The stunning and likely intentional result of their comparison is that The Unabomber is made to appear sympathetic, if not the more enlightened perspective outright. The Futurists seeking a technologically advanced perfection, the atavist seeking simplicity in a return to the organic even at great expense.
#Sleepytime gorilla museum series#
A cardstock case, it includes a series of microscopic photos of bacteria and worms with amusing captions and a 12 point comparison between the morals of The Futurist Movement and The Unabomber.Ĭalling themselves "anti-humanitarians" they feel that the forward looking gaze of the Futurists and the backwards atavism of the Unabomber are two sides of a similar coin. Of Natural History's physical packaging is actually kind of impressive. Idiot Flesh, as they called themselves, was a weird sort of cabaret experience, they carry that showmaship forward. Their first album, and their band before this, was had a lot of songs in a similar mindset, with a lot of similar values, but nothing that felt like it was part of a bigger picture, or a greater concept. At no one point does one segment sound exactly like another, always some changed variable. A concept I coined for myself to describe artists like this or Aphex Twin is "Low repetition music." While segments may repeat or refer to a previous part, the songs are typically very linear. But one of the feature elements is deceptive repetition. Lots of layered rhythms, stops and starts on a dime, changing time signatures and even some homemade instruments (The Sledgehammer Dulcimer is a fun name). Anything from the spacious and atmospheric to some outright metal. They wanted their fans to hear it recorded from the audience as it was meant to be heard.ĭespite the occasionally chaotic nature of their music, it actually exhibits many hallmarks of minimalist composition. Musically I half-jokingly call it "avant garde folk metal." Mostly acoustic instrumentation, in their time they encouraged fans to record them but insisted that no one use the house audio. As some may notice in "Sleep is Wrong" poetry can serve as a frequent inclusion in their music, adapting or paying homage to words that offered inspiration.Īs a band they stand for a sort of philosophical ativism, believing that mankind has grown too far beyond itself and simpler means are the only way into the future, the judicious use of amplifiers and guitars being a worthy sacrifice to their morals to convey the message. Claiming absolute sincerity in everything they do, they still have a penchant for amusing stage banter and a peculiar sense of humor. They claim their very first performance as a band was to the audience of a lone banana slug. The band has always maintained a weird aesthetic, pale face paint, strange dresses at times and no matter what, always maintaining this sense of "otherness." They've always maintained that they took their name from an actual establishment that burned to the ground on its opening day. One of their earlier songs Sleep is Wrongįrom Oakland, California this group of iconoclasts instantly sets the tone that normal is not for them. It would say it is their definitive masterpiece and I doubt they'd mind.īefore we get to the album itself, let's introduce ourselves to the band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Or at least it's a shining example of a "concept album." Concept Album always seemed like a derisive way to say the entire thing has a single point, but they very definitely had a cohesive vision for it and it truly stands out among their other work. I have said numerous times in my life that it may in fact be the perfect album. It's the sort of thing I've listened to for more than a decade and still find it refreshing to hear. Perhaps my first exposure to real misanthropy. I've decided to start off with the single album that has probably stuck with me the longest and affected me the most. Things that might truly resonate with this "audience," things that perhaps deserve to be canonized in that regard. What I'm hoping to do here, and maybe in the future as well, is highlight some misanthropic artwork that is truly profound, or at least worth giving a shot.
0 kommentar(er)
