Dreamend – So I Ate Myself, Bite By Bite (Graveface)
If Black Moth Super Rainbow goes down in history as this decade’s acid eating purveyors of electronic shenanigans, then the band’s biography should include plenty of coverage of how the members themselves possessed talent beyond the walls of analog synthesizers and retrobotic vocoders.
The footnotes should point to the band members’ side-projects as proof, and one of the first examples should be Ryan Graveface’s part-time gig under the Dreamend moniker. Aside from the wiggy title, which falls in-line with BMSR’s own blotter-fueled imagery, there is little that compares to Graveface’s more recognized work and even less that will have you worrying about that fact.
So I Ate Myself, Bite By Bite is a more organic affair—banjos, acoustic guitars and drum kits are in the mix—which puts the musical weirdness in a place before the jet age. It’s creepy, in a shadows of the forest kind of way, whereas BMSR is pure bachelor pad, spike the punch zaniness.
The other notable difference is vocals. Graveface may not posses one of the most memorable voices, but it’s pleasant and it blends well with the instrumentation.
As rewarding as the music is, the real gift is provided to vinyl supporters who get the benefit of some stunning artwork for the long-player. For a few extra bucks over the digital price, the record’s label is presented as a phenakistoscope, a primitive animation machine that shows a man feeding himself through the aid of some paper sheets (also included).
It’s a neat trick that shows the love and care that’s been put into the packaging…even if it unfortunately doesn’t work on my spindle-less liner tracking turntable.
And as soon as you put the needle on the record, you’ll see the love and care that Dreamend have put into the complex aural landscapes of So I Ate Myself, Bite By Bite.