VERNe is a subcultural subpersonality. A humorous deranged gender shifting Anti-hero. An elusively diabolically warped compulsive masticator feasting on the shoplifted remains of an underground milkcrate empire and still managing to create another album.
Theres nothing quite like VERNe’s debut Volatile Cocktail. It’s twee, jaunty, it has sambas where there were none, sadhu wailing, poetic jouneys about snakes wanting to be men , a track that sounds like the The Jetsons gave The Flintstones a lift to hell, some confessional tales about sexual motives, a circus sideshow theme, three ‘Descendants’ style punk pop piss take anthems, a piece of speed up instrumental ‘Prince’ type funk that would be at home in a comedy porno and MORE !
VERNe has come to show us the way out of the hackneyed rehash genre pipe-dream tunnel and he’s going to do it by making us wee our pants.
It’s burroughs-beat, it s bad in the hood dub with space-born bass, it’s break-beat rhumbas, it’s in–flight lounge meets The Goodies over an absynth and anthrax laced martini, it’s covert accordions, Morrisery parodies, Cruel sea meets Devo in an elevator, and Beck meets Austin Powers and Dr Frankenfurter in an industrial mincer. It’s VERNe’s Classic. Discover.more…
- 3:17Sucker
- 2:12Your attitude
- 3:53Volatile cocktail [3.8MB]
- 1:27Renouce the world
- 5:53The Snake [7.0MB]
- 5:26Hell
- 1:58Motives
- 4:01Lazy fascination
- 4:00I love you baby (when this town gets me down)
- 0:36Jerk
- 2:31Sick
- 0:46Café de luna
- 0:46Mind
- 3:14Albatross [3.7MB]
- 3:16She-bear
- 1:30Circus
- 1:59Getting rude
- 1:11Acapulco ‘Amburger
- 0:56Funk off
- 1:58Thing
- 3:09Quest
- 3:24Spendor
- 4:29A tart with heart
1:02:00Total playing time
A case of deliberate second album syndrome as far as the world of VERNe is concerned. If there was a skeric of evidence to indicate what he meant when he gave birth to this one it has since been lost. It’s anyones guess. That’s not to say that its’s bad, it’s just that no one can tell whether it’s so bad its good , so good its bad, or so bad that it’s so incomprehensible. Anyway it seems well evidenced to me that VERNe thought if he was going to have second album syndrome, (seeing as his debut took 25 years to write and his follow up only two) that he may as well have it properly.
Highlights include the Benny-hill theme cum black psychedlic funk of the title track. Then the Datsuns meets Jet meets ZZ-Top on crystal meth litany of “Room Human” Followed by the gin and whisky fueled “cocks in frocks”. The sermon-like live track with guest appearances by Spencer Calvely, Graeme Ogle, Silence is Golden’s Dimitra, a hound with sleep-apnia and a german called Nelson who carved his own didgeridoo (track ten). Don’t mull it over in you head has some Police meets Pixies meets Ween greatness, and finally the answering machine message based weirdness of “we hope you play the guitar tommorow” features Kay the Catwoman, Lucia La Gitana and various ex-mothers of the author. All in all every track here has something to offer someone. The only question is ‘Where is that someone to be found??’.more…
- 1:19Hombre Blues
- 3:47Tropic Official [5.0MB]
- 3:36Don’t mull it over in your head
- 2:46Jupiters cowboy
- 1:48Life’s angry son
- 1:05In bed with grasshopper
- 2:37We hope you play the guitar tommorow
- 2:17Room human
- 5:30Funk off (full version) [6.9MB]
- 5:20Late on a Sunday afternoon
- 6:47Do, do, do
- 2:16Cocks in frocks
- 0:17Rural fact
- 2:16Lost
- 6:02Silly Girl
- 2:19Breakin’ all the rules [2.7MB]
50:02Total playing time
Here VERNe explores all the trappings and gimmicks of making a Landmark recording : backward masking, speed up sequenced key parts that could never be played in human time, four on the floor dance anthems, bizzare incidental instrumentals, songs about ferrets, cockroaches, birds and cats, parodies of speed metal and airport lounge music, surreal electronica, a piece of Jacksons style disco with some underground lo-fi mixing concepts, and a red-neck pop song.
Created almost exclusively in a janitors closet, VERNe Deluxe is that kind of post apocalyptic set of grooves which would appeal to the geek and groover alike. A soundtrack to a man coming alive as the others are dropping off like flies.
Highlights include ‘Talking in tongues’ (sixth sense of humour) with its backward vocal reaching a middle-eastern rapture, the rollicking sensual tale and general funkiness of ‘The Story of H&D’ and the swampy ‘Dogs in space’–like grunge of ‘Dead Cats’ VERNe Deluxe reminds us that its all about the journey not the destination. Explore.more…
- 2:38Talking in toungues (sixth sense of humour) [3.3MB]
- 5:44Fire proof suit
- 5:26I’m in the Nood for Love
- 5:15Ferret away my mum’s watch
- 2:08Stereo caravan
- 1:35Cockroach hoe-down
- 2:23Speed-metal smoothie
- 1:47Predatory games
- 2:52Airport [3.2MB]
- 1:50Surround me
- 2:30Red neck pop song
- 0:36You ran, you ran
- 2:29Crusin
- 3:46VERNe deluxe [5.2MB]
- 1:38Da Neighbourhood
- 1:17What’s changing?
- 0:40Pub with drunk band
- 1:47The tweetest thing
- 12:39The story of H&D
- 3:43Psari
- 3:01Be a Humane
- 3:49Dead cats
1:10:00Total playing time
One of his best. The swaggering, from–the-hip saunter of swallow today, digest yesterday, hunger for tomorrow works great as the funk riffing and disjointed lyrics usher you into the foyer of another VERNe sound experience. Groove is fairly consitantly present on this long-player. There’s mellow funk, ambient brake-beat, dance, chill out with a twist, early VERNe synth concoctions, jungle-boogies with demented guest vocalists, fruity Carla Miranda jazz spoofs, chip-munk reggae songs, teen-age power pop songs, calypso, the abstract shuffle-boogie of ‘Hits is an anagram of shit’ and a remix version of ‘A Tart with Heart’ from the debut. Stronger on the song-value, ear-candy and general degenerate creativity scale than ‘Deluxe’(think Beck meets Ween meets Tangerine dream), Junk Demo wins out as best exploration since Volatile Cocktail.more…
- 5:20Swallow today, digest yesterday, hunger for tommorow
- 4:08On the teets again [5.2MB]
- 6:04Em-brace
- 6:34VERNe’s lounge with fondue set
- 2:34The early worm catches the verm
- 2:36I miss the sun
- 2:07Bombay Saphire Bombshell [2.5MB]
- 1:25Frenetic F*cks
- 1:11Broad highway
- 2:01You have everything [2.7MB]
- 3:45Jerk (full version)
- 3:39What do you want?
- 3:39Sonic funk-down
- 5:29Acapulco ‘Amburger
- 1:13Lenny on angel dust
- 5:46Bullethead boogie
- 2:52Hits is an anagram of shit
- 3:24Believing
- 4:40Time 4 Jazz
- 4:32A Tart with heart (remix)
1:13:00Total playing time
A compilation of the best and weirdest VERNe tracks from five different albums !
39 remastered tracks. Too many to be able to list them all.more…
- 5:19Swallow today, digest yesterday, hunger for tomorrow [7.3MB]
- 3:45Tropic official
- 1:01Bio-rhythmic blasphemies
- 2:34We hope you play the guitar tomorrow
- 3:22A-Bomb-A-Nation [4.5MB]
- 1:39Embrace
- 5:17Late on a Sunday afternoon
- 3:23Fire proof suit
- 2:39Talking In tongues
- 1:48Im in the nood for love
- 2:50Airport
- 2:03Stereo caravan
- 8:18The story of H&D [11.4MB]
- 2:16Room human
- 3:35Going to hell
- 3:50Rural fact
- 1:08Volatile cocktail
- …and many more…
1:19:00Total playing time
Comedic spoken word artist Spencer Calvely and madcap sound-scape artist VERNe join forces. Short surreal witty grabs of narrative over music about flatulance, omlettes, piranas, hamsters and zucchinis. 30 tracks. You’ll laugh your self silly.more…
- 1:30Bruised Rhinosaurus [1.9MB]
- 3:19Zucchini [3.5MB]
- 0:47Nimble aquatic insomniac
- 1:03Biorythmic blasphemies
- 0:45Three questions
- 0:14Careful hamsters
- 0:24Elated pandoric helicopter
- 1:04Intrindic
- 0:04Peacemakers
- 1:26Small mules
- 0:14Andronauts [0.2MB]
- 0:40Artiface
- … and 18 more…
35:21Total playing time
