The Hellblinki Sextet, broken tooth blues in a Tux, choral fantasies for agnostic angels, peg-leg waltzes on the rim of Mt. Vesuvius, prone to suprise, tension, and dramatic release, Hellblinki mixes elements of American folk, European cabaret, and Punk Rock experimentation into an intoxicating brew of transcendent madness.
“Mix it up into a pot/some black and gorgeous master plot,” Hellblinki’s master of ceremonies Andrew Benjamin sings over jaunty horns and barbed guitar lines on “Bubbles,” the opening track from the band’s fourth full-length. The lyric works as a thesis, too, for this Asheville-based outfit’s darkly comic music, conjured out of bits of Weimar Republic cabaret, Italian operetta, infernal Slavic folk waltzes and psycho swamp blues. Benjamin’s “fiends” and “zombie kings” flirt with madness and chaos, drawn to the flames of power, lust and lechery – or perhaps driven there by the songs, where singing saws shadow operatic vocals, Jew’s harp and tuba do a dance macabre, and mariachi horns mingle with Middle Eastern melodies. - John Schacht, Shuffle Magazine
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Howdy, I'm Andrew of and from Hellblinki. Sam (here at Projekt) tells me that he wants a better description of this record, one that sounds less like a bio and shows off the strength and beauty of the album in all its glory. Sam also says that folks (just like YOU and ME) like to read about the stuff they're (hopefully) going to buy. I agree completely, but am not really very good at this part, (I make music, and rock out in funny outfits I'm not a copy writer!) So anyhow, here goes.... I'll just describe the album and the place it comes from as best I can...
Hellblinki has been around for over 10 years now and These Bubbles Come from Ants is our Fourth full length Album. (and it's amazing, really.) It's the first that follows a "Traditional" album format, meaning there are breaks between songs. (already it sounds like a bio, dammit, It'll get better!!) Because of this we choose to release this as a vinyl LP in addition to the CD. LOOK AT THE PACKAGING! WOW! The CD version includes a 12pg insert with all the lyrics (emotional, darkly humorous, sexy, chock full philosophical musing, as you might expect if you already know us) The LP comes with a beautiful poster of an ANT hand drawn and lettered with all the lyrics and credits for the entire album... (At our merch. booth I like to whip it out and hear folks say "Woooowwww".)
When you slap this record on your turntable, or insert it (the moment will truly FEEL as sexy as it sounds)into your CD playing machine, you're going to notice, right off the bat, that this record sounds really, really good. There are reasons, of course, for high quality of this titillating sound tickling your aural sensors. It was partially recorded (The basic tracks for about half the record) and mixed by Jason LaFarge at Seizure’s Palace in Brooklyn. Jason has recorded the last few "Angels of Light" albums (Michael Gira of the SWANS) and has also worked with folks like Devandra Banhardt and the Dresden Dolls. This album was mastered by Roger Siebel at SAE who has mastered albums from The Decemberists, Modest Mouse, and Tortoise, to name only a small few.
Ok, so it LOOKS good and it SOUNDS good, so what about the material? What is the style? What is this thing About! "Give us the lowdown!", you say....
That, my friends is the hard part. Our records are about the wicked wicked world, in its entirety, the style is eclectic, anything is fair game. To those that know Hellblinki I say "This album is truly a continuation of the groundbreaking work you've heard on the past albums, you can, on this album FEEL evolution of the project and sense the momentum of the past decade push us into new places, new ways of being, while standing firm on this small mountain of art we've created. Many people have told us it's their favorite Hellblinki album yet." To those unfamiliar with our work, I say this. "Over the past 10 years we've been described as many many things. We were at first considered simply 'Experimental.' Then folks said we made 'Pirate' music, when 'Gypsy Punk' hit, we were given that moniker, when the Dresden Dolls became popular we began to hear 'Punk Cabaret' or 'Dark Cabaret', now we often hear 'Steampunk.' None of those descriptions are accurate. Our sound is eclectic, dark, and hard to pin down. We play goth events, punk shows, indie bars, art festivals, fantasy/sci-fi cons, coffee shops, rockabilly freakouts, theater shows, acoustic listening rooms, living rooms, boats... Voltaire calls our style 'The Hellblinki Meatgrinder.' The best compliment I've had recently was 'Thank you for Defying Description.' This album does just that. Listen!"
And, because I'm a firm believer that too much is always better than not enough, here's a bit of info about each song...
Bubbles- We've now got a bunch of Steampunk friends and fans, I wrote this thinking about steampunk as a movement, and it's relevancy. I love the functionality, the look, the DIY aesthetic... Though the song is partially an anthem to the nifty I see in Steampunk, it's also a call to action, a political and philosophical rallying cry beyond genre or movement...
Sanjula's Junk- I thought this was going to be this kind of poppy bluegrass thing, I wrote it on the banjo. We named the song for our friend, sideshow performer Sanjula Vamana, because he tucks. Although it's actually about all the things we seem to accumulate in our lives...
Happy Wake Up- I used to play this accordion part to wake people, who were staying at the trailer where I live, when we had to get up and go. Valerie wrote the spectacularly deep, yet simple lyrics in German, for the song. There's a video that we made for it, the video is cute and funny, we shot it behind the trailer. Search "Happy Wake Up Song Hellblinki"...
Morning Break- I wrote this with a four track on my telephone in the bathroom, very stream of consciousness. "Perhaps this is the first Hellblinki hip hop song." was our first collective thought. Someday I'll release the original phone version; there was a shootout to decide between the two. I think JonPaul's organ part clinched the deal on this full-band version.
Ants (for Now)- We made this song in the studio at Seizure’s Palace in Brooklyn with leftover time. Valerie and I were scribbling vocals down and passing them back and forth making corrections and additions. I mostly directed, and Valerie played most of the keyed instruments. (and the creepy cool plucking on the piano harp) Brad did the drums, which we cut up and added to later, as well as some synth and organ. It's very dark in tone, and was really a fun song to make. We added Christian's Horns and Tom's extra percussion later.
Don't go Down to The Woods Tonight- I wrote this song for a band called The Shark Devilles in 2001 and a couple of years ago revived it for Hellblinki. We had a version that was similar to the way we do it live, with me doing guitar drums and vocals simultaneously, and it wasn't quite right. We asked out buddy Tom Coyne, who plays with 45 Grave and The Last Dance if he'd make a drum track for us. When Tom delivered the track, he told me that he'd built the drum part as a story...
Itsy- We recorded this years ago thinking we were going to make a kids record, I don't remember exactly how Valerie's old lady voice came about, but it's brilliant... Valerie is now a puppeteer in her other life...
Breaking Everything- This is my favorite song on the record and the last one written. Tom was so great on Woods, I asked him to make a drum track for this song. There's a really cool video of this by our friend Mr. Stephen Gilliam. Search "Breaking Everything Hellblinki" on the You Tube
Rust- Another Andrew accordion song, this is about collapse, decay, and the fact that everything falls apart... Isa Carini from "The Scarring Party" played the badass Tuba part...
Row- I'd been wanting to do this for over 10 years, and had made some fits and starts, recording bits and pieces now and again. There is material on this track from 2000 or so, bits from 2004 recorded when I moved to Asheville, and the rest was provided by friends and fans via a "Secret recording project" then cobbled together by me and Jason LaFarge at Seizure's Palace. and yes, it IS absolutely brilliant, thank you...