You might not have caught his government name as the dude cycles through pseudonyms more often than the average Portlandian changes genders—but you'd remember the look. I don’t even have to describe it. You can see it now in your dome. Like a permanent marker tag on a water tower, written high enough that the maintenance guys just let it become part of the permanent scenery. A bit of local pride, they're in on enough to let remain. Unlike all those lower tag cunts who smear their names over everything as if their junior high non-artist jizz matters to anyone. Fuck the taggers of the Bay Area. You are all frauds. Creatively speaking. Sometimes decent to drink with. If we are only talking about your DJ set-up or recent setlist, etc. And that sucks really bad, too. Terrible cringe conversations. So we are back to fuck you. I've permanently damaged my humoring neuron stems because of you dolts. They are spackled with discolored and unglowing atom cell frey, tarnished and inert, as tiny dead celestias or helions forever martyred into stellaicly limp bumbaclotism.

I will come for you.

Lee won't change his look for nobody. And that is something to behold in his case and a few others. It is the mark of a beast. Not THEE beast but a notable one. Mentionable here for sure and worthy of spun tales.

Now operating under the moniker Kaliginous—alongside his girlfriend Vyla Sylvania on vocals, otherwise known as Winifred Parallax, Delphine Carillon, Artemisia Foghorn, Cosima Meridian, and Queen Saffron Alcove III.

Lee has finally started releasing music from what sounds like years of accumulated studio riffiage. Two singles so far: 13 Moons and Ad Astra Per Aspera. Both are dense, cinematic pieces that reward close listening and suggest an album is forming in the hallowed caves of The Syrinthian Mordoorian Vorhees Ashbury Occluded Basement Chapel Cryptorium Joe Coleman side room that is his home studio.

The Long Road Here

Since 1998, when I first met Lee, he has been playing music in bands, keeping up serious industry connections, and midwifing psychedelic movements within the microcosms of the Bay Area scene. By kindling I mean Shepherding Fomentation by way of showing up at the party late every muther fuckin' time. You understand why he remains G.

Late '90s—Lee and Patrik Sklenar conjuring grandiose glam swagger against dusky, shoegazery noise-pop. Immigrant. Then Novakinesis. Then the interstitial years of cab liturgies and bar fires. 'The Crier'—or perhaps I anointed him that, or someone else did, or the name simply accreted from the bridge fog. In a nutshell, he hath swabbed the decks and sleeps in the Captain’s chambers. No one has seen the Captain for years.

13 Moons

Going backwards in time to their first single, 13 Moons feels more experimental. I hear drinker of Ayahuasca. The dance of snake. The intertwining complications and rhythm patterns, along with equally complex instrumentation parts.

The song starts ominous and Egyptian-sounding, modern and tastefully done with proper synth tones following the vocals. This sounds like a sick sci-fi movie intro. Like Ex Dune Runner 2097 or another epic. The track rides its opening riff before cracking open into melody—around 1:20 the vocal harmonies cleave and braid. Beneath it all, the instrumentation writhes: synth lines darting, riffs shapeshifting, buried signals threading through. Edging? Do you even edge bro?

The vocals run the song with fitting dissonant harmonies, then rest into a more classic vocal chorus—catchy for this track. The guitars at 3:00 really shift things, and the synth takes the song into ginormia Flash Gordon territory. The skinny black clothing elves have entered the room and there is no turning back. You're cooked. And a killer cinematic Dark Crystal explosion battle scene arrives—highly disconcerting with a scary scream—and ends with a small boom transition. Then the song returns to the chorus with another synth solo riffing around. The whole thing is playful and rich with subtle parts, and at 5:00 the closing epic cinematic filmic return riff seals it. Roll the end credits Dr. Cronenberg. Metaverse DMT is sentient beings now AI from past human iterations for sure movie trailer ready.

Ad Astra Per Aspera

Ad Astra Per Aspera—"through hardship to the stars." The Kansas state motto btw, the phrase NASA adopted after the Apollo 1 fire, the sentiment tattooed on a few Кто смотрит на звёзды, тот часто бьёт палец ноги dreamers. For Lee, a man who has spent decades slacker grinding while keeping the music alive, who watched bandmates spiral through dark periods, who never stopped even when the industry forgot to care—the title fits. The stars don't come easy. They come through. With diligence and the luck of the Irish.

The track opens with killer horn vibes up front. The music sits on top of a solid bass riff and scaffolding, with much blending and multiplying complexity. First notable riffage arrives at :40 and again around 1:30 with a super cool Flaming Lips-sounding synth bass popping out of a mini break and into the next part. Not sure the effect sound here but the fuzzbox style hits a strong 90s Indie Psych Rock Lips nostalgia vein. Standards? trumpet solo kicks in nicely. SF scene connections. Down with Fluoride!

The female vocalist—Vyla Demetrious Killington—carries the song steadily and subtle on top of large arrangements. At 2:47 the guitars storm in demanding everyone to look at them without really trying because they are already hot, followed by a spaced-out section that fills the room and brings us to a curious space, a holding pattern of tripped-out twinkle realm. Many small sounds to keep track of, all with the riffing vocals over the top. Cool strange vocal harmonies and nods to old western riffs and Egyptian Bollywood moments, but the melodies wander into more original-sounding territory and fresh directions again.

There are a few Muse-like guitar moments—complicated riffage that sounds bold and Epiqe. The track is a bit more conservative compared to 13 Moons, and that's cool. It shows diversity and reach into new territory while 100% retaining the styles and sound of Kaliginous as we know them now after two singles and by osmosis of knowing Lee for many years, the music seeping off his appearance and into the invisible ears that surround him when he does show up. Usually when he has to work already or if there is a valuable social currency available.

The Sound and Its Ancestors

The music sounds like serious time was spent on mixing and mastering, with all the meta signals running through. This makes for a good psychedelic listen as the brain tries to latch onto all that novelty coming and going. The songs catch a specific vibe, and the music is reminiscent of a few other bands. Mutual inspirations come to mind and seem to exist happily here—and as friends of the musicians themselves, they make perfect sense: Muse, Flaming Lips, MGMT, Tame Impala, Animal Collective, Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Writing this I am presuming a lot and moreso just riffing myself after hearing the music. And maybe I owe him some musical attention. I am guessing at some of the production people and roles and relationships involved and that is ok for this story. Including what I write here. I've not done my research or spent much time here. Moreso my instincts and memory as it serves me now while writing this.

Lee's listed influences over the years: The Velvet Underground, Aphex Twin, Sonic Youth, Blonde Redhead, Boards of Canada, Debussy, Ravi Shankar, Tom Waits, Scriabin, Radiohead. You can hear all of it folded into this new work—the art-school ambition, the world music textures, the electronic experimentation, the classical sense of dynamics.

Notes from the Passenger Seat

I could argue this music has come a bit later than it should have. Being the dude who has encouraged a more regular and fearless release strategy to Lee and anyone else who would listen to advice. My method is to overwhelm any human with gargantuan levels of Buckethead proportions, bathed in Zappa numbers with a spin of Sun Ra epicness. With Moondog questions. As if quantity matters to make up for the lack of pure singular quality. I would argue that in ways, it means something other than nothing. And that everyone does it their own way. Quantity is necessary to tell the longer tale. The soundtrack to a life is different than a single or even a notable career. Nirvana made a huge impact but it is not the written biography or Cobain novel. I digress. More about me. I'm unusually documentarian. Some say it is a sickness. Narcissistic rumination complex. There is a tear in my metaverse and these are my translated codes and codex from inside the land of creation. I am a cunt to be reckoned with. This article is also about me. 51% about me even though I am writing it about them. It is always at least 51% me. Even for me.

The power of the one-hit wonder lives in a house that he or she owns now with no payments. Meanwhile, prolific compulsion often just makes for an unhappy construction worker.

What mystery woman is now Lee's girlfriend and collaborator? Who is out of touch with the San Francisco underground? Me? Yes I am. What were her musical origins and influences, and what is their major connection here? How has this come about and what forces are responsible? Have they been commanded by the Gods? All fair questions to ponder as releases continue over time. What is a mystery and what is not? How many licks to the center of the owl?

The meanings and lyrical deconstruction have yet to be analyzed, but I am getting the main vibe from the sound of it all anyway. These are questioning and curious nostalgic lyrics. Modern at times, wondering about the future and where humans will go and where home is. Overall the music is very positive and helpful in that sonic way. Not dark territory, although at times it can get scary. The epic nods to large landscapes in Ad Astra Per Aspera write out goodness and awe instead of dread. Through hardship to the stars—not through hardship to oblivion.

It sounds like fun was had during many of the guitar soloing parts and in-between riffs. Tossing them in there and making them fit just right. Lee is a talented musician and arranger of song.

Closing Transmission

Lee and I have always worked together and been friends over my long era in the Bay Area. We have traveled together into the universe and back many times over. Much drinking and good times have been had. Lee has also been a fan of my creative efforts the whole time, so it is easy to give some feedback back to him now as I practice my way out of absolute hack writer Lester Bangs Klosterman wanna be. Telling the tales of the tales and staying up well past mayhem to bring you the truth. The stars won't shine if you don't spend the time and if you don't buy, you Ain't never going to get high.

These two songs fit together for an upcoming album, for sure. As a long-awaited and admittedly procrastinated release, 13 Moons hits well and makes me want to write this so Bryan Byron Damien Spirit Swallow Ganglian Dendrite and Neo Troglodyte (Lee) continues to make more and release them. The follow-up Ad Astra Per Aspera shows growth and range while staying true to the Kaliginous sound.

More please.

———

Kaliginous

13 Moons / Ad Astra Per Aspera

Available on streaming platforms