The Mommyheads

The Mommyheads are a not very well known indie rock band that spent much of the 80s and 90s bouncing from one record label to another, most of which are now out of business, or were never in business to begin with. Their albums are all out of print, but you can still buy copies of a few of them if you know where to look, and of course they have an incredibly tiny internet fanbase which probably contains at least one person willing to hook you up with the rest.

Why should you care about yet another obscure NY indie rock band that released a handful of 7-inches during the first Bush administration? Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I consider their 80s releases to be some of the best rock music of that decade.

Lineup: Adam Cohen: guitars, piano, vocals. Matt Patrick: bass, vocals. Jan Kotik: drums.

In 1990 they moved to San Francisco, mellowed out, and, uh, were all replaced by different people, except frontguy Adam Cohen:

Second lineup: Adam Cohen: guitars, vocals. Mike Holt: keyboards, vocals. Jeff Palmer: bass, vocals. Dan Fisherman: drums.

MAGUMBO MEAT PIE EP

1988; Rating: 2.93/pi

Composition: ++ / Lyrics: ++ / Production: + / Innovation: ++

• 01 Butcher’s Daughter [A]
• 02 Imperfect Love [A+]
• 03 Your Skin Is Color Blind [A]
• 04 Dance Between the Knuckles [A]

This humble 7" EP (unfortunately, just as out of print as almost every other Mommyheads release) is a miniature zolo masterpiece. “Butcher’s Daughter” shows the sort of punkish exuberance that would soon disappear entirely from their music—sadly, this is a band that ‘matured’ before its time. “Imperfect Love” is my pick for highlight, an earnestly freakish love ballad-thing, but all these songs are great. “Your Skin Is Color Blind” perhaps comes the closest out of all of them to disintegrating, but it has a brilliant Fripptastic guitar riff that comes out of nowhere during the chorus. “Dance Between the Knuckles”, finally is two minutes of tricksy-rifftastic rock followed by a 90 degree turn into a brief guitar jam (for the first and definitely not the last time in their recorded output.)

Oh shit, I just described all the songs on here, in order of appearance. Now they’re gonna take away my record reviewing license.

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ACORN

1989; Rating: 2.96/pi

Composition: ++ / Lyrics: ++ / Production: + / Innovation: ++

• 01 Cactus Farm [A+]
• 02 Gravity [A]
• 03 Song About Norman [A]
• 04 All in the Way It Was [A]
• 05 Dance for Me [i]
• 06 Uncle Joe’s Barbecue [A]
• 07 Earthtones (Ride Me Home) [B]
• 08 Tie This Dragon Down [A]
• 09 Arizona [A−]
• 10 Walking Along the Mine [A]
• 11 Between the Moon & Sun [A]
• 12 Space Jazz [B+]
• 13 Quelle la Viga [i]
• 14 Junky Tubb [A−]

This is one of those releases that pretty much is the definition of indie: the “liner notes” of the CD reissue are a black and white photocopy, and the disc itself is clad in a white paper label. The sound is lo-fi, and it’s out of necessity, not artsiness, with recordings cobbled together cheaply at several different studios in the band’s native New York. Years later, the band would get a major label deal shortly before imploding, but this is their raw, teenage debut (not counting the earlier Magumbo Meat Pie EP) in all its glory.

Well, I don’t know that “raw” is really a word I would ever apply to the Mommyheads. This is sharp, brainy rock recalling zolo pioneers like XTC and Gentle Giant, but also post-punk bands like the Feelies, the Violent Femmes, and the oddball latter-day King Crimson. The songs are short and often multi-part, loaded with interlocking rhythms and unexpected touches like violin, Nepalese horn, and what sound like backup vocals from a toddler. The melodies are the kind that sound slightly unnatural on first listen, but perfect by the tenth.

Of the actual songs, only “Earthtones (Ride Me Home)” lacks a convincing hook—unless you have some sort of wah pedal fetish. There are also a couple instrumentals: “Arizona” is a stately little piece; “Space Jazz” is pretty much what it sounds like; “Junky Tubb” is a swingin’ little song fragment that ends too soon (disappearing into a final burst of chicken noises.) “Quelle la Viga”, meanwhile, is a pointless minute-long field recording of the band goofing around with some kids. But hey, I can forgive such minor transgressions on an album so loaded with top 40 MEGA-HITS such as “Gravity” (“Gravity won’t get the best of me!”) and “Walking Along the Mine” (“Who will explode this time?”)

Opener “Cactus Farm” is the manifesto. Adam Cohen and Matt Patrick trade vocal harmonies and contrapuntal riffs as Jan Kotik provides some of the most creative drumming you’re likely to hear on a rock album. Suddenly, halfway through, the band launches into overdrive, somehow making a math-rock jam jam, like a nerd removing his pocket protector and using it as a makeshift condom.

You can order the album from Fang Records, who were very nice about sending me a replacement when the USPS had apparently lost my first order (which eventually arrived, rather smashed up, about two months later.)

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COMING INTO BEAUTY

1992; Rating: 2.76/pi

Composition: ++ / Lyrics: + / Production: + / Innovation: +

1. Wedding Day [A+]
2. Coming into Beauty [A]
3. Nino Wrote a Tune [B+]
4. I Started Breathing [A]
5. Blind Like a Camera [A]
6. Catbird [B+]
7. Like a Brick [B+]
8. Sunfish, Sunflower [A]
9. Grace [B]
10. Pigeon in Your Tongue [A]
11. Today [B+]
12. Swimming [A]
13. I Dreamed [A−]
14. I’m Not Real [A−]
15. Hepsaba’s Compass [A−]

I guess these guys had a bigger budget this time, because everything sounds pretty good, and there are all sorts of fun production touches and even more guest appearances—including by a couple guys who will soon be replacing 2/3 of the original members of the band. The problem is, they were also able to record 15 minutes more material, giving them room to include far more fillerish stuff than on Acorn.

Don’t go thinking that this album is some kind of huge disappointment, but it does wind up losing some steam towards the middle. More ominously, the last traces of the punkish thread in their early work are now entirely absent. There’s still plenty of spring-loaded energy here, but the terrible (Phil?) spectre of Maturity looms large over this album in the several longer, more sedate songs (not to mention the band’s move to San Francisco and their accompanying transformation into evil hippies.) And what’s the point of ‘maturity’ if every album is still gonna have a novelty jazz song somewhere on it?? (See “Nino Wrote a Tune”.)

Anyway, whatever storm clouds were gathering, they still could crank out a great tune. Like Acorn, this is a real grower of an album, with melodies that reveal themselves only gradually but pack a whole lot of punch. The first five tunes, assuming you cut out the aforementioned “Nino”, make up the kind of pop tour de force that very few bands can reach. Things get spotty after that point, but there’s enough quality to carry you through to the end.

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THE WORLD IS ROUND 7"

1993; Rating: 1.84/pi

Composition: − / Lyrics: + / Production: ~ / Innovation: ~

1. The World Is Round [B−]
2. Remedy [B+]

Feh. A generic power-pop single that a monkey could have written. Why do we need this from the Mommyheads? The b-side is more typical of their style, but it’s only marginally more memorable.

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