After nearly 15 years, Anton Newcombe and his ever-rotating crew of accomplises in Brian Jonestown Massacre are finally getting the compilation treatment. This two-disc, 33-track collection strips away the feuds, drug use, mental illness, and rock star aura from these subjects of the recent Sundance-winning documentary Dig!, and focuses, for once, on their music.

Tepid Peppermint Wonderland covers the first decade or so of The Brian Jonestown Massacre's recording career, and it's a fairly exhaustive mix of favourites and obscurities spread across two discs. Discover releases, reviews, track listings, recommendations, and more about The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective (Volume Two) at Discogs. Complete your The Brian Jonestown Massacre collection. Particularly when you factor in these longer, more monotonous numbers, Tepid Peppermint Wonderland represents a numbingly large dosage (more than two hours worth) of Brian Jonestown Massacre. Home / Products / The Brian Jonestown Massacre 'Tepid Peppermint Wonderland Vol. 'a' Recordings The Brian Jonestown Massacre 'Tepid Peppermint Wonderland Vol. 1' £20.99 £20.49. This comes for the first time on 180grm black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. This is first full length offering from the Brian Jonestown.

For almost 15 years, Anton Newcombe and his ever-rotating crew of accomplices in Brian Jonestown Massacre have been conducting a prolonged experiment designed to test the validity of the theory that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Over the better part of their career, the band has been more closely associated with outrageous ego trips, prolific drug use, violent feuding, and bountiful sideburns than with their actual musical output.

The focus on the group's extra-curricular activities has been more magnified than ever since the release of Ondi Timoner's Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary Dig!, which candidly charts the relative career trajectories of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and their glossy nemeses, The Dandy Warhols. Although Newcombe has issued statements on BJM's website and elsewhere denouncing the film's portrayal of him as a tantrum-prone, self-destructive megalomaniac, there can be little doubt that the documentary has also generated an unprecedented level of interest in the band's work. Now, recognizing an opportunity to re-direct the attention of a curious public back onto the band's music, Tee Pee Records strikes with the massive two-disc retrospective, Tepid Peppermint Wonderland.

From a distance, Brian Jonestown Massacre's rivalry with the Dandys has always seemed faintly ridiculous, since choosing between these two wildly erratic, frequently mediocre acts is a little like asking your kid which he'd prefer for dinner: a jar of pimentos or a can of water chestnuts? Though BJM can be an enthralling live act if caught on the right night, on record, their purebred Summer of Love psych-rock often suffers in comparison with their 60s formalist peers. They lack the wit and virtuosic scope of The Bevis Frond or Major Stars; the prodigious melodic instincts of The Green Pajamas or the Elephant 6 hordes; and the pure galaxy-flattening mass of Comets on Fire or Acid Mothers Temple. And needless to say, unlike such psych-inclined groups as Ghost, Sunburned Hand of the Man, or Boredoms, BJM have never betrayed any interest in attempting to transcend their influences in order to actually expand on rock's known territories.

So where does that leave us for Tepid Peppermint Wonderland? With a full 38 tracks of Brian Jonestown Massacre's patented mid-tempo Between the Buttons-meets-The Notorious Byrd Brothers-meets-Loaded attack to plow through, that's where. The most remarkable thing about this career-spanning collection of older, rare, unreleased, and live tracks is to note how little the band's sound has appreciably changed over the course of their creative lifetime, despite all of the intra-band disharmony, wholesale line-up changes, and general turmoil. This fact is accentuated by the set's non-chronological running order, which places newer songs like 2004's 'If Love is the Drug' cheek-to-jowl with BJM oldies like 'Wisdom' or 'Stars', which Newcombe claims is the first song he ever wrote on guitar. But the group's entire oeuvre is so entirely and uncannily of a piece that it's virtually impossible to date these tracks without checking the liner notes. So while you have to give Newcombe credit for keeping to his musical course regardless of outside trends or stimuli, you're also likely to wish that they could've incorporated more variety into their Tepid onslaught.

1996 was a particularly productive year for the band, and not surprisingly many of this collection's highlights are of that vintage. The three albums they released that year (Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request, Thank God For Mental Illness, and Take It From the Man!) essentially mapped out the boundaries of their sound, as evidenced on this collection by such inclusions as the hazy VU drone of 'Anemone', the cosmic country jangle of 'It Girl', and the loose-limbed R&B; shuffle of 'Oh Lord'. How much you'll enjoy any given BJM track depends almost entirely on your fondness for its riff (my personal favorite here is a live version of the Cure-like 'Swallowtail') because once Newcombe and crew latch onto a couple chords they'll typically ride 'em straight through until sunrise. On epic-length tracks like 'She's Gone' or the set-closing 'Sue', their steadfast repetition can quickly cross the thin line separating the hypnotically powerful from the merely tedious.

Particularly when you factor in these longer, more monotonous numbers, Tepid Peppermint Wonderland represents a numbingly large dosage (more than two hours worth) of Brian Jonestown Massacre. Significantly more, I daresay, than most listeners are going to require to get the point. Even if you're a newcomer with an appetite this will likely be all the BJM you'll ever need, and if pressed I'd suggest you instead get your hands on a copy of Satanic Majesties' Second and call it a day. Diehards may find joy in some of the previously unreleased nuggets included here, but the rest of us will continue to grow increasingly impatient for the day when the Massacre's musical feats can prove as adventurous as their off-stage exploits.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American musical project and band led by Anton Newcombe. It was formed in San Francisco in 1990.

The group was the subject of the 2004 documentary film Dig!, and have gained media notoriety for their tumultuous working relationships as well as the erratic behavior of Newcombe.^[5] The collective has released 18 albums, five compilation albums, five live albums, 13 EPs, 16 singles as well as two various-artist compilation albums to date.

The bandname is a portmanteau of deceased Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones and the 1978 Jonestown Massacre^[6][7].

• 1Releases

Releases[edit]

1993–1996: Early years[edit]

The collective was founded by Anton Newcombe in San Francisco between 1990 and 1993. Their first albums were compilations of multiple recording sessions and an early demo tape. It was titled Pol Pot's Pleasure Penthouse. This release became a popular bootleg.

A second album, Spacegirl and Other Favorites, was released in 1993 as a vinyl-only release and was compiled from what Anton called his 'studio trash'.^[8] The album includes 'Hide and Seek', which was released as a single in 1994. The band's follow-up album, Methodrone, was developed largely out of the concepts explored on 'Spacegirl' and heavily influenced by the shoegaze genre that had gained prominence several years prior to its release. The album's ethereal rock sound is comparable to bands such as Galaxie 500, Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine.^[9] Two tracks from the album, 'She Made Me' and 'Evergreen', were released as a double A-side single in 1992. 'Methodrone' was recorded primarily at a studio in the Hunter's Point region of San Francisco called The Compound, where Naut Humon provided an environment for Anton to record for hours on end.

Over the next couple of years the band would shift its sound from their more shoegaze, goth, and dream pop influences of the 80's and 90's into a 60's retro-futurist aesthetic. As lineup changes persisted, the band continued to record and in 1996 released three full-length studio albums. The first of these, Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request reflects a pastiche of 1960s psychedelia. The album also includes vast experimentation with a variety of different instrumentation including Indian drones, sitars, Mellotrons, farfisas, didgeridoos, tablas, congas, and glockenspiels.^[10] The title of the album is a play on words of the Rolling Stones' 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request.^[11] Anton has similarly named songs and records this way throughout the band's catalog.

The band's second album released in 1996, Take It from the Man!, is rooted heavily in the maximum rhythm and blues aesthetic of the 1960s British Invasion.^[12] The album includes the song 'Straight Up and Down', which was later used as theme music for the HBO television drama series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014), and was engineered by Larry Thrasher of the influential group Psychic TV.

The third and final album released that year was Thank God for Mental Illness, a more stripped-down effort. Since the band did not have a drummer at the time, Anton took the opportunity to showcase more of his acoustic songwriting. The album explores more in-depth genres such as country and folk.^[13] At the end of the album Anton included an entire EP called 'Sound of Confusion', compiled largely from earlier BJM recordings. 'Sound of Confusion' features both regular songs and more abstract sound collages.

1997–1998: Give It Back!, signing to TVT and Strung Out in Heaven[edit]

The Brian Jonestown Massacre recorded their sixth album, Give It Back!, in 1997 after relocating to Los Angeles from San Francisco. The album was tracked in a few short days leading up to the band's first US tour and includes the track, 'Not If You Were the Last Dandy on Earth', a sardonic reply to The Dandy Warhols' single 'Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth', which had been perceived at the time as being directed at the BJM. 'Not If You Were the Last Dandy on Earth' was featured on the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's 2005 film Broken Flowers. During this time, the BJM signed with TVT Records.^[13] This led to the release of the band's seventh full-length album, Strung Out in Heaven, in 1998, as well as their first-ever tours of the UK and Japan. Strung Out in Heaven did not sell as many records as TVT had hoped, and as the relationship between themselves and the band deteriorated. They eventually dissolved their remaining contractual obligations with the band.^{[citation needed]}

1999–2005: Bring It All Back Home – Again, Bravery Repetition and Noise, And This Is Our Music and We Are the Radio[edit]

In 1999, Which? Records released the EP, Bringing It All Back Home – Again, a collection of songs largely written and recorded around the time the band were working on Give It Back! and Strung Out in Heaven. In 2001, the band released their eighth studio album, Bravery Repetition and Noise. It includes the track 'Sailor', a re-work of a song originally performed by The Cryan' Shames.

In 2003, the band released their ninth studio album, And This Is Our Music. 'And This Is Our Music' was a step in a new direction for Anton and the group creatively, and emphasized more of the electronic music Anton had explored in the beginning days of the group.^{[citation needed]} The album's title has been called a reference to the identically-titled, but distinct, albums This Is Our Music by the artists Galaxie 500 and Ornette Coleman.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, the band released the EPWe Are the Radio on Newcombe's own label, The Committee to Keep Music Evil, which features a close collaboration with independent singer-songwriter Sarabeth Tucek. This was the last BJM record to be recorded in the United States, as shortly after this Anton relocated to Europe.

2008–2017: Experimental music and recent releases[edit]

The Brian Jonestown Massacre released their tenth studio album, My Bloody Underground, in 2008 on Cargo Records. The album is directly inspired by the music made by bands My Bloody Valentine and The Velvet Underground.^[14] The record contains a highly experimental approach, and was recorded in collaboration with Mark Gardener, formerly of Ride, who co-wrote the song 'Monkey Powder'. The Brian Jonestown Massacre recorded both the One EP and Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? in Iceland and Berlin in 2009.

An EP entitled One was released in November 2009 and features the tracks 'One', 'This Is the First of Your Last Warning' (which also appears on their next album, Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?), an English version of 'This Is The First of Your Last Warning', and an exclusive track, 'Bruttermania'.

Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?, the band's eleventh studio album, was released in February 2010. It features musicians Unnur Andrea Einarsdottir (who recorded vocals on My Bloody Underground), Felix Bondareff from the Russian band Amazing Electronic Talking Cave, as well as the musician Will Carruthers. Soon after the album's release, it was confirmed that Matt Hollywood had returned to the band after an eleven-year absence. According to Anton Newcombe, he would feature on the band's next album and also toured with the band.^[13]

The Brian Jonestown Massacre released the album Aufheben on May 1, 2012. Newcombe stated that the album's title relates to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's use of the term, whereby something is destroyed in order to preserve it.

Revelation, the band's thirteenth studio album, was released in May 2014. It is the first album to be fully recorded and produced at Anton Newcombe's recording studio in Berlin.^[15] Stylistically, the album mixes the traditional Brian Jonestown Massacre sound with Eastern influences.^{[citation needed]}

Their next album, Musique de Film Imaginé, was released on April 27, 2015. The album is conceived as a soundtrack for an imaginary French film, and pays homage to European film directors of the late 1950s and 1960s such as François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. It was recorded in Berlin in August 2014.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2016, the band released the album Third World Pyramid, which was preceded by the single 'The Sun Ship'.^[16][17][18]

Documentary[edit]

Along with Portland, Oregonalternative rock band The Dandy Warhols, The Brian Jonestown Massacre were the subjects of the 2004 documentary film Dig!.^[19] The film captured a love–hate relationship between both bands, highlighting the interaction of Newcombe with his counterpart in the Warhols, Courtney Taylor-Taylor. The film was recorded over the course of seven years by filmmaker Ondi Timoner, but largely focused on The Brian Jonestown Massacre from late 1996 to mid-1998. Dig! won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Book[edit]

A book about the band, Keep Music Evil: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Story was published on April 16, 2019, by Jawbone Press. The book was written by actor-filmmaker Jesse Valecia and features interviews with over 120 people connected to the band, including key current and former members, as well as the filmmakers behind Dig!.^[20]

Members[edit]

Discography[edit]

Studio albums

• Methodrone (1995)
• Spacegirl and Other Favorites (1995)
• Take It from the Man! (1996)
• Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request (1996)
• Thank God for Mental Illness (1996)
• Give It Back! (1997)
• Strung Out in Heaven (1998)
• Bravery Repetition and Noise (2001)
• ...And This Is Our Music (2003)
• My Bloody Underground (2008)
• Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? (2010)
• Aufheben (2012)
• Revelation (2014)
• Musique de Film Imaginé (2015)
• Mini Album Thingy Wingy (2015)
• Third World Pyramid (2016)
• Don't Get Lost (2017)
• Something Else (2018)
• The Brian Jonestown Massacre (2019)

References[edit]

1. ^Winter, Greg (October 13, 2003). 'Brian Jonestown Massacre – And This Is Our Music'. CMJ. New York City: CMJ. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
2. ^ ^abStiernberg, Bonnie. 'The 50 Best Garage Rock Songs of All Time'. Paste. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
3. ^'AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett'. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
4. ^'Interview: The Brian Jonestown Massacre'. Under the Radar. November 2, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
5. ^Nashawaty, Chris (May 23, 2005). 'Neo-Psych Out'. Entertainment Weekly.
6. ^Hopper, Kevin (January 2, 2004). 'A timeless sound keeps psych-rockers BJM relevant'. Albuquerque Journal. p. 15.
7. ^Krause, Charles A (November 19, 2008). 'Town Without Pity; 30 Years Later, Memories of Jonestown Evoke Guilt, Anger and Mistrust'. The Washington Post. p. C.1.
8. ^'The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Spacegirl and Other Favorites'. LastFM. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
9. ^Raggett, Ned. 'Methodrone – The Brian Jonestown Massacre | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic'. AllMusic. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
10. ^Ankeny, Jason (June 18, 1996). 'Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request – The Brian Jonestown Massacre'. AllMusic. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
11. ^Ankeny, Jason. 'Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request'. AllMusic. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
12. ^Ankeny, Jason. 'Take It from the Man!'. AllMusic. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
13. ^ ^abcAnkeny, Jason. 'The Brian Jonestown Massacre | Biography & History | AllMusic'. AllMusic. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
14. ^Lymangrover, Jason. 'My Bloody Underground – The Brian Jonestown Massacre | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic'. AllMusic. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
15. ^'The Brian Jonestown Massacre 'Revelation'- Cargo Records UK'. cargorecordsdirect.co.uk. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
16. ^'The Brian Jonestown Massacre announce new album'. Crack Magazine. September 13, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
17. ^'Brian Jonestown Massacre deliver more of the same, which will keep most folks pretty happy'. The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
18. ^'Album Review: The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Third World Pyramid'. Drowned in Sound. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
19. ^'Dig!'. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
20. ^'Keep Music Evil: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Story'. Retrieved October 9, 2018.

External links[edit]

The Brian Jonestown Massacre Tepid Peppermint Wonderland Rarest