The Jeopardy! category is “Before and After”: ANSWER: They’ll use semiconductor technology to amass an army for hire, if the remuneration is right. QUESTION: Who are Solid State Mercenaries? Why yes, I have been sitting on that one for nearly seven years. Partly because of the surfeit of ORL-related music in 2016-17, and partly because the cover artwork gives me trypophobia-triggered schpilkes*, I don’t turn to Solid State Mercenaries very often. The presser that announced the release schedule gave a different, albeit equally dope, title Baby Teeth Farm, though whether that’s due to a title change or if that one is still somewhere in the vaults waiting to see the light of day is unknown.
All ORL solo records are something of a history lesson and an indication of the energy and themes influencing the Mars Volta at the time. Solid State Mercenaries personnel features all three Volta drummers, from Jon Theodore to his replacement Thomas Pridgen, and then his replacement, Deantoni Parks. ORL takes guitar, vocals, keyboard and bass for a rare instance of a Juan Alderete de la Peña-free joint, with saxophone guest appearance from my favourite horn guy (not that one) Adrián Terrazas-González. Although the production itself is clean, this album carries a lot of the fuzzy vocal energy present on mid-era ORL albums.
Two tracks comprise elements from three other albums, which I was better able to excavate thanks to the Mars Volta wiki. “Try On Little Man” mashes up “Sueños Salvajes” from Equinox with “Bayamón, Puerto Rico” from Woman Gives Birth to Tomato! and while I always enjoy Thos Pridgen giving it his all, I’m not a huge fan of the source material, so I can’t say I’m much enamoured. “Lightning Round” is an alternate version of “Sequester Chagall” from Roman Lips; changing up the title and dicking around with the production to shift the mood and emotional output is standard practice for this cohort of ORL releases. The result here is a far more aggressive, and a lot chewier, but the overly distorted vocals have never been my favourite kind of this.
The strong reverb on the vocals is most evident in the first half of the album, and later tracks are generally more coherent, but for the most part, I cannot understand a goddamn word he’s singing, especially when softer vocals are deployed, as in “Killing Out the Special Tide” and “Strangled Maybes”. While this situation is nowhere near as frustrating as the mudslide that is Unicorn Skeleton Mask, the lyrics on Solid State Mercenaries are only slightly more comprehensible. And this is a real shame, because they are good-ass lyrics, and while I do appreciate this adds an edge to the general belligerency across the piece, it winds up being too much of a muchness.
But this isn’t always the case, as on “Your Hazard Name”, where effects have been dialled down to a whisper of a delay that enhances the interiority of this breakup song. It’s one without much vitriol, just a lot of resignation: I never give anything / you give the runaround / it’s the same game / you’re a dime a dozen. The listless thrum pulsing in and out, like the slow death of a relationship, eventually accepting blame on both sides.
But where fun and funky collide, the vibe shifts away from the earlier belligerence. “Five Star” has a light jazzy motif that lounges in the background, contrasting with its intense beat, sultry sax and bratty vocals. This is the sort of barely restrained mayhem that manages to balance the layers perfectly: simultaneously fast and stupid as well as slow and seductive. While there’s a pant leg of the Trousers of Time where “Five Star” is a sprawling 20-minute-long centrepiece, I think wrapping it all up in under four minutes is equally impressive given the extended outro. All the ingredients do make for an admittedly strange brew, but it works.
Even shorter is the blistering “Mommy Dearest”, the single instrumental track. In just over two minutes, a box of textural delights explodes: a thick, groovy beat leading with bold swagger through glossy near-shred that stretches out into spacerock. Unlike Johnny Caspar, I am very much NOT sick of the hi-hat, and my only real complaint is that this song is far too short. Having said that, its abrupt ending is just the kind of irreverential silliness I medically require.
In a weird way, Solid State Mercenaries is akin to my Bobbles Dylbo dilemma. But with him, I broadly appreciate the music and lyrics but wish the vocalist were someone else (and let’s face it, that someone is Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who I wish would sing most things), whereas I adore ORL’s vocals but wish the delivery weren’t fucked up with the decision to throw it through the warp-o-matic. If the vocals were stripped off this record, I’d listen the shit out of it: there’s dope shred, excellent textural complexity and always a sick beat. Still, there’s enough to love, and I’m glad I gave it more attention.
* Having said that, the image does come from the video for Bosnian Rainbows’ “Turtle Neck”, which is an absolute tune. That video also provided the image used for the original, digital cover artwork for Azul, Mis Dientes, although this has since been updated when Clouds Hill pressed it on vinyl.
Track listing:
Bought Some Faith
Sinister Page
Congenial Censor
Lightning Round
Killing Out the Special Tide
Five Star
Strangled Maybes
Mommy Dearest
Your Hazard Name
Try On Little Man
