BUSHMEAT recorded/released: 2004 label: Cassatio (WNFM002) format: CDr issue: 20 copies running time: 31:36 aka: Graveyouard

01: Abra 02: boreyne salient 03: Frown Poison of the Elves 04: calypus statant 05: Throjne 06: basilisk affronte 07: Whip of Fire 08: alphyn passant 09: Gloom UFO

ok ladies... the undisputed and official number one CHAPEAU-grapher has returned in order to demonstrate hir adeptness and authority in this particular facet of hir numerous passions. first and foremost, some strange and ambiguous promptings have advised us with their nearly imperceptible tendrils to inform you that we have warmed ourselves up for this review by listening to the "black cherry" album by GOLDFRAPP and also the song "in your room" by THE BANGLES. i suppose the reader is supposed to somehow utilize this "information" to hir advantage whilst reading this... with this technicality out of the way let us begin... there is alot of agony and confusion involved with this particular release... because "bushmeat" seems to be the "best" so far... but from our humble standpoint here in cuyahoga falls, ohio, ALL recordings by CHAPEAU are "the best". but we must call this one "the best" because it is the one most accessible to the widest audience. herein this e. victor c. person has demonstrated adeptness in multi-part guitar melodies and song structures... this album rocks and also has much emotion and atmosphere. the fractionation between rock tracks and ambient tracks adds to the enjoyment of this as well... "ABRA" starts this out, wierd to describe because it hits you, it rocks, it seems to follow some sort of unstated "good rock formula" but at the same time there is something that we cannot coherently explain... it's well put together, good fooking rawk, like it should be before BS marketing dilutes and washes it up... "Boreyne salient" offers up heavy guitar sludge with what we assume to be heavily ring modulated or vocoded vocals... shrouded in heaviness and mystery, this guitar noise makes us smile. "FROWN POISON OF THE ELVES" comes at you with good energy with a sort of alternation that takes you back and forth between standing on the ground and floating in the sky, straightforward and simple good guitar rock... and then starts progressing into dissonance. "Calypus statant" follows up the previous noisiness in strange ambient beauty and calmness with those wonderful strange vocals... makes us think of having wandered through thorny brush and suddenly finding a clearing in the wilderness filled with colorful wild flowers. "THROJNE" goes back into rock territory dishing out a lead riff that can only be described as "royal", uplifting and definitely kinglike as if a man of the earth wandered through the crowd basking in their collective admiration with sincere humbleness... "Basilisk affronte" leads us into a droning hum that skates along the stratosphere and as always we warmly welcome back those "vocals". AWWWW SHEEEE-IIIIIITTTTT... track #7 definitely be the climax and hit single of "bushmeat"... "WHIP OF FIRE" [a definite "listen to at least twice in a row" hit] is like driving your car at high speed down the highway with extreme passion towards some nearly unattainable but overpowering desire... one of the most outstanding parts of this track is that synth riff along with the drumbeat, it just automatically makes us think of speeding down the highway at night with the accelerator to the floor and the lights on the road rushing by, and that noisy filter sweep deal makes you feel the wind in your hair and the tingle on the back of your neck. like you're desperately racing towards something before you lose it... just like the nature of "fire" itself, quick and fleeting. then we are back to ambience in "Alphyn passant", just damn beautiful with more synth, some guitar noise, xylophone type sounds, and those great "vocals" coming back like a guest who is always welcome. we end "bushmeat" with "GLOOM UFO" that rocks out, and has this sort of "danzig" atmosphere that CHAPEAU has tapped into a few other fleeting times, and this track is indeed gloomy in a rainy overcast day fashion. all in all, we suppose we shall say that this "bushmeat" is sort of a "perfect" rock album because it affects the listener, it just plain "fooking rawks", and fortunately as listenable as it is, it is just far enough on the "underground" side that it can't be commercially exploited. as we stated before, all CHAPEAU is "the best" CHAPEAU, but as far as the world outside of the number one CHAPEAU-grapher goes this one is absolutely the one most accessible. - M. Duncan (Black Mayonnaise), 2004