[narlus]

Rick merits not one but two mentions:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/191655

[atsonicpark]

Label: Abduction
Catalog Number: ABDT045
Artist: Sun City Girls
Title: Funeral Mariachi
Format: LP
Barcode: 613505275820
Target Release Date: September 28, 2010

Description:
In stunning fashion, Sun City Girls' final studio record caps a 27 year run for what many hail as the most bizarre, eclectic and provocative musical trio ever assembled. From the delirious intro of Ben's Radio to the final drum crash of the title track, Funeral Mariachi delivers eleven well-crafted gems which display the refined studio production side of SCG shrouded in that otherworldly glow which has always separated the group from their contemporaries. Beyond the gorgeous folk & vocal styles which drive the album, there is a heavy retro Italian cinema influence, Arabic and Indonesian references, and a ghostly psychedelic moodiness throughout. Post-production and final mastering was completed by the Bishop Brothers after the untimely death of Charles Gocher in 2007 and the results will not disappoint followers of this impossible to describe unit. Funeral Mariachi provides a perfect introduction to the more melodic sector of the SCG universe surfacing, ironically, at the end of their career in the form of what someday should become one of the most beloved records they ever created. Limited one time only vinyl pressing housed in a beautiful, heavy duty full-color gatefold jacket with the back cover photo taken during the last SCG photo session in 2006.

Track List:
Side A:
Ben's Radio
The Imam
Black Orchid
This Is My Name
Vine Street Piano (Orchestral)

Side B:
1. Blue West
2. Holy Ground
3. Mineral Wells
4. El Solo
5. Come Maddalena
6. Funeral Mariachi

[DanielCarlson]

You can listen to samples from all of the new songs here: http://www.experimedia.net/index.php... ducts_id=2028

[Count Mecha]

Cannot wait for this. Based on those samples the production level seems a little brighter than what I'm used to for them, 330,003 Crossdressers is the most recent one I'm familiar with. Not that it matters, I'm there, either way.

[Adolfo]

...

[finding nobody]

Been listening to this band for barley a year. I Love Torch of The Mystics. Jack's Creek is interesting. the one that's like 33003 Cross Dressers is crazy.. Didn't listen to it much, but it was cool too. I have a few more on my computer that didn't sound good at all. I still have them to try and listen to them again.
http://markprindle.com/bishop-i.htm
I love this interview! so interesting


I’ve had a lot of experiences throughout my life that I haven’t been able to explain. But if similar experiences happened to a particle physicist or an astronomer, they may find it quite easy to explain. But I’m not looking for explanations. And if it wasn’t for these events or specific time periods in my life where I feel that I was exposed to certain things, I may never have acquired any interest in esoteric studies.
When I was 9 or 10, I would often spend the night at my grandparent’s house and every time I did, I would have lucid dreams about devils, skeletons, skulls, emblazoned sigils on walls, and things of that nature. My Grandfather was a high degree Freemason (33rd degree), my Grandmother was high up in the Order of the Eastern Star, and my father was a 32nd degree mason. Now, I don’t know if these dreams had anything to do with that, and I will be the first to admit that this could easily be attributed to the active imagination of any child but to this day, I remember every tiny detail of those dreams and I can visualize them in crystal clear clarity as if they happened 30 seconds ago. They remain as little short films that I can replay at any time. The odd thing about that is that I can’t remember my dreams from last night. What does it all mean? Who knows, but I believe this early series of events somehow contributed to my interest in the occult later on.

[atsonicpark]

hahaha "I have a few more on my computer that didn't sound good at all." You have to keep in mind that they released about 90 albums of mostly improv and "fucking around", and then maybe 20 albums that mostly feature written songs. I love their improv stuff, their written stuff, their covers (and damn, they have a LOT OF COVERS).. I love it all, basically. You just kinda have to immerse yourself in their world.

[DanielCarlson]

330,003 Crossdressers is probably my favorite at the moment. I think it's brilliant, those two CDs are perfect.

[atsonicpark]

...funeral mariachi is here...

[Derek]

I was going to order it but then I realised I could put £25 to better use.

[atsonicpark]

The thing is, it would be an investment. There will only be one print run. So, even if you don't love it... well, lemme put it like this, I have that singles collection volume 1 cd that I got for $10 and it already goes for $45 or so... I mean, I dig it and am going to hold onto it, I'm just saying that, well, their albums do get pretty valuable, so I don't think you'd be "losing" money or anything, if you catch my drift.

Either way.

[atsonicpark]

 

[Derek]

There is that aspect to it, but it's not even like I have the £25 for it in the first place.

It was either buy the LP or buy a ticket to Atari Teenage Riot, so you see my dilemma.

[atsonicpark]

Oh, well, even though it may not be considered "cool" to some people, I'd see ATR a billion times before buying an SCG album!

RIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah, I'd GO! GO! GO! GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to the ATR show.

MIDIJUNKIES!

GONNA FUCK YOU UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Derek]

Everyone I've shown ATR to has undisputedly hated them apart from one person, it's not like I hold any one of them's opinion in high regard anyway.

[atsonicpark]

That's bizarre -- I actually personally know probably 10 people in my town who love them (then again, many people in my small town have had decent tastes -- I remember that one time when probably 7 or 8 of us went to see Cerberus Shoal and Sleepytime Guerilla Museum, one of the best shows I've ever been to -- Cerberus Shoal played completely acapella for about 15 minutes!!!!!). Actually, me and my friend Lyrch -- that's how we met, we both had ATR shirts, since that was our favorite band many years ago. I think it's a cultural thing. They are somewhat well known here, because of the Spawn soundtrack and being on 120 Minutes/Amp and shit -- they have that Slayer connection ("Speed" as well as "No Remorse").

They played like 20 minutes from here with Rage and Wu Tang. Can you imagine? I was only 13 at the time, so I didn't have a ride, but man.

[stu666]

http://www.no-fi.org.uk/label


Herb Diamante, occasional member of Leeds’ seminal Vibracathedral Orchestra and the underground’s favourite lysergically-altered chanteur, comes on like the locked-away offspring of Scott Walker and Marc Almond throughout this album. And, like the chemically altered lounge lizard that he is, on each track on A Spoonful Of Yeast, he’s able to summon the artistry of a host of fantasy house bands to back his deranged suaveness.
First off we have Seattle’s legendary Sun City Girls – the band that become ever more revered as time passes, even though they’ve been defunct since drummer Charles Gocher died in 2007. Mr Lonely was intended for the Harmony Korine film of the same name and was recorded by Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth) – its an aching, almost humorously self-pitying ballad originally made massive by Bobby Vinton, and with the help of the Girls, plus Eyvind Kang and Jessica Kenney, Herb also delivers the song to grandiosity in his own wonderfully skewed way. For all its weirdness, it’s really quite a moving appeal, exacerbated by the expertly understated strings and backing vocals.
From this grandstanding beginning, Herb then guides us through a drunken crawl of all that’s good about unhinged and underground rock these days. The line-up of collaborators he assembles is the free rock festival of your dreams. In addition to the legendary SCG, we also have Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Dialing In, At Jennie Richie and the Caroliner-affiliated Diatric Puds.
A Spoonful Of Yeast swings (in many senses) between the nightmarishly paranoiac (the tracks with Dialing In and At Jennie Richie especially), the insistently uneasy gait of the Sunburned track, 808 bossa balladry with Diatric Puds, and swirling eastern-tinged mushroom mantra in the company of the ever great Vibracathedral Orchestra. The word ‘Lynchian’ has been used by several preview listeners to describe this album, and coincidentally Bobby Vinton did also write the song Blue Velvet. Herb has certainly travelled from party turn to fully formed concept with aplomb, providing us all with a knowingly humorous take on all things we love and laugh at simultaneously – mostly ourselves, our own pretensions and those moments where we’ve all failed so hilariously to keep our act together. To do that as well as producing a great album with an all-star cast – that’s got to be an achievement, right?

[atsonicpark]

FUNERAL MARIACHI rules. Have listened to it 3 times since this morning. It's their quitest and most restrained effort, but from top-to-bottom, it might actually be their absolute best. If you're looking for the manic energy and insanity of most of their releases, you won't really find it here. Instead, they've decided to just craft a handful of really wonderful songs, with all sorts of neat production tricks. The use of the organ and some keys is very striking, even when it's used in somewhat minimal ways. Just a really beautiful album; depressing as hell and awesome.

[atsonicpark]

So, yeah. Listened to this album 5 times. It's their most consistent and great album, from top to bottom. Not my favorite, but I think it is absolutely their best, if that makes sense.

What a devastating haunting work. The first song kicks in and is all manic energy and insane melodies/rhythms, making me think of a million other SCG songs. I figured, "okay, it's going to fall apart and go into some middle eastern jazz skronk". It doesn't... it gets quiet... restrained.. conserved.. holds back... strange. A nice ripping psychedelic solo roars in, the song returns to its roots, and then it's over. Okay, hmm.

Then, well... the album just gets quieter and quieter. By the end, there are barely any "Songs", at least not in a conventional sense. But instead of before, where these moments felt extremely loose and somewhat amateurly improvised, all the space feels tight and necessary. The emptiness of some of the last songs is haunting as hell -- and depressing. What's even odder is that Charles Gocher is almost nowhere to be heard on the album. It seems like he does some background vocals in a few parts (though it could just be Alan singing with himself), and there's some handdrumming and whatnot, and that's about it. There's really not much else, percussion wise -- it almost makes me think that Charles's failing health caused them to write songs that didn't require a lot of drum work (however, I know this album was from 3 sessions, put together, one of the sessions was from over 10 years ago -- so, maybe they just did this on purpose...).

The album somehow encompasses their sound beautifully -- while trying new things (lots of organs and pianos -- even some equalized synth; some neat production tricks here and there, and a whole new approach to songwriting and melody in a few songs).

Lonely, sparse, shockingly quiet, low-key, and depressing. An amazing album. Put on FOR DRUMMER'S ONLY afterwards, and it's a great one-two combo.

[DanielCarlson]

Yes, I agree, it's haunting and amazing as hell. I don't know if it's their best album necessarily, but it displays yet another side of their work that I didn't know they had. It's consistent, it's sparse and restrained in a fantastic way. There's never any doubt that it's them, but it's still something new completely. Simply great.