Songs in the Key of Beotch - That 1 Guy

Mike Silverman, under the alias That 1 Guy, originally self-recorded and released Songs in the Key of Beotch in 2003, before it was picked up by Righteous Babe in 2004. Appropriate, as Righteous is also home to oddball instrumentalists Drums & Tuba. See, here's the bit: the only accompaniment to That 1 Guy's sardonic, screw-loose vocals ("It's raining meat/And I can't see my own two feet") is what he calls the "magic pipe." A seven-foot-whatever length of tubular steel, rigged with one sturdy bass string and a sloppy seconds and thirds array of pedals, triggers, electronics, and duct tape, the pipe produces pulsing rhythms, metallic clinks, surging faux-strings, and electro-splooge (on "Weasel Potpie," for example). "Steamin' Hunks" sounds like Mountain run through a Cuisinart, the eerie keens and scratches of "Mudpies" are matched by high-end plucks not unlike the sound at the end of a violin stem, and "Sparkle in the Sun" tickles its taps and stutters with a two-note bassline and steaming piles of sample trigger bletch. As a vocalist, 1 Guy hails from the Les Claypool/John McCrea school -- deadpan white guys who rhyme 14-syllable words and delight in filling verses with pop culture detritus jibber jabber. There's a Primus influence musically, as well -- most of these songs work a loping, lurching groove akin to that group's shtick. Still, though he's likely heard it before, Ween has to be That 1 Guy's one main influence. Beotch boils in the same absurdist stew; it fancies freaky flights of both lyric and instrument. Remember, this is a guy who plays a pipe exclusively. Songs in the Key of Beotch is surprisingly melodic, and a wonder for instrument freaks, since the sounds we hear don't necessarily match the image of a guy on stage kicking and strumming a big silver stick. And yet. And, yet. Let the new breed of geeks be born, for their leader has arrived. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide