Customer Reviews

Bumpa

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Okay so the title might sound feisty but heY! What gives? Maybe its because I came to CB only last year but Bumpa is absolutely infreakingsane? All I can say in response to the previous viewer (who is definitely entitled to his opinion)they must be one freaky somnagun to call a recording like this not insane! Might I merely point out FLUORIDE...the thematic content, approach and all around hairy apecrap is off my scale, how about I ATE LUCY and that nightmarish sax wail throughout it, or what about CHIMPA & APE?? It is a study in itchy crazed mania out of the gate and it gets weirder and more intense every minute...then when you think you've had just about enough of that crazy scratchy stuff in the first minute it sort of settles into a dark and insistent groove that suddenly stops at about the 1:50 mark and features a completely undone horn warbling madly followed immediately by a driving attack punctuated with a myriad of rhythmic and melodic whacko stuff, then when you think youve had enough, Brad Houser hits you at 2:17 with the silliest one note glissando blast of such flatulent proportions that you could fry your speakers in a nanosecond if you dont watch it! The song eventually trails off in a completely direction from the several other avenues it explores.

Okay, so weird zone stuff aside what I absolutely adore about this recording is its adventurousness. They leave absolutely no stone unturned in the exploration of different themes, samples rhythyms ideas etc. One minute your receiving a sonic enema with some nutty broad warbling about a bad parrot and humans sharing similar genetic makeup to cockroaches the next your in an ambient orbit around a peaceful and unknown planet....suddenly your in somebodies chessey sonic nightmare 1950's sitcom soundtrack. These guys are fearless and are the most interesting band I have heard in the last 5 years hands down!

All I can say is that these fellas have been across the musical specrum and back so many times that they had to stop at a funky gas station to buy some sweet rolls and corn nuts. Each one of these musicians brings to the tour bus an entirely different flavor onboard. Brad, on bass, ureal. Matt, on traps, Peter Gabriel quality drums. Mike, on percussion, just wow. Skerik, sax wackiness from Seattle. Anyway, it is really impossible to put into words what this collective posse does to the waves around us. Just buy it and know you've never been there before. These guys are not from this planet, and I love them for that.

My friends Krk and Brendan introduced me to Critters right about the time this album came out ... and just in time to see them live at Bumbershoot here in Seattle. This music is madness. Matt and Mike are as fine and frenetic a pair of drummers as you could ask for: Gene Krupa meets Mickey Hart. Basses? Saxaphones sounding like screaming whales? Noises that might be either crazed synth or chief-wacko Skerik wailing into a microphone and going crazy with the effects units? See them live, and hope that they introduce you to Ridicules and The Gorilla. It's Bumpa.