If you don’t know what a Black Moth Super Rainbow is you should probably join the club. The most any one can figure out is that they are a strange collective of musicians who live in rural Pennsylvania and make vocoded, psychedelic trip hop. The group is composed of people with pretty ridiculous names like Tobacco, The Seven Field Of Aphelion, Power Pill Fist, Iffernaut, Father Hummingbird, and Ryan Graveface.
All of the vocals are warped beyond recognition so it almost doesn’t even matter who made it because it just sounds like robots from a planet filled with mushrooms were responsible for transmitting this to Earth. If that analogy doesn’t excite you then just press play and be immersed in layers and colors of sound.
MP3: Black Moth Super Rainbow – “Eating Us” Mix from Eating Us
MP3: Black Moth Super Rainbow – “Happy Melted City” from Drippers
MP3: Black Moth Super Rainbow – “Forever Heavy” from Dandelion Gum
MP3: Black Moth Super Rainbow – “Sun Lips” from Dandelion Gum
Putting The Pieces Together
There is a lot on the world wide interweb about Tobacco and Black Moth Super Rainbow, so I decided to piece some interviews together just to paint a little clearer picture of this project and the notorious frontman Tobacco. The dynamics of this band are interesting and mysterious, but the music that is produced is quite astounding and unique so catching glimpses into the inner workings of Black Moth is the best one can do. Here we go.
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Who is Black Moth Super Rainbow?
“I don’t know if I figured that out yet. It changes from day to day. On a day like today? Hmm, I don’t know. That’s kind of a tough one.” — Prefix, 2009
“It’s a really really grey line right now,” Tobacco explains. “When it comes to recording and stuff like that, I pretty much do all of it. And then I got the people together who are the band to re-create it live” — Impose, 2008
“I’m bad at collaborating with people, and I thought it was always easier to work alone. I think I get most inspired alone, and less self conscious of what I’m doing. We’ve written a few songs together as a band back in all the different bands, and it always feels great when it happens, but I never push it to keep happening.” — The Fmly, 2009
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What’s the origin of your name Black Moth Super Rainbow and your moniker Tobacco?
“It just kind of popped into my head one day, before I had the idea for the band. Then I wanted a band that would sound like that name. Tobacco comes from a character that freaked me out as a kid.” — The Decibel Tools, 2009
“There was this Troma movie called Redneck Zombies, and one of the characters was called Tobacco Man. I think it was supposed to be a comedy, but I didn’t find anything funny about it. That character messed with my head and really stuck with me. When we picked names it seemed natural to choose it. There’s been some discussion that we’re somehow playing characters in the band, but the names are just faceless identities. They have nothing to do with the band.” — Prefix, 2009
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Tell me about Eating Us.
“I think the last order of business that I needed for this incarnation of BMSR, to be able to move on to something new, was to try it out in a traditional studio. I wanted to see if I had any songs that could hold up in someone else’s hands. so I asked Dave to smooth out what I usually do.” — My Old Kentucky Blog, 2009
“I didn’t want to make another synth album because I was getting worn out on the sounds I could make within this kind of music. There’s always been just as many guitars, and maybe even more acoustic guitars in the past, but the focus in the mixing is less on the synthesizers and more on the other instruments this time around.” — The Decibel Tools, 2009
“There’s a lot of space on this album. It isn’t so gritty and homemade, and it’s exciting to hear songs my songs recorded so clearly. I like to mask the songs in a lot of fuzz and tape distortion, but we didn’t do that this time. Eating Us is really the best the band has ever sounded. Maybe people who liked it before will hate it, but I think the sound is amazing.” — Prefix, 2009
“I’m actually really proud of the song “Twin of Myself.” That’s the one song on the album that goes back to the old days of me recording by myself.” — Prefix, 2009
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Visual
Hopefully this helps explains the band a little more. This video follows around two men collecting dead animals. Its humurous, serious, and intriguing all at the same time. Especially with Black Moth laid over the footage.
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Thu, Aug 20, 2009
Interviews, Music, Music Downloads, Videos