Album #: 19
Recording Dates: 1999
Release Date: 1999
Catalog: SF
ScratchNotes:
Over the past several years Sheep Fiend jams have become a special event that happens a few times a year. But back in 1999 the band was very active as illustrated by the four jams from a single nine week period that are featured on this disc . Veering away from psychedelia and into full on space rock this release features many concise and often compelling numbers.
Four Track Sampler
Track 01 - Cosmos (Sheep Fiends) - Load up the tanks with Wah Wah pedal and let’s be on our way. [Scratch on Guitar]
Track 02 - The Chase Scene (Sheep Fiends) - Pounding drums and prominent piano dominate a track worthy of the soundtrack to some low grade action flick. [Scratch on Guitar]
Track 08 - Injection Inspection (Sheep Fiends) - Samples from this track were used for a little Internet video game back in 2000, and all I see while listening is a little ball spiraling towards the center of the screen. But maybe you hear a funk jam from the alien abduction after party. [Scratch on Bass]
Track 15 - I Was Afraid Then (aka Fear Is Real) (Sheep Fiends) - A brooding stomper featuring the always enticing improvised lyrics and vocals of Brian M. [Scratch on Guitar]
Album #: 18
Recording Dates: 05/18/1999
Release Date: 1999
Catalog: SF
ScratchNotes:
While it is now common for the Sheep Fiends to put together and distribute a CD representing the sounds of a single jam; this recording of May 18, 1999 is the earliest example of such a CD. The Sheep Fiends had released a number of cassettes before I added my slant to the band, but it was Dave L., Brian C., and myself that lent a $600 SCSI CD-burner back and forth and dragged the Sheep Fiends into the digital age.
Three Track Sampler
Track 02 - Columbine (Sheep Fiends) - This entire CD consists of swirling trippy instrumentals like the three presented here. The recording quality continues to be fairly low as a Walkman was the recording mechanism of choice (necessity?) for this event. [Scratch on Sampling Keyboard]
Track 06 - Metropolis (Sheep Fiends) - [Scratch on Bass]
Track 14 - Overture (Sheep Fiends) - [Scratch on Sampling Keyboard]
Album #: 17
Recording Dates: 1998-1999
Release Date: 1999
Catalog: SMR13
ScratchNotes:
I graduated from school, got married, landed a decent job and moved back to the dirty city. Our landlord spent every night for two months in our apartment installing a furnace. I ran into Brian C. at former Hidden voiceman Brian M.’s wedding. Soon thereafter I joined the two of them in the fluctuating entity known as the Sheep Fiends. With a revolving lineup of musicians, the band emphasis was on improvisation, and the spontaneity kick-started my lagging musical spirit. Meanwhile, I had met Suneel near the end of my tenure at ITT, and had begun recording industrial music with him.
My primary expression shifted from guitars to sample manipulation with the addition of a powerful home computer. Much of 1999 was spent using that computer to create the first twelve volumes of Scratchrock.
Five Track Sampler
Track 02 - The Skipper (Sheep Fiends) - Keyboards and guitars pulsate on this low-grade recording from an early Sheep Fiends jam. [Scratch on Guitar]
Track 06 - Everything is Kinda Bizarre (MX Skroch) - Clocking in at over six minutes, this tour-de-force of home studio trickery came out well despite my less than compelling vocals. This song illustrates why it’s not too difficult to look outside oneself and see the array of confusion that presents itself. The outro bit is the ending of a very early prototype of the song. [Scratch on Vocals and All Instruments]
Track 13 - Ralph’s Reed (MX Skroch) - Speed manipulation and overdriven drums pound away on this foray into sonic religious terror. [Scratch on All Instruments]
Track 16 - Victory Riot (Sheep Fiends) - Just another otherworldly mindfuck typical of 1999-era Sheep Fiends jams. [Scratch on Sampling Keyboard]
Track 20 - Catfish With Advil (MX Skroch) - The flipside of Ralph’s Reed, this track slows the tempo to a crawl…letting every eerie note sink in. [Scratch on All Instruments]
Album #: 16
Recording Dates: 1998 - 1999
Release Date: 1999
Catalog: SMR12
ScratchNotes:
I met Suneel at ITT Tech, and before long we began collaborating on music. Suneel’s industrial-tinged electronic music was a new genre to play with and I got busy slicing and dicing samples to layer on top of drum machine and sequenced beats. Most of the basic songs on this disc originated from Suneel and I pitched in on production, did most of the sampling, helped program drum beats, played some guitar, called in on the Space Phone, and in one case provided lyrics and vocals. I’m still good friends with Suneel, but our musical relationship primarily existed in this late-1990s time frame.
And don’t go blaming Ms. Skroch for the gaudy cover art - that was all me…
Three Track Sampler
Track 01 - Mosquitoes (MX Skroch & Suneel Viktor) - This is the heaviest track that Suneel and I put together, and it is one of my favorites. I hadn’t had a good reason to play some screaming guitar in quite some time, but this electro-rocker provided the opportunity. [Scratch on Drum Programming, Guitar and Sample Manipulation / Suneel on Drum Programming, Keyboards and Vocals]
Track 02 - Doom (MX Skroch & Suneel Viktor) - This is one of Suneel’s epic tracks - and he plays all the music here. Doom is the first track where I played around with looping samples and saturating them with effects to add to the drama. [Scratch on Sample Manipulation / Suneel on Drum Sequencing, Keyboards and Vocals]
Track 05 - Panic (MX Skroch & Suneel Viktor) - An unfinished track that does not yet feature vocals, musically I would describe this as claustrophobia with a good beat. [Produced by Scratch / Suneel on Drum Sequencing, Keyboards and Guitar]
