This is not a proper review; if it were then I would be discussing the albums various musical influences, the arrangements, the differences in recording ambiences between the tracks, its utilisation of tragic texts with comic music, or romantic texts with despairing sounds, and its general overall effect and balance, especially with regards to David E. Williams’ back catalogue – but it isn’t, it is simply a brief personal response, do humour me.  

Firstly, a general observation. Over the years I’ve known a number of people who have used bereavement as a topic for CD’s – no need to name names – in every case the result has been slightly distasteful, especially in the sense that the works genesis has absolved it from conventional criticism and consequently allowed them to knock out a substandard release secure in the knowledge that no one will point the finger at them.

This is most certainly not the case with this album. This is, I believe, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, that confessional self-abasement has never been something that David E. Williams has ever avoided in any of his previous works, numerous songs in this category spring to mind, Game Warden, Alter Boy, Soiled Bandages, That Skirt’s Too Short…, etc, etc, though all noted with the obvious caveat that one should never conflate the narrative voice with the authors life, they are, usually, separate, were they not then this reviewer would be spending all his time throwing young girls into rivers and ritually murdering children…well actually…

That this album blurs these boundaries and comes from desperate personal tragedy is now well known and little purpose is served by my repeating its origins, one listen or perusal of the lyrics will tell any listener all that they will need to know, and that it is at times almost too grim for words is a given, that David E. Williams not only does then put them into words and promptly hits us with two of the albums most sobering songs Save a Chair for Jennifer, and Here Comes the Cold Narrator (“Here comes the cold narrator / who watched you die at 6.45”) at its very beginning gives one a fair idea of what one is in for on this record, that tracks 5 & 7, Do I Love You as Much as I Did When You Weren’t Sick, and Kill Yourself in Cape May come in a close second on the grimness stakes means that there is little let-up in the first half of this record, one is almost inclined to suggest that it should come with a variant of the Parental Advisory sticker, something along the lines of “Warning, Explicit Content: Despite sophisticated time-signatures and Richard Clayderman-esk piano parts this album charts Existential Despair, the Human Condition, and the Sickness Unto Death”, consequently, after this battering one turns with relief  – for probably the first time in Western music – to what now seems in comparison the relatively harmless foibles of our favourite African dictator – Hymn to the Genius of Idi Amin, no other artist could have pulled off this trick so successfully, that no other artist would have wished to do so is neither here nor there.

But to return to my point, whilst the subject matter has previously been different, the sense of painfully exposed nerves that one finds in this tragic, grim, amusing and cathartic album is the same, David E. Williams has always shown us the skull beneath the skin and the inner workings of the human animal – albeit one in a distressingly flayed body – and consequently there is nothing fundamentally different in his methods here, just a terrible shift of emphasis.

Secondly, and much more prosaically, when we forget about genre tags such as post-industrial, goth, and neo-folk, Williams is fundamentally a song composer, and a pop song composer at that, and that is what he has given us, in spades! Kill Yourself in Cape May is a rocking little surf number that a lesser musician would have padded out into a good-time five minute single, that Williams restricts himself to under two minutes shows the wealth of material he has to hand, and the Webern-esk brevity that he is willing to embrace if a piece has covered all its objectives, the charming Haiku, Interrupted (track 4) comes in a little longer at three and a half minutes, but with its repetition and shared vocals it deserves its extra minute. Williams reminds us that musically – though not, of course, personally – less is more, other acts – including this reviewer – should take note. There is no one else alive who could turn the subject of leukaemia into a catchy two minute pop song, that he does this successfully not just once, but again and again, is testament to his abilities and the quality of his creative vision. No one else could have done this.

Not that all of the pieces are so brief, The Unconscious is Cold (track 14) comes in at over six minutes, most of which is instrumental, and ushers in the final cathartic quarter of this release, a cover of the Musical Theatre song Hello, Young Lovers (the lyrics, if you look them up, are self explanatory) and the two concluding instrumentals, the last of which being a Closing Suite For My Deceased a musical conceit that would have seemed strained in other hands and in another context, but here marks a fitting gathering up of loose ends; if only life could be so simple.         

Finally the most important, and crucial point, and the one that truly sets this release apart.

Though I am sure that fundamentally this was unintentional, in doing this album Williams has gone down that once well worn, but now less travelled path of taking grief and tragedy and translating it into art. Now this is something that artists have done since the dawn of time, and that it is done less so now does not show him to be out of joint with our times, but is rather a reflection on just how out of step the dominant moralities and aesthetics of our age are with those of other periods, it is but one of the many weaknesses of our age that critical and creative activity is now predominantly bestowed upon and concerned with, the superficial, the trivial, the glib, and the facile. That none of these make up what he does is to his credit.

Whilst this reviewer would so very much have rather that the events that brought this album about had never happened, if it had to happen, and if someone had to create something from it, it was a mercy that the one given such a terrible burden was worthy of this task. It is the one mitigating factor, that he has created great art from tragedy.

It is a job well done.  


--Andrew King., 13-30/03/09: ASK 142 

Postscript: The album comes with brilliant cover art by Amy Kollar Anderson that looks especially commissioned, but was infact the product of happy coincidence, but whilst listening to the record and writing this review my attention was constantly diverted by, and went back to, the back cover, but as that was painted by this albums fons et origo it seems only right that this should be the case.

A particularly in-depth review of "More tales from the Garden" from Amoeba records:

> You are a writer, musician and director all in one person. Where did it all start for you – with music, films or literature? Or did it all come at once in one hazy rush?

Neither place, really. I'm not particularly trained in any of these forms aside from a brief and unpleasant stint at art school and I've never been taught an instrument. My first real output, I suppose, was a public access television show I wrote, directed and starred in while still an awkward high school student. But it could as easily have been something else.



> Have you ever directed a stage play in theatre or were involved in it? Would you ever want to move on from film and veer into theatre?

I've never enjoyed going to the theatre much aside from seeing Jesus Christ Superstar (which is far out). It tends to be silly. So, yeah, for this reason, I am interested in a play. It seems to be something in need of drastic change. I've considered a stage production of 'The Doctor' someday if I could ever get Jerry Adams to remember that many lines at once.



> You are 27 years old and have already made 3 films – how will your career look like in a few years? Directing films in Hollywood? What would you answer if a huge film-studio offers you a job?

I have nothing against Hollywood movies. They're usually better than the alternative. I'd prefer to work in Bollywood, but my Hindi is pretty horrible nowadays. If the money was offered to me, I'd say "A horrendously modernized re-make of 'Splendor in the Grass'? Starring Ben Affleck and Kate Hudson? I'm your man!" As long as the check clears. Anything beats the independent film circuit and these budgets that I keep hearing referred to as "shoe-string". So money would be nice, but I probably won't hang myself if it doesn't come to be. Who knows what lies ahead?

> You've been travelling through Europe a lot already and your new album "Vanity Is A Sin!" has – similar to your previous works – again a certain "European" feel to it. What's appealing about Europe to you?


> Both your films and your records leave a strong impression of anachronism, they are often surrounded by pieces of art nouveau and a general late 19th/early 20th century atmosphere and  sometimes put into a contemporary context. How does it reflect upon your person? Do you like to "drift in dreams of other lives and greater times"?

Indeed. It seems that any time other than the present is greater. Artistic trends have veered into a pretty boring place this generation and don't appear to be improving. When I started work on "So Long, Lale Andersen", I tried picturing where popular music might currently be if history hadn't gone along the path it did around World War 2… If the Jazz Age never died and turned popular music into something different nowadays… Maybe how Woodstock would have sounded in 1929. Things of this nature.

> It seems that, with the exception of Death In June and Nový Svet perhaps, you take most of your influences from early 20th century music. At the festival in Leipzig you prepared a wonderful vintage set of 30ies/40ies songs. Do you have any special recommendations for us?

With a few exceptions of mostly groups/people I know, I don't listen to much music made after the 80s. I mostly only listen to pop music from the 50s through 70s… David Bowie, Elvis, Roxy Music, Nico, French girl pop of the 60's…pretty mainstream music. Charlie and his Orchestra from WW2 are a lot of fun, though. Awkward and snotty German attempts at swing are hard to beat.

> There are also a lot of cabaret and vaudeville elements in your music, all drenched in a pitchblack "underground" timbre. Do you see yourself in continuation with the old entertainer tradition? Are Thomas Nöla et son Orchestre prepared for the big show business?

I am at least. I'm assembling a new backing group involving only a well-dressed female string and brass section. Whether or not sword-swallowers and fire-breathers come along as well is up in the air. As a whole, I am generally repulsed by what passes for live music nowadays, so my ideal Thomas Nöla et Son Orchestre setup would be very theatrical and likely in much larger venues than I'm currently subjected to. At the very least, there'd be a puppet on a gallows and some projected pornography.

> I already heard some people saying you are a "better Nick Cave from the 1920ies". Suits you well?

There could certainly be worse comparisons. He's one of my favorites. There seems to be a, not quite genre, but world, that he and Tom Waits live in. I can relate to it. David E. Williams told me that the main difference is that Nick Cave "writes about his dick". I don't…yet.

> The new album is much more song-oriented than its predecessor and mainly based upon guitar compositions. In some parts it makes me think of what "neofolk" meant back in the 80ies. Is "Vanity is a sin" your personal neofolk approach?

Not really. To me, it's more Del Shannon and Roy Orbison than anything made in my lifetime. I'd tended to avoid guitars in the past because of the things typically done with them, but I consciously tried to chill out on all that and, you know, have fun. I liked the results. In music, the instrument being played isn't very important. I could get by with a kazoo if need be.

> Is vanity a sin?

Yes, but it's fun and nobody's watching, so who cares?

> You compose and record the soundtracks for your films together with your „Orchestra". What is your method? Do you watch your own films after they are ready and think about the songs which would fit to the scenes, or does this happen simultaneous, directing and composing?

It varies. Some pieces are done in the standard manner of watching the film and playing along, other times scenes are edited to music I think is fitting. Other times things take a weird turn as in the case of "In the Poppy Fields" which I wrote intending to have it play out of a radio in "To The Wolves…". Later, I thought it should be its own thing apart from the movie. A phrase from it named the movie, oddly enough.



> You are trying out a more experimental approach in the congenial soundtracks to your films. Most of the compositions there go "down the drain" and end up in a surreal and claustrophobic world of sounds and voices, with the cello of Karen S. Langlie adding a nostalgic melancholia. Do you have any interest in psychedelic music?

Both in the "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" sense and my own definition of it, yes. Most of what I do, music, film or especially book-wise is aiming in the "psychedelic" direction. Reality is an enemy. Anything worthwhile should alter your perception of time and space, otherwise why bother? Tony Primavera and I went into a trance last night practicing two chords of "Iron Gate" on a loop for 15 minutes. Outta sight!



> Why has your first film been a 'puppet musical', as it is described in some movie databases? Didn't you have enough money to pay real actors?

I pay my puppets well. They show up on time, complain little and behave courteously. This can't be said of humans.



> Sometimes, your films are compared with the work of David Lynch, and some similarities are crystal clear, e.g. the numerous surrealistic, spooky scenes. Is such a comparison a compliment for you? Would you prefer to be compared with another director?

Comparisons are inevitable in anything but, again, it could be much worse. I've gotten Fassbinder and Polanski too which are nice to stroke my ego, but I don't really think about how accurate they are. My friend Nicolas Caesar says that the Lynch comparison for me is the sort of default name one uses when something is odd or of its own world. Probably.

The Boston Globe called my aforementioned puppet musical "The Muppet  Movie as scripted by David Lynch". The Jim Henson reference was probably the most flattering part. As a child, I cried when he died.



> Some episodes in your films seem to be mental leaps, from one thought to
another, with black screens in between. Do things in your films happen spontaneous, by accident, or is it all planned in the long run?

I use scripts and tend to plan out scenes, but I've been trying to wean myself off that. Most of the things I like best are last minute ideas and improv that are based on the general idea of the scene. In "To The Wolves…" there's a scene where Bruno Helden and the Doctor are supposed to witness my character shoot a fish with a crossbow. On the day of filming, it didn't quite flow right…it seemed stale, so I decided a fist fight was in order instead. The results were quite satisfying. As for the tempo or timeline of a film, I prefer to follow where my mind jumps instead of where a plot might tell me it should go. Surprises are a requirement of anything worth doing.



> In reviews, your music is mostly described as "modern ragtime"; it seems
that reviewer have agreed upon this description. With which paraphrase would you characterize your films?

I've called myself a "psychedelic B-movie maker" once. That's probably as close as I can get.



> USA is Hollywood- and Disney-Country. How famous and how important are underground films in the United States? What response do you get on your films in the USA? From which country do you get the most response?

America loves movies of any shape and will, myself included, watch just about anything. The marketing and whatnot seems to be the issue. No-budget movies starring men in whiteface or bowler hats delivering diatribes on the merits of amorality don't have a niche market. Not yet at least. Germany and the UK seem to be most appreciative of my movies as far as sales show, though who knows the reason? Screenings in America tend to have confused the audience, but that's kind of par for the course. Wherever, the right people in any country seem to get something out of the movies. I'm not expecting them to be everyone's cup of tea. Most don't connect with them, but the few seem to love them. That's fine by me.



> What I like best about your films is the blend of "pathetic" sincerity and a sublime sense of humour. The Doctor – as a character – is a bonafide misanthropist - "a man of the wolves, a lover of doves" - but his cynical monologues are not without self-irony. The two gentlemen "do as they please"  ignoring any kind of moral codex yet they seem to be obliged to an ethos that indeed distinguishes  the "human" from the "inhuman", the "natural" from the "decadent". Is there a message "beyond good and evil" in this pair of films?

I'd say that despite the odd surfaces in the films, they're more realistic than even a lot of documentaries. The heroes are hardly heroes and can't be easily distinguished from the pseudo-villains. Characters die by whim, situations and landscapes change quickly and without an apparent reason. They're comedies that seem like tragedies to the characters. All this is accurate to the world I've seen. Why make straightforward good-guys and bad-guys? Why follow plotlines whose endings are known from the start? Why pretend that reason prevails? I'd rather take a walk in the woods.



> Let's talk about the setting of both films. There is this dark and unpleasant suburban world surveyed by a fascist-like police-state in "The Doctor", and in stark contrast to this, the wild and adventurous world of "To The Wolves..." with "brothel caves", huge tracts of forest and imperial kingdoms already on the verge to decadence and decline. What happened to the world in between "To The Wolves..." and "The Doctor" or is it just an alteration in the perception and consciousness of the Doctor, or did he even change the "sphere" or "dimension" in "The Doctor"?

In the 40 years between the two storylines, many things are to have taken place, but describing them here would ruin the fun. Rest assured that changes took place in a queer manner.



> What relationship do you have to Jerry Adams, who plays a leading part in
both of your full time films ("The Doctor" and "To The Wolves")? Is he a friend of yours, or 'only' a good actor? Under what circumstances did you meet him?

Tony Primavera introduced him to me while the two were roommates in a slum in Boston. Things went on from there. He was an actor in some other low-budget movies when he lived in Los Angeles, but I've never seen them.

Originally, he wasn't supposed to have the role. At first, I approached Gene Wilder's agent, somehow not thinking realistically about my lack of budget and its effect on professional actors. Needless to say, he wasn't swayed. Bud Cort was my next target, but he was without agent at the time and impossible to track down.

Next, I tried an 80 year old Russian immigrant who I walked into on a Boston street. His name was Lipa and he spent his free time walking aimlessly and writing "how you say…erotica". He hardly spoke English, but would have done a good job. He called me up on the first day of shooting to cancel. In broken English, he told me "I am an old man, Thomas." Things ended amicably, but I haven't spoken to him since.

Without a lead actor, I went to a local beach and swam while trying to clear my mind. Jerry Adams popped into mind, but I thought he was too young looking (he was originally cast for a later-cut "Vaudeville announcer" cameo). I put him in white face paint that night and did a screen test. It was cinema gold and I didn't look back. He mastered the role. He's the only person who could have been The Doctor.



> You once "discovered" Dustmuffin & The Aluminum Cans and brought them/him (?) to Tairy's eclectic circus of Punch:-Records. Where do you know Dustin from? Has his starring role as Bruno Helden been his first involvement in a film?

Dustin attended a concert I organized for an early pseudo-punk band I played in called The Tori Spelling Fiasco when he was about 15 (he had no money to get in, but tried paying with a lollipop). I listened to a mix tape he gave me of some Moog and drum machine-laden songs he had recorded and I was overcome. We've been friends, enemies and roommates in the years that have followed.

His screen debut was in my first movie "Jack". He played a character named Napoleon Bonaparte who gets angry when the lead accidentally breaks a small porcelain figure he had just purchased. He only appears in the opening scene, filmed before one of our many fall-outs, and had to be replaced by a stand-in for minor shots. This sort of thing tends to follow my productions.

As Bruno Helden, there could have been nobody else cast. Dustin, minus the good fashion sense and occasional ability to speak auf Deutsch, is Bruno Helden. I wish he'd dress in three piece suits more often, for everyone's sake.

> You engaged Douglas P. as the narrator for "The Doctor". Where did you meet him first? And do you plan any other projects with Douglas for the future?

Douglas and I had been in contact regarding a Death In June concert I set up in Boston, which actually ended up being not only the last American DIJ show, but also the last that the club put on before being demolished. It seems fitting.

I was looking for a very distinctive and possibly British voice for the narrator, so I thought I'd ask him. He took liberties with the tones and moods of the narrations which resulted in something even better than I'd pictured, teetering between God-like and schizophrenic. Quite satisfying. We attempted a reprise of the role for "To The Wolves…" but schedules didn't line up. Aside from this, I don't think Douglas has plans to do anything with anyone else for a while at least, but casting him in an  n-screen role would be fun. Maybe a buddy cop flick starring Douglas as a veteran cop on his last day before retirement with a smart-talking rookie (Jerry Adams) who won't play by the book. There'd be a killer soundtrack.

...and the last question...

...which was surely never asked before... ;-) Why did you choose a moniker with an "ö" in a land where no "umlaut" (mutated vowel) exists?

Nö cömment.


- '¡VANITY IS A SIN!' Gothtronic review:

With Vanity is a Sin!, Thomas Nöla takes you back in time to the decadent twenties with drawing room variety and smoking opium asking you a question: Is Vanity a Sin ? The music is a mixture between Nick Cave, Spiritual Front, Novy Svet and even some elements of Tom Waits and Mark Lanegan are to be heard. Thomas Nöla et Son Orchestra sound like a drunken carnival with songs played in easy style with a blast of enthusiasm which you can feel through the recordings. Thomas and his orchestra must have had a good time during the recordings of Vanity is a Sin!.

The music swings and has different mood elements and dramatic moments like in "Sunday with jacky" and "The Clown is Dead". Swing hits are "Bei mir Bist du Schön", a song by Charlie and his Orchestra and title track "Is Vanity a Sin?" which will work well on the dance floor. "Intermezzo di Paganini " takes you inside an opium delirium where the sounds are distant and blurred. Vanity is a Sin! Is full of humming Hammond's and is fully arranged with a rich instrumentation like Glockenspiel, accordion, trumpet, cello and diverse samples like in "One Step up to Heaven" and "You See its Fingernails" which are tracks in Novy Svet style with interesting samples. Although all comparisons Thomas Nöla has enough to offer and has definitely a style of his own.

This CD starts with the question "Is Vanity a Sin?", at the end this will be confirmed with "Vanity is a Sin !" in which breathes the atmosphere of Spiritual Front.

Vanity is a Sin! is an interesting release on Punch records with like minded acts such as AIT! and O' Paradis and has a relaxed atmosphere and colourful songs for lounging and is a recommendation to those who like the bands mentioned above and comes in a beautiful artwork in art niveau style.



- ''¡VANITY IS A SIN!'' Vera Sacrum review (Italian):

Per chi scrive, qualunque album in grado di far letteralmente saltare dalla sedia chi si dice un ascoltatore privo di pregiudizi di sorta, attento ai merger di stili, portato a ritenere che nulla ormai possa sorprenderlo più di tanto, merita attenzione a prescindere. Tanto più se all'effetto-sorpresa si somma poi la scoperta di sempre nuovi particolari, l'ammaliante bellezza della forma oltre che la messa in pratica delle intenzioni; la constatazione, insomma, di trovarsi al cospetto di qualcosa finalmente in grado di sorprendere per la sua unicità, e non per il saper fare particolarmente bene qualcosa che altri hanno già fatto prima. Thomas Nöla, per quanto poco conosciuto ai più nella frangia di pubblico a cui- volente o no- Vanity is a sin andrà a rivolgersi, in anni di esperienza ha realizzato un metodo personalissimo e infallibile per mettere in atto l'effetto di cui prima. Con la sua orchestra che mette insieme dal pianoforte al violoncello, dalla batteria alla tromba, dalle consuete tastiere all'accordion fino addirittura a una punta di maracas (!), theremin e samples, pare immagini un brainstorming tra Douglas P., Leonard Cohen e Nick Cave tra i suoni viscerali e insieme malinconici dell'America del primo dopoguerra.

E quello che è il risultato, per quanto ora più che mai la necessità di una descrizione si scontri con l'effettiva difficoltà a formularla, a meno di non possedere la Scienza Esatta, è un insieme di suoni e stili che mai si sarebbero immaginati insieme prima d'ora per il tipo-brown area-medio (la frangia di pubblico di cui si parlava poc'anzi, ecco): le atmosfere e le linee care al neofolk acustico che si trovano perfettamente a loro agio nella convivenza e nell'interazione con ragtime, orchestrazioni jazz, una qualche forma raffinata ed educata di southern, un po' di amore per la classica e il blues che viene e va, in arrangiamenti pieni, corposi, vivi, permeati sempre di una suadente malinconia, e che ti fanno capire quanto è bella la musica suonata anche se sei abituato ad ascoltare smanopolatori di ogni genere (sì, questa frase è autoreferenziale, mea culpa). E che voce, Thomas Nöla, calda, profonda ed espressiva come poche altre. Sono queste constatazioni che contribuiscono a farsi incantare dalla decadente e fumosa "Mis Mil Sueños de la Bruja", come se non ci riuscisse già da sé, e ad ammirare "Is vanity a sin?" cercando di carpirne tutto ciò che ne costituisce l'armonia piena e coerente.

Quando poi il nervoso movimento di "Iron gate", l'oscuro swing di "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön ", la cadenza un po' da marcia di guerra e un po' da cabaret di Saint Louis di "One step up to heaven", l'atmosfera dark-blues di "Balaustine", attraversano laser e amplificatori e arrivano a svelarsi a chi ascolta, lo stupore diventa, detto in maniera poco fine ma veritiera, un'immensa, incantevole goduria. E per chi ne volesse ancora, basta mettere il cd nel computer ed ecco altre 7 tracce in mp3, tra live e inediti. La Punch Records si dimostra ancora una volta un'etichetta senza concorrenti e paragoni, e con Thomas Nöla et Son Orchestre è stata aggiunta un'altra perla al catalogo. Se altri prima hanno dimostrato che con i preconcetti non si arriva da nessuna parte, "Vanity is a sin" rimuove in maniera definitiva questa convinzione che conto sia rimasta di pochi, e dimostra quanto il talento, quando c'è, non conosca timori o paletti. Bellissimo!!!



- '¡Vanity is a Sin!' NONPOP review (German)
- 'So Long, Lale Andersen' Vital Weekly review
- 'So Long, Lale Andersen' Compulsion Online review
- 'So Long, Lale Andersen' KFJC review
- 'So Long, Lale Andersen' Nonpop review (German)

- NONPOP review (German)
- Heathen Harvest Review




- Funprox review
- Equilibrium Music review
- Gothtronic review

- Aural Pressure review:

Let’s forget the lack of information on this mysterious act and instead focus on the music; the rhapsody that a crew of marionettes jiggles on threads of rusting chains to. Dustmuffin & The Aluminum Cans parody music styles that populate human myth with sunny days and good memories, by shredding insulated diorama’s, shards of glass a puzzle of what once was, now in a new form.

Nineteen tracks supply the listener with a carnival incarnation crammed into your doorstep, the mad sonic journey just a breath longer than forty-five minutes, a veritable atavism gone horribly wrong for all the best reasons. Sparse industrial rhythms warble lo-fi, ghosted and moogified (sic) in eighties-esque melody, hip and gothic with gyring lyrics to match, elements of early Ministry, The Cure burst like the frequent pop-culture lyrical references, but to be honest neither of those acts supply any lead-in. If anything, Dustmuffin & The Aluminum Cans, promote their pantomime from the shell left by acts like Chrome, taking song into warped and catchy horrors. A sardonic mouth frilled with barbs lurks in each song, even the lilting old-time tune, ‘Beat Me’, is disturbing in its happiness and let’s not go to 'We’ll See Santa' and the accompanying video with its spoliating take on woolen dolls. The music delves dark, noisy at times, gothic tunes without the pomp and pretence, dance tracks for the demented – those you don’t really want to wear your leather with; the insane are at work here, and it is a beautiful thing to watch. With classic tracks like 'U.S.A.' (the New National Anthem) and 'Feelings' you can be assured to freak out any mainstream friends with your recommendation for a little disco you know they’ll love. To hate.

Once again, Punch Records push the boundary in releasing an artist that breaks boundaries and if you’re familiar with any of the Italian label’s releases you’ll know to expect the unexpected with this release. As with most Punch Records releases this album is released in a single panel fold out digipak in full colour, simple liner notes – though to quote one passage for the reader regarding the "Essential Recordings"; “Recordings recovered from cassettes and wax cylinders that were originally thought to be destroyed in a convent fire.” (sic) – you can taste a little of the mindset. Further valediction of their pleasant psychosis is a collection of no less than five full length quicktime videos made with the same haphazard and creepy approach to their songs, all wrapped in a web-derived environment.


- Sonido Obscuro review (Spanish):

Si te llamas Michael, eres de Baltimore, estudias en una universidad alguna carrera que no sea relacionada directamente con empresariales, eres vegetariano, te gusta llevar corbatas finas entre semana pero combinada con vaqueros y no te clasificas dentro de ninguna tribu urbana en particular, Dustmuffin & the Aluminium Cans son uno de tus grupos favoritos. Pero no os lamentéis, que si no encajáis absolutamente en nada en la anterior descripción, no todo acaba allí… porque si eres un deathrockero de los que ven más allá de las crestas de los cantantes de los grupos, aquí podrás encontrar temas que seguro que te encataría pinchar. Y si adoras el pop retorcido y experimental y te molan los principios de Xiu Xiu y Hymes Basement, cómprate el disco. Y si siempre te interesó la new wave, puedes toparte con cortes increíbles… y si adoras los grupos que mezclan toques circenses y cabareteros con rock oscuro, también necesitas investigar sobre esta extraña formación lo antes posible. Y si te molaban los principios del industrial más punk y más enrevesado… adivina.

Y es que, aunque tenemos los nombres de los culpables de estos ‘Essential Recordings 1984-2001’ en realidad nadie sabe realmente qué hacen, por qué lo hacen, de dónde viene y a dónde van… Lo que sí se sabe es que Dustmuffin y the Aluminium Cans forman una peculiar comunidad que hace música, películas, eventos extraños, se disfrazan como conejos para divertirse, que han colaborado con artistas como Death in June, Soleilmoon, o sellos como Tesco y Punch y que nos avisan a todos de el ataque extraterrestre que hará Mr. Crumb sobre nuestro planeta. Podríamos llamarlos dadaístas de la tardomodernidad, y es que en realidad hace falta tener talento para poder hacer cosas tan variadas, de calidad y que derrochen ironía y sentido del humor. Además, el disco incluye cinco pistas de videoclips, para que veas las imágenes que acompañan a tan pintoresca formación.

El caso es que desde la bellísima y triste canción de cuna ‘We’ll see santa’ pasando por la new wave technopopera ‘Feelings’, los rockeros ‘Just an old fashoined hate song’ o ‘I don’t care witch’, la completamente darkwave ‘The crumbs are the cure’ y la discotequera ‘Diagnostics’ el disco cuenta con una enorme cantidad de canciones realmente interesantes. Se pueden apreciar diferentes acercamientos a la música, desde una sensación más primitiva de constructivismo industrial hacia un indie o incluso el jugueteo con el hip hop. La verdad es que estamos de suerte al saber que hay sellos como Punch records que apuestan por artistas tan extravagantes y diferentes. Ahora no tienes excusa para no conocerles.


- Nonpop review:

Once more some totally weird discovery – not only in a musical context - has been dug out thanks to a couple of pleasant coincidences, to which also belong the seemingly excellent disturbed taste and the involuntary (in-)sensibility of American underground director Thomas Nöla, who recently won a name inside the scene for his movie “The Doctor” and the accessory soundtrack. Sometime several years ago he got some kind of demotape of a „what the heck is that?“-causing band with the rarely beautiful name DUSTMUFFIN & THE ALUMINUM CANS into his hands, not to say, it was placed into his hands with emphasis. Such is a well-engineered hint of destiny par excellence, because the tape seemed to radiate an attracting gravity field, being effective only on certain strange minds. Thomas Nöla felt being touched in „ways“ he’d been „yet to be touched since“. Punch:-Records chef Tairy Ceron later called it of course „love at first stroke“. This all might be added and deciphered with attributes like amiable-queer, hypocritical-hate-drivelling, retro-theatrical-posing and never-in-a-thousand-years-leaving-
your-mind and people who have developed such a „grotesque vein“ anyhow won’t help listening into the „Essential Recordings“ of this Boston-based „soldateska“ of musically psychoses. Absolutely nobody, perhaps apart from Thomas Nöla, really knows who exactly hides behind this myth-causing, possibly inconsistent band. Guitarist Todd Welch is said to be deceased – supposedly on 11/09/2001 – and dying on such a day naturally brings about the wildest conjectures… (that DUSTMUFFIN & THE ALUMINUM CANS know about using that topic already shows the clip to „U.S.A.”).

Throughout those nineteen short and shortest tracks, amongst them more than a handful of true hits, that have been gathered in an essential best-of manner, an alarming high number of styles and genres is to be crossed, and the mental invasion of the „crumbs“ – which presumably does not hint at the old US punk band – is getting executed till the bitter end. Lots of delicious lo-fi analogue-electronics echoing from the „old school“ can be found here and they are perfectly decorated with dirty „home recording“ guitars and sugary sweet vintage synth-organs, that will let you shiver of pure joy. Sometimes the dustmuffin madness makes a slip into folk-rock psychedelia elegies, pathologically overdrawn disco beats, downtown-authentic hip hop attacks and spacy odysseys, in other words: a divine amusement is provided from beginning to end. And especially since this melting pot of facets is the meeting place for the electronically transfigured loser-pathos of DAVID E. WILLIAMS, the gothic-cabaret carousel horsies of ROZZ WILLIAMS and the frosty aggressive hardcore attitude of ALEC EMPIRE, who get together for a heavy punch-up and then swaying altogether in a “Nightmare Before Christmas”-like creepy mood, always spiced with a dash of political incorrectness. It’s hard to believe that all this stayed unnoticed and unobserved for years, seething beneath the surface of the music business, only waiting to erupt. Already the dancefloor killers like the rocking industrial fist-punch „Hate Is A Shape“ or the alternative national anthem „U.S.A.”, in which even Thomas Nöla himself participated, really shout and long for being pressed somehow on a more accessible format. Thank you, Punch:-Records, that this accessible format has now been found, together with a suitable refuge for mysterious aluminium cans. Thank you, Thomas Nöla, for conserving and preserving these artefacts and also for five stylish, lovely staged, partly funny-provocative video clips, that are included on the CD. Sometime everyone will get what he deserves. Then DUSTMUFFIN & THE ALUMINIM CANS might arrange in the non-existing ruins of the WorldTradeCenter a benevolent gala for bloodthirsty puppets, neurotic robots, aliens and other washouts. Already by now they stand ahead of their time, even if it’s only by 48 hours, like Thomas Nöla says.

- KFJC review of the soundtrack
- Compulsion Online review of the soundtrack
- KZSU review of the soundtrack
- Nicolas Caesar thing...not really press, but who cares?

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