Michael and the Mumbles
S/T
DE Stijl Records (also SubPop)

People in the comments are always bitching about how Buddyhead just talks shit and never tells you about cool stuff. Well, you want some cool shit? Here’s something fantastically cool.

A few years back SubPop put out record by a man named Michael Yonkers. The record was Microminiature Love. Recorded in 1968, it’s a brilliant record of proto-art punk that recalls the Stooges, and Wipers, as well as Pere Ubu and Naked Raygun. All this despite the fact that none of those bands even existed yet. Before Mr. Yonkers went all artsy on us, he was, way back in 1966, the title member of Michael and the Mumbles. Though Microminiature Love would be recorded only two or three years later, it sounds very little like the Michael and the Mumbles record. The Mumbles record is a mix of Mr. Yonkers distinct personal sound, as well traditional American surf and garage rock.

On the surface this is just another 60s garage rock record, but after a few listens it opens up to show a far more sinister side. I mean just listen to the guitar riff on “Don’t You Call”, its like a fucked up version of the Beatles “8 Days A Week”. Before you get to that side, you’ll hear that its got just about everything, standard riffs, call and response lyrics, songs about girls, the hole package. That’s what it looks like, but it’s far from the truth. This is still the same guy who would go on to make “Microminiaturize Love”, and you can tell. The whole thing has this dark underbelly to it. I’m not sure if this was planed or from the limits of recording technology, or simply decay over the decades, but the record has a haunting sound. You can really hear the room; there is a hollow emptiness though the record, filled in with a deep sounding bass that seems to intentionally hold back, choosing to fill out only so much of the sound. Having Mr. Yonkers vocals jam packed with reverb and echo only goes keep the weirdness going. It really does sound like it was recorded in a garage, or perhaps a bathroom. But more than likely its the 45 years worth of decay on the master tapes, still it fits and comes off sounding great, save for a brief moment on “Cold Town”.

For all the pop hooks, this is a dark record. You have some real Midwest bleak emotional content lodged in with a build up in music that goes from standard pop sounds to unhinged deconstructions of the very genre’s that its embedded in. I’m still amazed that these guys could gig around the Twin Cities in the late 60s; I mean how the hell did people respond to this? The very image of the band playing a song like “I Need Her” at a sock-hop is mind-boggling. Hell how anyone let these guys make a record is beyond me. But they did gig around, and they did record this record, and thank goodness. This record should put Mr. Yonkers in the pantheon of great long lost American musicians, and finally we have found him, and more importantly the world has finally reached a point where we can see him for the genius that he clearly is.

Lets be clear, yeah its weird and great, but it most resembles a Billy Childish record, in all that craziness is built upon some very solid pop song writing. These are fun, well played tunes that you can get down to. Like most of Mr. Childish’s output, what grabs you is fun, what keeps you coming back is everything I’ve talked about.

Now for some real talk. This Michael Yonkers dude, sheesh man, he is something else! The man was a powerhouse of 60s rock styles and it’s about bloody time that he got his due. It’s a crime that it took until 2010 for both this record and “Microminiaturize Love” to be in the hands of record junkies everywhere. This guy is some real shit, who knows what other rad nuggets he’s got. It’s a tragedy that his back is basically shot, the aftermath of a warehouse accident where it was broken, and no it’s not better. He’s been playing around the Twin Cities the last few years, and if you live out there, you better go check him out, who knows how much longer he’ll be gig’n

This by no means is a record for everyone. If you dug Mr. Yonkers “Microminiaturize Love”, have an unhealthy fascination with 60s garage rock, enjoy Billy Childish in anyway, shape, or form, or simply like some weird shit, then this is a must have. If you, on the other hand, have a record collection with the oldest record being the Bad Brains first record, enjoy the music of “crab-core”, ok to be honest I’m out of jokes, feel free to write your own. Anyhow! If your reading Buddyhead I’m sure you’ll dig it, but probably not, because your lame and you’ll just “say you like it’ even though you only got it so you could impress your friends. We all know where you keep your vast collection of Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective, Peal Jam, and Jay Zee (that’s how you spell it right?) records. And that shrine you made to Travis; its creepy man, you should get rid of that.

But really, thank you SubPop for putting this record out, and you dear reader need to go out and buy this right fucking now.

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