THC Trio’s name might be alphabetically justified, but it’s a throwdown nonetheless, especially coming from a band from Austin. Saxophonist Joshua Thomson, guitarist Jonathan Horne and drummer Lisa Cameron are up for the challenge. Not only is there plenty of Texas freakiness in their collective CV—which includes gigs with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Atlas Maior, Tom Carter, Brave Combo and Roky Erickson—they’re ready and willing to add to the tradition.
Thomson, Horne and Cameron play a brand of free improvisation that’s close enough to rock in places that they’ll have a good chance of seducing the unsuspecting, sending them on a wayward path. So you don’t have to put in the time searching for it, here’s a YouTube video of THC Trio playing for a sunset crowd on the outdoor stage of the Bookstar Bar, serving up sounds much like the ones on this cassette for evening walkers-by.
And how does THC Trio sound, you ask? In a couple words: pretty wooly. In a few more: like a collection of musicians who’ve internalized the lessons of Sonny Sharrock, Masayuki Takayanagi and Ornette Coleman, but also have enough rock wired into their nervous system that you can hear it implied even when they operate outside the idiom.
On opening track “Dropping The Hammer,” Cameron lays down a “bring out yer dead—now” cadence on the toms while Horne slops low-end rumbles like an action painter who’s ready to get this party started. Here and elsewhere, Thomson offers essential contrast; his tone is pungent but not as coarse as his associates, and his phrasing has a spaciousness that balances their density. When Horne and Cameron ease back on the intensity on “Health And Sufficiency,” Thomson actually pulls them briefly in a balladic direction. But when they go quietly dark and abstract, he matches their vibe. You might say that their rapport is baked in. [Personal Archives]
—Bill Meyer
