Minneapolis' favorite sons (and daughters), mostly led by Emil Hagstrom and Matt Bacon, have been cranking out releases since the mid 1990s. While they've shared releases with sleaze noise kings Macronympha and Japan's master of sterile sound art Aube, they've never shied away from a healthy dose of absurdity and insanity, and on this messy, sprawling 99 track album, they allow it to fully devour them and revel in it. As much parody as heartfelt tribute to their influences, this is an unabashedly fun album.
SunShip/Little Mafia/Breathmint
Taking the title literally, this album is a loving parody of the experimental/avant garde/noise world, a collective of artists and works that aren't known for showcasing a sense of humor.With over 100 pieces in less than 40 minutes, the sound is all over the place by definition, united mostly by outbursts of harsh noise and a joyful disregard of formality and pretentiousness.
For instance, "Annette's Got the Tits/We've Got a Glitter Problem Now" is like a class of five year olds trying to play hardcore punk, and almost pulling it off, while "Muslim-Gay/Second Anal Report" throws pseudo Middle Eastern beats with a droning soundscape, and "Right to be Silly" is a spot on parody of the infamous Whitehouse track.
In many ways it is reminiscent of the spastic genre hopping of Naked City's Torture Garden, though focusing more on the realms of noise, metal and artsy avant garde, and with a sense of fun and joy that John Zorn's project lacked.For all its hyperkinetic, ADHD motives, the 11 thematically linked segments feel somehow unified beyond all reasonable logic.
While the audio portion of the disc is solid on its own, I must confess that I took the same sophomoric joy in reading the track list that I always felt from Anal Cunt's albums, but the results are only a bit less offensive.In comparison, however the actual music is far more diverse than the grindcore blast AC is known for, though it often comes back to the harsh walls of noise I'd expect.
With "categories" such as "What’s THIS Lube For…!" and "My Dick is on Your iPod", we're not talking subtlety here, nor should we be.With individual pieces such as "Acid 2 Mouth/Wake Me Up Before You Guru Guru" (in the krautrock segment) and "Hanatarasha Montana" and "Lady Gerogerigagaga/Ornette Coleminer's Daughter" towards the end, it's not high brow, but for any noise fan who enjoys a good laugh, and I know there are some others like me out there, it’s a brilliant work.
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