Video: Sam Esh and Hard Black Thing

Decrepit Tapes Blog - Montezuma Baby Duck

A post from the defunct Decrepit Tapes blog about Montezuma Baby Duck by Sam Esh + Hard Black Thing:

Hard Black Thing was a Columbus, Ohio, quartet featuring Sam Esh (former Woodruff Ave. block captain, now mayor of a small unnamed hamlet near Savannah, Georgia), Mike Rep (Quotas, True Believers, etc.) Stu Sinn & Roger Time (both from the Harry Patt Band). Soundwise, HBTs side is a stumbling, white-knuckled barrel ride through myriad soundscapes as diverse as Amon Dl, Kalacakra, Portsmouth Sinfonia, Steve Marcus & Door & The Window, sometimes all at once! Side 2 begins w/ excerpts from the unreleased Sam Esh comedy LP. The sound is not unlike one might expect if one expects to find the likes of Tubby Boots channeling Jack Mudurian at a volunteer fire department turkey raffle. The laughs are on you, friend! Then its a down n dirty steel string strum & coarse vocal hum that is capable of reducing even the most erudite Alan Lomax sycophant to nothing more than a human tear box lost in Porch Swing, USA. Label art by Graham Lambkin. An LP that definitely needs to heard to be conquered.

New Additions: Montezuma Baby Duck album by Sam Esh + Hard Black Thing

On the Discogs page, commenters refer to Sam Esh and this record with "Esh is the member of the Columbus underground musical mafia who remains the least well-known practitioner of these lost arts" and "One of a kind mysterious recordings. Sounds, song sequencing, and the players' attitude are channeling Ethnic Folkways Records best 60s wax into a burnt-out midwestern basement behind a record store." So of course I had to track it down. Very weird, very unique, very interesting. Not something I would put on every day, but has a charm about it.

Know Yer Artist: Sam Esh

Artist: Sam Esh

Releases
1994 - Montezuma Baby Duck ‎album as Sam Esh + Hard Black Thing (Siltbreeze)
Unknown - Sammy Sails Sings cassette (Old Age/No Age)
Unknown - Jack of Diamonds cassette (Old Age/No Age)