welcome to: worm's Caroliner discography dive
Caroliner is one of my favorite bands. I find them really interesting. The story goes that all their songs were originally by the Singing Bull (also named Caroliner) whose owner took him around mining towns singing to make a little extra money. The bull's disembodied head continued singing, even after being butchered. Caroliner is also known for their elaborate concerts, where they performed in homemade costumes decorated with black light paint. That's all very neat, of course, but the music itself is just as interesting. So join me as I review Caroliner's 13 albums in chronological order. I'll also be rating the aliases. They've had a lot of cool aliases over the years.
Caroliner Rainbow Hernia Milk Queen - Rear End Hernia Puppet Show (1985)
Caroliner's debut is everything the band would come to be known for. The sound of this album is a chaotic, gnarled mass of twangs, chimes, great basslines, and deeply expressive, often deeply unpleasant vocals. The influence of Appalachian folk music, fitted with the mythos that came to define Caroliner's image, is very much present here.
The first track, "Mud Cup Monocle," lets you know right away what you're in for. A rhythmic groove with a strong bassline, which at times devolves into pure noise. "Outhouse of the Pryeeeee" is scratchier and less structured, with headache-inducing high pitched vocals delivering surreal poetry. Reading the lyrics is essential. They're fascinating, and imagery from the visceral to the plainly nonsensical takes you to a specific version of 19th century rural America that never really existed. "Preacher Preacher Preacher" is 9 minutes of dissonant bliss. There's a nice rock instrumental muffled by some unidentifiable noise, and accompanied by croaky growling. At a bit before 4 minutes in, a high scratching starts, and scratches my brain. The drums and bass start back up, and the only lyrics included on the lyrics sheet are part sung, part spoken, and part yelled. Then distant crashing and some really fucking cool guitar parts. The track ends with intentional skips, which then start back up in the middle of "NAN", skipping all the way to the end of side A.
Side A is great, don't get me wrong, but Side B is where things REALLY take off. I can only describe "Yerubae" as a hymn, with the organ playing the same riff over and over, the melancholy guitar, and the reverant off-key singing all bringing to mind a church service. "One Proud Watertower Wearing Lipstick" (possibly the best song title of all time) is twangy and goes incredibly hard in a 'deranged bluegrass jam' kind of way. It tells the story of an abandoned watertower which, after being offered gifts by hikers in exchange for 'firehole brew', bends its legs to offer them a kiss. (With lipstick.) The rhythm of "Maple Truck Tires" and the chimes of "Killed 100 lbs. of Mistletoe" are also just incredible. The album ends on "Joy Disease", a short, energetic track which indeed sounds both joyful and diseased.
As a whole, Rear End Hernia Puppet Show works remarkably well, whether as an introduction to Caroliner's work or just on its own merits. Everything comes together in such an intriguing way. The Singing Bull of the 1800 was a great songwriter indeed, and as far as Caroliner's renditions -- perfect, whether growled, yelled, screeched, sung, or wailed. I love these tunes.
overall rating: 9/10 ☆ favorite tracks: Mud Cup Monocle, Yerubae, One Proud Watertower Wearing Lipstick, Maple Truck Tires ☆ least favorite tracks: Railroad With Crutches, NAN ☆ alias rating: 7/10
Caroliner Rainbow Stewed Angel Skins - I'm Armed With Quarts of Blood (1990)
This record feels like a festering Rust Belt plague, a rotting dark ride at an abandoned amusement park, a storm inside your skull, an explosion of industry, a violent religion, an incomprehensible mania, death, destruction, skeletons... and, once in a while, just good rock. It's one of my favorite albums ever.
overall rating: 10/10 ☆ favorite tracks: Corn Red Moon, Good Luck Shining Tongue, Dusk, I'm Armed With Quarts of Blood ☆ least favorite track: The Kin Quilt ☆ alias rating: 10/10