Pynchon Music: Sauter, Dietrich, Moore

Barefoot in the Head

Sauter Dietrich Moore (1988–1990); Borbetomagus (1979–present)

The first weird thing about this album is determining whether or not it technically belongs in the Borbetomagus discography. An aggressively avant-garde group founded by two sax players—Jim Sauter and Dan Dietrich—and Sick Dick and the Volkswagens guitarist Donald Miller, Borbetomagus pioneered a screeching, skronking, droning aesthetic that oscillated wildly between free jazz and noise rock. They produced many albums and spawned numerous side projects. In 1988, Sauter and Dietrich collaborated with Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore. The result was Barefoot In the Head, recorded during on June 16, 1988 at Fun City Studios in New York. The album was released in 1990 on Forced Exposure under the awkward moniker “Jim Sauter/Dan Dietrich/Thurston Moore.” The album is usually included in most discographies and articles about Borbetomagus, even though the absence of Miller makes that debatable.
That’s not the only offbeat thing about this cornucopia of sonic weirdness. Recorded on Bloomsday, named after a Brian Aldiss novel, and “borrowing” a cover from Max Ernst, the album instructed listeners that its song titles were to be considered “arbitrary.” Barefoot In the Head also featured liner notes by Thomas Pynchon, proudly emblazoned across the back of the LP. Except…that was all part of the joke. For many years Pynchon fans wondered if these notes were the real thing; they are still attributed to Pynchon in numerous published sources, and were even listed here at Spermatikos Logos as (possibly) authentic. But as Tim Ware has decidedly determined, the notes “are DEFINITELY not written by Pynchon (confirmed in no uncertain terms by the author’s agent).” Was it the fact Pynchon claimed to have served as midwife to the collaboration? Or was it the Somerville, MA address?
Regarding the album itself, here are Spermatikos Logos’ official notes, definitely written by David Foster Wallace, and not just repeating the Forced Exposure press release:
Long awaited reissue of this classic late 80s collaboration between the two sax players in Borbetomagus (Sauter & Dietrich) and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore. Five extended tracks of guitar/sax/sax improvisational interplay, recorded in NYC in June, 1988. We first issued this as an LP-only in 1990, but it has been out of print for a number of years (a CD version was licensed by Shock UK and briefly available, but has been long o/p as well). This is one mindfuck of a noisefest. Imagine if Metal Machine Music-era Lou Reed had been invited to Brotzmann’s Machine Gun sessions. You’re still not close. Likes beasts of burden locked to a single axis, the circles the trinity treads shaft deep, inside which they explode depth charges which reverberate to the core of your being. Now and again one might pull away to release heart piercing shrieks into the foul night. Truly tremendous.

Bogus Pynchon Liner Notes

Barefoot In the Head

One night Johnson, Coley and I were sitting in the back yard with a bucket of fresh sangria and a few bongloads of some very righteous boo. I’d brought out a box of my live Sonic Youth tapes and we were arguing about Lee Ranaldo’s tongue vectors in the third quadrant of ‘Society is a Hole’ (Folk City, NYC 12/1/82) when one of T. Moore’s downstrokes caught our attention. We ran the tape back and listened to the passage a few times. The subtly monstrous and mindless GUSH with which T. Moore hit the ‘E’ chord made it obvious that his playing was not coming out of a complete spiritual void. This was a real revelation. It meant that he was capable of actually unclenching his brain and loosing demons of soul creativity.
Because we hate to see anyone lackeyed to jive-ass, pop-structure, white-man a-motionalism, a plan was immediately spun for freeing T. Moore from the shackles of Peggy Lee-descended dogshit that were obviously choking off his TRUE HUMAN FORCE. Deciding which hominid cudgels might be best wielded against these procedural chains was a lead pipe cinch. Who but Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich? These two men are the freest, loudest, swingin’est white motherfuckers to ever jaw-cleave an industrial strength reed. Their work with Borbetomagus has long been a raucous fountain of tonal explosion and aesthetic purity, as well as a black-gloved fist up the diz of all conservative musical architects. If anyone could blow the lock off of T. Moore’s creational emo-safe, Jim and Don were it.
The rest was a snap. I had my agent get in touch with all the parties. She explained the points of our proposal in no uncertain terms. The results are presented here. Two free men meet a slave. Everyone goes home barefoot. Right-fuckin’-on.
—Thomas Pynchon
Somerville, MA
January 1990

Additional Information

Barefoot In the Head
Sauter Dietrich Moore
Forced Exposure, 1990
Track Listing
1. All Doors Look Alike (5:43)
2. Tanned Moon (8:21)
3. On the Phrase “Ass Backwards” (4:15)
4. The Date-Reduced Loaf (0:50)
5. Concerning the Sun as a Cool Solid (18:36)
Musicians
Jim Sauter—saxophones.
Don Dietrich—saxophones.
Thurston Moore—guitar.
Listen to “All Doors Look Alike” — You can listen to the album’s opening track on YouTube.
Borbetomagus Bandcamp Search — Although Borbetomagus isn’t on Bandcamp, you can still find some Sauter and Dietrich projects.
Borbetomagus Wikipedia Page — You can read more about Borbetomagus on Wikipedia.
Barefoot In the Head Discog Page — The Discog page for this album contains the original artwork.
Barefoot In the Head — You can still purchase the CD at Forced Exposure.
Trouser Press: Borbetomagus — Deborah Sprague on Borbetomagus for Trouser Press.
Age and Time — Pitchfork examines the Borbetomagus discography, with mention of Barefoot In the Head.

Pynchon on Record
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Authors: Allen B. Ruch, Dr Larry Daw & Kurt Johnson
Last Modified: 10 December 2021
Main Pynchon Page: Spermatikos Logos
Contact: quail(at)shipwrecklibrary(dot)com

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