Mata Rata was a recording project that grew out of Ant &
Bee with the intention of moving away from that ensemble's comittment
to strangeness & improvisation and towards more normal sounding
songs & structures. It also signaled the full-fledged participation
of Charles Laurel with Mike Torrey & Eric Muhs. The first
Mata Rata release, Don't Think Little of Me, takes its title from
a package of a Taiwanese children's toy sold in the US as "
Magic Poping Balls". Many songs employ the Ant & Bee
approach of finding & using unusual lyric sources.
The 2nd release, King Of Panama, was conceived & produced
as the Iran-Contra spy fiasco was revealing itself. It completes
the transition toward intentional songwriting with a fully conceived
"rock opera". In the story, Oliver North is exiled to
Panama, where he is revealed to be Manuel Noriega's lost son,
& subsequently crowned.
Horns & Tails Set was developed quickly for release on Halloween,
1988. The theme was scary stories. Midway through recording this
3rd Mata Rata tape, Mata Rata became a real band, with the addition
of drummer David Townley, who is featured on a few of the tunes,
including the show-stopping Radiation Man.
David lasted less than a year with the group, dropping out shortly
after the big earthquake, when everyone was reevaluating their
lives. The all-original Party Snappers was recorded during his
tenure, & reflects the live set list. Mas Alla De La Tumba
(in english, from beyond the grave) was reconstructed by Eric
& Charlie from live recordings & quality outtakes after
Mike's departure to Portland. It features covers likeTo Sir With
Love, Baby's On Fire, as well as originals including the Mata
Rata theme song, Under The Underground.
Mata Rata finished 2 additional story albums : Comet Kansas &
The Howling Truth. The former is a science fiction tale by the
threesome, while the latter is a political fable and features
a number of guest musicians, including Don Campau, Perry Phillips,
Charley Rowan, and Gretchen Olson from The Flavor People.
COMET KANSAS 1990 MATA RATA
While this is every bit as good as PARTY SNAPPERS musically, the
whole just didn't come together for me as well. Lots of interesting
approaches and ideas are in great evidence though in this conceptual
tape. A definite plus is the feeling that they are exploring and
testing themselves. Very good sound.
BRIAN BAKER, GAJOOB, WINTER 1990
COMET KANSAS & THE HOWLING TRUTH 1990 MATA RATA
Two excellent storytellin'' cassettes of MATA RATA - devotees
of Linda Birch will note how they have a lot in common & a
lot to say to us. COMET KANSAS is about how a comet is about to
land on Earth, and how life will change, & all like that there
- lots of references to cosmic & metaphysical things, what
with the Intergalactic Crosstime Mind Control God Patrol going
up against the Right Reverend Thomas McBane, & the Eternal
Sol 3 Congress around for... well, whatever they do. The story's
too complicated for me to follow, although the music is excellent;
the singing & instrumental arrangements are entertaining and
engaging, on both this & HOWLING, & previous MATA RATA
tapes. Highly creative drum programming & synths & guitars
& basses form eccentric & uncanny rhythmic & melodic
twists & turns, over which members of MATA RATA relate these
tales, usually populated by eccentric characters. KANSAS features
Big Lester B. Snurg, owner of a general store, & some tourists
from Perth. THE HOWLING TRUTH is a slightly more straightforward
saga, relating the adventures of someone known only as "
the bibliophile " whose daily library habit leads him to
information which he uses to denounce a local politician, interrupting
his speech & eventually ruining his career. Some use is made
of Richard Nixon & Hunter Thompson, obviously in keeping with
the theme of library reference material as essential information
for future generations. THE HOWLING TRUTH also features two guest
vocal appearances by DON CAMPAU, which I certainly appreciated.
DAN FIORETTI, SOUNDCHOICE, WINTER 1991
PARTY SNAPPERS 1989 MATA RATA
Some well-known tape artists come together here to form a top-notch
band. The addition of a drummer really fleshes out Mata Rata's
brand of rock. It's fun to witness the arrangements unfold. A
lot of depth. Muhs' guitar work is exceptional and alive. My favorite
cuts are the ones putting music to Dr. Seuss' lyrical stories.
Excellent sound.
BRIAN BAKER, GAJOOB, WINTER 1990
While home taper "supergroups" are far from rare, actually
having four cassette artists emerge from their dark'n'musty basements
to form a real live performing band is about as common as Democrats
becoming President. Mata Rata is a blissful exception. Mike Torrey,
Eric Muhs, Chaz Laurel, and David Townley have released a good
40 tapes, alone and in various combinations; this cassette is
the audio documentation from their Real Live Band that barnstormed
Northern California through much of 1989. They call it avant-joke
dance music, but anyone familiar with Eric Muhs' Fripp-like guitar
work need only imagine it in congress with Townley & Laurel's
ace rhythm section & Torrey's Phil Collins-at-78 RPM-vocals.
14 cuts, some of them a bit long (is this where the dancing comes
in ?), but all of them cranking in their own peculiar groove.
"Cowboys in Quicksand" & "Love in the Jungle"
are standouts, along with cover versions of Don Campau's "Piñata
Party" and my own "Free Again", which I actually
prefer to the original.
DINO DIMURO, OPTION, JUNE 1990
KING OF PANAMA 1988 MATA RATA ( Muhs, Laurel,Torrey, Townley)
An awesome concept: A rock opera about the Iran-Contra conspiracy
! Very funny stuff, especially the Fawn Hall character, the musical
twists on the story actually make the story funnier than it originally
was when it interrupted all the soaps and game shows. Complete
libretto, and info on who's who and what's what, so's you can
enjoy all the subtleties even if you forgot who, say, Richard
Secord is. The use of many different musical styles (folk rock,
avant-jazz, country-western, rock, etc.) and highly satiric lyrics
recall Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber of "Evita" and
"Jesus Christ Superstar" fame. Totally neato.
DAN FIORETTI, SOUNDCHOICE, SUMMER 1989
DON'T THINK LITTLE OF ME 1988 MATA RATA
Anyone who does a cover o' a Dr. Suess story has got to be cool.
On the other hand, Charles Laurel, Eric Muhs, and R. Micheal Torrey
are cool anyway. Following up on OUT OF NOWHERE (Laurel) and ANT
& BEE (Muhs, Torrey) with the best of each, this is a memorable
melange of warped and twisted pop-musick. Taking the improvis-
ational and eclectic sides of the latter and coupling it with
the rhythmic lyricism of the former, the trio play exotic and
primitive musick, recalling at times early '70's "progressive
rock". Soon-to-be classics include a Steppenwolf parody "Porn
To Be Dialed", a tribute to phone sex, also "Magic Poping
Ball".
DAN FIORETTI, SOUNDCHOICE, SUMMER, 1989
HORNS & TALES SET 1988 MATA RATA
An oddly engaging set of anti-rock from an aggregation comprised
of indie veterans Mike Torrey, Charles Laurel, Eric Muhs, &
"newest member" David Townley. Oblique or absurdist
lyrics fit in well with melodic non-melodies, strange synth &
guitar, jerky percussion, and loops and effects to create something
surprisingly listenable for this genre. Eight songs total on sides
labeled "Up In The Attic" & "Down in the Cellar",
and the presence of evil bubbles under throughout. "Down
the Hole" is an arresting spoken-sung vignette symbolic of
"throwing it all away..." Clever, these lads.
JACK JORDAN, SOUNDCHOICE, SPRING 1989
Down in the cellar. Up in the attic. Dark doings with demons.
Weird wonders of science. Who are these guys ? I don't know, but
I want some of whatever they're growing. Side One is five tracks
of lurid gothic-synth pounding and a deranged vocalist. Side Two,
rather than getting closer to the sun, is all about what lies
in the attic of the mind, from the slimy things we don't want
to discuss to the black hole under your couch. While side two
doesn't always work out (" Techno-Witch" had some great
possibilities, all of which get flash burned) side one is a gruesome
delight - music you just know is on Freddy Krueger's playlist.
STEVEN McDONALD, SOUNCHOICE, SPRING 1989
Mas Alla De La Tumba 1990
This was a limited release for the true Mata Rata afficinados.
Compiled & mixed by Eric & Charlie following the departure
of Dave & Mike, the tape features a live side from shows at
KKUP & Cafe Chameleon in Santa Cruz, which ended up being
mostly high energy covers: Baby's On Fire, Free Again, To Sir
With Love. The dead side is from (mostly) the Party Snappers living
room sessions. We felt we really owed this to german tapemeister
Lord Litter, who wrote the only Mata Rata tribute song in existence.