27, 2004, Wordblender took the Full Nut Explosion with them into Jack Straw Studios in Seattle's University District.
The band featured
R J May: words/stories/poems/voice
Pnapper: trumpet/guitar/keyboard/percussion/vocals
Jeff Miller: saxophone/flute/keyboard/percussion/vocals
Josh Gilmore: bass
Jon Oswalt: drums
John Ransom: saxophone/percussion
Dudley Taft: guitar
The show was broadcast in real-time on KEXP (90.3 fm & 91.7 fm Seattle) and over their streaming web simul-cast (www.kexp.org). The hour-long set was engineered and mixed "on-the-fly" by host Doug Haire.
That live show is what is captured on this latest CD from the band that never fails to amaze and titillate. With no studio overdubs, this 12-song live recording features unreleased versions of songs culled from the band's three full-length studio albums, some hybrid versions, and two poems never before available on CD: "Africa" and "Psychoanalysis".
Finally hearing this incendiary live phenomenon on CD is something every fan of Wordblender will appreciate and thoroughly enjoy. Buckle up...
Wordblender-Anatomy
