Reviews // Seawind of Battery & ragenap – got CHAOS if you want it!

Words: Bruce Warren

Cosmic Americana, as a guitar style, has picked up steam in the years during and after the pandemic. Whether it was players having the time and space to create, or just a need to get these zones out there to the wider world, there has been a wonderful flow of great music since. Two of these players – *Seawind of Battery* and *ragenap*, aka Mike Horn and Joel Berk – have put out a steady stream of releases over the last few years. While Seawind of Battery has focused on ambient and cosmic guitar, ragenap’s releases are more experimental in nature, but still down deep in the drone.

got CHAOS if you want it! (out on Eiderdown Records) was recorded live via audience mic at Brooklyn’s Troost bar in April 2024. This is the second live recording these two have put out, the first being Chaos LIVE Preserver in 2023 and following their studio effort, Chaos Life Preserver. These two players, Brooklyn’s Horn on guitar and Chicago’s Berk on Fender VI bass, are tremendous together. Both are also very accustomed to playing well with others; they each leave space for the other. This is not a battle, it is a quiet conversation in a bar. We can hear the chatting, the bartender mixing drinks, people laughing – we are there in this conversation.

On the second track, the duo becomes a trio as Jarrod Annis is added to the mix on lap steel guitar. This only deepens the zones we are already in. Annis shoots lines over top of the mix from Berk and Hunt, goading them a little deeper into the mix. Eventually, the conversation resumes as three friends. This is music that needs to have your attention.