Released at the tail end of 1994 or early 1995 (i forget which). Probably their most straight-ahead "rock" album, although it will certainly never be confused with the likes of Aerosmith or Ted Nugent. This is a good starting place for those new to the Cheer-Ax experiment, especially since this is still in print and not terribly difficult to find. Plus it's a swank album, of course. Not as conceptually visionary as ENDURING THE AMERICAN DREAM, perhaps, but every bit as listenable (and for most, probably more so).
Notes:
NOT A FOOD was recorded (by Steve Albini) and mixed (by CHEER-ACCIDENT) in 4 days during July 1994 in Chicago, Illinois. At this time, CHEER-ACCIDENT consisted of Phil Bonnet, Dan Forden, Thymme Jones, Jeff Libersher, and Scott Rutledge, with some additional help from Babette and Eric. All songs written and performed by CHEER-ACCIDENT, and published by Samovar Groovathon Music (BMI). (c) (P) 1996 Pravda Records, Inc.
It is like a situation playing itself over and over again in your head. A situation in which there is nothing to be said, in which all the mouth is capable of is consumption, but in which there is nothing else to be consumed. Everything has been cleared away. And our immediate reflex is to swallow. We build a memory for ourselves. And the knowledge of this memory becomes trapped on the inside, for without a voice there is no way for it to escape. It exists only as knowledge which cannot be acted upon. The memory of a hope which cannot be shared, which cannot be brought into this world. One arrives upon the most positive thought by way of the most negative act. And the memory knows why, for the memory has preserved not only the hopes of the past, but that murder, that death, which cuts these hopes off, which left these hopes behind. And these hopes cannot be regained, except by the most negative means, except by murdering the present, in order to reach a past which is closed off. It is the memory of hope, in which one's hopes for the future are buried in the past, in the hope that events would have turned out differently, and that these differences will have opened up a more promising future. For in the present, one can see no future. The present exists as the knowledge of that which has ended -- even though events continue. It is like watching a film, and three quarters of the way through, the soundtrack drops off. It is like watching pure motion. Pure, that is, closed off to itself. And when there is a breakdown like this, one is suddenly aware of the mechanics of events. For would it be any different if someone had lost their hearing three quarters of the way through their life? The silent screen is not a metaphor, it is a real event, as real as someone who no longer speaks to you, or when they do, there is nothing to be heard.
Tracks:
even has a half life; grow; modestly clothed, did she trouble you?; nutrition; 30 seconds of weightlessness; ice cream and lies; king cheezamin; grow ii; evan had a a shelf life (mix: MC Shapoopy)
Lyrics:
for this is not a western
it's arresting in a different kind of way
we don't need guns
to apprehend the sun
before the day
i'm the object of her starvation
she commits suicide in my mind
i'm her drug
she's my dream
i've eaten all i know
my voice has gone away
i'd kill to be hopeful
but i don't remember why