late 1993 or early 1994
(originally self released/self produced by Eli Jones on Lesbian
Chicken Maggot Blasters' self-titled debut full length tape, 1994; reissued by Craig Jakubowski, summer 1995;
reissued by Full Tilt Distribution, winter 1996)
Eli Jones....the name's poetry seems to recall a colossal American legend whose reputation is perpetually re-energized by phantasmagoric hyperbole. In reality, Eli Jones was an artistically gifted kid living and struggling through the growing pains of adolescence just like any other American teen in the 1990's. Stuck in the culturally vacuous routine of Cockeysville, Md. - a deceptively peaceful suburb only about a half an hour north of Baltimore city - Eli was surrounded by upper middle class youth with an excess of spare time and allowance money, an excess whose main by-product was the grotesque potluck of time killers which became manna to many kids there (i.e., recreational drug abuse, vandalism, hormonally charged irresponsibility, ad nauseum) Despite his easy access to all of this sordidness, Eli valiantly avoided any lemming-like peer assimilation while still attempting to make a meaningful connection to the bored teens around him. To understand what bold pursuit inspired Jones to rush headlong into Cockeysville's molten core of youthful embarrassment you must first understand what is maybe the only title more mythical than the Eli Jones name itself: Lesbian Chicken Maggot Blasters!
...Jones' sonic adventures...really took off around age 14 when he acquired a Vestax four track cassette recorder. The young artist soon figured out exactly how to fill this compact machine with an infinite menagerie of other-worldly vibrations and melodies mostly created with an ever expanding selection of damaged electronic effects pedals he amassed via late night trips to the dumpsters of local music shops throughout Baltimore County, which is most likely where he also found his four track. Eli Jones could rescue all kinds of busted gear from oblivion and he even managed to salvage electric guitars often repairing these with an unorthodox formula involving duct tape, parts of other discarded instruments, and the copious but surprisingly helpful use of well chewed gum in lieu of soldering equipment. Pitch shifters, delay pedals, every variation of fuzz and distortion imaginable, wah wah and similar tone bending effects, the psychelicizing chorus, flanger, and phaser pedals - you name a sound effect that could be made with electronic circuits, vacuum tubes, or magnetic tape and Eli would bury his music in as many of those as he possibly could without ever compromising the emotionally charged melodies and dynamics that defined his work... - Mike Apichella (note: a much longer version of this article is featured in the 40 pg. booklet which accompanies the cassette version of Towson-Glen Arm Freakouts.)
supported by 4 fans who also own “Lesbian Chicken Maggot Blasters - 'Let The Beef Out'”
Sonic Youth is one of those bands where you easily run out of superlatives to describe what they created. This could've easily come off as a cynical cash-grab by a band that had broken up 11 years prior to the release of this record, but that's not what this is. Some of my favourite Sonic Youth instrumentals. sentient meat
Experimental label Hallow Ground challenges 16 artists to create pieces around the concept of epiphany on this transcendent compilation. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 8, 2022
Grim motor-psycho music that goes from growling Steppenwolf jams to delightfully strange jazz/krautrock diversions. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 24, 2020
Proceeds from this powerful, haunting new track from Elvis Perkins & Sam Cohen will benefit Emergent Fund, powered by RPM. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 9, 2017
supported by 4 fans who also own “Lesbian Chicken Maggot Blasters - 'Let The Beef Out'”
When you consider the very uniqueness of this group, why wouldn't you buy it? They really are a seriously spectacular live act as well as masters of the studio. Gavin Hellyer