The final Vacuum Tree Head album, and what a way to go out! Released in December of 2019, this collection of 9 compositions is the soundtrack to an as-yet unrealized animated film, a meditation of sorts on the nature of consciousness and empathy.

"The set kicks off with “Hegemony Cricket” that will remind a bit of instrumental Zappa in the Grand Wazoo period, but it is the unmistakable acrobatic voice of Amy X Neuburg that is first heard on the second track, “Bosses,” that pretty much sets the tone for much of the rest of what’s here, carrying forward to “Nubdug” and “Marlon Brando” with a mix of power jazz, rock, hints of bop, funk, Canterbury, and much more. “Mystic Chord” is a short instrumental vignette that offers layers of woodwinds over Myles Boisen’s lap steel with unusual electronic sounds hovering in the background, with another short instrumental “Gnostic Charms” following, this one being more aggressive and driven, back into Zappa territory, though it’s barely over a minute long. “Meritaten” is barely half a minute, but acts as an introduction to the powerful and funky “EMS Deluxe,” a bit reminiscent of the early 70s Miles Davis style, with Amy X’s vocals gracing both tracks and a killer guitar solo by Corny. “Bubbleclaw” closes the set with Neuberg's voice over an engaging slow-building jazz-rock epic all of a minute and a half in length! There’s a lot of amazing twists and turns across these nine tracks that will keep the listener on the edge of their seat."
-Peter Thelen, Expose.org


"All good things come to an end! Vacuum Tree Head were a Californian collective of musicians lead by Jason Berry and Michael De La Cuesta. Over the course of their thirty-year history, they released over a dozen records. Ten years ago, I had the pleasure to review two of their albums, where especially the short Thirteen! really pleased me a lot. Rhizomique is unfortunately their last recording, but rejoice!, because it’s even more adventurous than that record. What they have in common is their short running time. Rhizomique contains eleven tracks and makes it hardly over eighteen minutes. So it’s really a short album, but like in the past, Vacuum Tree Head manage to stuff all kinds of ideas into their songs so that the record actually doesn’t need to be any longer.

It all starts with Hegemony Cricket, an eighty second short instrumental full of woodwinds (flute, clarinet, saxophone) plus of course guitar, drums etc. It feels like Frank Zappa jamming with a high school band, but in a really charming way. Bosses is at one minute even shorter, and features the sublime vocals of Amy X Neuburg, who could be the spiritual sister of Dagmar Krause (Henry Cow, Art Bears, News From Babel). Nubdug is a similar track, also with Neuburg’s amazing voice, but comes with a Mr. Bungle vibe that makes this track extra-fun. The middle part of Rhizomique feels even jazzier. Marlon Brando has a sultry jazz bar atmosphere, and is more sedate in pace. Mystic Chord is an instrumental led by a wandering clarinet solo, with atonal or microtonal synths wheezing in the background. It’s this strangeness that elevates the band to highest art. Gnostic Charms is a short jazz instrumental, before the band shows on Meritaten that you can perform an entire Rock in Opposition song, with vocals and all, in just half a minute. EMS Deluxe on the other hand is at five minutes the longest track on the album, and frankly a good moment to get back your breath after all these intense miniatures. The song’s length is explained by the three solos: alto saxophone, electric piano and lead guitar, giving this piece a vibe à la King Crimson circa Lizard. The album ends with Bubbleclaw, Vacuum Tree Head’s last sign of life, and that was it.

Planned as the soundtrack for an as yet unrealised science fiction animated film, I can guarantee that you can listen to these not even twenty minutes of music without the optical support. What a way to leave the stage! I am an avid fan of avant prog and Rock in Opposition, but too often these genres get lost in their braininess and lose the melodic side that makes it all so appealing. Vacuum Tree Head at their best sound like Henry Cow circa Living In The Heart Of The Beast, and I don’t know if I can make a higher compliment.

The end of Vaccum Tree Head is at least not the end of Jason Berry’s musical journey. He went on with some former co-musicians, but without Michael De La Cuesta, to found Nubdug Ensembe, looking for new music adventures. But more about that on that later..."
-Pascal, disagreement.net


A review in Italian (with English translation) may be viewed here -
www.rootsmusic.it/vacuum-tree-head-rhizomique-roots/


"...Le premier concerne Vacuum Tree Head et Rhizomique est leur dernier album à tout jamais si j’ai bien compris d’un collectif plus qu’un groupe dans lequel figure une des têtes pensantes, Jason Berry et dans lequel est passé notamment Moe Staiano des fabuleux Surplus 1980. Mais on nage ici en plein délire jazz avant-gardiste dadaïste et surtout inclassable. Si vous trouvez que ça fait aussi musique cinématographique, c’est normal puisque c’est la bande-son d’une comédie musicale de science-fiction. Ça donne envie hein dit comme ça ?"
-perteetfracas.org


"Vacuum Tree Head was co-founded by Jason Berry (electronic sounds and additional instrumentation) and musical millipede Michael de La Cuesta (vibraphone, congas, sitar, electric guitar, synthesizer, whatnot) in a garage in south San José, California, in 1989.

The music on Rhizomique was conceived as a soundtrack for an as-yet-to-be-produced animated science fiction musical. Quite possibly a wacky weird one at that, for the enclosed paintings in the booklet show a resemblance to the strange voyages of 'Axel Moonshine', a French SF comic mixing surrealism and psychedelics, with humour and realistic absurdness. Musically things are not much different, gliding through avant garde, jazz, fusion, electronics and other miscellaneous Frank Zappa-confusing madness.

The drawings enforce a small narrative, making it slightly easier to find cohesiveness between the short, playful compositions. Marlon Brando steams with jazz and psychic sax, Mystic Chord's experimental soundscape goofs along with electronics, while the extensive (never thought I'd state five minutes as extensive) EMS Deluxe brings intoxicating swing jazz and some great guitars. Finally, in Nubdug the complexities, odd time signatures and electric riffs occasionally bring to mind King Crimson, although in light of the expressive soprano vocals, I much rather have a nice Sunday Lunch instead."
-Jan Buddenberg, DPRP.net


"“Rhizomique” is an experimental trip through a Jazz, Spoken Word, Funk, and Rock fusion explosions. This 2019 release on Pest Colors Music is a tasty musical treat of short, musical explorations into the multitude of melding genres VTH is know for. This release is no different, as those fluid genres are tightly woven into this deliciously tight EP length CD. “Rhizomique” has plenty of musical whims to keep the most curious of listeners entertained. I sense the need to point your future listening attention to VTH’s Nubdug incarnation.
-KFJC 89.7 FM

"Ach, die Zeit, die verfluchte Pest, fliegt und entreißt einem die schönsten Erinnerungen. Wie sonst hätte ich Jason Berry vergessen können, diesen Polymath & Master-Alquimista, der zusammen mit dem Gitarristen Michael de la Cuesta und VACUUM TREE HEAD Graffi­tis von buntester Sophistication an die Zeitmauer gesprüht hat? Dem postpunk-poppigen Zauber von "Thirteen!" (2010) und "Discoteca MM2" (2011) folgten, von mir leider unbe­merkt, mit dem alttestamentarischen "AASRAA" & "Botafogos in Shadow Position" zwei gitarrenlose EPs, die Berry in einer Eastcoast-Phase den Philistern um die Ohren schlug, zusammen mit Brooklyner Promis von Kayo Dot, Confusion Bleue und The Molecules, ja sogar Thollem McDonas und Kyle Bruckmann mischen mit. 'Moses and Monotheism' ba-bababa-babadam. Wer hat je vor 'Adonai' einen Tuba-Tango getanzt? Berry hat das jeweils illustriert mit surrealer, entfernt mit Moebius, Loustal oder Chaland verwandter Comic-Kunst als seinem sine qua non. Das, zusammen mit dem artrock-zickigen Gesang von Amy X Neuburg (Robert Ashley, Barry Cleveland) und Keyboard/Synthi-Sound von Amanda Chaudhary (ex-Reconnaissance Fly, Surplus 1980), prägen nun auch Rhizomique (# 42R) als Soundtrack zu einem vorerst noch imaginären SF-Zeichentrickfilm und zugleich nach 30 Jahren VTHs Last Curtain, an dem neben Berrys Multiinstrumentierung & De La Cues­tas Percussion zu Gitarre, Bass und Drums auch noch Myles Boisen (Splatter Trio, Tom Waits) an Pedal und Lapsteel mitmischt und in der 3-köpfigen Bläsersection Steve Adams (Birdsongs Of The Mesozioc, Rova). Um contorsionsakrobatisch und zugleich pop-betüp­felt zwischen Zappa und "Kew.Rhone." zu mäandern, mit Sitar- oder Bongo-Verzierungen, moshenden Schubsern, mystischen Schnörkeln, fetziger Funkiness. Neuburg erklärt mit mädchenhellem Sopran zum Skandal, dass Wissenschaft und Philosophie zu oft dem Ge­glaubten und Scheinbaren trauen. Dagegen wird, 'Twixt enoument and ambuscades, dem Gefühl, belauert zu werden und dass alles vergeblich ist, zähneknirschend die Faust ge­schüttelt. 'Mystic chord' und 'Gnostic Charms' schließen bruchlos an Rätsel-Lyrics wie see Marlon Brando / Shot between the eyes with a diamond / Napoleonic Code guides his hand an. Ewig verachtet, oder ausgelöscht und vergessen werden, Meriten, oder Moritaten? Wer beides will, bekommt 'Meritaten'. Steht H für Hill, Hell oder Hector (It's hard to tell), werden aus F Front, Friends oder Flocken von Schnee? B, zweifellos, steht für 'Bubbleclaw', für Brutal etude und Bosses im Plural. Doch, trotz dem verhängten Darwinian doom, Cast out thy dysthymia. Din dawn - lasst Mörgenröte dröhnen! 1:32 für die Artrock-Ewigkeit! [BA 110 rbd]"
-Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy magazine


"The album opens with a jazzy tune, ‘Hegemony Cricket’, arranged for a great number of instruments. Leading up to richly coloured music. The first characteristic of their music. ‘Bosses’ has vocals by classically trained vocalist Amy X Neuburg and reminded me of the Fibonaccis. Their arrangements go into detail as the short and funny sitar-interlude shows. ‘Nubdug’ has a very infectious intro and is a catchy song. Again vocals that bring memories to Fibonaccis and Dagmar Krause, etc. With ‘Mystic Chord’ they decide on something completely different. This is an open and abstract avant-garde texture of electronics sparsely instrumented with woodwinds and lap steel guitar. Very atmospheric and also leaning towards elements of film music. ‘EMS Deluxe’ is a grooving piece of music and maybe for this reason the longest track. The album closes with ‘Bubbleclaw’, which is another example of how many ideas they can put in an ultra-short track. Most of the nine tracks clock between 1 and around 3 minutes. The album takes about 20 minutes in total, but because of the richness of ideas, instrumentation, etc., I got the impression it took much time."
-Dolf Mulder, vitalweekly.net


"The album combines progressive/avantgarde rock, funk and an experimental blend of bebop and freestyle jazz to create a boundary pushing and highly explorative brand of fusion. It seems so clear cut when genres are listed like that, however there is nothing clear cut about this album. Just when you start to think that you're starting to wrap your head around what is going on things completely shift in a new and unexplored direction. At any given moment, a new instrument will be added, vocals will enter the mix, or the rhythmic direction of the song will do a full 180. My main piece of advice for experiencing this album is to just go with the flow, do not presume to know what will come next but embrace it fully anyway. This is something that freeform jazz listeners would already understand. However, I'm sure many of you won't be familiar with that style of music, so if this is a new experience for you then it may serve as a great introduction to this style of music.

The album has a Frank Zappa kind of frenetic energy to it but goes to places that even his music did not dare. The jazz influences that make up (at the very least) half of the album's overall essence is a key difference between his music and this project's. But that same total disregard for people's opinions/judgements on their art is another similarity that unites the two yet again. This is definitely the first album where I've heard Hendrix style riffs paired with operatic vocals, funk style bass and freestyle jazz jamming on a single track."
-James Sweetlove, cavedwellermusic.net