Kramer Forms Squanderers

Written By Mike Greenblatt
Kramer Forms Squanderers

The constantly evolving artistry of Bergen County’s Kramer—visionary composer-musician-producer-filmmaker-label head—has manifested itself into a new trio called Squanderers whose debut on Kramer’s Shimmy-Disc record label is If A Body Meet A Body. Guitarists Wendy Eisenberg and David Grubbs are his partners in musical mayhem. It’s improvisation heightened by an urgent sense of drama, or a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist. Too weird to be ambient, too eclectic (or eccentric) to be background music, the first taste is the 4:59 of “Theme For Viewers At Home” (see below). The absence of drums gives it a luminescent ethereal quality. Kramer’s bass guitar slithers around the floor like a snake. These tracks were not written or arranged. They hatched spontaneously via jams in a New York City studio.

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Mike Greenblatt

MIKE GREENBLATT has been writing for Goldmine magazine and New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly for more than 35 years. His writing subjects fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's interviewed Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was 18 when he attended Woodstock in 1969.

In addition to writing about music, Greenblatt has worked on publicity campaigns for The Animals, Pat Benatar, Johnny Winter, Tommy James and Richard Branson, among others. He is currently the editor of The Jersey Sound.

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