Bongwater

Bongwater -- an eclectic collaboration between guitarist/bassist Mark Kramer and actress/singer Ann Magnuson -- juxtaposed innovative musical experimentation and Magnuson's funny and scathing spoken word observations on life, New York and celebrity. Kramer's musical backing went from atmospheric and psychedelic to a twittering distorted mush, dovetailing into samples of answering-machine messages, television snippets and real world sound bites. The song "Dazed and Chinese" was an interesting Mandarin version of the Led Zeppelin classic and their album Too Much Sleep is a post-modern classic. Before their unpleasant parting, Bongwater's zany ramblings and noisy guitars were best seen live, eliciting a responsive energy from their instruments and audience alike.