[…continued from last post]
Bob Gaulke: When Are These Not Difficult Times? – US – CD-R [2025]
- False Beginners 2:44
- Emergency Romance 3:31
- Too Weird To Be Wrong [feat. Nehedar] 3:15
- Time Matters 3:08
Bob Gaulke released a third disc concurrently with “(S)words” and “(detail)” last summer on June 6th. Like “(S)words,” it featured Hans [The Dutch] Croon, Barry [Shriekback] Andrews, and Martyn [Shriekback] Barker on guitars, keys, and drums; respectively. But unlike “(detail),” the Brazilians Paolo LePetit and Gil Olivera did not figure on bass and drums. Plus there was one guest star here taking the lead vocal on a track on this EP. It’s true that Bob likes succinct albums, but this one was definitely an EP.
“False Beginners” juxtaposed a fat backbeat with the delicacy of Bob’s tentative vocal delivery; dancing around the drums as if not wanting to impose. Mr. Andrews delivered a watery organ solo in the middle eight of this opening track in a way that had me thinking back to Garth Hudson [r.i.p.]. The sumptuous yet not overegged piano immediately gave “Emergency Romance” an emotional gravitas that made one stop what they were doing and pay attention. Mr. Croon’s spartan guitar added exactly the right grace notes to make the whole larger than the sum of its parts. Then Bob delivered a memorable lyrical salvo in the opening couplet!
“as we’re burning things down to a crisp
I gotta tell you you look fantasticvacuuming up the last chip
I’m wondering what you’re doing this weekendEmergency Romance
The middle eight here was an instrumental one what had no fear of jutting out perpendicular to the main melodic thrust here. The dubspace guitars and organ lines clearing a space in the song for doubt and uncertainty even as the piano segued back into view afterward to reassert itself. Only to find that those harbingers of doubt and uncertainty were not going to give up without a fight. Casting the love-song adjacent number the just-right shade of ambiguity that I’ve come to count on from this artist.
“Too Weird To Be Wrong” [love that title!] was built on an eccentric drum loop from Mr. Barker that delightfully unbalanced the song, and when the vocal began, we found that it was from Nehedar [a.k.a. Emilio Cataldo] in a guest vocal turn. Hans Croon’s pedal steel guitar added some delightfully buoyant bucolic vibe to the track. The distorted instrumentation in the meddle eight could have been guitar or synth; it’s difficult to tell. But afterward, whatever it was stayed around to add a level of disquietude to the remainder of the song that was in direct contrast to the friendly lead vocal as all of the instruments drifted into crescendo.
The loping melody of “Time Matters,” coupled with the nearly African guitar figure gave this song some unexpected frissons of euphoria to couch Gaulke’s sober examination of mortality as he discusses his relationship to his parents. With the melody taking a dark turn following the middle eight as the initial elation gave way to anxiety as the song wound down to its discreet fade.
These three releases were the first to be culled from the series of recordings made a while back with Andrews, Croon, Barker, LePetit, and Olivera participation. And Bob has stated that there are more in the pipeline to come. With his collaborator Croon in the crucial position of editor, his was the task to comb through the recordings and to pick the right performances. As such, the two albums manage to cohere admirably with distinct feels that set them apart, with the full Brazilian rhythm section grounding “(detail)” and the more emphatic and Jazz by way of Post-Punk distinguishing the compelling “(S)words.
The EP we discussed today acted as a grab-bag coda to insure that the more atypical pieces did not end up falling through the cracks. The groupings of musicians on each give them their distinct flavors as through it all, Bob’s songs could be no one else’s. These albums were released in June. I listened to them beginning in October. As I was compelled to keep re-listening to “(S)words” in particular, I felt that if that album was going to figure in my [spoiler alert] top 10 albums of 2025, then I’d better hurry up and squeak a review of them in here at PPM before it was too late!
It’s never too late to jump into Bob’s oeuvre since he’s got 34 releases in the last nine years to investigate! He may end up yet making Bill Nelson look like a slacker, so if you want to partake, this EP will be $9.00 for the DL with a physical CD inexplicably priced at only $6.00. DJ hit that button!
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Post-Punk Monk 