Mythical Burrowing Animals - Mythical Burrowing Animals

Year of Release: 2000
Label: Tube Records
Catalog Number: 0001
Format: CD
Total Time: 41:42:00

Often in my life both friends and foes have called me weird, alike. And I'll admit to having a rather strange sense of humour, sometimes rather dry, and sometimes very strained. I tell you this because Mythical Burrowing Animals' self-titled release certainly appeals to my sense of the weird. If this were art, it would be like a Salvador Dali painting. Now, it's not just that sounds are stretched like melting watches or anything, but there is a strong sense of the eccentric. The press sheet from Tube Records reads: "Ten fatally flawed adventures into the unstable states of brainstormia. A perilous journey down the Freudian slippery slopes on a lubricated rubber snowboard. Tales of dark beasts that lurk in your tool shed, chuckling grimly as they drill into the night soil." Um, yeh.

"Hot Dang," made me think of Timbuk 3 - they of the "Future's So Bright (Gotta Wear Shades)" fame - and of Adam Ant's "Vive Le Rock" (circa 1986). "Fresh Meat Sunset" is like English 80's punk-pop - arty punk-pop. Not as aggressive or political as the Sex Pistols, of course. I gather that Frank Zappa is a bit like this, but I've not heard enough Zappa, where I couldn't say for sure (maybe not any Zappa, to be honest. But if you were take eccentricity, experimentalism, punk, pop, and the sense of the absurd you'd have a good idea. "!Zero?" is acidic, industrial nose with vocals and an almost-hidden rock beat. As if your favourite rock band were to suddenly go insane on stage and play what ever came to mind. "Celebrity Hair" has a slight twang to it courtesy of the guitar, which, along with it's twang, is played very loosely, somewhat warped. "Snack Hazard," is almost a conventional mid-tempo rock tune, but for the off-kilter vocals. For a few brief moments right at the very beginning, I thought of Missing Persons, and of Monster period REM ("Crush With Eyeliner"), wherein here we have both female and male vocals. This leads right into "Mystery Fuck" -- I thought of ZZ Top, actually, though there isn't quite the same kind of Southern Boogie groove as something like "Tush" or their more commercial, latter stuff.

If the musicians involved, who are not named, played any less well, this wouldn't come off as eccentric but?well, something much less listenable. Like the accident you really can't stop looking at, being fascinated that metal can twist and turn in such a fashion, you can't help but listening to this more than once. It's layered enough that you don't get it all in one listening and maybe never quite get it all after any number of listens. As much as I thought French TV were eccentric jazz, this is eccentric rock. Ironically, other than the repeated saying of the title (an eccentric upper crust English lord being a little haughty) "Mythical Burrowing Animals," would be a rather ordinary 80's rock song. Well, not so ordinary, but in comparison. I mean, rhythmically, it could be Cheap Trick, the Cars, etc. Funnily enough, the vocalist here made me think of Fish, rolling his Rs a bit - perhaps he's Scottish, too.

Tracklisting:
Hot Dang (2:38) / Fresh Meat Sunset (3:27)/ Zero? (4:11) / Celebrity Hair (3:56) / Snack Hazard (3:58) / Mystery Fuck (2:48) / Uncle Oxygen (3:42) / Isambard (5:12) / M.B.A. (5:41) / Dirtbird (6:09)

Musicians:
unknown as they chose to remain anonymous (but Andy Jackson was involved)

Discography:
Mythical Burrowing Animals (2000)

Genre: Other

Origin UK

Added: March 15th 2001
Reviewer: Stephanie Sollow
Score:
Artist website:
Hits: 3183
Language: english