Unwavery - "Boone, ca. 1995"
Released by Nova Labs 2013
The first time I saw Unwavery, I was not sure exactly what was happening when I walked into their set. There was a guy doing puppetry through a cardboard window, and the puppets were - I think - pooping out popcorn and taco shells, and people were eating bags of popcorn and looking on with smiling anticipation. The guitarist appeared to be a large headed alien, and he and a well-dressed chap were encouraging and warning against eating the popcorn, respectively. The keyboardist alternatively served up her lovely melodic vocals and unearthly shrieks, and the drummer was a baker, judging by his hat.
Then it just got weird - I realized the whole thing is a rock opera about one of the quirkiest places on the map, a place where a sometimes boring reality rubs and scrapes against the unknown at the casual pace of a Bellucci's delivery driver, a place where it's not hard to believe something really weird could happen out on the edge of decent civilization.... of course I'm talking about Boone, Iowa - where things like this happen: 
Unwavery's Boone, ca. 1995 begins with a a droning piano march followed by a striking opening line - "Percussion - is the manifestation of a heartbeat taking on a vision..." Some things are apparent on the first listen - The idea of feeling like an alien in a strange land may ring true to those who have spent any time living in Boone, IA. The story of alien named Nigel dumped in "this land of lame," judged defective and abandoned by his alien collective, struggling to exist and ultimately wreaking havoc on the entire Boone metropolitan area - pops out immediately.
And figuring it out from there is half the fun, layers of detail and characters flow throughout the record. And puppets. I'm not sure who's side they are really on yet. The other half of the previously mentioned fun - is the music. The album is full of punk rock and genre bending progressions under some almost Zappa-esque vocals, and a lot of humor delivered straight-faced - brutally so at times. In the Mayor of Boone's bullhorn meltdown during "Popcorn," the caricature of an actual Boone mayor implodes on tape during a warning message to the citizens of his fair city. When Nigel cries out "You think you're LONELY??" while describing his plight in a twisted blues number, it's spit out the coffee funny, and a little bit scary at the same time.
But "Cake Pie Abyss" and the "The Baker's Wife's Lament" are musically touchingly delivered even when the delivery explores vocally extremes - as one of the characters frets as he is absorbed into some kind of collective alien brain, leaving his wife alone....or goes to some sort of pastry purgatory? Perhaps both. Anyways, no one in the pastry business could listen with a dry eye as the the lamenting Baker's Wife longs for her missing husband hands to be back in the pie.
I caught up with Unwavery's Andy Mitchell when in his non-big-headed-alien form to see if I could get the inside scoop on this alternate Booniverse.
Dean - There are many references to Boone in the album and show, and in the show program....Jamie Kelley [a Boone Elvis impersonator], Mayor Maybee, the bank, even Al White....how do you know your Boone so well? How did this concept come about? How did the puppets get involved?
Andy - Well it's one of those things like movies about runaway trains or a rape story on Lifetime TV... "Based on a true story" [Andy] had the dubious honor of going to high school in boone and actually spotted Nigel on 6th street by Bryant school with 2 friends. Dan Shitz pointed at it and shouted "Hey! Look at the size of his fucking head!" Now, Nigel didnt speak or make a sound but all 3 of us heard the same psychic scream, "shut up leave me alone!" Apparently there were many sightings around this time, I recently heard that there was a whole family of em walkin around east boone. The puppets enter into it in January 2010 when our our friend Nate was basically getting 3 offers for free pianos for the Space for Ames every month and so he asked me if I wanted one... I dont really play piano but my roommate at the time did so I was like sure if it's nice and it was. An upright grand and I had met Bree maybe a week before. She could kinda play a bit but hadn't for years. Anyhow she thought it would make a good stage for Charlie's Mexican marionette. Since we didnt have any American puppets we wrote Puppet Starved America which of course became the bookending tracks on Boone ca 1995. An internet search of Iowa puppeteers led us to discover the artistry of Bil Baird, who became extremely influential to us. Our other main influence would be C.G. Jung. The characters are all just expressions of your classic Boone archetypes essentially.
Dean - Yes, I am all too familiar with the Boonechetypes. What is the baker's role exactly? From what I can tell, he's kidnapped by Nigel the alien at some point, leaving the Wife to lament.
Andy - Baker is the everyman. He gets digested by the big headed man's enourmous yet retarded intellect.
Dean - What's next - shows, projects, recordings.... sequels?
Andy - Actually there are more songs that fit into this song cycle that we havent exactly gotten finalized yet, and so we felt like just leaving them off the album, since Unwavery didn't need an album, but our friends kept asking for one.. the project Unwavery is interested in is a movie incorporating puppet consciousness that will probably take us a couple more years. Unwavery is very organic and doesnt like to be rushed. The album basically we hope will keep us economically viable in the meantime so's we have something to sell at shows etc. We think it stands up pretty well on it's own as a concept album, but there are a few plot points that just arent going to be apparent without visual aids. 
Speaking briefly with Unwavery's Bree at a noise music festival taking place in the same block as the action of the album, Bree also described many of the details lurking in the story, and hinted that perhaps Nigel would make it home some day. And that one of the characters rides Teddy Roosevelt's thumb into outer space at some point. But now I'm more confused than ever, I will need to listen one more time to be sure. I've been saying that for months - I'm hooked! This is a great album cover to cover, Matt Dake's clear, raw and dynamic recording lends itself perfectly to the material and the printed materials include a fold-out libretto and original artwork. Boone,ca. 1995 is always a fun listen and a must-have disc if you have any interest in Ames music (or Boone music?). Available at Unwavery.com
Moultrigger - Anode
Released 2013 by The Centipede Farm
The other 2013 release I've yet to pry from my earholes in recent months is this surprisingly head-nodding album from Des Moines noise wizard Moultrigger.
The first Moultrigger album I picked up was 'Birds,' a pulsating weird collage of bird sounds creating a dark soundscape. Birds is a great listen, but like many excellent "noise" albums, if you try putting it on at work or if your wife is in the car - within seconds someone will ask you to turn it off or become alarmed that your speakers have shorted out.
Picking up Anode on cassette, I was pleased that something like the swirling weird atmosphere of 'Birds' was still there, but upon further listens what really stood out was the fact that there was a serious beat to this record - even some funky hooks and mean & dirty riffs being laid down. During sections where the sound dissolves into swirling noise and abstraction - the rusty, gritty beat is still grinding away there, somehow. In subsequent experiments, my co-workers did not protest cover to cover plays of the digital version, and I even caught my wife nodding her head to it. Then on a car journey with Anode as the soundtrack, she turned to me and said, "This is *actually* not bad." I knew that I had something different on my hands. A noise album I could listen to outside of my garage - hooray!
Being accessible in whatever genre Moultrigger belongs to (if any) is probably not usually a compliment, but in this case the accessibility comes from the well-crafted, raw, and just plain real performance on the tape more than the rhythmic element of the music or any effort to be catchy.
Many images come to mind listening to Anode - listening to this album is like being wired into pulsating electric waves coursing through rusty piles of metal....coming alive and rising up like a lonely, towering robot make of junk, shaking off crumbling I-beams and banging old Volkswagen busses together while standing below a sky full of old black-and-white television static, even sorrowfully playing hi-test electric lines like some kind of violin, with all the heady heaviness of a Pink Floyd guitar solo.
Well...that's what happens in my head anyways. I asked Dave Wren of Moultrigger just what was going on in his when he recorded this monstrously riffy tape.
Dean - What kind of equipment/instruments did you use to make Anode?
Dave - For the most part, "Anode" showcases my Casiotone 7000. It's a big warm beast of keyboard from the 80s. I love to let it drone over loops through my DOD Digital Delay. On this release I also threw a Danelectro Vibrato pedal in the mix to make those cozy pulses really purr. It was all recorded onto cassette by way of one of those radio transmitter dealies for mp3 players. Recording to cassette from radio band makes for a nice fuzzy analog sound. Someday I'll give up that method and get all cold and crispy. I'm starting to get curious as to what the style I've been working in the past couple years would sound like with proper production. I may attempt to make a studio recorded Moulttrigger album in the next year or so.
Dean - The album reminds my of pulsing electricity at times, or old machinery. I’m assuming that’s why it’s called Anode. What kind of atmosphere or idea were you going for while recording?
Dave - I usually get ideas for different set ups to test out and when I'm pleased with the sound of the set up that's when the ideas start popping out as well as the mood of the recording. The set up I used was all about humming and pulsing electricity and sounded very 70's Euro Electronic. I happily rolled with it and made pieces in that style. As I was recording "Clementine Nightmare" I, pretty obvious by the title, thought it was my ode to Tangerine Dream. Then I started doing the post production and thought it sounded more like early Front 242. I'm pretty fond of both bands, so I wasn't complaining.
Post production on "Anode" drove me bat shit! There are still parts that make me cringe a bit. I spent a good portion of a week trying to get "Dim the Beacons" to sound the way I wanted it to. I've received quite a bit of positive feedback on that song, so it was worth it.
Dean - Your recordings get thrown into the Noise category - but this one has a definite beat or pulse running through it, even some funky hooks going, even when it gets abstract. What kind of music would you call it?
Dave - For the most part, "Anode" showcases my Casiotone 7000. It's a big warm beast of keyboard from the 80s. I love to let it drone over loops through my DOD Digital Delay. On this release I also threw a Danelectro Vibrato pedal in the mix to make those cozy pulses really purr. It was all recorded onto cassette by way of one of those radio transmitter dealies for mp3 players. Recording to cassette from radio band makes for a nice fuzzy analog sound. Someday I'll give up that method and get all cold and crispy. I'm starting to get curious as to what the style I've been working in the past couple years would sound like with proper production. I may attempt to make a studio recorded Moulttrigger album in the next year or so.
Dean - The album reminds my of pulsing electricity at times, or old machinery. I’m assuming that’s why it’s called Anode. What kind of atmosphere or idea were you going for while recording?
Dave - I usually get ideas for different set ups to test out and when I'm pleased with the sound of the set up that's when the ideas start popping out as well as the mood of the recording. The set up I used was all about humming and pulsing electricity and sounded very 70's Euro Electronic. I happily rolled with it and made pieces in that style. As I was recording "Clementine Nightmare" I, pretty obvious by the title, thought it was my ode to Tangerine Dream. Then I started doing the post production and thought it sounded more like early Front 242. I'm pretty fond of both bands, so I wasn't complaining.
Post production on "Anode" drove me bat shit! There are still parts that make me cringe a bit. I spent a good portion of a week trying to get "Dim the Beacons" to sound the way I wanted it to. I've received quite a bit of positive feedback on that song, so it was worth it.
Dean - Your recordings get thrown into the Noise category - but this one has a definite beat or pulse running through it, even some funky hooks going, even when it gets abstract. What kind of music would you call it?
Dave - I too was shocked how hooky "Anode" turned out, mostly "Channeled".
That's my 'Goth Night Tuesday' dance floor number. As for genre, the simplest label would be "Lo-fi Electronic". I'm more a Home Taper than Noise Musician. If the set up I'm using makes for decent harsh noise, I'll go with it but I really enjoy making melodies. I especially enjoy making melodies that have to fight their way through a wall of noise. I was a huge Jesus and Mary Chain fan in my youth. That 'something pretty working its way through the ugly' concept has always made me happy.
Dean - I swear there’s human voices on “Birds”. Am I crazy?
Dave - You are not. A couple of the tracks use the British narrator chick that announces each bird on the "Guide to Bird Sounds" albums. She's pretty well in the forefront though...so if you're hearing human voices otherwise it's pure production magic, baby.
Dean - Gotcha, that's not the part, so I should adjust my meds. What are you working on for the future?
Dave - I'm playing Zeitgeist 3 in Boone, Iowa at the Elephungeon on the 16th of November. Those shows are always a fucking fantastic time! I have no projects lined up at the time being. Late Summer was a bit of a release extravaganza for me so I'm just going to wait for Winter to kick in and get me all gloomy. I've had this mighty stack of 60's sound effects albums begging to be given the "Birds" treatment but I can't motivate myself to burn them into wav. files. That project has been on the back burner since last Fall, so it's probably time to hup to it.
Anode should be heard on cassette to be fully appreciated, but the digital version is a great listen as well.
If you're living in a world of Iowa music, make sure to pick up Anode and Boone, ca. 1995. These releases were created with a lot of love for the art of their creation, and because of that each lend themselves to multiple listens. Like so many great albums, you'll hear something new every time.
- Dean Erickson
This article can also be found on Rid-Of-Me.com
