Dear Friends,
I found out yesterday that the prognosis for Granny is that she has about two weeks left.
It felt very strange to write that sentence. I want to be really sad about it, but I’m not feeling sad. I will miss her greatly. I made it 55 years with a Granny and not having her in my life will be very strange. She has been a huge force for many things for me.
I feel relief, for her, and maybe for other people in my family. I feel a sense of duty to honor the 98 ½ years, give or take, that she has been on the planet. She is tired. Everything is difficult for her at this point. She can’t really see. Her hearing is going quickly. She is being slowly cut off from the world around her.
It would be a relief for her and, admittedly for me, if she just falls asleep and does not wake up. I hope this is what happens. I don’t want her to feel any pain or fear or anxiety about this. When I visited her yesterday, she was clearly tired. We just sat together for a while without talking.
I’m guessing that any visits we may have left will be similar. Less talking and more just sitting together. I’m hoping for a few more, at least, but if I don’t get that, I’ll be okay because I know that she will be okay.
2024. A year of goodbyes.
*****
I don’t remember how I got turned on to Brainiac. The possibilities are that I first saw them open for someone that I was going to see and was blown away by them. The other possibility is that Geoff from Eastside Records recommended them to me and I got their Bonsai Superstar CD there.
To see them live in the 90s was absolutely sublime. I think I saw them first at the Mason Jar, but even that memory is hazy. I know I saw them at the Jar a couple of times and once at the Nile. It feels like maybe another place, too. It seemed like they played here a bunch during their all too brief career as a touring act from 1993 to 1997 when Tim Taylor died.
I was so fucking bummed when I read that news. He was the singer and kind of the main guy in the band, at least from where I stood, and it took the sails out of the band. I so wanted to see them again and again and again. As mentioned, their shows were fantastic and the music they were creating was also sofa king good.
Bonsai Superstar was definitely the first record of theirs I bought. It was love at first note because “Hot Metal Doberman’s” is a song that you simply cannot ignore. Juan Monasterio plays this flat-picked, heavily compressed bass line to start and then after the song sucks you in with it’s weird, Devo meets the Butthole Surfers kind of vibe, the genius of Tyler Trent’s drumming starts taking over.
At least for me. Tyler Trent may be my all-time favorite drummer to watch. The guy was so damn entertaining and that’s coming from a loyal disciple of my friend, Michael Sversvold, who ALWAYS put on a show. Bam Bam was my high-volume favorite since I got to see him so many times and even rock with him on a handful of occasions, but Trent was a guy who I would purposefully spend a lot of time watching when I got to see Brainiac play.
The drums on Bonsai Superstar are so key to what they do. I’m guessing Trent has never gotten a whole lot of love for his excellence because so much of what the other members of Brainiac were doing was so interesting to the ear, but none of it works without those beats.
“Hands of the Genius” is a perfect example of this. Taylors vocals are so good and his keyboard work is perfect, but the drums drive the song. John Schmersal is a killer guitar player. Super inventive and his work on this record is also completely bad ass and essential. I love his work on “Hands of the Genius” in particular, but it is still the drums that drive the train.
“Fucking With the Altimeter” was a song that I liked putting on mixed tapes a lot. It’s a great title, so it would look interesting on a J-card, but it is also a really interesting sonically. Sadly, it doesn’t look like the reunited Brainiac is not playing this one, but without Taylor, it would be hard to capture the magic.
“Radio Apeshot” reminds me of a Jesus Lizard bass line over the main riff. If you listen closely, you can almost hear David Wm. Sims playing, but Monasterio is only channeling a little Sims here and doing something just as cool. It’s a weird blend of heavy and creepy and weirdo pop. “Pretend it’s all groovy, groovy/nothin’ like a tin crown.”
“Transmissions After Zero” is also heavily influenced by mid-80s Butthole Surfers. It’s pretty much noise and a little bit of a filler track, but I dig it. It’s a sonic collage and a lot of the noisy bands of the time were into doing these kinds of things. Beck kind of stole this thunder, though, and put and killed the joy, I think, for bands who wanted to do this kind of thing.
“Juicy (On A Cadillac)” is another great song title. It’s also a killer song. This one really moves and you might even say it “cooks” if you are hep like that. I can’t wait to see this live next month. We are going to see them in L.A., and I saw that it has been a staple in their previous live shows. I’m so excited.
“Flypaper” slows things down a bit and is even kind of pretty in a weird way. If you listen to the words, they are pretty phenomenal. The song kind of disintegrates into a diss-track when Taylor starts riffing on the line: “How silly you look.” It’s great.
“Sexual Frustration” starts off with the heavily manipulated synth stuff and then evolves into a noisy groove that exudes the feeling the title suggests. Trent’s beat is snappy but there is something about the song that says, “Nope.”
“To the Baby-Counter” is kind of like what the Cramps would have sounded like if they were more into noise and Devo. Schmersal and Taylor get the trebly stuff grooving on this one. It’s also got a little aggressiveness that is noticeably absent on some of the record.
“You Wrecked My Hair” is noisy and delicious. This is another one where I love what Monasterio is doing in the background. He and Trent are just holding it down so that Tayler and Schmersal can get nutty. What a great tenth song and when Monasterio and Trent take over for the beginning of what can pass, I suppose, as a bridge, it’s a subtle nod to the style of punk rock I love.
“Meathook Manicure” has a very different feel than much of the rest of the record. It’s basically just guitar (heavily distorted) and vocals and someone fucking around with some effects pedals. I’m curious, too, if someone other than Taylor sings this one. It’s hard to tell since so much of the vocals are heavily distorted by effects.
I love “Status: Choke” so much. The attitude of it all is right up my alley. Lyrically it is kind of ugly, but I don’t mind. “You can take your status/choke, choke/with your fingers down your throat.” That’s a powerful line. Schmersal’s guitar is great, too.
“Collide” is the final track. I’m just going to leave that right here. It’s a fitting final track and quite noisy. It’s exactly the way this brilliant record should end.
I used to want to do a band in the style of Brainiac so badly, but I think letting that job go to people who really have a knack for this kind of thing is way better. Sometimes it is best to just be part of the audience and enjoy a great show.
*****
See you tomorrow.
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