Monday, September 27, 2010

ZOOGZ TOOZDAY 5: Water

Start HERE! (If you haven't already).

As Los Angeles has just experienced the hottest day in our recorded history, an album called "Water" sounds mighty soothing, doesn't it? Aaaaah, water... And this one kicks off with a song called "I'll Rip Your Brains Out." Hi, Zoogz!

The afore-mentioned song is another example of Rift's trademark outrageous surrealism, in this case sending the TV show "The Beverly Hillbillies" into a Caligula-like orgy. The music ends up as a kind of punk version of the old American folk song "Shortin' Bread."

Much of this swell, well-produced 1987 release is instrumental, which is great as it gives his prog/punk/jazz/weirdness musicians a chance to shine (Richie Haas' marimbas always make me happy), tho I would love to hear lyrics for songs with titles like "World of Depravity." One instro segment, based on the "Oh Pretty Woman" riff, is named "Roy Orbit's Son" (get it?). But the few songs with lyrics are good ones, e.g.: the vituperative "Burn in Hell," and "Mongoloid Middle America," which posits a theme park ride far more terrifying then the Haunted Mansion.

Two excellent instros are only a minute long: "Diver Dan vs. the Worm Gobblers" has a funky poppin' bass trying to keep up with a drum machine that keeps playing faster and faster, and the
all-electronic title tune sounds like easy-listening music for robots. A spoken word track featuring a woman recounting a (hopefully fictitious) encounter with a pedophile isn't anything you'll want to hear much, but it does break up the instrumentals.

Dive in! (sorry)

Zoogz Rift: Water

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

A quick heads up, The Blasting Concept blog has just disappeared a few days after they had a lot of links reported.
The guy who ran the blog had commented that he thought he may have "posted one Zoogz too many" yesterday.
By this morning the blog was gone completely.
I hope there was no connection between his Rift posting and the link reporting and blog deletion, if there was however, you may be at risk yourself.
Be careful buddy, this place is awesome.
Gifford

Mr Fab said...

I had checked that blog out before, and it appears he was attempting to post practically everything that came out on SST Records. Greg Ginn is notoriously litigious, so I think it's just a coincidence that he happened to be posting Zoogz stuff when he got the takedown notice.

But of course, if a copyright holder asks me to take something down, I'll do it pronto.

I appreciate the concern, Gifford!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that's the blog Mr Fab.
The guy who ran it was indeed attempting to post everything from the SST catalogue that was no longer commercially available, and he got pretty close to managing it too.
You're spot on about Ginn's lawsuit loving nature, so maybe that was indeed the reason behind the blog's deletion.
Just thought you'd appreciate the heads up over it, as i know how much work goes into blogging and this place is a joy for the discerning listener.
What's the saying?
Forewarned is foreskinned? ;)
Many thanks as always for all the twisted sounds you bring us here.
Looking forward to seeing what gems you'll turn up next.
Best wishes,
Gifford

Mr Fab said...

My readers are the best-est.

Anonymous said...

Is it possible to re-up this classic? had it on cassette years ago...
kind regards from Phil.

Mr Fab said...

It's back, dive in!

Anonymous said...

Thank you! So appreciated!! Best wishes from Phil.