Morsel (band) - Choke Records

Choke Records

Morsel "signed to Choke, Inc. Records of Chicago in the summer of 1993" . . . booking "time in February 1994 with Steve Albini to record Noise Floor, released in April '94 (moo, September '96 - issue 25).” Dave Segal wrote, “Morsel deal in hyper kinetic post-punk-prog-rock, with fractured funk moves thrown into the pot as an almost ironic gesture. The ten songs on Noise Floor are marked by frayed guitar textures, frequent fluid time changes, and a female voice filtered through the blow hole of a flute, for a warped alien effect that Chrome exploited so well. Sometimes Morsel seem to be playing it straight, even approaching a conventional low-key, indie-rock beauty. But then they'll abruptly scrunch up the rhythm, play crazy staccato riffs, pause unexpectedly, sing like Satan's sister . . . those kinds of things (Alternative Press August 1994).” Johnny Pecorelli said “Morsel's Steve Albini-produced debut, Noise Floor, should raise a few eyebrows itself. Sometimes melodic, sometimes atonal, sometimes full-on noise, the band makes use of everything from buzzsaws to flutes, trumpets and lilting guitar riffs. Singer Miriam Cabrera wails through primitive rotophasers; bassist Be Hussey tunes down to low D (for added evil); while Hedge spins out effects-drenched arpeggios from Mars. All this and a sense of dynamics solidified by drummer Brian Boulter which is downright schizophrenic (Alternative Press).” In his “Local Music: The Best of ‘94,” Agenda contributor Alan Goldsmith wrote, “Raw but melodic, symphonic yet garage band. Morsel and the music they've produced is awash in contradictions, like all great art. This release, produced by producer-GOD Steve Albini (whose credits include Nirvana), is spaced-out mind music that is best heard with open ears. It's rock and roll taken to an intense other level. Computer-processed roaming vocals, guitars that sound like acid flashbacks, but with a (for lack of a better word) symphony-like musical structure, Morsel is like a grunge, non-smartass Frank Zappa with their smaller sense of music theory complexity. While all this sounds academic on paper - it isn't. It's poetic and wonderful rock and roll that takes risks (Agenda, 1995).” After its release, the band toured extensively across the United States. In 1995, they recorded a follow-up EP at Ann Arbor's 40 Oz Sound with new guitarist Geoff Streadwick engineering. On the eve of the release, the label folded.