"Anyone familiar with the CDR label, Jyrk, that I ran from 2001-2006, would know that I have long been a fan of William Sabiston’s music. As a member of Axolotl, as a filmmaker, or on his own, as ball lightning, he’s delivered the goods.

William formed Bulbs with Jon Almaraz in 2005, shortly after his leaving Axolotl and shortly following Jon’s move from Bakersfield to San Fran. Jon was a younger, ambitious guitarist just hitting the big city. Apparently the pairing was destiny, William’s beating-around-the-bush electronic drum styles mesh perfectly with Jon’s ultra-processed minute guitar jabs.

Bulbs hovered around the SF underground for a few years, only occasionally releasing hints at what they were capable of. I received a cassette, “Anela Of Tailoo Too,” which left me feeling like I had been punched in the gut. The music was light years away from anything else in the underground scenes they were occupying.

Light Ships finds bulbs at their most psychedelic and pointillistic. They occupy an odd space between the gloss of Kompakt records minimalism, the glue huff ambiguity of a band like Mouthus, and the stuttering clicks and confusion of a Han Bennik/Derek Bailey duo. There’s a lot of movement from more acoustic to more electronic sounds, from more straight rhythmic patterns to totally elliptical percussive gurgling, from understanding what’s going on to not having any sort of idea who is doing what to whom. Despite all these shifts and potential contradictions, the music manages to be entirely cohesive and the record is surprisingly easy on the ears. Everything here has its place." - Pete Swanson, Yellow Swans.

more by William Sabiston/Bulbs