Brainiac - - - - - C 'o D ?

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So waddayathink ? Brainiac ? Classic or not ?

― olly, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Hissing Prigs in Static Couture is one of the best albums of the 90s. Enon's good though I wish Brainiac/Tim Taylor was still here.

― %00, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

oh, classic. motherfucken classic. Bonzai Superstar is my favourite, rock'n'roll shattered into bits and pieces and welded back together using broken etch-a-sketches and sjitty synths (and welded BADLY, so its all on the verge of disintegration)... hissing prigs is great, shoulda been crossover. electro shock for president is the teasing view of a future never to be...

everything else is good but inessential. they were one of the most exhilaratingly scary live bands i've ever seen, like i just wasn't sure what was a joke, a pose, or the truth.

rip timmy taylor

― stevie, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I don't have anything to add except: fuckin' classic indeed. Easily some of the best records of the 90's esp the Electro Shock EP and Hissing Prigs, though Smack Bunny Baby is also near-perfect.

It's interesting that the first three posters to the Brainiac thread are all ex-Postal Blowfish (I think)--Ohio love representing?

― adam, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Didn't really get 'em until after John Schmerzal joined up (fer Bonsai Superstar), but ultra-classic from thereon out. Enon's fab as well.

-J

― J, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

One time fellow ILx denizen Brian and I were in San Francisco for a radio station conference and he went to catch them and the Delta 72. I was feeling pretty tired so I skipped out -- a few months later Taylor was dead. One of my greatest musical regrets and might have beens. Would have been interesting to see how they would have dealt with them neo-synth/spaz bands these days.

"I am a CRACKED MACHIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!"

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

could've interviewed Timmy for my zine around the time of their last london show / supporting beck at the brixton academy. turned it down, was too intimidated, thought, 'i'll do 'em next time'.

three weeks later, timmy was dead.

i remember thinking the fax i received was a sick joke at first, inna hewhocannotbenamed out of dwarves stylee. something about the wording, the details about Timmy's car. kept hoping the hoax would eventually be revealed. but it never was.

postal blowfish since 1998 and proud of it

― stevie, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Not on PB since half a year or so. And proud of it. heh.

Some of the Brainiackers collaborated with Mauro out of Evil Superstars. It seemed a perfect match. The result was a tad disappointing to say the least.

― %00, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I saw'em twice. Tim was cute and had great stage presence. "Bonsai Superstar" is indeed the one. The actually had a unique band sound, which is hard to achieve.

― Sean, Sunday, 10 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Saw them supporting GVSB in 1996 - enjoyed them much more than i usually enjoy supports and was sad to hear of tim's death.

― Leigh, Monday, 11 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

man - i just found hissing prigs... at a store yesterday for $6, and i had a $15.50 credit there for selling back some atrocious early 90's pop country my sister-in-law gave me. im real fuckin psyched about these guys, since they figure to be the best antecedent to oneida. so im going to go out on a limb and say classic, before i even have a fully informed opinion.

(brilliant idea, pete. you dumbass.)

― peter smith (plsmith), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

So classic it's ludicrous. Saw them twice in two days over two shows with Shudder to Think in 1996 at Spaceland and the Roxy. I went for Shudder to Think and had never heard of them, and I left a Brainiac fanatic. Search "Vincent Come on Down" and "Flypaper" and "Hot Metal Dobermans" and everything else.

― Softly Weeping at the Oki Dog (Ben Boyer), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:44 (8 years ago) Permalink

Absolutely classic. It may just be my youth but I'd consider Hissing Prigs a personal Top 10 Album of the 90s. I wish I'd gotten to see them but alas, even at their last show I would have been 11. I really need to get on the Electro Shock for President EP.

― Reed Rosenberg (reed), Thursday, 29 July 2004 14:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

I AM YOUR FAVORITE DEE-JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY...A BLIP ON THE SCREEEEEN....

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 29 July 2004 14:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

YOU CAAAAN'T WIIIIIIIN . . . . WHADDAYA THINK ABOUT THAT?

― etc, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 06:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

classic classic

― howell huser (chaki), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 09:52 (7 years ago) Permalink

I still miss that band like crazy. :-(

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 11:25 (7 years ago) Permalink

CLASSIQUE

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 15:56 (7 years ago) Permalink

Aww. I gotta be the bad one. Hissing Prigs, Bonzai Superstar (their best): Classic.

Smack Bunny Baby: DUD. Even within the two classics, there are weak moments, things that smack more of '90s alternarock than timeless. It's like trying to go back to a GvB album...

― js (honestengine), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 16:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

Wow, I had no idea Smack Bunny Baby even existed until you just mentioned it and I looked on AMG. I thought Bonsai Superstar was their 1st album. Oh well. I love that album, and Hissing Prigs, and Electroshock is decent.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 16:40 (7 years ago) Permalink

One of those great live bands where I own a T-shit but no CDs...

― Pete Scholtes (Pete Scholtes), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 16:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

One of the few bands I can think of that will still send me on a lunatic turn the stereo up too loud bounding around the house and scaring my roommates frenzy EVERY DAMN TIME.

Very classic, and probably the only reason I am still a bit reticent about Enon (with the exception of Believo!)

― John Justen (johnjusten), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 16:45 (7 years ago) Permalink

I own a T-shit

I know there are some dedicated fans out there and all but still...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 16:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

Saw them play a show at Barristers in Memphis where Jeff Buckley opened with an acoustic set. Quite a night.

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 17:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

i so wish we could have heard whatever it was that 'electro shock' was pointing towards next

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 17:10 (7 years ago) Permalink

yeah brainiac is about the awesomest

― ZR (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 18:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

i love the tv show

― jaxon (jaxon), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 18:39 (7 years ago) Permalink

My very first SF show ever was seeing Brainiac at Bottom Of The Hill with the Delta 72 opening... that's the show above that Ned refers to... and yeah months later.. :(

I'd seen Brainiac before in L.A. with Trans Am and Neutral Milk Hotel opening. (NMH literally ran into the venue, set up in 10 minutes, and played a peppy pogo-ey set in 20 minutes as a three piece, then ran off the stage, and left...)

― Dom iNut (donut), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

Enon's pretty crap aside from Believo, which is genius. I'm still not sure why that is...

― js (honestengine), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

Brainiac is/was classic.
I remember hearing "Fucking with the Altimeter," my first exposure to the band, and being completely blown away. (Especially the whispered/croaked "I'm going into oxygen debt.")
After that, I was a convert. Never had a chance to see them live, though.

― Binjominia (Brilhante), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:44 (7 years ago) Permalink

ENON IS NOT CRAP.

Enon is not Brainiac, for sure, but Enon is not crap! High Society is excellent, better in its own way than Believo!

But Brainiac is still supergenius.

― J (Jay), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 21:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

Briania = Classic

― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 21:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

If anyone has a recording of the BOTH show from early '97, I'd love to hear it.. the versions of the Electro Shock For President songs they did were about 10 times better than the studio counterparts.

Also, Marilyn Manson's Mechanical Animals album cover was a semi-homage to the Hissing Prigs... album cover.. although both were kinda homages to "l33t typ3".

― Dom iNut (donut), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 21:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

super classic. I remember seeing the video for "vincent come on down" on 120 Minutes.. so I sent away for the record and got a Hissing Prigs in Static Couture poster with it. Thanks, Touch & Go mailorder!

2 4 6 8 / tell me who I'm supposed to hate!

― dar1a g (daria g), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 21:16 (7 years ago) Permalink

to paraphrase John Peel, each day i ram my toe into the corner of my bedstead REALLY REALLY HARD to punish myself for not interviewing Brainiac when i had the chance.

enon are great, but they suffer live, because John's too busy trying to play the songs to be the dynamic frontman they need.

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Monday, 9 January 2006 16:59 (7 years ago) Permalink

Enon's bullshit. Ever since they were like "Boy, we enjoy Blonde Redhead's boring bits more than Skeleton Key or Brainiac" they've suffered. Believo is genius pop that's held up. High Society was a dabbling in pedestrial electro that'll be forgotten in five years except for wankers on ILM trying to keep up the ghost.

― js (honestengine), Monday, 9 January 2006 20:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

I got Smack Bunny Baby off Slsk thanks to this thread, and it's great, I can't see why anyone who likes Brainiac's other stuff wouldn't like it. It's going straight on my shopping list.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Friday, 22 September 2006 14:07 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

God I miss this band. I've been listening to their catalog non-stop on the Pod. Everything they released was great. Smack Bunny Baby is way overcriticized, although I liked Bonsai and Hissing Prigs a lot more as full albums. And soooo glad I saw them twice.

― Mackro Mackro, Monday, 2 June 2008 02:47 (4 years ago) Permalink

Give me back my turquoise Albert Schweitzer doll.

― Mackro Mackro, Monday, 2 June 2008 02:49 (4 years ago) Permalink

4 years pass...

i still miss this band

― Trad., Arrrgh (stevie), Friday, 5 October 2012 11:32 (7 months ago) Permalink

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