Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 22:32:48 -0500 From: a bear of very little brain (hk@NEOSOFT.COM) Subject: Spoonfed Hybrid 'Hibernation Shock' EP (blatant mersh content!) [apologies for the blatant self-promotion; hit 'delete' immediately if this sort of net.hucksterism offends you, and have a nice day] After much a hullaballoo and a lot of lollygagging about, the 'Hibernation Shock CD EP by Spoonfed Hybrid is finally ready and available. In case anyone's wondering, poonfed Hybrid consists of Ian Masters (used to play bass and sing in the once-great Pal Saints, and is also the other half of ESP Summer/Dolphins/Continent) and Chris Trout (on -time guitar grinder with Blast First recording artistes A.C. Temple and current lead uy of the band Bear who are making records for Che). The songs on this disc are: 1. Token She-Van 2. The Sun Always Changes My Mind 3. Make a Fist 4. The Violence of Violins 5. Scary Verlaine Tracks 2 and 5 were originally released on a 7" which came out last year on a Fr nch micro-indie, le Tatou Colerique. The other three are previously unreleased trac s. The whole thing clocks in at a hair under 30 minutes, FYI. The dirty bit: the cd's are going for $9.00 each (checks payable to Farrago Reco ds), which includes postage for those of you residing in these United States. Send m e-mail for details on overseas and foreign postage schtuff. Oh, yeh, the address: Farrago Records P.O. Box 13148 Houston, Texas 77219 Again, apologies for the blatant mersh content, and I promise not to plug this a ain. Cheers, hk farrago records -- hk@neosoft.com and farrago@delphi.com or http://www.neosoft.com/~hk/home.htm Date: Tue, 9 Jul 1996 23:38:53 -0400 From: The Boy In Zinc (Boyinzinc@AOL.COM) Subject: two short reviews (ok, so i lied) spoonfed hybrid: "hibernation shock" ep farrago records what an appropriate way to answer the "have they released anything else?" query. details on who to talk to and where to send the money follow this extremely biased review... i say extremely biased because as it is known, i simply love any piece of music that ian has ever touched (unless you count that pail saint tape on time stereo -- bleagh)... here we go: the artwork is similar to that of the "scary verlaine" b/w "the sun always changes my mind" 7" released last year...it may just be a negative...for the uninformed/unfortunate who don't have this gem, it's a handprint on translucent paper (like the insides clearskin ep) -- blue for the cdep, brown for the 7" artwork courtesy of nicholas devilliers, or something like that (ask lorraine for info on his 'zine "sugarlift" -- it's fab) i'll dispense with the run-ons and get into a proper review 1. "token she-van" (9:26) (ian and chris both have writing credits on this one) this is a remix of "heavens knot" (track 1 off of the guernica album) done by warren defaver of hnia fame...it's almost clubby -- not noisy (that's NOISY, fred) like i expected...it's not the best piece of techno i've ever heard, but it's pretty passable...a bit on the longish side...ian sings the lyrics to the song and his voice lilts in and out of the song occaisionally. my only problem with this track is that it ends suddenly, as in, right in the middle of a note. this truncation may have been some kind of accident, but from the little i know of warren and ian's personalities, it was probably deliberate...8/10 2. "the sun always changes my mind" (5:29) (ian) this one is a spoonfed "classic." i'm really glad it made it on to cd as the end of the song is one of the band's peaks. starts off slow with several different synths -- very beautiful. ian's voice joins in...really clear and right in the front (unlike a lot of his other works) not really much in the way of drums, but there are some kind of dubby beats (which remind me a bit of the synth record scratches in 'tiny planes') and cymbals that fade in and out...shit, my description isn't really doing the song much justice...it's really damn beautiful, and ends with ian's voice singing "i'm walking away...i'm walking away...i'm walking away from my shadow...i'm walking away...at the bottom of every song is a spoonful of sleep..." while an electric piano, some kind of synth snoring (it really is cool -- i know it sounds hokey, but it is) while some keyboards join in...the snoring fades out as a weird saxophone plays about three notes at the end...i don't remember the sax being on the 7" care to fill me in hk? anyway, this song makes the ep well worth buying. 10/10 3. "make a fist" (2:35) (chris) chris sings on this one, and it's in a similar style to "messrs. hyde" with more of the piano you so love, e...the music to this one is sort of cheery, but with fairly depressing lyrics, kind of that prozac kind of happy, i guess..."in winter the nights are too long, the drugs are to strong...i'm no use on my own...i need a nice girl and a happy home..." this song is almost as wonderful as "the sun always changes my mind," but lacks the beautiful "take me to another world" ending of the former, so it comes up a little short of tsacmm...9.5/10 4. "the violence of violins" (3:36) (ian) this one is another winner, on par with "make a fist" as far as quality goes...ian sings again...this one is a "separation song..." "while you're asleep...lost...can't eat..." (i think) the tune is really dark and haunting (minor key, of course)...would go really well right along with "a pocketful of dust" from the lp..."make me a child again, even if just for tonight...sounds like someone shooting..." ok, i lied, it's better than "make a fist," because it has a lot more drama to it...where chris seems to go with a lot of sarcastic happiness, ian seems to capture more complex emotions in his music...anyway, i'm getting philisophical and not describing the song too well, so i'll shut up...it's really good...10/10 5. "scary verlaine" (8:45) (chris) whereas the other songs on the ep have moments where i can't tell if it's a real instrument or a synth (laugh all ya want), this song is definately all-electronic...chris probably recorded this one while fucking around in a studio or something...it's the other track on that french 7", and as far as i can tell, it's the same version...the song is kind of cool and creates a sensation not unlike flying (there are a lot of abrubt fade-ins and fade-outs)...has kind of a slow beginning, but then kicks in with regular beats around 2 mins in...oh, and it's an instrumental, which is a bit of a dissappointment because ian and chris have such nifty voices...anyway, this songs is pretty cool, but not stellar like tracks 2,3, and 4...for some reason a lot of it sounds borrowed, but i don't know why...7/10 anyway, this ep is really good -- probably one of the best releases i've heard this year (though it has been a pretty crappy year, so far) next to maybe the hnia album (isn't that finally out in the states, now?) and mojave (if that counts)...you can get it (if you live in the us) by sending a check for $9 ppd to farrago records; po box 13148; houston, tx 77219). if you live outside the us, or have any questions, send your queries to hk@neosoft.com; he's on the list, so if you lose that address, just e-mail the list and i'm sure he'll be in touch (ask 'im about buddha on the moon, too!) Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 09:08:18 -0400 From: Joseph Burns Subject: Re: Spoonfed Hybrid Spoonfed Hybrid is rather different from Pale Saints in most respects, except for Ian's angelic crooning, and his subversive genius when it comes to songwriting. The eponymous album is probably most comparable to a slightly poppier His Name Is Alive... the instrumentation is very ecclectic, its full of strange studio wizardry. The Hybernation Shock ep is a little different. It starts using a lot more synths and seqeuncers and is over all a little more dreamy in atmosphere than the full length album. Ian has also got a number of other Solo projects out on his own label and others. Most notable is ESP SUMMER / ESP CONTINENT which is a bunch of tracks he recorded with His Name Is Alive's Warren DeFever. Some of his other 7"s have been spotty, but the Onieronaut 7" is quite good if you can manage to track it down. cheers joe Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 23:39:14 -0600 From: dreadnaut Subject: Re: Spoonfed Hybrid (was: Tarnation) > and just so this isnt a completely meaningless post, > can anyone tell me if there is a spoonfed hybrid discog someplace? > i have a 7" by them (with some gorgeous artwork) and its a label > called debout couche (did i totally bastardize that, and is it > even the label??) and i want to know more about it.. and what > else they've done... I think the Institute of Spoons has all the Spoonfed Hybrid releases mentioned, doesn't it? I remember seeing the "Scary Verlaine" 7" there. Were there others?