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BUNNYBRAINS
Box the Bunny (Narnack Records)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz
Box sets are perfect for offering a band's creative arc, the complete document a single greatest hits album can't quite grasp. It is especially ideal when the band's discography was largely devoid of "hits" as defined by conventional music industry standards.
The Bunnybrains were spawned from Danbury, Connecticut, a town that, by the images this collection evokes, is filled with dark demented dens of iniquity. As a whole, Box the Bunny is one of the richest, 4 disc treasure chests (a 5th disc, a DVD, is included) of gems ever offered to punk/noise connoisseurs. During their career, Bunnybrains recorded LP's on Matador, LHG and Blackjack Records among other labels, none of which garnered them any measure of notoriety. For the first time these rare tales of lewd sexuality, drugs and depravity are offered on CD.
The sonic qualities range widely, from Velvet Underground fuzz rock to proto-Stooge stage show machismo. Of the four discs, the first CD, 1993, is far-and-away the most exceptional. The two versions of "Model Bitch" are unique. The "Runway Version" is a terse five minutes, while the spacey "Fashion Version" sprawls on for more than fourteen, concentrated on vast instrumental spaces. The Bunnybrains are often filled with vitriol, and there is no better example of that than "I Am Not Your Friend (I Am Your Destiny)" or "Kukla, Fran + Bunny." Discs two and three, Bunny Magick and Beach Bunny Bingo, are rougher, featuring more experimental music and recordings, filled with answering machine messages and crank radio spots. As for songs, there are fun, tepid numbers like "RU Ready Carolyn Keddy" and "Erin Go Boom! (The Pinty Song)," punk precedents to artists such as Ween or They Might Be Giants. An open minded listener might even stretch to find connections to hip-hop impresarios De La Soul, whose work thrived on inside jokes and characters. Unfortunately, by the fourth disc, the joke has largely worn thin. The songs are malformed and the production values faltered. Its only value is as an illustration of what CD 1993's promise came to. While the Bunnybrains suffered a short, obscure recording history, the catalog of work on Box The Bunny is representative of some of punk's greatest innovation. There is a humor and dedication to barbarism and bohemian howls that are as valuable now as a decade ago when they were recorded.
© 2005 - Erick Mertz