En 2013 el sello De Stijl recuperó de manera digital el catálogo de The No-Neck Blues Band con motivo de su 20 aniversario de vida por parte del colectivo, enmarcado en una serie de actuaciones que sirvieron de celebración . Muchos de los fans de la formación, gran nómina de nombres célebres dentro de la escena experimental, se encargaron de revisitar el contexto y la importancia de cada uno de sus discos. Sobre "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones But Names Will Never Hurt Me":
"Sometime in 1999 we were contacted by Dean Blackwood of Revenant Records, asking us if we wld be interested in hosting John Fahey at our Hint House compound in Harlem, with an eye toward a US tour with NNCK to follow. We agreed, + upon meeting Fahey in raybans at JFK it was clear that our lives wld never quite be the same. After doing a few shows w him in NY, it was decided that NNCK wld make a record fr Revenant, which was Fahey’s label. In order to rise to this auspicious occasion, we enlisted the legendary 60’s underground record producer Jerry Yester, whose work fr Zal Yanovsky, Tims Buckley + Dawe, + his own Farewell Aldebaran + Rosebud LPs w his wife Judy Henske we considered to be visionary. The results mark the fulcrum upon which the NNCK legacy rests. Originally packaged in a custom plexiglass + branded wooden package, + named by Edwin Pouncey of Wire magazine as his choice fr the best record of 2001.
Sticks and Stones was the first project in my newly constructed studio, Willow Sound, deep in the Ozarks of NorthWest Arkansas, 1999.
I should’ve stopped right there. NNCK floated into town on a vapor, and left the same way (Not without the notice of the local constabulary, who hassled them on their way out, for… “Bein’….just too differnt!"). They left, but not before making the most unusually creative pieces of work I’ve ever been fortunate enough to’ve been involved with. At a time when most bands ran the gamut from “A” to “B”, These folks invented a whole new alphabet! From seemingly Old Blues, to Primordial Soup. Many Musical forms will improvise the content in a given framework; with them the framework was up for grabs. Everyone should be this much fun to work with.
~ Jerry Yester " (*link*)
La falta de descanso, y la turbulenta combinación de lluvia y viento esta mañana, me ha hecho volver a uno de mis discos favoritos de la formación al que llegué gracias a la buena acogida por parte de la crítica en su día y verlo en el top10 del año en The Wire. Fue una puerta de entrada en su día al género del folk psicodélico y psicotrópico que, posterormente, me llevaría a descubrir muchos de los grupos que sondeaban por estas coordenadas a principios de la década pasada y que tanto me fascinaron. Hoy brindo por ellos.
Recupero al mismo tiempo, una entrevista que hice a Pat Murano, miembro de la formación:
http://www.conceptoradio.net/2014/01/21/en-conversacion-con-pat-murano/
Una grabación sobre su actuación en 2013 en Issue Project Room
