ARTIST: Machine Go Boom
TITLE: Music For Parents
LABEL: Collectible Escalators Records
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 192kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 43m total
RELEASE DATE: 2007-04-10
RIP DATE: 2007-03-27
Track List
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1. Small 2:34
2. Build Me A Ladder 1:40
3. All The Way To PA 1:11
4. 800 Lb. Gorilla 2:37
5. M.I.A. 2:44
6. Niagara Falls 4:43
7. Parents 2:56
8. Gentleman's Reply 1:18
9. Circle Of Dirt 2:58
10. Oh My 3:21
11. Mummy (Oh My) 1:53
12. Quarantined 1:10
13. Dirty Pipes 5:02
14. Elmer's Glue 1:45
15. Uh-Oh... 3:13
16. Lazy Weekend 4:39
Release Notes:
MACHINE GO BOOMÆs music is executed with so much energy and depth of feeling,
youÆd think songwriter Mikey Machine once lived on the moon, and that somehow a
mix-tape had fallen to its gray surface after being loosed from a wayward
satellite. And that Mikey (in his loneliness and rapt amazement) absorbed so
much from a cassetteÆs worth of our planetÆs modern pop heritage, that his own
songs triumphantly encompassed and compressed that genre in its entirety -- but
in a weird and extraterrestrial way. For when MikeyÆs songs fell back to Earth,
they became faster, more maddening, more beautiful, and more haunting than most
of the music his soon-to-be Earth friends had ever heard . . .
MACHINE GO BOOMÆs distorted pop inventions are a frighteningly good mix of
acoustic folk balladry, amphetamine-lit punk, and synth-fed new wave. The
release of Thank You Captain Obvious in 2004 was a most stunning and welcome
musical event in Cleveland. Like some glowing artifact from a cartoon moon,
Captain Obvious bristled and careened comically, its anthems pop-sloppy and
anthemic, full of childlike wonder but disclosing nostalgia and real sadness.
ClevelandÆs two arts weeklies and their readers have bestowed honors upon
Machine Go Boom as the cityÆs favorite indie band. An East Coast tour in the
Fall of 2005 (performing with the likes of Elf Power and The Gerbils) brought
many new fans into the fold.
Both Captain Obvious and the new Music for Parents were recorded by rising
engineer Paul Maccarrone, who operates Zombie Proof studio in a warehouse space
in midtown Cleveland. Paul uses analog equipment and a kitchen-sink approach to
getting unique sounds that complement Mikey MachineÆs ambitious and
idiosyncratic arrangements. For Music for Parents, Machine Go Boom expanded
their sonic palette to include strings, woodwinds, horns, and percussion,
inviting musicians from other local bands to contribute their talents.
Music for Parents plays like a scrapbook of stories about growing up: from the
scary enormity of a childÆs world (ôSmallö) through the social terrors of
adolescence (ôOh My,ö ôElmerÆs Glueö). There are tender yet wary love letters
(ô800 lb. Gorilla,ö ôParentsö) and full-bore rockers (ôBuild Me a Ladder,ö
ôGentlemanÆs Replyö) that trace a youthful journey into more adult concerns: the
inertia of oneÆs twenty-something years (ôDirty Pipesö) and disillusionment with
the local rock scene and making it big (ôUh-Oh à,ö ôLazy Weekendö).
Fans can rest assured that the three-year wait for a new Machine Go Boom record
has been worth it. Music for Parents delivers and expands upon the assured and
exuberant rock theyÆve come to expect. Speaking of fans, have you been to an MGB
show recently? The place is packed and the crowd knows all the words!