Although he has been best known as a jazz musician since the 1990s, Benjamin Herman, as a fledgling musician, says he was heavily influenced by the do-it-yourself mentality of late 1970s punk music. Thus, with Bughouse - whose
debut album was released in 2018 and now this collection of never-before-released recordings - a long-cherished wish of the saxophonist came true: a resounding clash of punk
… and jazz (with a dash of noise). In any case, two genres with which it is easy to scare the uninitiated into the curtains, but especially so as Herman, drummer Olav van den Berg, guitarist Reinier Baas and bassist Peter Peskens (Jungle By Night) show it again on The ERUS/ARC Sessions. 22 explosive songs in less than 40 minutes, alternately reminiscent of The Comet Is Coming and the no wave of The Contortions (with the maniacal saxophonist James Chance). Or perhaps even better: to the New-York bands DNA and The Lounge Lizards, who had their own Benjamin Herman with guitarist Arto Lindsay. (RME)more
