Protons and Electrons: Atom 12 – Parade of Deceit / Dale Crover Band – Sell Out

Protons and Electrons Atom 11 is now up for listening and pre-order: It’s Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends (Conan Neutron, Tony Ash, Dale Crover) with The Vig, and Cartographer with Turnip, The Cloth Clown.

I believe this is the first Cartographer release in 8 years. So there you go!

Cartographer is very closely tied to the NeutronFriends mythos, by nature of Conan being bandmates with Ben and Chris in Replicator, and with Chris and Andre in Mount Vicious. Without Replicator (and to a lesser extant Mount Vicious), there would be no Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends in any capacity.

Cartographer is burly, aggressive and uncompromising noise rock. While the band members don’t take anything too seriously, the music is serious as a heart attack. Pummeling drums, jagged guitar and bass that evokes pure sleaze and menace make a fully formed package of Noiserock(TM) delivery. I believe their song is about a birthday clown that wants to have sex with a young Ben Adrian’s mom.

The Neutron Friends tune is an homage to a classic gambling term. The Vig (short for vigorish) is interest principal amount owed on a debt or loan, always at a usurious rate, with the idea being that the borrower never ends up paying down the principal and is indebted to the lender by just just covering the interest. The conceit of the song is applying those principles to psychic costs, but it probably works as a more dead on interpretation too.

The EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander, features prominently in the “proggy” chorus bit. While, I think the guitar sound in the verses are just straight into a cranked Bassman.

Anyway, vinyl ships in September but you can listen to the tunes on bandcamp now.

Protons and Electrons Atom 8 is up to listen to and pre-order*
Our song is Jilted Dragon, a song that may or not be about Smaug the dragon from the Hobbit, and may or may not be about one of Conan’s cats. Either way, it’s basically a heavy-ish surf song about the internal mindset and motivations of a frequently cranky creature.

On the other side we have Turbo Lightning! One of the bands of the unsinkable Jeff Byron of old pals The Mae Shi. Conan and Jeff go way back, and both have had their ups and downs, both are still here and doing their thing as hard as they can and with aplomb and vigor. Aplomb! Vigor!
In any case: side note, TL singer Dana is also the badass behind the harmony vocals in Quid Pro Quo.

ok? Ok!

(*not shipping until May though, so be aware!)

Protons and Electrons: Atom 5 – This is the Line / Reptoid – No Human

What is there to say about the magificent Reptoid? A sight to behold and the only live act I can think of that sounds like an actual alien invasion. There’s a human that has a passing similarity that has held down the drum position in some live Neutron Friends outings. Said human is a tireless runner of sound and pizza aficionado, but that has nothing to do with the absolutely terrifying alien presence that is the mighty REPTOID. Prepare yourself humans! Prepare yourself.

Oh yeah, our song features the Earthquaker Devices Bit Commander heavily. However, it does not sound like Lardo. Adjust your expectations accordingly.