100 Sound Effects

Drummer and Portlandia co-creator Fred Armisens Drag City-issued LP 100 Sound Effects can most likely be found in either the comedy or indie rock bins of your local record store, but it more or less lives up to its title, as it consists of a plethora of specific incidental sounds. (And, technically speaking, it actually contains 101 tracks.) Its a deliberate throwback to sound effect recordings from the golden age of vinyl, with Halloween-themed haunted house records being a particular inspiration, and it can function as a sound library if one needs to use certain sounds in a production. It also works perfectly well as a straight-through listen, if one delights in the joy of sound itself. The effects are thematically grouped, with most of the music-related sounds appearing at the beginning. While this isnt strictly a comedy record, there is an element of humor and absurdity in the details of certain scenarios, such as "Band Sound Check Guy and Band Agreeing for Too Long" or the outright belligerence of "Music Venue Employee Kicking Everyone Out While Throwing Away Bottles." Both the venue-themed tracks and the ones taking place at music stores, where untrained amateurs are sloppily trying out instruments, come across as musician in-jokes. Other groups of sounds are mostly straight and to-the-point, like car doors closing, glasses falling and breaking (or not breaking, in one case), bouncing basketballs, and audiences applauding or booing. A series of camping-themed tracks tell a bit more of a story, with two co-workers (one of whom appears to be played by Tim Heidecker) on a weekend escape from the office. The goofiest tracks are the haunted house ones, which include a minute and a half of demonic voices, and a howling ghost who quickly notices that theres nobody in the house to scare. Theres also a section in the album for cinephiles, with a trio of "Well Reviewed Movie" tracks spotlighting some very intimately captured foley work, and "Important Film - Italian Woman Yelling Through a Doorway in a Small Italian Town" sounding like an excerpt from a lost neorealist movie. 100 Sound Effects is most easily comparable to the series of 7" EPs that Gregg Turkington (aka Drag City labelmate Neil Hamburger) released as the Golding Institute during the 1990s, containing field recordings from fast food restaurants, adult bookstores, and airport restrooms. However, Armisens album lacks narration, and it isnt presented as a parody to the same degree that the Golding releases were. Yes, this is a weird, curious record thats only going to appeal to a niche audience, but it is highly imaginative, and even for a recording of its type, it has a unique character. ~ Paul Simpson