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The Oob Eye Works

by vacuum tree head

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1.
Höörsüüm-73 02:37
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Down down down I don't know what I'm digging for Keep on, keep on Get down there and dig some more Buzz buzz buzz I heard the klaxon call Sometimes I gotta stumble Look out now I'm gonna fall
2.
Alice Is Evidence 04:29
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Know that this is my truth: Beware of heartless them With scalpel they would dissect a kiss Given a chance, they'd undream a dream Listen to what I have to say: Let them rot in stolen lives A decoy, soft worlds and lies will fade A moonlight nightcall far, far away This is the thing fiends and angels sing
3.
Reinstation 02:09
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4.
Ache to Owe 05:14
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Oh poison in my eye I'm headed straight for the graveyard Beyond the lake is an empty lake And there's no light in the market Times are hard and things aren't good The rain comes down salty sweet I have seen many trees And they've all broke in the wind
5.
The Bucket 02:18
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I'll sit here lonely I could be happy, but it's not so good to be alone The many charms about you I'd wrap myself around you But I won't shed Two tears Two tears in the bucket Ploink ploink is the sound Of my love
6.
The Drop 01:12
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7.
Nariz Obscura 03:00
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Your hips are sweet like honey cream You're the sweetest woman I ever seen I swear, baby You came from a dream I can't sleep at night You make me shake with fright If you don't leave my head I think I might You came from nowhere And baby, I think you better go back there They'll make you breathe smoke And say it's fresh air The well is full of bleached bone Go to your ship and set a course back home They must repay what has been loaned Ha!
8.
The Seed 02:35
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I just want to tell ya, I'm gonna warn ya Don't want to scare you, but it's formula, babe Some things will break and will not roll You have lost my faith now And you are getting old now I don't think some numbers are gonna harm ya But when there's no money in the bank it hurts! The check will never come in the mail All my greens have turned blue And despair is nothing new
9.
"___"4FF/DT 05:35
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about

Here it is, the second Vacuum Tree Head CD, 1994's The Oob Eye Works. As we were now becoming a gigging band, there was a conscious decision made to start writing some songs that could be performed live, and repeated. Wild, punky, raw and in your face!

"Second album of lurching, dissonant, dreamlike tunes from Californian group whose instrumentation includes sampler, vibes, theremin, didjeridoo, sitar, space junk, piano guts, and baritone sax (as well as guitar, bass, drums and vocals), without which surf would not be able to meet Arabic music, and reggae could not greet serialism. And they must, as it is foretold."
-Tedium House

"Choppy percussive experimental/rock/jazz/noise hybrid that screams in your face and stomps on your foot--and you dance; plenty of unexpected developments under the guise of chaos "
-Prem Lall, KUSF

"When Jason Berry met Mike de la Cuesta and the two began experimenting with music five years ago, neither man knew how to 'actually use the instruments'. So the duo began experimenting with a four-track recorder, 'figuring out what we were doing in retrospect.' Thus, what began as an experiment in home studio manipulation evolved into the massive sonic exploration known as Vacuum Tree Head. The group is basically a revolving collective of musicians who write, rehearse, and record with an urgency unmatched by most steady-working club bands.
The group has two titles out on Megaphone, the latest entitled The Oob Eye Works. They rarely play live, clocking in only four shows in the past two years, and there's a vast difference between the recordings and the performances. Berry professes that, in concert, VTH is, 'Beyond punk. A little bit sloppy, a little bit loud, a lot faster and harder. We want to keep the energy up.'
Indeed, eclectic instruments heard on the disc, like the balafon and singing bowl, would be drowned out onstage by the straight-for-the-jugular abrasiveness. The group draws from punk's DIY resolve (Berry financed and produced both albums), but the breadth of the sound is far from straight punk. Their compositions exhibit an uncommon depth and cognizance of the bonds between all music, appropriating and collating with care and without restraint. Western influences include Ornette Coleman's Prime Time, Frank Zappa and the 'sloppier, noisier' Mothers, and John Zorn, 'more for the method than the music.'
'Being former punk rockers or whatever, we kind of go for it," explains Berry. 'Don't hesitate. If you like something, integrate that into your music."
-Sam Prestiani, BAM

"Severely oddball, vaguely early-Residential compositions by multi instrumentalist nonconformists Jason Berry and Ron Anderson, with help from several highly skilled friends. Thick, complex layers of mostly acoustic weirdness take the listener into a surrealistic wonderland."
- Subterranean.org

credits

released October 22, 1994

Ron Anderson - bass guitar, cornet, sampler, percussion / Jason Berry - voice, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano and baritone saxophones, sampler, various sounds / Michael de la Cuesta - electric guitar, trumpet, various instruments / Richard Faulhaber - tapes and electronics / Erica Fallin - flute, piccolo, electric guitar / Sylvia Gordon - voice / Ian Noble - percussion / Gino Robair - theremin, vibraphone, percussion / Christopher Roberts - trombone / Jon Sanchez - basses / Thomas Scandura - drum kit / Chandra Shukla - tabla, sitar, didjeridu / Matthew Waldron - bass guitar, chapman stick, voice, electric guitar, electronics and various sounds

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vacuum tree head San Francisco, California

Vacuum Tree Head was formed by Jason Berry and Michael de la Cuesta in a garage in south San José, California, in 1989. Inspired equally by punk rock, free jazz, electronic music and modern composition, we recorded in whatever style we wanted, on whatever instrument we could get our hands on, in whichever manner we pleased. VTH ceased operations in December of 2019. ... more

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