Maniac Meat - Tobacco

So Tobacco. The man behind Black Moth Super Rainbow and the Macho man behind anything and everything Tobacco. This is the third installment; Maniac Meat. Substance abuse is more than apparent throughout this entire album, as everything ranges from psychedelic to hip hop, to even more psychedelic and more hip hop. This album has dug itself deep into my heart and has found a cozy spot to stay there. Lets begin the track by track breakdown of the album.

1. Constellation Dirtbike Head- Okay... The first song ever with Tobacco using live drums (or at least samples of them) with a new vocoder effect...makes for one of the best introductions to an album I've ever heard. This is a clear sign of what the rest of the album is going to be like. A more intense, heavily layered album just pretty much grabs the listener and shakes them fairly violently. At about 1:50, we hear a noisier Tobacco we've never heard before, letting the instruments lead the vocals, not the other way around as before.

2. Fresh Hex- A fun track featuring who? Beck! Beck's back with the random train of thought and it sounds nicer than ever. The track is so Tobacco but it's nice to hear some strangely fitting vocals. Theres a bit more to that track than meets...the ears? Pay close attention. Colosseum.

3. Mexican Icecream- A much popier sound to the track. Popier as in literally, there are pop like sounds throughout the track. This is the first track that also really shows off the Micro Korg's many vocoder effects. The deep, raw voice mixed with delay and echo makes it very...trippy; the least trippy track but a clear sign of what's sure to come. Very noisy, very nice.

4. Lick The Which- A deep, slow introduction. And then an intense god-knows-what effect. A fluttering sound with Korg in the back and a lot of live bass done by the T- man himself. This track features lyrics about taking LSD and it is more than a bit obvious. The title itself is Lick The Which! The sweeping organ effect makes way for a very Black Moth like outro.

5. Sweatmother- Probably the raunchiest track on the album. The song features a drum line that seems to come straight out of a hot east LA day, rolling around with aggression. The layered vocal effects and broken guitar are just too dirty; a new face of an intense Tobacco. Then all hell breaks loose with the noisiest segment on the entire album, then drops; just like that.

6. Motorlicker- Oh god the bass...I love this song to no end. This track almost seems to be pulled out of an acid trip ;) Deep bass, rumbling Korg roars, fitted nicely with an elegant piano. The lyrics are perfectly airy. This track is sure to make you headbob quite a bit.

7. Unholy Demon Rhythms- Almost exactly what the title is. This track doesn't seem too special at first but a close listen reveals the beat is all samples of a mouth. And the rising and falling noises are strange in that they seem to give themselves a bit of lag before fully erupting. Followed by a melody of high pitched "diiiiing" noises, the track finishes.

8. Heavy Makeup- This track has so many surprises, it's not even funny. Tobacco really hauled himself on this track. This track sounds closer to the Constellation Dirtbike Head. at about 0:55, we hear all the vocoder effects he's been playing with and dear lord do they sound sexy. " You feel free when you're killin' me" fits almost too well. The sampled drums also help to give the track almost a too heavily layered track. Almost as if the track is wearing a lot of...heavy makeup?! At 2:40, we dip down into a groovier segment and then BAM! The intensely slowed down track. but wait, it's different. This segment is slightly different than the rest of the track and the roaring, deep vocals are almost terrifying. It sounds as if a measly human is looking up at some devilish figure in the sky ;). Definitely one of the best tracks on the album.

9. Grape Aerosmith- Along with a funny name, more Beck! This track sounds more unified and more something we would expect on a Tobacco album. A strange rhythm follows heavily layered vocals that sound as if they are being wildly altered live.

10. New Juices From The Hot Tub Freaks- An almost scary introduction gives way for a fun, loud hip hop track. This is different from the rest of the tracks but is a mile stone track. In that, it clearly shows the transition from the roaring hip hop and loud into the second half of the album which is more LSD induced sounding, bassier, and a more passionate Tobacco.

11. Six Royal Vipers- A simple scale with piano creates a nice, yet dark setting. The vocals are probably the best part, because of; just... the sheer sense of emotion in them. The vocals laid over a desperate sounding effect is beautiful. And again at about 1:18, the listener is surprised. The rest of the track sounds strangely emotional and sincere. Excuse me, but it's a fuckin good track. And clearly well done.

12. Overheater- Again, exactly like the title. The type of feeling you would expect when you feed something too much power; roaring down the road, engine being exhausted. Helped with the intense up and down roars that almost dissipate when the vocals kick in. At about 1:28, the noises completely drop and are just a perfect end to the track.

13. Creepy Phone Calls- Hmmm, this sounds familiar. Oh wait, it's almost the exact same track as the HEALTH/ Tobacco Remix track of Die Slow! Anyway, the booming bass that shakes things off shelves sounds great fuzzed out and along side raw bass guitar and broken noises for the chorus. This is a very fun track to listen to and tries to keep only that face. There are no special meanings or anything, just fun. However! at about 2:40, we do get to hear some raw bass guitar done by the T- Man. Not a joke, but a very laid back approach to professional recording as we can even hear a knock on the mic. Very amateur; very good.

14. TV All Greasy- The deepest bass drop by far on the album accompanied by the highest, most mono sounding drumming just makes the listener feel like a bad ass. The type of track strutting down an open walkway, showing off a bit. This is also one of the dirtier songs, along with Sweatmother. At 1:50, the progressive drop in effects takes place to make way for the oh-so-noisy last third of the track. Rising and falling Korg along with horribly blown bass is just too perfect. And once again, it becomes familiar Tobacco ending in a simplified rhythm similar to one like before.

15. Stretch Your Face- Almost measly bass is actually nice in this track. Echoed vocoder leading up to the "Oh" almost makes it as if the entire world just disappeared and you are falling through a tunnel of color, only to be brought back up and do it again ;). Very simple but the influences of drugs such as LSD are more than obvious but fit so perfectly into the album. This is also one of the last two tracks on the album, and seems to be a summary of the album, but more heavily echoed and intense.

16. Nuclear Waste Aerobics- Perfect title! This track is dirty in the sense that there is purely so much going on. Very raunchy and a bit of a surprise when expecting an end to a Tobacco album. Very fun to listen to.

The Parachute Ending - Birdy Nam Nam

As pretty much my entirely first post to the blog (read previous post) I am proud to present you with a video of fairly epic proportions. Birdy Nam Nam consists of a gang of DJ's who happen to love to also create strange, yet fitting videos to accompany their music. The Parachute Ending video is so strange, but fun to watch and it follows the track through and through. Pick up the album as well, Manual for Successful Rioting; a nice collection of upbeat. fun to listen to electronic music. Just make sure to step far away from any vehicles as it's guaranteed you'll be speeding in

no time.

Check it out right HERE

We're baaaaack

After a very long (and not very restful) hiatus, I am happy to announce that I will be continuing with Static Splashes. I am also happy to announce that we have a new contributor! Ali Khajeh will be joining the Static Splashes crew bringing us to...two memebers... His first contribution consists of reviews of tracks 3, 4, 7, and 8 on the Jónsi album. I hope you all have a great summer and keep up with the blog - Gabe

Go- Jónsi

Jónsi has gone out of his way to be strange as hell on this cd and it works for him quite well. His ridiculously high pitched Falsetto allows him to hit quite a range of notes and the strong beats (many of which feature a flute in the lead) really help keep the tracks hum along.

1. Go Do- This is easily the best song on the CD. The powerful beat gives the song a strong start (especially when the bass kicks in), but when Jónsi himself kicks in, he steals the show. His voice accompanied by the flutes provides an excellent sense of buildup, reaching an eventual crescendo before Jónsi brings the song to its close.

2. Animal Arithmetic- This song starts out with a much more fast passed tempo than Go Do does. Jónsi definitely takes the center stage, though the percussion serves to create a fairly strong background. Jónsi, ditches the drawn out falsetto for a faster tempo which actually helps make the lyrics a bit more coherent. The song hits its climax at around 3:04 before tapering off.

3. Tornado- Tornado is the first track of the album where we begin to dip down into a more emotional driven song, instead of the upbeat blissful introduction tracks. A low rumble of bass and crescendo snare comes together in a track meant to be the calmer, more melancholy face of this album. Dronier vocals towards 3:05 and rise in energy creates one last surge of music before totally drifting off into Jon’s last few lyrics.

4. Boy lilikoi is quite possibly one of my favorite songs on the album, because of the fact that it sounds as if a young child is explaining his perception of life; a calm and innocent song. A strange series of bells, whistles, crashes, booms and “tincks” all over the track do nothing but create an epic forground for Jon’s playful lyrics. This is the climax track in between Tornado and the second third of the album; However, this track (along with almost all others) follow a distinct yet very undertone structure.

5. Sinking Friendships- The layered voices that start the song sound almost like something that would come off of Bromst The piano eventually takes over for the layering and creates a strong backdrop for Jónsi's voice. However, he works fairly well with the piano instead of trying to be the star. The combination of flutes, piano, and who knows what else create the airy feeling which Jónsi has been trying to perpetuate all along. Coming full circle, the layered voices come back in, slipping out one after another until the song falls in upon itself.

6. Kolnidur- A strong background is provided by a piano and what seem to be at least part of an orchestra. Although Jónsi slows his tempo down, he manages to bring his pitch down too. This song has a much more winding feelings to it, creating a sense that at the end, the listener will have reached the end of a very long journey. Jónsi lets the orchestra take the lead here, especially after 2:00, when he starts back up with the airy falsetto.

7. Around Us- Around us is another striving song on the album with a very nice drum background. Perfect layering of instrumentation, layering vocals that fade away into each other, only to be washed away by a clean series of vocals. At about 1:40, Jon whips out the low vocals that create such a contrast, you can’t help but be sucked in when the higher vocals kick back in. Another perfect example of this is towards the end; the beautiful single violin and orchestra gently fading into distant vocals accompanied with lots of tremolo. Beautiful song.

8. Grow Till Tall- Grow till tall could possibly be the last track on the album and make me even happier. The previous works of Sigur Ros are more than apparent in this track. The low vocals accompanied by almost nothing, vibrato, and constant altercations of his angelic voice combine to create a sound we wouldn’t mind seeing more often. And only more and more familiar with Sigur Ros. The constant rise in his vocals gives way to the orchestra in the background, but nothing is ever too empowering; the voice is clear, sharp, yet beautiful; the orchestral instrumentation is done perfectly so that it all drones out into Jon’s vocals. The listener is taken on a journey, only to come to terms with a strangely perfect end, a fuzzed out, horribly altered 30 seconds that leaves the listener wanting more.

9. Hengilбs- This track first begins to sound all too familiar, but the rawer vocals and contrast in, well…language leaves in the listener in a semi dazed state. This is a track to reminis over the rest of the album but a beautiful ending within itself. A strong introduction with gentle rolls in energy. The sort of track you would listen to on the way back home, late afternoon after a tiring day. The fact that this track is clearly also a field recording makes listeners happy im sure. And as the track ends, we are quickly dropped off into the last swipes on the cello.

Go Do- Jónsi

This video is absolutely insane. Lots and lots and lots and lots of birds flying around, not to mention Jónsi. Really excellent song though. When the drumbeat is in sync with him beating the box, it is just incredible. Take a look, it will make your day better. I promise.

Check it out right HERE

Flash Delirium- MGMT

This is the most ridiculous music video I think I have ever seen. Its complete lack of logic is what makes it amazing though. Plus, you can't not love MGMT. As an added bonus you can stream the rest of the album from the same webpage.

Check it out right HERE

Sing Sang Sung- Air

A very laid back and melodic song led by very soft drum beats and an acoustic guitar. The star is the video itself. The whole thing consists of the epic journey of a simple black ball that travels through a series bizarre backgrounds and tessellations.

Check it out right HERE