Six years after their previous LP, Privacy, Raspberry Bulbs recently unleashed what may prove to be an early contender to the most interesting release of 2020. Before The Age of Mirrors, their debut on Relapse Records, is a layered, challenging listen that shines through contrast and opposition. Dense, yet accessible, the music is strangely dissonant and melodic at the same time. It is tense and dark but not overly aggressive, and eludes most tags. Give it a listen and connect the dots on frontman/driving force Marco Del Rio’s musical map!
Catch the band on their short upcoming East Coast tour.
Name five songs that you consider “perfect songs” and explain why or what they mean to you.
If you want to kick off the perfect heavy metal listening party you play these five songs in a row:
SCORPIONS – Sails of Charon
UFO – Rock Bottom
JUDAS PRIEST – Raw Deal
BLUE OYSTER CULT – Career of Evil
then you finish with RAINBOW – Stargazer, and everyone is flying…
Which music genre do you listen to the most? List your five favorite albums in that genre.
Black Metal for sure, it’s my home. I will make the distinction that the entire album has to be good – I could make a list of 100 but here are 5 from Norway:
DODHEIMSGARD – Kronet til Konge
KVIST – For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike
ULVER – Nattens Madrigal
IMMORTAL – Pure Holocaust
GORGOROTH – Pentagram
What’s the album you’ve listened to the most in your life? Do you still listen to it?
It’s probably something like CRASS Stations of the Crass or ADICTS Songs of Praise, I heard those records when I was about 12, and I continued to enjoy them ever since then.
What are some of your favorite song lyrics? Lyrics that have been important to you or that had an impact on you?
Lyrics are of great importance to me.
Metal:
VON (CA) – Surreal, bloody, satanic and simple lyrics from the ultimate cult Black Metal band from the Bay Area.
GOATLORD (NV) – Again, psychedelic and satanic lyrics paired with slowed down Celtic Frost-Doom. RIP Ace Stills!
NUCLEAR DEATH (AZ) – Again, psychedelic, gory and surreal satanic female-oriented body horror lyrics paired with musical insanity.
DARKTHRONE – Albums 3 and 4 they really struck the perfect chord of atmospheric and haunting lyrics that are the essence of 2nd wave Black Metal.
Non-Metal:
THE FALL – Mark E. Smith was an amazing lyricist, and was not afraid to put any subject matter into a song, and it always worked with his conviction and voice.
”Like your psychotic big brother who left home, more jobs in Holland, Munich, Rome. He’s thick but he struck it rich, switch!” – English Scheme
THE SMITHS – Although I don’t identify with the sentiment of Morrissey, you cannot deny he is the ultimate lyricist in somehow fitting verbose and decadent lyrics gracefully into any song he sings over.
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART – I always thought CB was ridiculous and laughable, then I spent some time with Safe as Milk, and I realized the context of CB. He was weird and wacky in a time period when that really meant something. His lyrics are not goofy, but totally sincere and well crafted.
GUIDED BY VOICES – Bob Pollard is like the Captain Beefheart of the indie-rock era.
THE PIXIES – Again, it’s genius stuff. Lyrics which at first seem nonsensical, then you find yourself chanting them over and over, and they take on their true meaning. Those are the best kind.
I love these non-metal bands because their lyrics are surreal and strange, yet somehow very balanced. The words end up being extremely profound and totally memorable, each band does feature an amazingly talented front person.
It’s funny in the context of music, because Punk and Metal (especially Black Metal) lyrics attempt to be extremely profound but fall completely flat and cliche. I think, with these non-metal examples, it gets to the essence of lyrics within songs. You can’t just state the obvious – music deals with something deeper, something on a subconscious level, and the lyrics need to pierce into the core of a listener – they need to touch this part of them.
There are also just songs in particular whose lyrics always stay with me like NORMA TANEGA’s You’re Dead. I like lyrics that rhyme: ”You smile and it tears your face, it’s time for the inhuman race”
”The churning of the combat thoughts, only you can stand the hours, hours” – PIP PROUD, a great musician and lyricist from Australia. Very subtle and psychedelic.
”My head kissed the ground, I was half the way down” – SYD BARRETT, it might not be what he’s saying but how he says it. His vocals and lyrics are like incantations – they just stick with you and create wild images. You could say the same about Captain Beefheart.
”You talk about day, I’m talking ’bout night time, When the monsters call out, The names of men” – T. REX, This is lyric from Ballrooms of Mars, it’s a lyric that chills me to the bone and it’s sitting in the middle of a Glam rock song!
Or Frankie Teardrop by SUICIDE. It’s honestly the most terrifying song I’ve ever heard – because of the subject matter. It’s the storytelling too and the conviction of Alan Vega’s voice. The way in which the band illustrates the possibility of dying and waking up in hell with such a simple combination of basic electronics is really shocking. Somehow the reverb of Vega’s voice perfectly conjures the primordial subconscious terror of finally having the afterlife confirmed. I sincerely don’t think Alan Vega is Frankie Teardrop, I think he is probably driving somewhere in a big black Cadillac in the stars.
RIP to all the great lyricists mentioned here who have passed! Many of them have passed away in the last few years.
Do you have an absolute all time favorite band or musical artist? What makes them so special to you?
I have always been obsessed with LUGUBRUM ever since I first heard their CD De Totem. I actually got it by accident as an alternate in a mail order I did from Poland.
At the time (about 2001), I was fully entrenched in exploring Black Metal, a band like Lugubrum was at the core of underground, very obscure and De Totem sounds just like Under a Funeral Moon in terms of production. But the combination of images and lyrics were so strange and shocking for that time period. With songs like Udder of Death and Midget of Evil, it was weird – but also perverse. It was a totally appropriate and demented kind of humor.
It inspired me to need to contact the band and learn more. This was the first time I reached out and began penpalling with a Black Metal musician. I also ended up doing my first interview with them, and it became the inspiration to start my zine Fall to Your Knees Pissing.
What are your ten favourite albums of all time (all genres)?
I can’t really conjure a list that’s not skewed to my present outlook on music. I’ll go look at my records and just pick 10 that I think are great. This is gonna look ugly:
RUDIMENTARY PENI – Cacophony
ILDJARN – Strength and Anger
MONKS – Black Monk Time
ASSUCK – Misery Index
SYD BARRETT – Madcap Laughs
WEEZER – Blue Album
COUNTRY TEASERS – Full Moon, Empty Sportsbag
ADICTS – Songs of Praise
WIPERS – Over the Edge
PIXIES – Bossa Nova
Do not listen to all these albums at once! Maybe this could explain the sound of Raspberry Bulbs? Hopefully it’s greater than the sum of its parts.
Do you remember the first time you really appreciated an album or a song?
It would have to be MINOR THREAT around 10 or 11 years old, my older brother brought the tape home and I heard it and it scrambled my brains.
What were you listening to in elementary school? then in high school? (Your favorite bands/records back then?) How much of that music is still a part of your playlists today? How have your musical tastes evolved since?
Elementary school, I remember bringing the BREEDERS Last Splash into show and tell one day and played the song Divine Hammer. The first tapes I bought from The Wherehouse were WHITE ZOMBIE, LIVE (the band), OPERATION IVY and The FLAMING LIPS She Don’t Use Jelly cassingle. I loved that song when I was a kid. My older brother showed me Operation Ivy, and everything else was a shot in the dark.
What beloved music do you share with your parents? Any specifics memories?
My parents had the standard types of records, but what stood out was ROY ORBISON. My mom loved Roy Orbison, and that’s imprinted on my DNA. I still am mystified by Roy Orbison, he has the most powerful voice of all time – full of such longing and heartache. The song Running Scared is basically a musical version of committing suicide. Like walking to the top of a building and jumping off.
Most memorable show you’ve ever seen? What makes it stand out?
The show that first comes to mind was when INQUISITION played in California for the first time. ASHDAUTAS opened for them. It was when we first met all the BLACK TWILIGHT guys. Both bands played incredible sets – Inquisition opened with the first song off Majestic Throne of Satan – everyone went insane. It was overall a very important night for me personally.
Is there any band that you’ve always wanted to see live but never had the chance to catch them? Any classic show that you wish you could have experienced?
Because I was born when I was born, I missed out on pretty much every show by all my favorite bands. You could just pick from one of hundreds of bands from 1970-1996 and it would have been amazing. The performance I watch the most on YouTube is HATE FOREST live at Kolovrat Fest in Ukraine.
What is the most impressive band you’ve toured with? The one that you just had to watch every night? Did you learn anything from them/by watching them?
Definitely VOLAHN. Eddie Ramirez is just a virtuoso musician, and for that style of music he’s very well versed in what Black Metal is and how it should sound. The first Volahn LP is one of my favorites of USBM, and they would play it from start to finish every night on tour in 2009 and it was all performed with the right atmosphere, the right appearance of the band, at the right venues.
There were plenty of shows where it was literally just the other bands in the audience, and those were the most special.
Also, SALVATION (PA) – toured with them at the right time, just after the House Of The Beating Hell 7” came out, they are the best Hardcore band since 2000, in my opinion and their live shows justified that claim too – Matt Adis is the consummate Hardcore frontman.
Is there any classic / universally acclaimed artist that you missed out on when they first came out and discovered way later? Any artist that you didn’t like at first and learned to appreciate over time?
Pretty much the majority of music I like could fall into this category. I believe that music reveals itself to you over time – you aren’t just going to like every band, every genre of music right away. It takes time and you have to be in a particular state of mind to properly hear bands and understand their context.
My understanding of Metal pretty much went completely in reverse. I got into Black Metal first and worked my way back to other genres of Metal that came before, it was my gateway. Over the last 20 years I’ve now made my way back to the source of Metal (1969/70) and can truly appreciate and understand each genre of Metal along the way.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved BLACK SABBATH from the first time I heard it but bands like URIAH HEEP or GRAND FUNK were always a bit too Bluesy or outdated sounding, same with stuff like BLUE OYSTER CULT or WISHBONE ASH, now they sound amazing. I couldn’t take JUDAS PRIEST seriously when I was younger, but now I can grasp its seriousness and its influence on the world of metal music.
What happens in this process though, is you realize so many bands which came after are really haphazardly put together. After really getting into Thrash metal, you can’t really listen to like Colombian Deathrash in the same way. It just seems stupid.
Do you have an artist that you love in a genre that you don’t usually listen to? What makes them stand out?
A band that is just out of place for my taste whom I really like is WEDDING PRESENT, particularly their albums Seamonster and Bizarro. It’s pretty straight-forward indie rock, but they seem to rub most people the wrong way.
Their economical style of songwriting and execution of a loud vs. quiet dynamic really makes their songs work. Literally every song is about the singer struggling with his lovelife, and it’s so over the top that it becomes completely neurotic and delusional sounding. Somehow it works.
They have great effective drumming and chiming, harmonic guitars. They are a band that really take off towards the end of some songs and it just sounds better and better the louder you turn up your stereo.
Do you have any controversial/unpopular music related opinions that you would like to defend?
Yeah, the world is not ready for my level of honesty – and I don’t want to get people too excited. I’ll give you one though, I sincerely want to love VOIVOD. I love the idea, I love what they represent. I love the album art, I love the progression of their style. I love the album titles, and themes – I just can’t, for the life of me, listen to one of their records. I find the music grating, and almost unmusical. I’ve listened to all of the early classics – I even own 3 of them, but I couldn’t tell you the name of one song I think stands out.
What band or artist do you believe has achieved the most flawless sequence of 3 records in a row?
SABBATH or METALLICA both have godlike runs of albums – each of their accomplishments just loom so much larger than nearly all Metal bands.
3 albums that really fit together and are the bedrock of a band’s legacy – it’s the WIPERS, first 3 albums (Is this Real, Youth of America, and Over the Edge). The songs are wildly original, sound great, and each one is as strong as the next. My favorite of the 3 is Over the Edge, it doesn’t feel like a progression. It just feels like a perfect execution of what they do – uncanny and emotional punk rock.
Can you think of a band or artist that put out only one fantastic release (album, EP or demo) and then disbanded? One that you really wish would have kept going?
The answer has to be NECROVORE, especially for the USA. It’s one demo, and it’s the quintessential band from the tape-trader scene of the 80’s. Evil, atmospheric and raw Deathrash who fit into the sound of the time, but just sounded darker than everyone else, they were also the forerunners of a small scene in Texas of other bands who only had one demo: HELLPREACHER and BLOODSPILL were the other bands.
I guess in Europe you could say POISON (Germany) are similar with Into the Abyss demo, my favorite German Thrash release, and sadly they only had one legendary demo.
What albums have been on heavy rotation lately?
LEGEND – From the Fjords LP. This one is new to me, but should be known by every fan of Metal music. Unbelievable Prog-Heavy Metal from Connecticut. I tracked down a bootleg of the LP, but it also got reissued recently. So memorable, with such talented playing.
What are some up and coming artists that you would recommend?
I have worked to release the music of WAGNER ODEGARD (Sweden) since he started putting out records, but now he has his own, large network of BM fans. His work with WULKANAZ and now records under his own name are all prime examples of raw and vibrant, Pagan Black Metal.
Is there a band that you’ve discovered live recently that blew you away?
I don’t really go to shows anymore, and if I do, I just try to catch the headliner. Jaded maybe, but if there are good bands out there, I will find them. Right now, there are none playing live in the USA – maybe CARNIVOROUS BELLS, I haven’t seen them yet!
What are you listening to right now, while answering these questions?
HAROLD BUDD – Pavilion of Dreams, the ultimate sunrise or literally laying in your bed at night record.
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