MPAE - Mixdown 2

Here are the outtakes from the Anokist Antiquity sessions. Many of them were purely experimental in nature and were a far cry from the punk rock that was my main focus at the time. There are some covers that I did just to see if I could do them and the beginnings of an unfinished MPAE punk album as well. Not all of it is good; in fact, I'd say most of it is quite awful, but it's an interesting document of where I was at the time, musically. Hey, I was 17 and just figuring out how to use my four-track. Everything was recorded in NY, unless otherwise noted.


About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Sluggish - While I was into punk and hardcore, I was also getting heavily into the noise rock of the time, like The Jesus Lizard, Unsane and Slug, who were the inspiration for this track. Their final album, The 3 Man Themes had just come out and I thought it was the pinnacle of Western music. I still love it now as much as I did then. I used the bass that my uncle lent me and I kept it as an instrumental because I was too lazy to bounce down tracks. All the instruments were improvised during their respective takes.

02. Slugger - I had some tape left over, so I recorded this really quickly. Another attempt at being Slug.

03. Organ Instrumental - For some reason, there was a crappy, out-of-tune wind organ in my grandmother's house on LI, so I used it on this track. The result sounds like the soundtrack for a Sega video game. I can't remember if that was conscious or not, but I had both a Master System and a Genesis growing up, and I always loved the music on the games.

04. Dance Industrial - I'm not exactly sure why I called it that, because it's dancey, but not really industrial. Maybe it was my idea of it at the time. Probably just a riff I came up with and didn't know how to use.

05. Experimental Instrumental - Experimental my ass! It's more like crappy no wave. I'm really not sure what I was thinking when I recorded this.

06. Reggae Ska Dub - This came from my love of Culture Shock and Citizen Fish. I tried it once and vowed never to do it again.

07. Untitled Instrumental - Conflict-type song that I never wrote lyrics for, so it ended up here.

08. Punk Instrumental - I can't tell if I ripped-off this riff, or if the vague vocal part I have in my head is what I intended to go along with the music. If you think it sounds a lot like another song, please let me know in the comments.

09. The Mr Phreek Cheer - This one speaks for itself.

10. I Wanna Be Your Dog - Stooges cover! Duh! They were basically my favorite band then and they still are today (even though The Weirdness was absolute garbage). I think this was recorded in NY, but I'm not sure.

11. Dead Souls - Joy Division cover. I would listen to Still occasionally while I made collages or did stuff on the computer, so it would end up in the background. I remember hearing the Nine Inch Nails cover and thinking, "That sounds so familiar." The next time I listened to Still, I realized why. I loved the riff, and I could play it, so I did it. Recorded in LA.

12. Anarchy in the UK - The Sex Pistols, and especially Johnny Rotten, were a huge influence on me as a teenager. I met Mr. Lydon once at a book signing for his memoir. I looked him right in the eye and told him he was really great when he was in The Damned. He doubled over in laughter and I left with a big smile on my face, mission accomplished.

13. I Hate (Waste of Time) - These were some lyrics that I wrote while bored in class. I later figured out the music I had in my head and recorded this in LA.

14. Pounding Nails - The idea for this song came from Eric Bogosian's monologue play Pounding Nails into the Floor with my Forehead. That title is the chorus. My voice is particularly disturbed here - a real reflection of what I was feeling at the time. I meant everything I said, and it shows. It's a little uncomfortable to hear this again and remember the feeling. Recorded in LA.

15. I Don't Care - This is basically the first song I ever wrote long before I ever even learned how to play guitar. The original lyrics were really awful and didn't make any sense. I rewrote them and recorded this in LA. The lyrics were rewritten yet again and the song was re-recorded for the FPOS album.

16. That's Me - More lyrics written while bored in high school. I always liked these a lot - they really encapsulated the way I felt about everything. Again, I figured out the music I had in my head and recorded this in LA. This was also re-recorded for FPOS with slightly altered lyrics.

17. Nick Cave - I improvised the music, and then I improvised the really bad pretentious lyrics, hence the title. I think I was serious when I recorded this, but when I mixed it down, I thought it was ridiculous.

18. No Me Gusta - I liked the idea of Brujeria, so I did my own version of Mexican grindcore using my limited high school Spanish for lyrics.

19. No Creo En Nada - More Brujeria influence with limited high school Spanish.

20. Phil's Death Metal - This came from a friend in high school who never said much, but when he did speak, it was usually something strange. One day he was sitting there going, "When you're dead, you're not alive, hahaha! When you're alive, you're not dead, hahaha!" I took it and made a death metal song, though I don't think I had really heard any death metal yet. It's actually not too far off. Check out the dual vocals!

Mr Phreek's Anokist Emporium
Mixdown 2 CS
(n/a)
1996

Download Mixdown 2 as a .zip file!