Congratulations! With your purchase of a miRthkon Vehicle, you have joined the ranks of an elite class of enlightened consumer!
When a band starts their debut album such self-applauding dialogue, even cleverly masked as the faceless voice of a company called miRthkon congratulating you on the purchase of one of their products (a vehicle), that band better deliver! But by the time the first track has finished playing, slowly descending from the typical corporate jargon to cleverly implying that the miRthkon Vehicle is best enjoyed as the details slowly reveal themselves to you, and ultimately putting the fate of the universe (re: the band) in the listeners hands, they have proven their worth as entertainers. At the same time, they slowly build the intensity of the song, so that by the time that Flashbulb of Orgasm (whatever that means) explodes onto the scene, the listeners is (somewhat) prepared. As prepared as one could be the first that this jammy/ jazzy/ heavy/ chugging track bursts out through their speakers, anyways.
Again and again throughout the album, miRthkon impresses. Armed with very agressive reeds coming from Carolyn Walter, Jamison Smeltz as well as a small army of guests, the band rarely has to rely on the guitars to create a heavy sound, although the guitars often come through loud and crunchy. At the same time, the playfulness of the music is never absent, and the bands sense of humour arises again and again. Pretty much any dialogue on this album is guaranteed to elicit laughter, be they the ridiculous lyrics to Banana (he's got a banana, it looks like a gun, the other bananas are on the run), the amusing lyrics to Honey Key Jamboree (Here's a story about some bees that like to boogie), or the return of the corporate vocals at the end of The Black Fruit with perhaps the most cleverly biting attack on corporations I've heard in a while (A company that tells it's customers what it's customers tell the company it's customers want to hear).
All this is part of a massive concept that the music only hints at; the most direct insight being in the track, a Coven of Coyotes, which demonstrates the meeting of La Veldreaux and Kleighroi, two of the characters in the labyrinthine plot the band has devised. Coven of Coyotes also features back and forth dialogue more typical of a musical than of a rock and roll concept album, and I enjoy it immensely, especially given that the dialogue here is no less entertaining than anything else throughout the album.
Meanwhile, the music changes gear at the drop of a note, features some highly complex interactions between the instruments, and without getting so lost in showing off that there isn't something interesting for the user to grasp on to. (In fact, there are often various different aspects of the music that the listener could listen to an enjoy). It almost feels as if this is not miRthkon's debut; this feels more like their Close to the Edge than their Yes. A little research on the bands website reveals that this is partially true; music for this album has existed in various stages for ten years (looking at their early releases, miRthkon and Ruth-Bikula Phaze, one can see early versions of tracks such as Daddylonglegz and Coven of Coyotes dating as far back as '99) and this album was being recorded for about four years. So although this may be the bands first full album release, these ideas have existed and, presumably, been worked upon for ten years now.
And at the end of it all, it is we, the listener, who get to enjoy this medley of complex, hilarious, and entertaining music, all at the reasonable price of one disc. It can only lead us to hope two things: that it won't be ten years until the next album, and that miRthkon will be able to create something at least half as good as this was. If so, I know they'll have a lot of happy listeners.
Side note: The album art for this album is also superb, from an amusing page that includes the "history" of the letter R, to the detailed story hidden behind the disc in the jewel case (have a magnifying glass ready, that text is tiny but well worth the time to read!), the packaging has received as much love as the music contained within.
When a band starts their debut album such self-applauding dialogue, even cleverly masked as the faceless voice of a company called miRthkon congratulating you on the purchase of one of their products (a vehicle), that band better deliver! But by the time the first track has finished playing, slowly descending from the typical corporate jargon to cleverly implying that the miRthkon Vehicle is best enjoyed as the details slowly reveal themselves to you, and ultimately putting the fate of the universe (re: the band) in the listeners hands, they have proven their worth as entertainers. At the same time, they slowly build the intensity of the song, so that by the time that Flashbulb of Orgasm (whatever that means) explodes onto the scene, the listeners is (somewhat) prepared. As prepared as one could be the first that this jammy/ jazzy/ heavy/ chugging track bursts out through their speakers, anyways.
Again and again throughout the album, miRthkon impresses. Armed with very agressive reeds coming from Carolyn Walter, Jamison Smeltz as well as a small army of guests, the band rarely has to rely on the guitars to create a heavy sound, although the guitars often come through loud and crunchy. At the same time, the playfulness of the music is never absent, and the bands sense of humour arises again and again. Pretty much any dialogue on this album is guaranteed to elicit laughter, be they the ridiculous lyrics to Banana (he's got a banana, it looks like a gun, the other bananas are on the run), the amusing lyrics to Honey Key Jamboree (Here's a story about some bees that like to boogie), or the return of the corporate vocals at the end of The Black Fruit with perhaps the most cleverly biting attack on corporations I've heard in a while (A company that tells it's customers what it's customers tell the company it's customers want to hear).
All this is part of a massive concept that the music only hints at; the most direct insight being in the track, a Coven of Coyotes, which demonstrates the meeting of La Veldreaux and Kleighroi, two of the characters in the labyrinthine plot the band has devised. Coven of Coyotes also features back and forth dialogue more typical of a musical than of a rock and roll concept album, and I enjoy it immensely, especially given that the dialogue here is no less entertaining than anything else throughout the album.
Meanwhile, the music changes gear at the drop of a note, features some highly complex interactions between the instruments, and without getting so lost in showing off that there isn't something interesting for the user to grasp on to. (In fact, there are often various different aspects of the music that the listener could listen to an enjoy). It almost feels as if this is not miRthkon's debut; this feels more like their Close to the Edge than their Yes. A little research on the bands website reveals that this is partially true; music for this album has existed in various stages for ten years (looking at their early releases, miRthkon and Ruth-Bikula Phaze, one can see early versions of tracks such as Daddylonglegz and Coven of Coyotes dating as far back as '99) and this album was being recorded for about four years. So although this may be the bands first full album release, these ideas have existed and, presumably, been worked upon for ten years now.
And at the end of it all, it is we, the listener, who get to enjoy this medley of complex, hilarious, and entertaining music, all at the reasonable price of one disc. It can only lead us to hope two things: that it won't be ten years until the next album, and that miRthkon will be able to create something at least half as good as this was. If so, I know they'll have a lot of happy listeners.
Side note: The album art for this album is also superb, from an amusing page that includes the "history" of the letter R, to the detailed story hidden behind the disc in the jewel case (have a magnifying glass ready, that text is tiny but well worth the time to read!), the packaging has received as much love as the music contained within.
:::Review by TheGazzardian:::
miRthkon - Vehicle (2009)
1. Congratulations (1:09)
2. Flashbulb Of Orgasm (3:22)
3. Banana (3:01)
4. Automaton (4:15)
5. Zhagunk (6:23)
6. Kharms Way (6:49)
7. Daddylonglegz (5:17)
8. Coven Of Coyotes (4:46)
9. Johnny Yen (4:36)
10. Bappsciliophuaega (4:01)
11. Trishna (3:55)
12. Honey Key Jamboree (5:46)
13. The Black Fruit (6:35)
14. Camelopardalis (9:14)
Credits
- Wally Scharold / electric and acoustic guitars, singing, speech, keyboards, percussion, miRthkon virtual orchestra, sound design, conceptual and narrative design, art direction
- Rob Pumpelly / electric and acoustic guitars, clapping
- Nat Hawkes / Bass Guitar, Vocals
- Carolyn Walter / piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax
- Jamison Smeltz / alto sax, baritone sax, (tracks 3,4,6,8,10,12-14)
- Matt Guggemos / Drums- tracks 8, 12-14 (and some on track 4)
- Jarred McAdams- conceptual and narrative design, text and literary adaptation, speech, sound design, video
alumni
- Dickie Ogden / Drums (tracks 2-3, most of 4, 5-7, 9-11)
- Dave Raminick / Alto sax (tracks 5,7, 9, 11)
- Aram Shelton / Alto sax- track 2, Eb Clarinet- track 6
- Matt Lebofsky / Piano- track 6, Rhodes- track 10, fearless bass sub!
- Nick Peck / Hammond b3 organ- track 14
- Danny Shorago / Kleighroi vocals- track 8
- Robin Reynolds / Hive mind vocals- track 12
Releases information
Label: Altrock
includes all the songs off of "the illusion of joy" e.p.
miRthkon - Vehicle (2009)
1. Congratulations (1:09)
2. Flashbulb Of Orgasm (3:22)
3. Banana (3:01)
4. Automaton (4:15)
5. Zhagunk (6:23)
6. Kharms Way (6:49)
7. Daddylonglegz (5:17)
8. Coven Of Coyotes (4:46)
9. Johnny Yen (4:36)
10. Bappsciliophuaega (4:01)
11. Trishna (3:55)
12. Honey Key Jamboree (5:46)
13. The Black Fruit (6:35)
14. Camelopardalis (9:14)
Credits
- Wally Scharold / electric and acoustic guitars, singing, speech, keyboards, percussion, miRthkon virtual orchestra, sound design, conceptual and narrative design, art direction
- Rob Pumpelly / electric and acoustic guitars, clapping
- Nat Hawkes / Bass Guitar, Vocals
- Carolyn Walter / piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax
- Jamison Smeltz / alto sax, baritone sax, (tracks 3,4,6,8,10,12-14)
- Matt Guggemos / Drums- tracks 8, 12-14 (and some on track 4)
- Jarred McAdams- conceptual and narrative design, text and literary adaptation, speech, sound design, video
alumni
- Dickie Ogden / Drums (tracks 2-3, most of 4, 5-7, 9-11)
- Dave Raminick / Alto sax (tracks 5,7, 9, 11)
- Aram Shelton / Alto sax- track 2, Eb Clarinet- track 6
- Matt Lebofsky / Piano- track 6, Rhodes- track 10, fearless bass sub!
- Nick Peck / Hammond b3 organ- track 14
- Danny Shorago / Kleighroi vocals- track 8
- Robin Reynolds / Hive mind vocals- track 12
Releases information
Label: Altrock
includes all the songs off of "the illusion of joy" e.p.
:::here:::