Voluntary Mother Earth- Unacceptable Vegetable
(Self Released)
From Aural Innovations #39 (May 2008)
This is some strange and nasty at times, Japanese rock music. Frank Zappa is
cited as a main influence. The bio says they are from Tokyo but formed and recorded
in Texas…. This stuff is a little X-Rated at times and they really go
for some crazy song titles and lyrics. It is made to provoke. The CD starts
with Give us a Tomato which is quite a crazy song with a lot of different styles
of music from like dramatic prog music with a bit of Mars Volta like influence
to really heavy metal riffing and a strange accordion section. Free Head for a
Free Ride is a weird bluesy track with a bit of Weird Al Yankovic thrown in.
The last part of the song features an amazing psychedelic guitar jam. I said
just water and she gave me Sprite is next and another strange one with a heavy
riff and strange story. They use the keyboards in an interesting and strange
way in this music, usually just to fuck it up and make it strange. Valley Girl
meets Angela and a Long Thing Person somewhere in the Orient starts slowly and
is a sort of weird ballad about having sex with the valley girl. One of the
weaker songs. Jeremy Thorn 2007 really rocks like hell and features a quite
strange keyboard line to balance against the hard rocking guitar. The band go
into Sweet Home Alabama at one point in this track and other strange parts with
piano jazz, etc. A story of a typical week of a Starving Musician is a funky
number with some really cool guitar playing, but again, the band take the track
in all kinds of directions including a middle part with a strange country like
piece. Makes me Wonder starts off with a great guitar solo before coming down
and some spacey keyboards in the background balance the track. The guitar solo
section is most excellent. The CD ends with two Penis songs; Forgive my Penis
and You got my Penis Hurt. Strange numbers but the last one is 7½ minutes
and becomes musically very interesting halfway through with a part that reminds
me of Black Sun Ensemble. One thing about this band, which some compare to Zappa
(only in a small way), is this band is never predictable. You never know what
is going to happen next. This makes the music exciting and strange as well.
Excellent band.
YOu can buy the CD from the CD Baby Web site: http://www.CDBaby.com
Vist the band web site at: www.voluntarymotherearth.com
Reviewed by Scott Heller