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Comparative Anatomy (band)

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Comparative Anatomy

Comparative Anatomy is an experimental drum & bass band from Charlottesville, Virginia. Known for their elaborate costumes, absurd humor, simple but diverse textures and unique sound, the band has recently become known in the experimental and noise rock music scenes for their outlandish performances. Their sound features influences from a variety of genres, has been referred to by reviewers as a “patchwork, cut-up style” similar to bands like Mr. Bungle. To date, they are the only band to consistently use animals for vocals, recording their sounds in a variety of settings and programming them to the music. This puts them in league with Caninus and Hatebeak, but takes the idea much further, incorporating various themes for different animals and a much larger variety of sounds.

History

Comparative Anatomy started as an experiment between the two main members, Sir Puffers Rabbinald the Third and Ron Chickenbaby. The original line-up went through several guitars and one real drummer, all of who were eventually eliminated. After deciding it was best to work alone, the group took a different route, eliminated guitars altogether and moved away from a quirky, death metal sound while completely scrapping vocals. Their musical direction began to take an experimental, drum & bass approach utilizing special tuning, a drum machine, and various samples from a variety of sources. They officially chose their name in March 2009, which was intended to sound "like we were trying to be death metal but couldn't pick cool enough words to do it." Shortly after choosing their name and working on their image, Comparative Anatomy performed their first show in Charlottesville, Virginia at a small venue called The Outback Lodge in an effort to see how their sound was taken by local crowds. Following this and moderate succeess in their hometown, the group performed with such acts as Deicide and Absu before deciding to move their direction towards experimental music. During this process, the band completely altered its image with more elaborate costumes and a live act that includes silent films themed to match each song that follow the music down to the smallest beats.

Style

Comparative Anatomy consists of two bass guitars, one often referred to as the 'treble bass' due to its unusual tuning, special amplifier, settings, and pedals. Sir Puffers typically keeps his bass tuned higher than Ron Chickenbaby's, restricting himself to simple structures and chords. This is then offset with the other bass guitar, complex drum programming, and samples. Ron Chickenbaby plays what is referred to as the 'bass bass', which is tuned a variety of ways depending on the song, though they tend to stick to one scale in order to create harmony and play on octaves, creating the sound they've become known for. In addition, the band also eliminated vocals; replacing them with source recordings of animals. This is perhaps the most distinct piece of their music, creating a strange landscape of animal sounds along with their grind-styled riffs. Each song follows a particular animal, and sounds from each animal are used in its particular song. Their songs also often incorporate clips from popular culture, programmed along with the drum patterns to create odd, driving landscapes of screeching animals, bizarre electronics, eccentric humor, and textured bass lines.

Their first release, Mammalia (album) was mainly an experminent according to the band. Earlier work featured on this album tends to contain noise-ridden drums at points and sampling used in a more linear fashion. Later work, however, as exemplified by songs such as 'Nikuthoolak Arise' incorporate more atmospheric animal sounds along with linear patterns and source recordings from science fiction films of the 50s and factories, to name but a few.

Imagery

Comparative Anatomy focuses primarily on word-play and themes relating specifically to animals. Songs often are bizarre plays on words that incorporate the particular animals they are about. The band is known for its odd humor, which relies heavily on absurdist and quasi-dadaist dialogs with the crowd and symbolism focusing totally on animals. The band is known for wearing costumes during shows, which were at first simple designs made with dismembered, stuffed animals, but eventually became elaborate and full-body pieces hand-made by the two main members featuring everything from top hats to black metal guantlets. In addition, their live act involves a set of films and animations created by the band that follow the music and are projected behind them on a giant screen. Comparative Anatomy also has a mysterious entity referred to as 'On the Box', a "deranged" koala that is supposedly sexless and unable to speak. It previously included a live person playing the part, but they then scrapped the idea and have since left the character as an imaginary figure that occasionally appears online and in films.

Some of their older films have recently become retired and have been made publicly available by the band on their Youtube page. Thus far they have released 'Peter Rabbit the Great's Carrot Phalanx' and 'A Car Full of Seals in the Mall on the Day After Thanksgiving'. The former features clips from Watership Down (film), Wizards, and Russian cartoons. The latter features clips from The Blues Brothers and rally car wrecks, along with the typical cutout, patchwork art style particular to the band.

Discography

Self released

With Mind Flare Media

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