Skullcap: Snakes of Albuquerque

Snakes of Albuquerque is the debut album on Cuneiform Records from the trio that call themselves Skullcap. The band is comprised of:

Janel Leppin-cello, MiniMoog
Anthony Pirog-electric guitar
Mike Kuhl-drums, percussion

The album is all instrumental, and includes a variety of styles, so there's no real easy way to describe the music contained here. "Pine Trees of Tennessee" is kind of like a haunting early '70s King Crimson track, and the eerie, yet mournful electric cello from Janel Leppin is quite beautiful. It's one of the longer songs on the album, and a good one. "Rt. 40" is a total guitar rocker, Pirog killing it with some Adrian Belew meets Robert Fripp meets Bill Frisell guitar noise. What a great player! This is followed by "Bear Out There". which is a mellower piece, with soaring cello and gentle guitar arpeggios. Oddball MiniMoog opens "Journey to the Sunset", which, early on, sounds like an old '80s video game, and then some wild King Crimson-styled angular rock kicks in, with Pirog again blazing on the guitar. The title track "Snake of Albuquerque", follows, with more of that haunting cello...this one is ominous as all hell. Weaving guitar lines around the cello...very cool, dark stuff. Not much to say about "700 Miles", a brief little percussive and cello track, which leads into "Orange Sky", a lovely little jazz guitar piece from Pirog, very Wes Montgomery influenced. Tasty track. "Just Passin' Through" features more cool percussive and cello stuff from Mike and Janel, and Pirog throws in some blazing guitar parts for a little bit of shred fun. Up next is "Desert Turtles", which is kind of like a percolating psych, desert rock song...tricky rhythms, bursts of guitar rumblings, some cool little riffs and leads...cool track. It's also the longest piece on the album at just over 6 minutes. Closing is "Ambrosia Burger", another brief track, this one is quirky and complex like '80s King Crimson. It's a fun way to end the album, but I just wish the song was a little longer.

Going into this one kind of blind, I really enjoyed much of this instrumental outing. Recommended.

Track Listing
1) Pine Trees of Tennessee
2) Rt. 40
3) Bear Out There
4) Journey to the Sunset
5) Snake of Albuquerque
6) 700 Miles
7) Orange Sky
8) Just Passin' Through
9) Desert Turtles
10) Ambrosia Burger

Added: November 26th 2025
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 491
Language: english

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