Mastodawn

dissentiate May 11

In the late 1980s, I stood in a record store near where I grew up, facing a critical choice. I had saved up some money from chores and mowing lawns, and early one Sunday morning, I decided that I was going to discover new music that was outside of the comfort of top 40 radio hits.

I had a shitty record player and even shittier speakers from a garage sale I scored the day before, and all I could think about was the independence of choice and exploration. I was tired of what I was hearing over and over on the radio; sterile, predictable, often vapid and repeated on the hour, every hour. I knew there had to be more out there.

Thumbing through the plethora of musical choices, I saw a classmate come into the record store and pick up some pop cassette that had a hot song of the moment on the radio. I hated this classmate, and his choice in music only encouraged me to not be a stooge like him. My money wasn't going to go to music he would like.

I was about to leave empty handed, but something caught my eye; 2 albums side by side, with curious names and intense artwork on their covers. It didn't look like anything I had ever seen. The song titles couldn't have been more outside what I had been listening to, and I was instantly compelled to buy these records.

The Cramps - Bad Music For Bad People
Dead Kennedys - Bedtime for Democracy

I rode my bike home like I was on fire, one hand on the handlebars, the other firmly keeping the records under my other arm. Rushed to my room, and frantically setup the record player for it's maiden voyage.

The Cramps album confused me immediately. It sounded like Elvis had eaten a medicine cabinet and went to the studio. It was chaotic. It was crazy. I fell in love instantly because it wasn't ever going to be in the top 40.

The Dead Kennedys was a completely different animal. Furious, laser pointed at topics while pummeling out a metric shit ton of music in some of the shortest songs I had ever heard. This album is solely responsible for my lifelong connection with punk. Jello Biafra's lyrics also introduced so much commentary on how dysfunctional the US was and had been consistently, that it encouraged me to seek out truth from non-official sources. I wrote down so many things he had said that I found myself spending hours at the local library trying to learn about topics kids my age wouldn't even consider as worth the time.

This is one of my favorite memories. I wanted to share this with you because if you are overwhelmed and needing a temporary disconnect from this timeline.... get some headphones and listen to something that brings you better feelings.

We all deserve some grace.

Daughter of Discord

I went from a top 40 person in the mid-80s to a metalhead, so by the time the late 80s came around, transitioning from an acid-dropping Blue Oyster Cult-loving metalhead to listening to goth, industrial, punk, and weird shit like The Butthole Surfers and Foetus and Hawkwind was easy

dissentiate May 11

@CosmickTrigger That kicks so much ass. I still have a great deal of love for metal. Thrash metal pulled me in because I'm a sucker for rhythm (I'm a bassist and rhythm guitarist). I liked checking out the lesser known bands, the underdogs if you will. People were claiming Metallica was all you needed in metal, meanwhile I was pushing for people to checkout Testament and Overkill. The 90s were such a great time to discover new music, watch it as crossed over into so many things that came before it, mixed and mashed into it's own being.

Daughter of Discord May 11

I realized that I said "by the late 90s" when I meant "by the late 80s."

As someone who loves theatrical rock and roll, I HATED the flannel and dirty blue jeans grunge scene and hated Nirvana in particular.

So of course in the 90s I was listening to NIN, Manson, White Zombie, Rammstein, Monster Magnet, Garbage, etc instead.

But in the late 80s what happened is my Blue Oyster Cult, Judas Priest, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden-loving ass was in a music store and there was a guy in there with a Residents tattoo and he turned me onto Ministry, Skinny Puppy, The Dead Kennedys, etc.

I pretty much became a goth overnight.

This is the only "band" tattoo I have:

Daughter of Discord May 11

1989 was the year "Pretty Hate Machine" came out as well. It transformed SOOOOOO many metalheads into industrial freaks

dissentiate May 12

@CosmickTrigger That's an awesome tattoo. I had a crush on a girl who introduced me to Ministry, then Nitzer Ebb, and then eventually NIN in 1990. In return, I introduced her to The Damned, Meat Beat Manifesto and gave her a bootleg Joy Division show on vhs my older brother gave me.

I still don't know why her and I didn't become a thing lol

Daughter of Discord May 12

I HATED Einstürzende Neubauten the first time I heard them. My goth girlfriend played them for me, and I was all like, "that's just NOISE!"

After we broke up, I gave them another listen. And another. And another.

They are absolutely one of the most original bands to walk the planet.

I love them so much I wrote an ode to them with my solo experimental group:

https://soundcloud.com/phantasmspasmband/toppling-towers

Toppling Old Towers

This is a song done in the style of early Einsturzende Neubauten. I edited the sounds but did my best not to over-edit them, as I wanted any imperfections in the beat and flow to remain. The picture

SoundCloud

dissentiate May 12

@CosmickTrigger Holy shit, I struggled at first too. Like, I wanted something accessible in a way that just wasn't their approach.

I ended up coming home on shrooms one night in the early 90s, put it on, and I connected to it. Tried again sober, and could get onto it again.

Daughter of Discord May 12

Interesting tale about my solo project "The Phantasm Spasm Band"

I had been struggling with mental illness and decided, after 30 years, to try getting back on lithium.

I thought it would kill my creativity tho.

The opposite happened.

My brain stopped fluctuating between mad mood swings enough for me to slow down and concentrate.

I wrote two of the most diverse, insane, psychedelic, and experimental albums of my entire life in four months. The third album took a little more time but I wrote all of them 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟. No drugs were imbibed when I wrote this madness.

And these days, "experimental music" almost always means "harsh noise"or "dark ambient."

In other words, either unlistenable or boring as fuck.

That's NOT The Phantasm Spasm Band.

Every song is different and every song is fun as fuck.

https://phantasmspasmband.bandcamp.com/

The Phantasm Spasm Band

The Phantasm Spasm Band is the experimental project of Worm and The Trash Man These songs represent their descent into the warm embrace of the Fungi Goddesses and the sweet sounds of Madness.

The Phantasm Spasm Band

Daughter of Discord May 12

This one is soooooo much fun:

I studied the history of circus music and the instruments involved to create a psychedelic circus freak show of hilarity and BOOBS!

https://soundcloud.com/phantasmspasmband/lickin-horny-toads-at-the-burlesque-circus

Lickin' Horny Toads At The Burlesque Circus

Samples from the Dark Brothers film "New Wave Hookers 2" and the Tex Avery cartoon "Red Hot Riding Hood"

SoundCloud

dissentiate May 12

@CosmickTrigger the phrase New Wave Hookers... Fucken chefs kiss lol

Daughter of Discord May 12

New Wave Hookers 2 is a porn flick that a buddy and I edited the porn out of, so there was just the acting and plot left, and we would show it to people because it was funny and fun to watch as just a movie

dissentiate May 12

@CosmickTrigger I am going to be diving in on this. I was already snooping around your bandcamp and I bookmarked it :)

And your creative burst is fucking awe inspiring and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. My ability to even write music has been hit by a long battle with anxiety that I'm working through. Everyday is better than the one before it, and I will get this album made.

Have you checked out @mirlo for adding your music there as well? Really cool artist focused co-op.

Daughter of Discord May 12

@dissentiate @mirlo

I have. My friend @Outersider turned me onto them

Daughter of Discord May 12

@dissentiate @mirlo

My suggestion is listen to them in order:

Easy Queasy
Psilocybin Wunderbaum
And then Easy Listening for Mutant Children.

And look up the notes for the songs, especially "Descent Into The Inferno."

If you smoke pot, get baked AF.

But I love the music sober, too.

But baked, it really IS a glorious head trip

Daughter of Discord May 12

@dissentiate @mirlo

Like, I am listening to the song "Nuz" from "Easy Queasy" and it amazes me that The Phantasm Spasm Band isn't the MOST FAMOUS EXPERIMENTAL BAND ON THE PLANET.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but what passes for "experimental" these days is boring and all sounds the same.

I purposely made sure each and every song was different and FUN to listen to.

Each album is mind-blowing and just can't be categorized into any one genre.

You can hear elements from soooo many different bands, like COIL, Nine Inch Nails, Jean-Michel Jarre, Mr. Bungle, Igorrr, WHEN, Bauhaus, SPK, Nurse with Wound, The Residents, Tangerine Dream, etc.

my two 20-minute songs about my dog Boo are just . . . holy fuck. The first is on Easy Queasy. The second is here. I am currently working on another 20 minute long song called "Oob." So the 4th album will just be 2 songs

https://soundcloud.com/phantasmspasmband/boobooboo

BooBooBoo

20 minute song that is more like 20 one-minute songs. Third song where the only lyric is my dog's name: Boo

SoundCloud