Jibilian/Glass: “Galaxy Rodeo”
review by Mitch Phillips

Introducing “Torque”

“What the hell is that?” Torque asked while driving the company vehicle to Home Depot. He looked like a confused grizzly bear; his huge, perfectly round head twisted slightly to one side to better locate some mysterious sound in the pick-up. The twin clumps of wiry hairs that jutted out of the top of his bald spot, that usually looked like tufts of dry weed in the desert, took on the bizarre appearance of insect antennae when he was searching for something.
“What?” I said innocently.
“That sound!” he roared in his usual boisterous tone, “Is that the truck?” He looked worried. When Torque got worried - I got worried. Torque can fix anything. ANYTHING. I’ve learned more about tools and fixin’ shit from Torque than I ever could from Bob Vila and the “Tap-it” Brothers combined. I strained my ears to listen through the road noise but I didn’t hear anything.
“It stopped,” he said, looking more confused and worried than ever. The worry on his faced morphed into anger. Mysterious sounds that come and go in your vehicle can only add up to trouble. I could see the massive gears in Torque’s head begin to churn out possible explanations. He wouldn’t sleep until he knew what it was and how to fix it.
I hung my arm out the passenger window and unconsciously tapped out a polyrhythm with my fingers on the roof of the truck: ‘pada ta - pada ta - pa pada ta - pa pada ta ta.’
“There it is again!”
“What?” I said, innocently pulling my arm back in from the window.
“It’s you!” Torque exploded, pointing an accusatory finger, his barrel-sized chest heaving from the epiphany.
“What?” I pleaded. Then the realization struck. “Oh, you mean the tapping.”
“You son-of-a-bitch! I thought the truck was falling apart!”
“Sorry,” I said defensively. “I’m a compulsive tapper.”
Ever since I was a little kid I’ve been a compulsive tapper. I’d tap on any available surface; the car door, the kitchen table, my knee, pots, pans, anything within arms reach that would satisfy my fidgety fingers. It used to drive my mother insane. “Stop that incessant tapping!” I’d forgotten about this particular bad-habit until a new CD, “Galaxy Rodeo” by Jibilian/Glass unleashed it again. Now I’m driving Torque insane.

Innumerable Galaxies, Immeasurable Possibilities

“Galaxy Rodeo,” the debut release by Jibilian/Glass is a compulsive tapper’s perfect car-ride companion. The CD features the NS/Stick, an eight stringed percussive instrument played by finger tapping bass and treble strings simultaneously with both hands. Although the 10 and 12 string versions have been around for close to thirty years, the NS/Stick is a recent 8-string hybrid created by Ned Steinberger with the Stick’s creator, Emmett Chapman. In any case, the instrument inspires a great car-top tap-a-long for the rhythmically addicted.
Stick player (Stick-er? Stick-ist? Tappist?) Gary Jibilian and drummer Todd Glass ferret-out the rhythmic possibilities of the NS/Stick in seven instrumental compositions that range from the playful, yet intricate jig “Galaxy Rodeo” to the sedated and dirge-like “In Memory of Doris Oliver” to the schizophrenic alien ballet of “Tango Tingo.”
But the CD could just as well be titled, “Seven Studies for NS/Stick® and Drum” to the uninitiated as the album has a very exploratory, academic and sometimes antiseptic feel to it. Each of the seven compositions stitch together crafty etudes that focus on technique and are repeated in predictable and symmetrically balanced measures. Melodic considerations are slight and somewhat deferred on this first release. But as Gary Jibilian points out in the liner notes, ‘...We agreed to record these songs ASAP, in order to chronicle our progress and to share it with as many people as possible.’ It will be fascinating to hear what this exquisitely matched duo will do next.

On The Road-ee-oh

Having only played the NS/Stick for a mere seven months by release of “Galaxy Rodeo”, bassist-turned-stickmeister Jibilian has achieved much in his first foray into the wild, opening for CAB (Dennis Chambers, Bunny Brunel, Brian Auger, Tony MacAlpine) and Bill Bruford’s Earthworks at The Magic Bag in Ferndale. Regular Sunday appearances at The Music Menu in Detroit (between their regular gig as the rhythm section of The Thornetta Davis Group) have met with much reported approval and have wowed at least one mid-western producer, Tyler Brown, who chanced upon their set while waiting for a bus back to Cincinnati. Other patrons, such as those of Detroit’s I-Rock, a bar famous for it’s metal and punk-rock fare, weren’t sure what to do with Jibilian/Glass but at the very least showed appreciation for their technical accomplishments.
But the duo is gaining momentum and a following. Jibilian has picked up a partial endorsement from SWR and an offer to play the NAMM show in Anaheim. Stick-curious guitarists and bassists who are now Jibilian/Glass fans may just abandon their tried and tired instruments for more fertile stringed territory. It may be, after thirty years (forty if you count the first mock-up), the Stick® has finally come of age in the 21st century.

Credit Check

Recorded at The Mission Studios in Birmingham, MI (engineer: Michael King) and mastered at Solid Sound in Ann Arbor, MI (engineer: Will Spencer), “Galaxy Rodeo” is sonically near-perfect; the crisp attack and guttural thump of Todd Glass’ battery kick you right in the chest and provide a sturdy base for Jibilian’s polyrhythmic adventures into sonic hyperspace. But best of all, it sounds great in my truck!

Round-Up

“Galaxy Rodeo” is an excellent introduction to the Stick for those who haven’t discovered Gordian Knot or the reformed King Crimson (since 1980). What it lacks in emotive depth, it makes up in musical dexterity. As I said in my show review, ‘...Gary Jibilian and Todd Glass are both top-flight musicians who are at least attempting to push the musical envelope; a breath of fresh air in a musical era choking on assimilation and mediocrity.’ Hopefully their follow-up will include at least one more inventive element to balance the rhythmic angularity of their music (I’m thinking an operatic soprano who sings totally in Latin - How cool would that be?) Until that time, I’m putting my copy of “Galaxy Rodeo” back on the CD rack to rest. If I keep up with the incessant tapping Torque’s gonna’ rip my arm off and beat me to death with it. And he’s big enough to do it, too.

Visit GaryJibilian.com

Mitch Phillips

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