Caroliner Rainbow Open Wound Chorale - Rise of the Common Woodpile -Discussion Thread
 

from bob.
discuss!

also just in case you have not already scanned youtube and watched EVERY video you could find of this wonderful live act

Once I read the words "industrial bluegrass," I was immediately interested... If the Residents, Sun City Girls, and Big Blood would all get together to make a band and give each other Beefheart-like nicknames, then this is probably the best example of what that band would be like. Initially... upon first listen, the album sounded incredibly sloppy, and it seemed as if these guys composed each song in about five or six minutes. But... like most avant-garde and experimental music, you usually don't "understand" or enjoy it until you devote more time to listening to it. The first track that I began to like was "Burdensome Blood" which is sort like... bluegrass meets noise meets stereotypical oriental riff (I don't fucking know). Watching a few of their live performances also helped... something clicked... It's as if they were acting out a little kid's nightmare who also happens to be on LSD... and this just about sums up how I feel about their music. Then things pretty much took off from there... I began to like more and more of the songs on the album... Elements of industrial (with songs like "Gut" which sounds sort of like a slowed-down Einsturzende Neubauten track), psychedelia, free jazz (with "Re-Corrupting Checkerfield), noise, and bluegrass (with "Sullivan's Lower Trunk" and "Empty Halo") can be found throughout the album... Anyone who can meld these genres together (and do it well) has my respect...

All in all, I can't tell whether this album is unforgivably terrible or indescribably fantastic. All I know is that they've got a banjo, homemade electronics, and songs written by a dead bull who sings... Either way, I love it.

Two more things:

1. I would practically do anything to see them live.
2. I went ahead and downloaded their second album.

LOL. I have to agree. I found this album to be a difficult listen due to the general sense of unease it induced in me like a trip gone bad. While it takes skill to pervert the mind like this it may take me a few more listens to form some coherent thoughts about it.

It's glorious. I have no idea what the hell I'm listening to, but my ears like it. They sound like The Nihilist Spasm Band, Trumans Water and Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 in places (No? I might be clutching at straws), and there's that unsettling aura to it all that you hear with the likes of Cromagnon. I can see why Sun City Girls and The Residents would be mentioned too, but other than that I cannot think of anything similar that I've heard.

... I haven't anything else to say on it, I got nothing.