The Portland Mercury Posted this blurb before the 2009 show for PICA
Portland’s “sleeping giants” (Snipehunt magazine) reawaken after a long hibernation with this eagerly anticipated reunion gig. Bugskull, largely the project of Sean Byrne, emerged in the early ’90s with relatively straightforward pop rock. But soon Byrne & Co. delved deep into the world of ambience and electronics with legendary albums like Phantasies and Senseitions and Distracted Snowflake Volume One, which explored the outer brainscapes of music, littered with found sound, squeaks, whistles, drones, and hallucinations. For all its freakiness, however, Bugskull’s music retained humanity and warmth, and its harsher tendencies were always tempered by soothing balms of sound that were dizzying in their beauty and musicality. With the largely folk and indie fonts of Portland music at their critical peak, the time has never been riper for the local music scene to rediscover Bugskull. Fans of avant-garde, Krautrock, noise, ambient, and psych will do well to turn their ears back to a sound whose time may, just now, finally be coming.
Bugskull followed, playing meandering, stoner rock that breezily sailed without causing too many ripples. Their music was at all times pleasantly hypnotic, even causing a few brief moments of transcendence. A new song and a Pink Floyd cover aside (“Fearless”), much of their old material was unfamiliar to the audience, a symptom of their being overlooked and on ice for so long. Indeed, Bugskull’s inactivity seemed obvious at a couple points, but if they become an ongoing concern again—and I hope they do—there is no reason why, with a bit more practice and tightness, they won’t quickly become one of the best bands in town. They played in front of a charming collection of stock footage, which ranged from instructional filmstrips to surf flicks to arty dance film to stop-motion animation. It was tough to look away.
Experimental pop group Bügsküll began its existence as the solo project of Portland, OR-based singer/composer Sean Byrne, and was launched in 1992 with the release of the Shrimper cassette Subversives in the Midst. While early releases like the cassettes Gargamelodies and Magic Tremelo consisted of Byrne’s fractured guitar pop fleshed out by tape loops and samples, by the time of a 1993 self-titled ten-inch for the Quixotic label, Bügsküll had become a true band with the additions of bassist Brendan Bell and drummer James Yu. Split singles with Sone and Quasi followed in 1994 prior to the release of the group’s first full-length effort, the excellent Phantasies & Senseitions; the follow-up, Crock–Original Motion Picture Soundrack, appeared in 1995. Following the release of 1997′s Distracted Snowflake, Volume 1, the steady flow of Bügsküll material trickled to a halt, prompting many to predict the band’s demise; 1999′s Distracted Snowflake, Volume 2 disproved the notion, although the contributions of both Bell and Yu were at best minimal, returning the project to its solo roots. Byrne and Yu also teamed in Big White Cloud.
Time is not our fried is a 2 CD set featuring remixed and remastered material from early bugskull cassette, vinyl and compilation releases- plus one unreleased track. Packaged in a brown paper bag.
The Second (and last) in the series of tribute cassettes on Eldest Son was a collection of Prince songs. This release features heavy hitters such as Refrigerator and Mark.. and thanks to my disorganization features 2 versions of the same song.
Magic Tremelo is more exploration into found sounds, tape manipulation and other experimentation. It was (self)released in 1993 on cassette, again on Eldest Son Communications (ESBS7).
Gargamelodies was self-released on Eldest Son Communications in 1992 (ESBS6). It marks the first appearance of Brendan Bell as bassist and James Yu as drummer. These songs were recorded on cassette 4-track in the basement of the house that the band lived together in NorthEast Portland.
Track list:
It’s A Monster
Lewis
Space Shuttle
Fences
Eavesdropping
Not The Fall
Half Of It
You Don’t Know Disclaimer
Dope Smokin’ Son
Someday Soon
Subversives in the midst was the first bugskull release. the music was created by Sean pretty much single handedly, and released on Shrimper (Catalog# SHR29) in 1991.
also known as the muskgrove complex
The track listing is:
Welcome Jimmy I’ve Got The Dope
Radio Seizure
Chains
Death Comes Closer For Us All
Where The Vultures Are Waiting
Sean + Jimmy
Paris 1 + 2
