Released
1998
Label
Skin Graft
Reviewed by
Michael C. Lund
Contact
Skin Graft Records
PO Box 257546
Chicago, IL 60625
USA
Visit
Last Edit/Update
02 september, 1998
Strangulated Beatoffs
STRANGULATED BEATOFFS
Track Listing
1. what?who?me?
2. cocky asshole
3. E U
4. dream of the genies
5. babysitting
6. bury black
7. beatoffs get niggery
8. oh, my favorite!
9. countless sheep
After an absence of more than five years, the underground's most notorious
slacker-playboys have returned to Skin Graft Records with their latest
album (and the first to be released domestically in the US since 1992) -- Strangulated
Beatoffs. In conjunction with this milestone of an album, Skin Graft
has also rereleased the band's much lauded Days Of Our Lives, which originally
appeared on the Belgian label Death By Blowjob in 1994. Finally, to truly
make the summer of '98 the summer of Strangulated Beatoffs, the notorious
Sin Raft label has bootlegged Strangulated Beatoffs rare
and deleted Double 7", which was one of Skin Graft's very
first releases back in 1992. The details are sketchy, but apparently 300 copies of this
illegit release turned up in Köln, Germany, replete with Michael Hutchence
tribute covers!
It has been said that the music of Strangulated
Beatoffs is as much about what is not there, as it is about what is
actually there. A brief overview of what is absent from this record thus seems
appropriate. First of all, the cover of the CD basically does not exist. Controversy arose
over the graphics that the band wished displayed on the CD-booklet, and rather than
redesigning the entire cover layout, the graphics in question were simply removed, and the
empty white circle on a red field was retained -- with only the band's name printed on it.
Furthermore, "CD-booklet" is the wrong word to use in this case, as the cover
consists of only one page that is blank on the back. This of course means that Strangulated
Beatoffs has chosen not to include any indication of the credits for this
release.
Musically, the album likewise lacks
a number of the qualities that one normally associates with a creative and well-produced
CD. None of the songs have lyrics, or vocals as such. The band makes no show of their
musical prowess in terms of solos or breaks in the compositions. Neither do any of the
songs on the album have much sense of structure and/or development. And, finally, a number
of the tracks contain static interference; on "Cocky Asshole" the sound very
briefly drops out altogether, and the ending of "E U" has been cut off.
The songs -- in short -- consist of
sequenced drum and guitar progressions, combined with sampled and looped bits and pieces
from various pre-existing songs, as well as found sounds repeated over and over again ad
nauseam. Yes, in truth, Strangulated Beatoffs have taken their minimalist
approach to song-writing to its absolute extreme. And, to think....the world over, this
album is a smash hit on the dance floors....
