Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
GRAND OPENING AND CLOSING(Seeland, 2001)

Sleepytime Gorilla Cover

Produced, Mixed and Mastered by Dan Rathbun.

Recorded at Polymorph Recording, Oakland CA


Sleepytime Gorilla Museum:

  • Dan Shamrock - Drums, piano
  • Carla Kihlstedt - Electric violin, percussion, guitar, autoharp, pump organ, voice
  • Nils Frykdahl - Guitars, 6 and 12 string, Tibetan bells, autoharp, voice
  • Moe! Staiano - Percussion, metal, pressure-cap marimba, spring, spring-nail guitar, popping turtle, food containers, tympani
  • Dan Rathbun - Bass guitar, slide-piano log, pedal-action wiggler, thing, autoharp, voice
  • Frank Grau - Drums on "The Stain"

Ah woo.

Every so often I stumble onto a band that is so good I can't believe I haven't caught wind of them earlier. There is really no way to describe the SGM - I hear elements of Mr. Bungle, Meshuggah, King Crimson and the Art Bears. And that's just in the first two minutes of the first song. They deftly move from bone-crushing metal riffage to a sort of 20th century chamber music with an ease that only extraordinary musicians can pull off. There is definately a strong RIO influence but tempered with a sense of humor often lacking in that genre (that's Rock In Opposition not Duran Duran).

The opening song, "Sleep Is Wrong" is the entire album in miniature - the jump cuts from extreme to extreme, the string and percussion sections, the difficult rhythms, Carla Kihlstedt's voice. The range is breathtaking. Songs like "1997" easily the match of any extreme metal band you could name; songs like "Ablutions" are quiet and tense and polished like a tiny gemstone. There is a lot of "found" or "made" percussion on the album, along with a lot of plucked strings (autoharp from the credits) which provide unique textural elements throughout the proceedings.

The packaging of the CD is worth a mention, being chock full of odd information which may or may not be true in the basic form of a Victorian ... um ... museum guide. I hope the bit about the snail is true.

This is one of those discs I put on repeat and listen to over and over. Every trip through reveals something. Not for everybody but a truly unique and fabulous trip for those able to get on this bus.


Posted 5 August 2005.