From the Scrapheap to Scraps

This started as a simple request from Scraps, a friend of NSS, for some follow-up musick by a favorite of mine, The Mabuses. But Nothin' ever stays simple around here for one reason or another.

The Mabuses' second album was The Melbourne Method, but when I went to retrieve it from my files, I realized that "Fetch the Hammer" & "Narc Fears" were corrupted. I immediately turned to their third offering, 2007s Mabused, only to realize that in the more than fifteen year span between releases 1 & 3, the original esoteric avant-pop of their self-titled had given way to the much more modern psychedelia / folk derived Brit pop mixture that was Mabused. Songs like "June" & "Russian Roulette" still harkened back to the earlier sound, but alas...

Then I realized that the best follow-up to their self-titled wasn't even by the Mabuses, but Egomaniacs. Egomaniacs finds The Mabuses' mastermind, singer/guitarist Kim Fahy & co-founder/ drummer Jamie Harley teamed up with Shimmy Disc honcho (Mark) Kramer of Bongwater / Shockabilly infamy. The three branch out from their usual devices & tackle a variety of other instruments, resulting in this group's most entertaining though one-off effort. Egomaniacs sounds distanced & strange, carrying the genre-mashing tendencies of the Mabuses forward into a slightly different, dreamier setting. Fahy's signature dry, reflective singing & the combination of acoustic guitar with spacey effects calls to mind a lot of early-70s psych/prog folk material. Harley's percussion is subtle & creative, leading where needed but otherwise carefully filling out the corners of the musical structures Fahy & Kramer create, though as the liner notes state, "Kim really wrote most of the songs."

Fahy, Harley, & Kramer - Egomaniacs, Shimmy Disc-068, 1993.

all decryption codes in comments

Cancerman
I am Rolling
Your Sister
That Letter
Heavenly Bent
Father’s Day
From Nebraska
Redline
Mamma’s Collection
Your Lips are Nuggets
Indeed, This is the Creep
The Raven
The Pebbles
Kiss Your Wallet


& as requested, before all the rambling à moi...

The Mabuses - Mabused, Magpie Records 901, 2007.

Dark Star
Seasider
Mirth
Sugarland
Byayaba
Havana
Tiger Lilies
June
I'm the Greatest
Feast
Glass Eyed Pitter Patter
Garden Devils
Russian Roulette
Destination

Enjoy,
NØ