Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

The Residents - Mush-room [MVD Audio/ Cryptic Corporation - 2013]

“Mush-room” sees these avant-garde genre hoppers, bizarre theatrical show markers, and strange pop stars creating the soundtrack for a seemingly equally odd modern dance/performance art show themed around Fungi.

This new CD release presents the listener for twelve tracks that last between just under the two & half minute mark, to near on the ten & a half minute mark.  And as you’d expect the tracks are a dizzily, detailed & often puzzling  mix  of sounds that dart between: Moody yet off-kilter electro ambient sound tracking, circus like beat-scapes & quirky electronics, weird mish mash of sampled & looped vocals mixed with theatrical & often ethnic tipped dramatics.  Through to slurred & backwards played vibrant operatic tinged odd pop scapes that are string swooned, onto strange & unsettling mixers of  jerking modern classic themed electro texturing that’s roamed by mournful horn & string work. Through to live ethnic tinged jazz work-outs that are just tied to wondering bass lines and quirky beats capes.

As The Residents have done through-out their long & strange career you can hear darts back to their sonic past through-out this soundtrack; but these moments never feel like stale re-treads, but instead inspired & creative re-thinks. Take for example “Sticks & Logs” which takes the  main melody from their 1994 “The Gingerbread Man” release- it’s taken from it’s jauntily soured nursery rhyme sing-song  original setting, and up-dated it into a wonderful detailed mix of electro gamelan, bombastic  electronic texturing, and a buoyant mix of organic & electro  instrumental textures.

“Mush-rooms” is another highly rewarding, strange, twisted & sonically surreal trip from The Residents, which stands up with the best of their more modern/recent work. And don’t be put off by this been a sound-track either, as it totally mangers to stand on it’s own as a great, cohesive & shifting album.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

The Residents - Mush-room
“Mush-room” sees these avant-garde genre hoppers, bizarre theatrical show markers, and strange pop stars creating the soundtrack for a seemingly equally ...
280324   Typhoon Club - Typhoon Club(B...
270324   Jerzy Skolimowski Collection ...
260324   Latex Choker - Sealed
260324   Occlusion - 59: No Input Wall
260324   Nihil Impvlse - Anabasis
260324   Marta Forsberg - Sjunger För...
260324   The New Boy - The New Boy( Th...
250324   The Stargazer’s Assistant - ...
250324   Liza Lim - Annunciation Trip...
220324   Patrick - Patrick( UHD/ Blu Ray)
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom