MANAS (with N. R. Safi) Alone We Are Alone As Far Down As the Sediment

MANAS otherwise known as the duo of iconoclastic guitarist Tashi Dorji and drummer extraordinaire Thom Nguyen have made tsunamisized waves in the free jazz and improv scene with their numerous tape and LP releases (drawing praise and support from such luminaries and fellowtravelers as Bill Nace and Ben Chasny) and their facemelting live shows, including high profile touring with Godspeed You Black Emperor. Back in the summer of 2019 they invited Naujawanan Baidar s N. R. Safi to sit in with them at a show organized at Fleetwoods, a selfproclaimed rock and roll wedding chapel in Dorji and Nguyen s current home of Asheville, North Carolina. Captured on tape was roughly thirty minutes of raw and pummeling improvisation, guitarbecomedrumbecomeguitar, building and collapsing over and over again like a collective howl from the depths of a necrotic capitalist empire in decay.