This New York underground outfit’s breakout album, Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock (2016), attempted to quantify 75 Dollar Bill’s engrossing sound, developed over a series of cassette releases and one previous studio effort. They preside over a contemporary swirl of mantric psychedelia made with down-to-earth material tactility.
Percussionist Rick Brown most often plays a wooden box; guitarist Che Chen, inspired by Mauritanian wedding music, conjures up intense, evolving drones with various stringed things, nodding to west Africa here, or the near east there. On I Was Real they are augmented by electric bass and amplified viola, adding yet more depth to their placeless, gripping grooves.
The variety afforded even within 75 Dollar Bill’s self-imposed strictures is immense: there is a salute to a favourite Japanese guitarist, Tetuzi Akiyama, on the track of the same name, while the more abstract C Or T – Verso sounds like a soured anthem. It’s a Rorschach blot of a record: you can find whatever you’re looking for here, from loose stoner ambience to shamanic virtuosity, with album closer WZN3 turning into a loose, swinging, Tuareg-derived rock out.
