Spank the Chemical Christians, Charlie Bronson has the Flu EP

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Carys Sanders

Spank the Chemical Christians seem something of an enigma if you attempt to do any research on them. Well, maybe they just aren’t that kind of an artist.  In fact, what can be said is that the person behind the weird name is singularly Donal McGuinness who apparently works somewhere in Dublin. On a laptop.  Spank the Chemical Christians introduced his music to the world of the ‘net through the Reverbnation website, where you can find other tracks besides those on the Charlie Bronson has the Flu EP.

Back to the EP in question though, the first of the three tracks is Charlie Bronson, a name that seems to feature a lot on this EP.  It opens with a rather boring, meandering ‘ghost story’ – a ghost fittingly named Charlie – told in that hesitant manner that young children do best, and embellished by an even more annoying adult voice heard heckling, whilst a musical box chimes away in the background.  When the story ends however, this simple musical box melody gives way to a plinky mellow electronica sound that is punctuated by the kind of bass and breakbeats that my useless laptop speakers will never really do justice.

The music changes and steadily builds – it is a short but invigorating track.

A Plague of Swine follows with robotic voices, and a weird incomprehensible sort of female chant.  In fact the whole EP is littered with strange voices, be they samples or otherwise, weaving in and out of the music. High pitched digital sounds are layered over the Drum and Bass style beats, the melodies themselves sparse and performed on ‘technology’ rather than instruments as such.

Christian Domestic Discipline starts off sounding like a retro computer game, the blips being ever so slightly too high pitched to make for entirely comfortable listening.  The beats rattle and evolve whilst more layers of blips are added and removed throughout.

Spank the Chemical Christians obviously have an understanding the dynamics that go into making a good dance track, as all three tracks are short but build in a way that satisfys and sounds complete.  The fact that McGuinness likes to use old and “defunct” technology in his music makes the EP stand out from other electronic music, and presents the listener with some strange and intriguing soundscapes.

Spank the Chemical Christians

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Tags: Reverbnation, Spank the Chemical Christians