toomanyhelicopters wrote:i'm surprised at people giving bonsai superstar the relative shaft. i think that album is brilliant, moreso than HPISC, although i do like both.

I've got to agree here. Bonsai Superstar can be listened to all the way through no problem. all the songs are good.

Hissing Prigs has a couple of my favorite songs, but the album is not as consistent. The first four and the last four are good, but the middle i usually skip through.

"Nothing Ever Changes" is definitely my favorite song, though

And Brainiac definitely kicks ass, yet another band that I found out about just a little too late.

not crap. I've had hissing prigs spinning heavy as of late

the ideas on hissing prigs are witty and kind of ahead of their time, but it hops around so much, i find that record completely unlistenable, i seriously find more sense of structure in borbegatomus or the flying luttenbachers.

"set your boss gt5 to triple octave flange overdriven with wah option, riff out this maiden riff butt in major not minor, but add a reverse right handed hammer on, count to 27 backwards in variables of five for the chorus, and ill moog around with this pager going off in the background through an oscillator, and then well stop after 13 seconds and bleep a cheesy minor chord synth that repeats itself by pi for the rest of the track except for the last 13 seconds, then ill yodel while that dog barks - wait the lyrics......ok read that microwave manual but collage a few newspaper clippings from the classifieds, sample in a rocket going off that morphs into r2d2 singing lucy in the sky, but backwards of course and with that Trans feel, then segue into track 2 after the 7th gong"

smack bunny baby was so much of a better band. i truly enjoy the sound they had on that. enon rules though but may as well be unaffiliated hence unmentioned. fuck that hpisc record was a great idea with awful results.

les savy fav took those ideas and made them listenable. i do wholeheartedly agree that so many bands are ripping off brainiac, les savy fav is too, they just happen to do it better.

i usually find solace in creativity and appreciate it in hpisc, it just happens to be completely unlistenable to me. and im into everything including shit like gorguts, so im not really easily annoyed by noise. maybe bonsai superstar is the happy medium, ill give it a chance

i do really enjoy smack bunny so ill give them a not crap. i remember when CAN got like a 79-1, i wish that douche wouold have exposed himself.

gratified wrote:the ideas on hissing prigs are witty and kind of ahead of their time, but it hops around so much, i find that record completely unlistenable, i seriously find more sense of structure in borbegatomus or the flying luttenbachers.

"set your boss gt5 to triple octave flange overdriven with wah option, riff out this maiden riff butt in major not minor, but add a reverse right handed hammer on, count to 27 backwards in variables of five for the chorus, and ill moog around with this pager going off in the background through an oscillator, and then well stop after 13 seconds and bleep a cheesy minor chord synth that repeats itself by pi for the rest of the track except for the last 13 seconds, then ill yodel while that dog barks - wait the lyrics......ok read that microwave manual but collage a few newspaper clippings from the classifieds, sample in a rocket going off that morphs into r2d2 singing lucy in the sky, but backwards of course and with that Trans feel, then segue into track 2 after the 7th gong"

Dude! Are you listening to the same album? Maybe you got a copy of "Electro-Shock For President" instead (a record which I DO find unlistenable).

I say that some of the "noise" interludes aren't the most fun to listen to when taken out of the context of the rest of the album, but that's like, what? Two tracks out of thirteen?

Give it another shot. "Indian Poker Part 3" isn't like what you described, nor are "Pussyfootin'," "Vincent Come On Down," "This Little Piggy," "Hot Seat Can't Sit Down," "Kiss Me You Jacked Up Jerk," "70 KG Man," "Nothing Ever Changes," or "I Am A Cracked Machine!" Those are all songs with verses, choruses, bridges, and relatively straight-up drumming and guitar playing (albiet ran through maybe two-dozen effects!), I actually think a lot of stuff on "Bonsai Superstar" is a lot more far-out!

As for Smack Bunny Baby, it's an okay, but kind of run-of-the-mill early 90's alt-rock album. There's a couple pretty great tracks, but nothing as life-changing as "Vincent Come On Down" or "Nothing Ever Changes."

I think maybe the Bunny Baby lovers are more inclined to the Punk Rock leanings of that record and Bonsai is more for the Noise clique. Hissing Prigs is uber-arty and for that I love it most. There are fragments of it that remind me of other things, but it's so blenderized as to skew all the musical references that could possibly be tacked on to it. I find HPISC to be a rather frightening yet rather emotionally enjoyable masterpiece. The other two albums seem almost naive at what the four of them were able to harness on Prigs. Granted, it's earlier work, but oh christ what a step foward! Sexy and smart.

I did adore all the bunny/bonsai cuts live just as much as the prigs stuff because they were exhilirating. The five or six videos I've procured over the past years have only hinted at the elation I felt while watching it really happen. Oh god I love this band so much.

FYI, the vinyl version of Smack bunny has one extra song on it that ain't on the disc entitled "Velveteen Freak Scene" that's one of my favorites on that album. Hunt it down, nerds.


Faiz
(Note the perfect rating so far for Brainiac. Bless y'all for not being feebs about this truly wonderful band)

if I ever get a song I don't like stuck in my head I drown it out with "vincent come on down" and it always works. I'm not sure why.

Probably because "vincent" is a great song with a catchy-as-fuck riff.

some of my favorite Brainiac moments:
-Vincent Come On Down: the opening guitar riff has the weirdest combination of notes ever
-the saturated guitar on Indian Poker 3 that makes you wonder if something's wrong with your stereo
-I Am A Cracked Machine
-the orgy of demented screams in Kiss Me U Jacked Up Jerk
and Tim sounding like a Russian speaking english in the verse
-Tim's hysterical falsetto
-Tim's devastating screams
-the vocal on Collide buried under a distorted keyboard (how the hell did they get that sound?)
-Flypaper,where Tim's voice sounds so upfront it's like he's right there in the room with you

i could go on for hours.i just love this band.

Right now I can't stop listening to "F-Wording with the Altimiter." It's two vocal loops, a guitar, and Tim being just...bizarre. Brilliant. Can't say THAT sounds like Devo.

...