Psilodump – The Ground
In 2017, I traveled to Stockholm and spent an afternoon hanging out and sharing sounds with electronic musician Psilodump. I noodled on a MIDI keyboard and gave him a lifetime of samples I had recorded with the idea that he’d choose a few and make something. Instead, he used nearly all of the samples in one bonkers nine-minute track called “In The Bag,” which appears on his album, “The Ground.”
I’ve been a fan of Psilodump’s music since I first heard it in the mid-2000s. Over the years we’ve met only twice, and we’ve worked together a handful of times. Although we never created a major project together, here’s a list of some collaborations:
2006: My voice appears before the track “Erased” on the “Psilodumputer” album, and, on the CD, you can also hear me yell and sneeze.
2007: Psilodump provides Swedish narration for “Silverfish Saloon” on the “Unreason” album.
2009: Psilodump remixes “Panties.”
2009: An unreleased Zelda and the Unibrows demo features a brief Psilodump parody of “Porcelain” by Moby.
2010: Paza Rahm, Psilodump’s brother, remixes “Dance At The Fraser Senior Center.”
2015: Psilodump lends a bunch of music to “Switchboard Infinity”
2016: Psilodump creates the “Giant’s Hair” song for episode 15 of “Switchboard.” A few seconds appear in the show, but the full-length track has no official release despite it playing in full on WFMU in 2020 (thanks, Stashu).
2017: “In The Bag”
SAMPLE GUIDE
Here are some of the samples I could identify in the final track:
0:00 Horns by Erin Taylor, used often on Zelda and the Unibrows recordings.
0:37 “Rattlesnake eggs,” magnets slamming together.
1:23 Original violin performance by Scott Murphy, recorded at my house when I came back from Sweden.
1:32 My keyboard noodling.
2:00 “I’m doing good.” This is Paul Szewczyk, from a mid-1990s comedy sketch/home recording.
2:36 Nicole Pascaretta “OO-oo” from episode 15 of “Switchboard Infinity.”
4:41 “Business in the back” In episode 15 of “Switchboard,” the protagonists witness a room full of barbers and stylists tending to the hair of a giant, singing while they work. Psilodump created their song, which includes “PARTY IN THE FRONT, BUSINESS IN THE BACK!” This was a reversal of the usual phrase, “Business in the front, party in the back,” and it further mutates into soundling like “in the bag.”
4:50 “Planet of Dinosaurs” Zelda and the Unibrows covered some of the score from this film in 2009, released online but not currently available, and the public-domain film remains a rich source of sampling fun.
6:03 Pali chanting by Venerable Sankkiche. This is from a CD I helped create as an educational tool for a local Buddhist monastery.
6:03 This is a recording of me as a child in the mid-80s, playing with a music box.
