So are you a label or an artist, ShanGORIL La Records? I must know. I
have very little patience for research (as everybody should be aware of by
now), so if my gratification is not instant and hand-delivered, I say good day.
But here’s the thing: I can’t just say
good day to you, ShanGORIL La Records, because Guide to Bizarre Behavior Vol. 2, the follow-up to the first entry
by that name, obviously, is too weird and engaging to pass off with an annoyed
shrug directed at my own ignorance. ShanGORIL La Records, I think you’re the
one I’ve been searching for all my life…
Well, at least since the dissolution of the late, great The Fire Show.
Anyone remember The Fire Show? Their music felt like it was piped in from
another planet, with the vocals hovering over the music as if the two had
barely been composed by the same people. It was exciting and new, intoxicating
and full of possibility. I get the same feeling from ShanGORIL La Records, here
represented on tape as the trio of Brian Bromberg, Suzy Creamcheese, and Ray
Bong (but not Ray Dawn Bong). (And yeah, anybody who makes weird music and
references Zappa is aces in my book.)
What sets these crazy cats apart is that they’re clearly trying to make
music accessible in a pop way, but they’re running it through some
Picasso-esque scramble filter and applying a thick sheen of Zappa-esque
psychedelic humor. (There’s ol’ Frank again.) No two songs sound the same, and
some feel like sketches instead of true songs. All of it combines into a wild,
uncompromising whole, with surprises and unexpected detours appearing almost
constantly. The whole thing, actually, feels like a surprise detour into some
kind of space madness. It’s hard not to get the Lewis Carroll jitters when the
vocalist (Brian?) bellows in an affected accent, “Justin Timberlake is my
butler!” So it doesn’t matter whether this tape is a manifestation of the
record label or a song cycle by a collective intent to mess with my head (just
like Coconut Records – Jason Schwartzman, you bastard!), I can’t escape its
magnetism. It’s like the donkey on the cover is stepping on my neck while I listen, and not letting
me up! (Not that I want to get up, I’m comfortable.)
--Ryan Masteller
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