Locust Abortion Technician

Mercifully short!

I have no idea how this band **EVER** got a hit. It of course happened in the same way that nearly every weird, established underground band did in the '90s, everyone was looking for the next Nirvana, and bands that Cobain liked were first on the list to get a chance in the sun. But the problem was that Cobain's taste in music was *incredibly* cool, and I don't think the label executives ever really even came *close* to getting it. And of all the bands that got a chance, Butthole Surfers may be the weirdest. I know what you're thinking, "their '90s stuff isn't that weird", and honestly it isn't. But anything from Locust Abortion Technician and earlier is a totally different ballgame. And Locust Abortion Technician was the culmination of all of it. The album is basically ~30 minutes of some of the most fucked up, genuinely twisted audio experiments most people will ever be exposed to. The thing sounds sick, as in unwell. Human Cannonball is the most listenable we get, and even it remains somewhat challenging. But everything else here is chewed up, slowed down, distorted, and much, much worse. It is punk taken to a deeply psychedelic place. The first song is mostly just the Black Sabbath Sweet Leaf riff played at incorrect speed, and slathered in Gibby Haynes vocals treated with his unmistakable "Gibbytronics", which was the effects device he used to fuck his vocals up as badly as possible. Gibbytronics are used to great effect on pretty much every song here. Graveyard (Not to be confused with Graveyard) sounds like a sludge 45rpm single played at 33rpm. It plods, and melts and sputters, and the vocals are an unintelligable, pitch shifted mush, in short, it's a fantastic song. U.S.S.A is also noteworthy for sounding a way that I don't think anything else ever has. An exciting new magic also reveals itself on the songs the really push music the farthest past what most people think it should, or even can sound like. Hey is structured like a joke that's kind of funny, then isn't funny, then becomes extremely funny. But compared to Kuntz, it is a mere footnote. Kuntz is built around a mauled sample of Thai folk song Klua Duang, performed by Phloen Phromdaen and Kong Katkamngae, and I cannot effectively describe how this song sounds through writing. But every song here is noteworthy for sounding baffling, disturbing, funny, and frightening, usually at the same time. This is a real landmark for those willing to make the plunge, and it is utterly original, exciting, and *truly*, *uncommonly*, bizarre.

This was the first truly weird album I ever heard or owned. It holds a soft spot for me. That's said it's annoying crap that I have a soft spot for. I'll listen to it again.

...

I have lots of things to say about this album, and none of them are nice

1 ⭐️

It's one of the lowest rated albums on the site, so of course it's a) something I have in my collection and b) something I really like!

From the moment that "Sweat Loaf" (a play on the closely named Black Sabbath track, and not the only track which meddles with Sabbathian playing) kicks in, you know that you're in for a wild ride. It exercises some wonderfully manic, discordant playing, off-piste tones, desultory structures and absurd lyricism, however it knows precisely when to lock into more conventional sensibilities and grooves in what feels like a partially sarcastic, yet well-considered manner.

It's very much an album that you'd struggle to put into a specific box, where a consistent sense of irony, humour and surrealism are its aces up its sleeve. Elements of noise rock, experimental rock, psych rock, post punk, sludge metal and sampled tape music are all plain to hear, and they coagulate into a habitually thrilling package.

Honestly, I didn't have a bad time at all with this album. Yes, sometimes it's just plain experimental nonsense. But it did not detract from my enjoyment of the rockin' riffs and the headbangers. The album feels like a "fuck you, I'll do what I want" more than a "This is sophisticated music, you just don't understand." kind of experimental.

Update: I'm giving this a 5 just because I got laid off today. It's the perfect disorienting album to accompany it with. If you don't like that, eat my whole fucking dick.

I thought this would be harder going than it is. It's loud, it's weird, but it kinda holds together fairly well. Some of it is just noise for noise's sake, but there are some actual tunes in amongst all the weirdity.

An unfortunate album cover that I’ll try to ignore. I came into this with no real expectations; I only know them from “Pepper” and the one song they had on the Beavis and Butt-Head Do America soundtrack. I was ready for some level of weird rock & roll… but not quite ready for this level of weird rock & roll. I enjoyed my listen, but stopped at only one for fear of ruining it.

Is it parody? Is it drugs? Are they Zappa fans who just don’t have the talent to make Zappa-level music? I can't answer these questions, but I’ll keep trying.

When I was 15/16 I thought this record was great, I even bought it on vinyl. Whilst there are some songs I still enjoy (Sweet Loaf, Human Cannonball and 22 Going On 23) the rest of the album is a band intentionally making music as annoying and bad as possible, which is hilarious but not worth listening to more than once.

Madcap Musical Madness

Not my cup of coffee

Butthole surfers became a more normal band as they grew, eventually making pretty regular alternative rock by the 90's. By the time of Locust Abortion Technician they were still really fucking weird though. They can easily make a good conventional song, but they never choose to. The album just sounds like fucking about and doesn't really take itself seriously. Has influences from all over the world too, such as the Indian chants on Kuntz. Fun listen.

ou fortíssimo esse aqui hein
uma bela mistureba de música barulhenta e desconexa. tudo de bom, gostoso demais. ouvir no 5550 com dois moradores de rua brigando foi uma experiência

Kant get enough

Fuck yeah. This is messed up but it's messed up good. Sometimes we all need a palate cleanser to scrape away everything else. I get why people don't like this, but I think it's brilliant.
Great cover art.

This album blew my mind as a kid. I have no idea how I randomly picked it up 8-10 years after it was released, but it was the first time I heard anything even remotely like this.

No

I saw the global average rating and prepared myself for the worst and this just… isn’t. Like I’m confused what the issue is that people have with it. I think this is interesting. The use of noise and unconventional structure and dynamics works as a whole package here. Plus it samples Sweet Leaf one of my favorite Sabbath songs straight off rip. Favorite songs were Sweet Load, Human Cannonball, and Kuntz.

Like a classic fuzzy bluesy garage psych record played on a dying record player through a crapped out broken speaker and hit by a bolt of lightning. Dumb as bricks and sounds like shit, a dirt bag acid trip masterpiece of manic sludge.

Transgressive avant-punk that, if you allow their trolling nature as a core philosophy, contains some innovative depth. A sonic hodge-podge comparable to something like Can, this is on the continuum of anti-establishment music from The V.U., the 13th Floor Elevators and all of that 60's garage psychedelia through Pere Ubu, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, and so on. More intelligent than you might think (or want) a band called Butthole Surfers to be.