The trio of guitarist Ava Mendoza, violinist Gabby Fluke-Mogul, and drummer Carolina Pérez will release their debut album Mama Killa on Burning Ambulance Music on July 11, 2025.
Mama Killa, named for the Inca goddess of the moon, offers eight tracks of high-volume, riff-based guitar-violin improvisation bolstered by thunderous drumming. Working together for the first time, these three musicians have created a record that blends country, blues, and psychedelic rock with blast beats and the heaviness of black, death and doom metal, wrapping it all in feedback, distortion and pure whomping power. The sounds range from the black metal assault of “We Will Be Millions” to the Earth-like rumble of “Mama Coca” and the keening harmonies of “Amazing Graces,” from the Fushitsusha-esque washes of guitar noise on “Mama Huaco” to the avalanche of drums that opens “Trichocereus Pachanoi.”
Ava Mendoza (guitar, vocals) has recorded and performed in a stunning variety of contexts over the last two decades. Her style draws from the finger-picked blues of Skip James, the atonal shredding of Morbid Angel’s Trey Azagthoth, and seemingly everything in between. In addition to working solo and as a leader/co-leader of Unnatural Ways and Mendoza Hoff Revels, she is a member of Bill Orcutt’s Guitar Quartet.
gabby fluke-mogul (violin) is an avant-garde composer, performer, and educator who has recorded several albums of solo improvisation and collaborated with artists including saxophonists Zoh Amba and Ivo Perelman, guitarist Fred Frith, bassists William Parker and Luke Stewart, harpist Zeena Parkins, trumpeters Susana Santos Silva and Nate Wooley, cellist Lester St. Louis, and many others. Mendoza and fluke-mogul also perform as AM/FM.
Carolina Pérez (drums) is a founding member of the death metal bands Hypoxia and Castrator, and the secret weapon fueling this trio’s high-volume, high-intensity interactions. Mama Killa marks her entry into the world of improvised music, and her precision, power and groove are extremely welcome, and will remind the listener of when Mick Harris brought new energy to free jazz with John Zorn’s PainKiller.
Mama Killa will be released on July 11, 2025 digitally and as a limited edition of 500 CDs in heavy-duty gatefold mini-LP sleeves printed on textured paper, with artwork by Burning Ambulance Music co-founder I.A. Freeman. It is available for pre-order now on Bandcamp.