AAHHH...

Fans buying Chicken Switch based only on the Melvins imprimatur will find much to rattle their windows here in remixes of Lysol and Eggnog by John Duncan and Lee Ranaldo (respectively). Neither Duncan nor Ranaldo go to any effort to conceal the original tracks, preferring to work in an acid-drenched impressionist vein. Duncan’s piece, “AAHHH...,” couples the guitar part from “Hung Bunny” off of Lysol with Dale Crover’s manic tom-toms bashing out sixteenths behind it: this is what Melvins songs sound like in your head hours after hearing them, or the way they sound when you excitedly attempt to describe them to friends. Likewise, in Ranaldo’s effort, “Eggnog Trilogy,” the Melvins one hears is an ideal or Platonic form, a distillation of the most potent elements of the Melvins’ sound — the elements aren’t treated so much as pruned, whatever remains being whatever wouldn’t boil off (a ‘reduction’ in the culinary sense). --Brent Mix, Junkmedia Eye Yamatsuka begins by mangling things right up with 'Sk8tronics', Heemans mix is ghostly and really very sweet indeed. Then V/Vm butchers things in his unique style and makes a bloody good racket and all, sounds kinda evil! John Duncan does a mighty fine job at reassembling the band but keeping true to their spirit. Matmos techno things up a bit with some bleepy action, while keeping Buzzo's guitar in an almost recognizable state. What Lee Ranaldo does to the Eggnog tracks is super nice in a kinda megamix sorta fashion. Merzbow brings the noise over a looped Crover ping pong type rhythm. David Scott Stone brings a totally monged out drone vibe. Panacea does his take on electroclash using audio from 'Queen' from the ace Stoner Witch LP. I never would have expected to hear this in a million years. I expected he would have splattered it with amens. Surprisingly the band selected Matthew Bower's Sunroof! alias as opposed to Skull flower and it's a refreshing nugget of reduced psychedelia Acid Mothers man Kawabata adds some extra filth and echo into what then becomes a distorted chaotic industrial riot!!! Farmers Manual take the sounds and transform them into their out there electronic zone. 'Nightgoat' gets well and truly buggered by Void Manes (???). Obscure electronic dude RLW introduces some heady frequencies with messed up sample parts. And then Speedranch does a good job with a dynamic mix that goes into all kinds of messed up places with breakcore/ noise and bizarrely some Fatboy Slim samples. He clearly got distracted there and must have forgot he was supposed remixing the Melvins, He gets back on task though and ends the package on a high. --Norman Records