Cromagnon was an American experimental band that was active during the late… Read Full Bio ↴Cromagnon was an American experimental band that was active during the late 1960s. Led by multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriters Austin Grasmere and Brian Elliot, the band released the album "Orgasm" in 1969 (later reissued as "Cave Rock". The band is said to have foreshadowed the rise of noise rock, no wave and industrial rock. While the band was not commercially notable or successful, Pitchfork Media ranked the song "Caledonia" (later covered by the Japanese experimental band Ghost) at number 163 on their list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s".

Insane, chaotic, tribal chanting and bagpipes. Along with Comus, foreshadowed the modern free-folk/drone movement.

Already commercially successful as tune-smiths for teenyboppers, Austin Grasmere and Brian Elliot approached Bernard Stollman looking to focus their talents on something more original and unrestrained. Stollman asked, “What would be your theme?” and Elliot replied: “Everything is one.” Bernard said, “Go do it.” What followed was Cromagnon's (Grasmere, Elliot and the Connecticut Tribe) non-linear journey through the subconscious, weaving together bizarre instrumentation and meter with a psychotic blending of musical styles. Bagpipes, pounding percussion, blood-curdling yelps, chanting, laughing, and billowing subterranean rumblings create the otherworldly soundscape that is Orgasm (1969). Heralded as one of the best freak-out records of all time, Cave Rock was ridiculously ahead of its time and brings to mind the savage sound-fuckery of Nurse with Wound and Throbbing Gristle as well as the hallucinations of early Red Krayola.
(source: http://www.espdisk.com/catalog/2001.html)
Rotorelief records, reissued in 2015 the 1969 mythical "Orgasm" album (rotorelief.com).
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"An anomaly, even on the always far out ESP label, Cromagnon was the result of two top 40 songwriters (accustomed to producing bubblegum pop) who seemed to have completely lost their minds. I mean they must have, to produce something as wacked as this record. Austin Grasmere, Brian Elliot, and their mysterious 'Connecticut Tribe' spewed forth 50 minutes of primitive dada-ist folk psych.
Chanting, tribal percussion, short wave radio, maniacal, almost black metal vocals, hysterical laughter, bagpipes all coalesce into something ridiculous and amazing."
(Review from Aquarius)