"I can be evil and darkness"

Mushroomhead – M3 (1999) self-released

1. Before I Die
2. Solitaire/Unraveling
3. The New Cult King
4. Inevitable
5. Xeroxed
6. The Final Act
7. Conflict- The Argument Goes On...
8. Exploiting Your Weakness
9. Beauteous
10. Born of Desire
99. Dark & Evil Joe




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Hear me out on this one. Mushroomhead used to be the Midwest's best kept secret. They released three studio albums (& a remix album) completely independently. They managed to sell 50,000 of their CDs by themselves, during the mid 90s, before the wide spread use of the internet. They were selling out shows throughout Ohio and the surrounding area. It was obvious that Mushroomhead was a success. The band was turning down record contracts, no one could offer them a deal that was better than the 100% control they had as an independent band. They turned down multiple offers from Roadrunner Records.

If Roadrunner couldn't be part of Mushroomhead's success, they would just have to go create their own. They signed a band from Des Moines, encouraged them to get a second singer, as well as a few more band members (their original singer promptly quit, leaving them with only one). They hooked the band up with a professional special effects makeup artist, to enhance their theatrics, and hired the most popular producer in the nu-metal scene. It was a home run.

A few years later Mushroomhead became a national act. People dismissed the eight guys in masks & jumpsuits as a Slipknot copycat. It didn't help that their major label albums were uninspired and somewhat derivative. Their three independent albums are all highly original gems however.

M3 was their last independent album. This is nu-metal at its finest. It's easy to scoff at the genre now, but when done right, you can see why it became so popular. This is so keyboard driven, it's very reminiscent of Faith No More. I've always been a sucker for Jason Popson's vocals, the guy sounds like a pit bull. Don't be confused by the guest singer who appears on two songs, who sounds almost identical to the band's other singer, Jeffrey Hatrix. Hatrix nearly left the band during the recording of M3, so the guest nearly ended up as his replacement.

This album was originally released on the bands own MRH Inc. Records (which this version is). Through some legal snafu they stopped using that name, and eventually reissued the album under their own Filthy Hands moniker. Half these songs appear on their "debut album," XX, which is a "best of" of their three independent albums. Anyone familiar with Mushroomhead's first three albums easily dismisses XX, since it was so horribly "remastered" it's almost unlistenable.

Ridiculous Album Packaging

The new Dillinger has me blown away. Both in terms of music & packaging.
This is the limited edition CD (how "limited," I don't know), where they went all out putting this together.











I really wish artists did shit like this more often

Vernal Equinox

Subtle – Spring (2003) self-released

1. Jr.’s Band
2. Wallet Falls
3. Untitled
4. Less Populated Earth
5. Skullz



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The conclusion of the four part series. This is the exact opposite of Winter, as this EP is the most structured and accessible in the series. These songs are so “song-like” in fact, that they are all featured on Earthsick, the single CD compilation of the Four Seasons. This is the only EP to be entirely included on Earthsick.

Being as straightforward as these songs are (at least for Subtle) this is also the shortest of the EPs. The first abstract song of the set is “Untitled,” a song that got half-erased during the recording process. Instead of fixing the error, Subtle left the song “as is” for the most part, creating an unrivaled sense of emptiness & desolation. “Less Populated Earth” is the other abstract song, enough so that it could belong on Summer or Autumn, yet its slam poetry quality makes it lyrical enough that it doesn’t sound out of place on this season. “Skullz” is fantastic song, and functions well as a closer for the EP, but for the series as a whole, doesn’t create much closure. Considering the cyclical nature of the change of seasons, it only adds to the resonance of the series.

I’ve pretty much said with each entry, that the Four Seasons project is a phenomenal piece of work. Subtle rather successfully explored their sound, ranging the gambit from free improv to pop song-structures, all the while organizing their experiments via thematic elements and creating quite listenable releases. Earthsick organizes these EPs into a simple, abbreviated album, but it lacks breadth or scope you would achieve by exploring each season independently.

Pharmaceutical Bandits

I don’t usually do this, but here’s a single song. The original version of the song is from Rx Bandits' debut, and simply titled "Band-Aid," but this is a rather killer dub version from a compilation CD. The comp is essentially a demo reel for Ikey Owens, the liner notes state, “everything on the album has been affected for better or worse by me.” The disc is from 1998, from a now defunct SoCal label, so as you can imagine, it’s strictly reggae, power pop, ska & dub. I’m not one for compilations, but I really dig this.

As old as this is, it says “Pharmaceutical Bandits” and not “Rx Bandits.” Because this was my introduction to the band, they’re forever the Pharmaceutical Bandits in my mind. Since this comp is such a forgotten artifact, I thought maybe Rx Bandits fans might not be aware of this song’s existence

The Pharmaceutical Bandits – "Band-Aid for My Soul (Radiolistener Dub Version)"
from The Radiolistener Remixes (1998) on Vegas Records

Heavy Deeds

Sun Araw - Heavy Deeds (2009) on Not Not Fun Records

1. Heavy Deeds
2. Hustle and Bustle
3. The Message
4. Get Low
5. All Night Long
[Bonus] Hey Mandala!




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Sun Araw is pretty hip right now, Heavy Deeds made it onto a surprising number of “Best of 2009” lists (mine included). Sun Araw is one of the most original/innovative artists I’ve heard as of late. I’m probably overstating things, as his music is arrestingly simple, but that’s the beauty of it.

Sun Araw is the solo project of Long Beach musician Cameron Stallones, who plays guitar for Magic Lantern. What draws me Sun Araw is this overwhelming sense of humidity to the music. I’m not one to use meteorological terms when it comes to describing music, but if you give it a listen I’m fairly certain that “humid” is as close to hitting the nail on the head as it comes. You can try to break the music down to its components: the gnarly guitars, the commanding, perpetual bass, the never-ending organs, the trippy vocals, but in actuality what you have is fairly simple; funk music.

This isn’t a modern update of the funk of the 70s. What Stallones has captured on Heavy Deeds is like a faded polaroid; a personal, nostalgic memory of an essence. Everything is oversaturated, and bleeds into everything else. The vocals are so drenched in effects, you’d be lucky to make out a single line of words per song. But that doesn’t matter in the least, as their emotion is clear as day.

A certain amount of patience is required with these songs, you have to let them consume you. It’s pretty easy to let that happen with the thick bass. This is my rip of the CD, which features a bonus track that was originally the Sun Araw side of a 12" split. It doesn't really fit with the album, it actually does a great job at disrupting the flow. I just couldn't exclude it however. The CD is limited to 500 copies, the LP to 600 copies.

Move over Sufjan Stevens

The Residents – Arkansas (2009) on Ralph America

1. Nobody is Listening
2. The Bunny Boy
3. Sad Saint John
4. The Butcher Shop
5. Memories For Sale
6. Two Clown Paintings
7. The Black Behind
8. My Brother’s Skin
9. Save the World
10. Circe

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Somehow this slipped through the cracks. 2009 was the year the Residents embraced the digital distribution model, where they quietly, yet eagerly released their back catalogue, archives, and unreleased material through their very own digital download store. Arkansas never surfaced on said store, but was made public in a meager edition of 500 CDs, that sold out during the pre-sale.

Arkansas is the third album that has surfaced as part of the Bunny Boy Project. The core of the project was an episodic web series, about a man of questionable mental health searching for his brother, who mysteriously disappeared. In response to the web series, the band crafted The Bunny Boy, an album that saw the band returning to their zenith of musical achievement, their disturbingly surreal albums of the late 70s and early 80s. The Bunny Boy fell short however, as it still latched onto the highly narrative story telling of 21st century Residents.

As the “b-side” album to The Bunny Boy, Arkansas succeeds where its predecessor fails. The songs on Arkansas where cut from the original album, are alternate recordings, or where written for the world tour of The Bunny Boy. In this context, they lack a strong narrative that would subvert the fantastic compositions (which was the case with the original album). The lyrical content truly feels dream like. The music is eerily synthetic, and uncomfortably open. Unlike The Bunny Boy, Arkansas actually approaches Duck Stab territory. Don’t get me wrong, the band isn’t trying to relive past success, the songs on Arkansas sound remarkably fresh, and manage to not sound like experimentation.

I don’t understand why this is so limited. Arkansas stands out as one of the stronger Residents albums, especially from those of the last decade. I’d love to see them continue in this direction, but I doubt they will, as they’re always reinventing themselves.

Winter

Subtle – Winter (2002) self-released

1. 12/21/02 12:00-12:37am

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The third installment of the Four Seasons. Winter is the one outlier. The entire EP is a single improvised session. The experience is extremely desolate, aligning it much closer to it's namesake than the other EPs. This also makes it the most challenging of the seasons. Aside from being completely free-form, Subtle toys with preconceptions of live improvisation, using samples & field recordings. Percussive elements are impossible to identify, including whether they're sampled or not.

The one constant is Alexander Kort's cello. It's the glue that binds the track together. The band remains highly restrained, slowly building up a dialogue. The hesitation doesn't lift up until the second half of the recording. The keyboards are terribly low in the mix, but if you turn up the volume you uncover a wealth of electronics, adding much more to the improvisation. From here on out the days only get longer.

Destructo Swarmbots

Destructo Swarmbots – Clear Light (2007) on Public Guilt

1. Banta
2. Phases
3. Fireberry
4. Sipping On The Fog

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This is massive. Celestial. The closest any human being can come to replicating NASA’s Voyager Recordings. Destructo Swarmbots is the project of Mike Mare. Sometimes there’s another guy involved, it’s difficult to say really, since Destructo Swarmbots is painfully inept at disseminating information via the internet.

Mike Mare is currently in dälek. dälek’s Alap Momin mixed Clear Light, while James Plotkin mastered it. Mare recently collaborated with Isis guitarist Mike Gallagher to create a gem of an album, aptly named, Amigos de la Guitarra. You’d think with such high profile associates, more people would be aware of Destructo Swarmbots and his guitar wielding ways.

Alter Egos

3-2-1 Activate!/Tub Ring - Alter Egos (2007) self-released

1. 3-2-1 Activate! - Eraser
2. 3-2-1 Activate! - Now It's Got a Hold of Me
3. Tub Ring - This Is The Sound
4. Tub Ring - Touch

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Here's a picture of 3-2-1 Activate!:


now here's a picture of Tub Ring:


Let me explain: Tub Ring fell apart in 2006. At the time the band was without a drummer, then their guitarist & bassist left, leaving the core duo Kevin Gibson & Rob Kleiner. They managed to replace the missing members, but used this high turnover to explore a different musical side.

3-2-1 Activate! (god what a horrendous name) is a band that explores the poppier, more conventional tastes of Kleiner & Gibson. The "same group of people being two different bands" is not anything new, but it's a concept that isn't very popular, mainly because it's confusing as all get out, regardless of how well you try to explain it.

Things do get pretty confusing however, because the band really didn't know what to do with their new persona. During all this regrouping & creating a new band, Tub Ring was writing and recording a new album, The Great Filter. Instead of using 3-2-1 as a vehicle for their poppier output, they just incorporated the more traditional song structures and catchy hooks into The Great Filter. The result are 3-2-1 songs that show up on the Tub Ring album. There's even an iTunes single by Tub Ring, that's actually a 3-2-1 song. Instead of clearly diving the two bands, they just mashed them together.

This split CDr, which was handed out at the CD release show for The Great Filter, only adds to the confusion. As a split, it clearly delineates between the two bands, but you'd never guess that from listening to it. "Eraser" conveys what 3-2-1 was going for. It's straightforward. Too much so, it's pretty bland, and verges on sounding contrived. "Now It's Got a Hold of Me" sounds like Tub Ring however, nothing very "pop song" about it. The Tub Ring songs are fantastic, they're infinitely more energetic and dynamic than anything on The Great Filter. The split is worth it for "Touch" alone (T.S. Elliot references never hurt either). As a whole, the split doesn't sound like two different bands. It sounds like Tub Ring for the most part.

I'm not forgetting any cover art, there isn't any. It simply comes in a paper sleeve. Fans were pretty upset with The Great Filter, since the 3-2-1 influence really detracted from what makes Tub Ring so great. This actually upset the band, and now they have something to prove, which they intend to do with their next album, which they just finished recording.

Heroin + Dub

De Facto - Légende du Scorpion à Quatre Queues (2001) on Modern City Records

1. Legend of the Four-Tailed Scorpion
2. Mattilious Creed
3. AMkHz
4. Hoxadrine (Live)
5. Muerte Inoxia
6. Vesica Pisces (Live)
7. Cordova
8. 120E7 (Original Version)
9. Exit Template

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Not that I've ever done smack, but this album tastes like heroin. It's trippy. Not in a psychedelic sense, but in a spacey, detached, opiate sense. De Facto ceased to exist when band leader Jeremy Michael Ward died of a heroin overdose in 2003. They started, however, as a side project of At The Drive-in, with most of their output taking place in 2001, as At The Drive-in was self-destructing (i.e., more hard drugs).

This album brings the dub, and heavy. This is one of a few of the albums that I own, out of hundreds, that requires turning the bass down. And of those few albums, this is the one I have to turn the bass down the most. I've never heard an Ampeg ever sound this thick & heavy. The entire album was recorded live to cassette, so the fidelity can only be best described as having "tape grain." While it may not be high in production values, it's perfectly fitting for this dub. The melodicas, (which duel at times) with their drugged, high pitched warbling, are captured beautifully, with no distortion or clipping. As I've mentioned the bass is a heavyweight, not to be messed with. If you can find Legend of the Four-Tailed Scorpion on vinyl, the bass is hefty enough to compromise foundations.

De Facto recorded everything live, so the two live tracks from a 2001 tour of Europe sound no different than any of the others. Actually that's a bit of a lie, they're the strongest tracks on the album. That's only due however, to the energy of their performance. Ikey Owens' keyboards on "Hoxadrine" is probably the highlight of the album, as is Jeremy Michael Ward's sound manipulation two thirds of the way through "Vesica Pisces."

If anything needs to be reissued as a boxset, it's the De Facto discography. Each release was issued by a different label, most of which have long since vanished. I'd say "all of which," except I'm unsure about the France-based Modern City Records. They still have a website up, but it hasn't been updated for over two years.

A live version of "Cordova" can be found on the sister album, Megaton Shotblast. Super high quality studio recordings of "Vesica Pisces" & "120E7" are on the single, 456132015.