The sixth Experimental Bunnies album draws from 16 years of Experimental Bunny gatherings, blended into a haunting psychedelic montage of sound to carry us all through this endless emergency blues. Keep away from the ice nine and don’t forget to apply your moonscreen.
Credits
released June 26, 2022
Produced by J Neo Marvin for Ear Candle Productions Cover design: Debra Nicholson-Bassham Art by Dag Weiser: “Exporting Democracy”
J Neo Marvin – Production, Xpand, bass, guitar, etc. Davis Jones – Keyboards, percussion, etc. Stephen Abbate – Guitars, etc. Peter MRD – Guitars, etc. lead vocal and lyrics on Moonscreen Gavin Smith – Clarinet, guitars, etc. Frank Lev – Soprano sax Michael Lyons – Keyboard Evan Sandler – Acoustic guitar Mark Zanandrea – Electric sitar
“This afternoon I did what – unfortunately – not many are ever gonna do: I listened, uninterrupted, Grado headphones, all the way through, concentrating. I didn’t follow the lyrics, I used the entire-album-uninterrupted option.
You two are onto something great and stylish here. The fun is apparent, the wordplay sophisticated and of a high standard, the soundscape rich and varied – a wide variety of well-crafted accompaniments. Of course, philosophically I’m on the same page, and can delight in the outré aspects of your presentation, lyrically and otherwise. A particularly engaging and accessible opening number I think. Really good flow down the tracks, with the interchanging vocalist thing, and some lush, cool ensemble vox stuff that is quite enjoyable.
Lots of moments titillated me. Had heard at least 3 tracks before on your threads, so all of it wasn’t completely new. Several songs with chewy riffs I thought particularly strong, like Aftermath Limerick. I imagine I will gravitate to 5-6 favorite tracks emerging over time, but all-in-all very impressive across the board.
Considering all your groups down the years, you have a large body of work, and I don’t pretend to know it all well, but A Priori/A Posteriori certainly impresses as perhaps up there in the oeuvre as a consistent collection of songs, promulgating your social conscience nicely, humorously but with teeth, which is certainly one of your main calling cards.
Very enjoyable…and you guys have earned full rights to be proud of yourselves! Well done!”
-Leslie Medford, The Ophelias
“In A Priori/A Posteriori, the Granite Countertops summarize 2021 for us, now that it’s nearing its end. As suggested by the album’s title, philosophy was used in an attempt to comprehend and adjust to the ongoing instability, or downright lunacy, of society’s shifting structure.
As demonstrated by the frantically busy title songs, Latin phrases a priori and a posteriori are used to distinguish knowledge based on either evidence or experience. Skeptical Catch-22 examines the paradoxes of daily life, while Transition Fluid uses a rollicking beat to dance through changes and make them happen.
Sweet pop rocker One Day is So Much Like Another opens up the beautifully produced album, revealing daily life under the all too familiar routine threat of covid. Talking Notes makes me think of a Cannanes song, it’s so light and shimmery.
The organ and drums in My Own Blood make me think of the blood racing through my circulatory system. Father’s Day is an angry jam against authority. In Children of Technology, the line ‘You can’t fly into the future till you buy new wings’ sums up the sheep mentality fueling the industry.
I love the gentle bossa nova ofTime/Life. It’s absolutely lovely with the melodica jam hopping around in it.
Confusion of an Expressed Mind is twisted and haunting. I especially like the flutey hoots floating through the lyrics while the sitar twang and menacing beat make them pretty fierce!
Morbid waltz Lizard Brain, punky Pissy Ants, and the gentle acoustic Harbin Undaunted bring sounds of nature into your realm. The dirge-like, comical Aftermath Limerick and Year of the Mask II’s bitter rock statement are two more covid reviews.”
A PRIORI/A POSTERIORI is a moveable feast of sounds and ideas for the new roaring 20s. The Granite Countertops emerge from 18 months of sheltering in place with their sixth album of 16 all-new original songs about survival, knowledge, experience, time, life, sickness, health, and annoying insects.
J Neo Marvin and Davis Jones file status reports on remote life, feel the blood run through their own bodies, marvel in horror at the continuing madness around them, and serenade a hideaway with a dynamic range of surprising musical styles.
Former Puncture writers Patty Stirling (co-writer of several Catheads and Cannanes classics) and Peter Jones contributed to both the writing of the lyrics and the song performance for Aftermath Limerick.
FILMMAKERS: Key, Time, Tempo, Description added to each song for audiophiles, movie directors or whoever wants to use the music for an original film. We can remove vocals from soundtracks per deposits made on instrumental use per individual contract agreements.
(Special thanks to Love Haight Computers in San Francisco, without whom many parts of this album might have been lost forever.)
In their second album, The Dub Rescue Act, The Emergency Dub System pulls together scraps from the vast Ear Candle archives and the heroes and villains of the media universe to refashion into a hypnotic, impressionistic portrait of the first half of 2021. An old horror reaches its climax in the world’s dumbest failed coup, and an affable new leader looks out at the damage done and the deliberate obstacles thrown up and shouts the only words that make sense: COME ON, MAN!
“We have gone through a terrible year, and hopefully we’re gonna see some better times.” -Sen. Bernie Sanders
The Emergency Dub System has responded to the crises of 2020 with special mixes of tracks originally created by The Granite Countertops, The Experimental Bunnies, and Dr. Spaceman. Shelter in dub and keep on dubbing against fascism!
We at Ear Candle Productions have accepted the Crass Challenge. The former members of the seminal anarchist punk band Crass and the label One Little Indian have made the original multitrack recordings of their debut album from 1978, The Feeding Of The 5000, available for remixing.
In accordance with Crass’s firm, uncompromising principles (Note: this is a band that has rhymed “Clash” with “cash” more than once), we have consulted with Crass and the One Little Indian label and agreed to offer this reimagining of their rough, raging anarcho-punk vision for free. (Donations accepted.)
Ear Candle Productions is proud to announce the release of three cover songs from the final studio session by J Neo Marvin and the Content Providers!
In 2005, J Neo Marvin, Davis Jones, Stephen Abbate, and Heiko Bachmann recorded three interpretations of their favorite songs at The Wally Sound in Oakland. In 2020, Ear Candle Productions has finally made them available as individual singles, each including new cover artwork by ECP’s art director, Debra Nicholson-Bassham!
The hardest working doctor in ambient music is back with a third collection of electronic explorations. On UNTERWASSERBAHN, Dr. Spaceman injects his chill sounds with a heavier dose of rhythm along with some surprising new influences, from Kraftwerk to the Mothers Of Invention, all folded into the doctor’s own unique flow. Spend an hour on Dr. Spaceman’s underwater train and let the sounds fill your pleasure centers and tickle your extremities into new life. UNTERWASSERBAHN is a spicy antidote to a stressful society.
Ear Candle productions has just released the fourth album by the Granite Countertops, GIRLS CAN’T WAIT. 12 original songs performed entirely by Davis Jones and J Neo Marvin.
On their fourth album, the Granite Countertops return with a set of all-new original songs, two of which adapt the words of 14th century Persian Sufi poet Hafiz to address the world of 2018. An album of catchy post-punk, intense drones, lush vocal harmonies, gnarly guitars, quirky electronics, and hip-shaking beats. Girls Can’t Wait offers 12 songs about DIY art spaces, debased propaganda, dark nights of the soul, the healing power of love, and, especially, girls who can no longer wait.
“The Difference Between,” and “The Angels Know You Well,” from The Gift by Daniel Ladinsky, copyright 1999, and used by permission of the author.
Við krefjumst framtíðar. (Icelandic for “We demand a future”.)
At last all three albums from J Neo Marvin and The Content Providers are available for download in our store!
J Neo Marvin and The Content Providers produced three great records following the dark days after J Neo Marvin’s 18 year long partner Maati Stojanovich passed away in her sleep on May 5, 1996. The albums constitute a trilogy: 1) self, 2) other people, and 3) the world.
The songs remind us of how precious love and commitment to one’s own life traverses the meaningful changes inherent in the life and death cycle. If you are grieving, studying for a grieving role in theater, or doing scholastic studies on life and death and meaning making that heals, you will want to add these to your collection. You might just want to be reminded of how precious life is.
Either way, the music and the lyrics in all three albums, and the lovely heartfelt vocal and instrumental contributions of the 38 artists who joined in to support J Neo Marvin during his healing process, will penetrate your heart and soul.
In 2002, at a poetry reading/open mic at San Francisco’s legendary Hotel Utah Saloon, J Neo Marvin met his future wife and collaborator Davis Jones, who partnered to build Ear Candle Productions and contributes keys, percussion, and vocals on What Is Truth and Freedom Fried. The two melded creative spirits continue their partnership as the Granite Countertops and as the core couple of the Experimental Bunnies.
These three great albums are now available at Bandcamp, at reasonable prices for download. If you are interested in a physical CD, please shoot us an email and we will let you know about shipping fees and delivery dates. The CDs have beautiful artwork, and all of the lyrics in the inside sleeve.
J Neo Marvin resurfaced in 2001 with his first set of new songs since the breakup of his old band X-tal and the sudden death of his longtime companion Maati Stojanovich. Aided by a small group of family and friends, including Rico Bell of the Mekons, Carrie Bradley of Ed’s Redeeming Qualities, and Alan Korn of the Cat Heads, SLOWLY I TURNED is an intense yet melodic set of chamber-punk missives, filled with grief, desperation, dark humor, and hope.
Jangly guitars + warm folk instruments + bursts of noisy feedback + hushed, intimate acoustic ballads + bubbling hand percussion + rough garage band workouts + emotionally naked vocals + wry, truth-telling lyrics. Call it “indie rock” if you must.
WHAT IS TRUTH?
WHAT IS TRUTH? takes its inspiration from psychedelic classics like Their Satanic Majesties Request and Magical Mystery Tour, resulting in an anything-goes approach that stretches the music in whatever direction each song calls for, from the Dylan-goes-to-New-Zealand folk-rock of “Primate House (1731 11th Ave)”, to the darkly sad chamber-punk of “Ex-Supernova” or “Stick Figure”, to the thumping “Mark E. Smith in Turkey backed by a jazz combo and a Rasta drum circle” ambiance on “Fiscal Year Zero (Charge Of The Lite Brigade)”, the catchy Celtic Mariachi drone of “Formerly Boomtown”, and the full-on joyful noise of “Kite Song”. 28 musicians and singers from all over the musical map contribute to the resulting sonic crazy quilt. Recorded exactingly yet spontaneously in good old-fashioned lysergic 16-track analog by the incomparable Wally Sound, WHAT IS TRUTH? will astonish you with its musical twists and sharp songwriting.
Psychedelic indie folk-rock with compassionately confrontational lyrics. The bracing, satisfying sensation of biting into a raw clove of garlic. Like Lou Reed fronting the Incredible String Band and covering Mekons songs.
FREEDOM FRIED
FREEDOM FRIED, the third release from J Neo Marvin & the Content Providers, ranges from melodic folk-pop to snarly garage-rock and beyond, all adding up to an unflinching portrait of the state of the union in the first decade of the 21st century. It’s music for Americans who have found their home transformed into an occupied country, for foreigners who no longer recognize the once-admired, now scarier than ever, land of rock and roll, blue jeans and silly pop culture, and for any and all human beings who refuse to be stomped into submission.
FREEDOM FRIED ranges from richly harmonious folk-pop to snarly garage-rock and beyond, all adding up to an unflinching portrait of the state of the union, circa summer 2004.
