toenut
Two in the Piñata
CD reviews


Free Times - Columbia, SC: 8/13/97
Toenut: two in the piñata
by Brad Quinn
Toenut: Elbow Room, Thursday Aug 14


In April of this year, Toenut suffered the loss of bassist Chris Collins in a tragic automobile accident. The group will continue, but have chosen not to repace their bandmate and friend - instead they will use sidemen to fill the role that Collins performed so well. It would be a disservice to the memory of Chris Collins if the band were not to continue their innovative work. Examples of Collins' fine musicianship can be heard on the band's LP and single releases, including Two in the Piñata.

Toenut's return to Columbia marks the release of their new album Two in the Piñata, the follow up to the group's critically acclaimed 1995 release Information. The group was formed in 1992 when Columbians Skipper Hartley, Katie Walters, and Chris Collins moved to Atlanta and teamed up with Richie Edleson. After a series of drummers, the band solidified their line up with Colin English.

On Two in the Piñata, Toenut has refined their trademark neurosis into an off-kilter masterpiece. The album opens uneasily with "Preamble," a gurgling collage of electronic nausea. As the next track "Test Anxiety" begins, we are advised that "tension is a normal and necessary experience, but has a negative effect on you later." It is an appropriate title, as the track creates enough tension to crack a box of #2 pencils. However, to avoid ill effects, "listen to this recording frequently" the voice prescribes. Hooking you into this unending cycle of tension is a warped guitar figure worthy of Robert Fripp. Throughout the LP Richie Edelson and Skipper Hartley's inventive guitar play is often reminiscent of such moderns as King Crimson and Big Black.

Over the course of 17 tracks Toenut is arty without being pretentious; the group's oddball humor rarely lapses into quirkiness. On "Feeder" Toenut offers a seemingly first person account of what it's like to be a bird feeder. The cacophony of bird cries and jack hammer woodpecker drills sounds more like a mechanized carnival game than a woodland scene, suggesting that the feeder is a harried victim of ornithological machines.

Not to be overlooked among the band's noisy constructions is Toenut's ability to create memorable melodies. On "Giant Steps," one of the album's obvious single choices, Katie Walters supplies the hook with her soft soprano.

On "The Weird World," the narrator is transported from her living room to a camel's back in a parking lot outside of Tangier. Later she contemplates her collection of glass cocktail stirrers, "the one with the cactus on top, or the turtle brown and green." The combination of southern narrative and angular guitar lines gives one an idea of what might have happened if Truman Capote had taken a break from Studio 54 to go jam with Television. The album's final track "The Song We Wrote Yesterday" is a touching celebration of friendship - of seeing each other through hard times.

After Toenut's performance in Columbia they will begin a European tour in Edinbourough, Scotland, playing Amsterdam, London, and a few other cities. Returning stateside, the band will tour with Man Or Astroman. Fans of the group should begin looking for Toenut's new video "Test Anxiety" to appear soon.

Also appearing are Los Perdidos.




Atlanta Journal Constitution Review: 8/22/97
TOENUT
"Two in the Piñata"
Mute: 17 tracks
ROCK
Grade: A
Smart the way most young bands are only smart-alecky, Atlanta's toenut flaunts a quirky sensibility that complicates its music in delightful ways. The textured, art-rock guitar passages fuse arch (Robert) Frippery with the punk-eara intensity of the Buzzcocks, while vocalist Katie Walters floats breathily above the din, a dreamier, more blissful alt-rock diva than the Breeders' Kim Deal or the ether-bound Dolores O'Riordan. Edgar Sanchez's enchantedly antic cover paintings captures the toenut spirit perfectly: playfully weird, weirdly playful.

-- Steve Dollar


A&A (Aiding and Abetting: online music source) review
A&A #140 reviews A&A #140 reviews
ratings from A (lowest) to AAAAA (highest)
  • Toenut: Two in the Pinata (Mute) AAAA 1/2

    Toenut
    Two in the Pinata
    (Mute)
    AAAA 1/2 rating

    Completely twisted pop music, the sort of stuff that would appeal to fans of Heavy Vegetable and (now) Thingy. The guitar lines are fluid and eternally moving, sometimes even having something to do with the rest of the chaos. The tunes are generally upbeat and loony-sounding. Sounds like a recipe for greatness.
    Well, this stuff is a bit simplistic compared to Rob Crow's compositions, but the spirit is similar. The choruses are wonderfully catchy, and when interspersed with the verses (which generally consist of instrumental licks, strictly speaking) create a sorta evolving chaos effect.
    More scrambling of the brainwaves, I'm afraid. Still, I can't think of a better way to describe Toenut. On one hand, an unholy racket, and on the other, woefully pretty stuff. The paradox of my dreams.

    Mordant and masterful. I wouldn't want to be in the head that conceived this, but I'm happy to listen to the results.


    original artwork for Mute by Edgar W. Sanchez
    GIF animation by Karen Hutchinson
    if you "borrow" please add a link to this website:
    www.scsn.net/users/toenut/index.htm
    Two in the Pinata released by Mute Corporation

    6/7/99

    Skip and Katie continue writing and playing music, Richie is touring with Man or Astroman, we just know that Chris is playing with Jimmi Hendrix and Stevey Ray Vaughn.

    Karen Hutchinson

    Last Update: 10/19/97
    Web Author & Designer: Karen Hutchinson (Chris' Mom)(you can email me here)
    Copyright © 1997 by Karen Hutchinson. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.