Sheila Liked the Rodeo (Tear Garden)

Alan Ezust

Sybil the Spider is quite a mish-mash, starting off sounding a little
jazzy, and then getting very noisy and chaotic, without much direction.

The song, Sheila Liked the Rodeo, reminds me of what Skinny Puppy's
"Nature's Revenge" would sound like if it was re-done by Tear Garden. If
the entire album had been done like this, I would not have been surprised
at all, as it is very consistant with Skinny Puppy's new sound. It's not
bad, really.

The Strong and Whining Toad is omnious and spacey, and has potential, but
I should listen to it a little more before I make a judgement.

Do It Yourself... is 70s retro-jazz revival crap and I hate it. I'm sure
Edward Ka-Spel thinks he's breaking exciting new ground by mixing this
style with all the high-tech sounds available to him on the 40-track
recording studio at Mushroom, but as far as I'm concerned, it's been done
before by other people in the 70s, and we should lay it all to rest.

Sunev DNA Sulumor, just as the name suggests, is Romulus and Venus sampled
backwards. Big whoopie. Keep the Bomb Under your coat sounds like behind
the scenes jamming and "I wonder what this button does" sort of thing...

Overall, I was quite disappointed by this album and I would not recommend it
at all.

Jon Drukman

Blobbo

Cool, funky beat with a reggae bassline and lots of bizarre
synth & samples sprinkled all around the mix. Some swanky bluesy
guitar comes in after a minute. Can't understand a word that Ed is
saying. I like it. Very spacy and trippy.

Sybil The Spider Consumes Himself

Sounds like a garage band jamming. Anchored by a simple bass
line, all sorts of chaotic noise elements move around while Ed
whispers about a spider. If you've heard Ed go off on spontaneous
tangents in between songs during the live shows, you've got an idea
what the lyrics are like.

Sheila Liked The Rodeo

If you're looking to a return to the first EP or Tired Eyes
Slowly Burning - well, this isn't quite like that, but it's the next
best thing. Very synth based, with a computer-perfect bassline &
synth blips everywhere. Still a lot of chaos and noise, but at least
it's anchored by some semblance of melody. Definitely the most
accessible thing on this disc. Ed even *sings* at the end!

The Strong And Whining Toad

Beautiful Hafler Trio style piece. Choirs & vocal samples
float in and out. It hovers on the line between harmonious and
painfully dissonant.

Do It Yourself From A-Z Part 1 & 2

Starts out as another garage band jam session. Dissolves
after a minute or two into random noodling. Part 2 is just a bunch of
noisy random bashing on drums & guitars. Unfocused, unmusical and
very boring. Who likes this kind of shit? Moves from chaotic into
slightly organized, but goes on for 13 mins! Never really connects
for me.

Sunev Dna Sulumor

As expected, this is Romulus & Venus played backwards, minus
the drum tracks, with some extra dissonant noisy bits added. It's
much better backwards than forwards. Still nothing to get *too*
excited about though.

Keep The Bomb Under Your Coat

Starts off as a noise collage that turns into an ominous drony
piece with piano & guitar and Ed wailing away in his higher register.
Kinda reminds me of some of the more demonic LPD material from Asylum
or something. Really gets under your skin. I like it.

Overall, I'm not *incredibly* impressed with this, but I'm not turned
off like Alan is either. The title track and Blobbo are quite good.
Some of the noisier stuff is cool if you're in a mood for some
experimental industrial jamming. It's pretty cheap, so if you've got
a taste for it, pick it up.

Jon Drukman spudboy%dlsun87@us.oracle.com jdrukman@us.oracle.com

argent@iastate.edu

An example of infinity and randomness holds that if you have seven
monkeys, seven typewriters, unlimited paper, and eternity, the monkeys will
eventually type all of Shakespeare's works. I don't know about this, but give
those same monkeys musical instruments and a recording studio and you will
get something like Sheila Liked the Rodeo , but probably with better music.

Sheila Liked the Rodeo does have its high points, but they are separated by
too much irritating noise to be worth it. The speak/vocals are usually pretty
neat, but in the end, I think this is what really bothered me. There is a lot of
potential here, but little of it is realized.

Skip this one.

argent@iastate.edu

Margrit <mmmwww@manager.ae.wroc.pl>

On Thu, 19 Mar 1998, Acme Instant Dehydrated Boulder Kit wrote:

> 5] I still think Sheila Liked the Rodeo is shite... :-)

he he... and still my tiny brains cannot understand why once upon a time you
told me to avoid this one! it's undeniably GREAT!

isn't 'do it yourself...pt 2' a masterpiece? for me it is, i could listen to
it over and over and over again, i sometimes fall into this trap and then
find myself swaying here and there, my head swaying too and somebody (not
me, that's for sure ;>) shouting mary goes mary goes mary goes.. god i
love that psychedelic tone of edward's voice, i think on this album
edward goes the most insane way with his voice. just take 'keep the bomb..'
or 'sheila like the rodeo' or 'sybil the spider' ... or... the only
song i hate here is romulus and venus, it's just boring... i could
compare it with 'blobbo', but 'blobbo' is almost a masterpiece of joke -
only a bit too long. 'blobbo' makes me laugh, 'blobbo' makes me think
how the Wonderful World of Muzak would sound if it was made by deviants ;).
at first 'blobbo' was a shock to me: what the hell is that? but then one
begins to really like it. and then comes 'sybil the spider consumes
himself' with haunting, totally fucked up lyrics and voices from beyond.
that's what the tigers like most! then, although i think that music for
'sheila liked the rodeo' is mostly like early disco/cheep synthetisers
(well it is, isn't it), everytime when ed says the first verse:' sheila
liked the rodeo' there is something creeping on my back and i'd rather
not know what is it.. a chilling feel. i bet that without edward's
singing most of this album wouldn't mean much to me.. 'strong and whining
toad' is wailing waaailing and sometimes i like to howl.. while 'do it
yourself part 1' is mostly waiting for 'part 2'. i say that here:

'do is yourself from a-z part 2' is between the VERY BEST songs ever.

and i really don't care that it sounds sometimes like mixture of the cure
and cave's tupelo - i love 'em too :). '...part 2' is totall madness,
psychedelia, insanity... haven't you heard it? go and get it, NOW.
this songs makes something to me, no matter how hard i try, i always end
up with my mind somewhere else... a musical mushroom? :)
then i'm on down on earth again, with romulus and venus and nothing helps
them that they are backwards - still hopeless. and my hands gaining their
own life and pressing that button 'fforward'... then i keep the bomb
under my coat and i'm excstasy i'm paraffine(?) i clean clean... again
over and over again here: can you feel sane hearing this?

no, 'everyone around you is i-n-s-a-n-e'
as someone once said :)

, ..
`7"7 margrit w rozowe kropki