Marcelo Radulovich recruits former Zappa and Penetrators players

Marcelo Radulovich, who is back with a new studio project called Western West, has had homes in Chile, Costa Rica, Fresno, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Holland, more or less in that order. Asked about his musical projects over the years, the list get even longer and stranger. “The Playground Slap, Merry Go Down, Trummerflora Collective, Ultra 7, Wormhole Effect, This Way Out, The League of Assholes, Gunther’s Grass, Nicey Nice World, Son of Radul, The Royal Orchestra of Titicaca. I think that is it, though I feel I’m forgetting one or two. The common denominator has always been new music. Whether structured or improvised, I have been pretty consistent — the approach being [to] make it fresh, make it interesting, take chances.”

He describes Western West’s new album City by the Sea as “four rock/noise/prog tunes full of twists and turns,” released on his own Titicacaman label. (The word is obviously dear to his heart. For the record, “Titicaca” refers to a lake in Boliva, and/or the peoples living near it.) It features Jim Call (locally famed from the Penetrators) on organ, theremin, and spoken word, guitarist Jeff Mattsson (late of the epochal Crash Worship), and drummer Bill Ray, who miraculously survived playing with Ike Turner. Radulovich himself takes the vocals, bass, synths, percussion, melodica, and xylophone, plus that unlikeliest of prog (or rock) axes, the hurdy-gurdy.

Western West was formed through good old-fashioned networking — Radulovich-style, of course. “Nicey Nice World had a gig at the Black Cat Bar, and Jim [Call’s] friend Jeff Mattsson was in town. Jim and Jeff have a project called The Purple Hand of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, so they opened, Jim on organ and theremin, Jeff on guitar. I liked the drones and spaces they created, and thought myself on hurdy-gurdy would be a good addition, so I invited them to my place. It was the first time Jeff and I played together, though it felt like we had been doing so for years. We recorded over an hour’s worth of improvised music — a bit tedious at times, a bit of aimless wandering at times — but still, a session that flowed smoothly, all simpatico.”

That was in 2015 at Titicacaman Studio, Cardiff. Other bands and shows kept Radulovich busy over the following years, but he reviewed and revised those sessions little by little, using Bill Ray drum tracks left over from an upcoming project with former Frank Zappa band member Mike Keneally. “It was inspiring and challenging to turn the original improvisations into songs, and since I’ve been working this way for years — piecing things together, sampling, et cetera — I enjoyed making it all sound like a band playing in the same room at the same time.” While “prog” marks only one of the new music’s several signifiers, the album is certainly structured like prog, with the shortest of the four tracks, “Patricians and Beauticians” running more than nine minutes. The “City by the Sea” title track runs more than sixteen.

“No major themes or concerns,” reports Radulovich regarding his voluminous lyrics, delivered in two languages. “Just writing. I like rich, surreal imagery, so I responded to whatever I was experiencing at the moment through metaphors and rhymes. I grew up with a Chilean bent for words and poetry. We all have a penchant for the abstract, for dark things, so I followed that path. I enjoyed how sometimes songs wanted to be in Spanish, like ‘Carajillo’ in the Western West album. I’m always happy to oblige when that happens. Also, this album is in large part about my wife and me, in this city by the sea.”

The contrast between Radulovich’s sung lyrics and Jim Call’s spoken word also proves crucial. “Jim and I always work with a common purpose. We share a lot of the same influences, so what we aim to be pungent poetry flows on its own.”

Asked about post-Western West work, Radulovich mentions “a couple of upcoming releases with my old friend Mike Keneally. One [album of] short atmospheric instrumental pieces titled Monday [released September 1]. The other is an album titled Bask, which is more song-based, and also features Bill Ray on drums, releasing on October 6. Then, after that, I’ll see if I can finish another instrumental album by The Royal Orchestra of Titicaca, me and a bunch of friends collaborating long distance. I’m also working on To Lilliput and Back Volume Three, a solo work under my name. Volume One was released in 1996, Volume Two in 2014, and hopefully, Volume Three will come out in 2024.”