The Museum is open and will fill your heart with dread, and your head with thought. You will be filled with a sense of darkness and crickets, of alligators and circus clowns. You will not be the same.
It is difficult to explain this music. It's even more difficult to explain their live performance. Sleepytime lives in their own unique world of circus and horror, humor and death, philosophy and absurdity. Somewhere inside all of all this is a message, one that can be interpreted so many different ways that I will not even make an attempt. They are, by far, some of the best absurdist artists in "rock band" form I've seen for many a year, to be sure.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum charter members Nils Frykdahl, Frank Grau, Dan Rathburn, Mo! Staiano and Carla Kihlstedt are no strangers to the art scene, either. Nils, Dan and Carla are all part of the InkBoat theater group in San Francisco. Carla has been a part of several groups, including Tin Hat Trio, Charming Hostess, and has also composed and performed music for modern and interpretive dance groups. Dan was one of the founding members of the performance art group Idiot Flesh. Nils has his hands in just about everything, from Idiot Flesh, to Charming Hostess, to, of course, the InkBoat players. Mo! Staiano, original "found object percussionist" for the band, has also worked with the InkBoat players, and has also formed his own group, Mo!kestra, an avant-guard improvisational group.
Sleepytime's latest offering, "Of Natural History" is an interesting romp through, it would seem, the psychological landscape of the Unabomber, or is it the 19th century futurists, or perhaps it's just the thoughts and aspirations of barnyard animals. It's really hard to say. One thing is for sure, you are in for an interesting, and often hard to listen to, work of art.
In an interview, Nils is purported to have said that (paraphrased), music shouldn't always be pleasant to listen to, and they have held to that theme here. However, that doesn't mean it is unlistenable. It is representative, it is interesting, it is meaningful, and it presents us with an atmosphere of sound that tells us of the angst of the author, and the fear and pain he sees in the world. I would say with some certainty that one should not expect casual "listening" here, only intentional listening.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
Holy crap, man! I just went and listened to some samples of that - I keep hearing about 'em and never got around to checking them out. Wow. Lots of 73-74 King Crimson in that sound. This one goes on the "must have soon" list . . .
2 - Eric Olsen
zounds, more metally than I anticipated, sort of Mr. Bungle art-core thang, at least on the "PHthisis" tune. Very interesting and informative Tim - thanks and welcome!
3 - tim
Tom, yeah, there's some Crimson influence, but, as Eric pointed out, it's alot more "metal-like" than one would expect. The very first song I ever heard from them, off their first album, actually turned me off. What really turned me on to them was when I went to see The Underground Railroad (back when I lived in Fort Worth), who happened to be opening for Sleepytime. It was actually the members of UR who suggested I stay and watch the Sleepytime show after talking with them after their set. They said I woudn't be dissapointed, and they were right.
Still, this music isn't for everyone, for sure. It is taxing sometimes, and I have to be in a pretty strange mood to make it all the way through the album, but again, it's worth it to me when I do.
4 - Eric Olsen
Tim, I think you've done an excellent job of explaining that, which is not easy to do