Neon Hunk
Encyclopedia
Neon Hunk was a husband/wife noise music
duo, composed of Jennifurmium (Mothmaster) - vocals and analog synthesizer
/ring modulator, and Pink Diamond (Mossmaster) - Drums, Vocals, and Modular Digital Synthesizer. Neon Hunk formed in the summer of 2000 under the name Abracadaver, but changed their name to Neon Hunk in 2001. Neon Hunk Disbanded in 2004. Both members of Neon Hunk have continued to record music independently after halting activity with the band.
The music of Neon Hunk featured sparse, drum and synthesizer arrangements, generally non-tonal, and often in non-standard and frequently changing time signatures. Neon Hunk's vocals were processed with a vocoder
with a noise source as the carrier, and were often likened to the sound of a cougar.
Their sound combined aspects of progressive and experimental rock, punk, avant-garde electronic/noise music, and at times, free-improvisation. The music is held together with a quirky, cartoonish pop sensibility. Typical Neon Hunk songs rarely exceeded two minutes, though live shows sometimes featured longer improvised jam-sessions (as documented on their tape-only release Neyan Honkies and the self-released tour only release, SECRETS OF THE HUNK).
Neon Hunk sited diverse influences including Black Sabbath
, Melvins, Ruins
, Rush
, Blue Cheer
, early Devo
, and Kraftwerk
, as well as musical contemporaries such as many of their Load Records
peers and many other artists within the underground noise and punk community.
The twosome was known for their lively, high energy shows, disjointed dance moves, and scrapped-together, bright, home-modified masks and costumes.
Neon Hunk toured the US and Canada several times in summers and winters from 2001-2003 including partial or whole tours with Hair Police
, Mammal
, Wolf Eyes
, The Locust
, Chinese Stars, Kites, and Black Coitus Family.
Neon Hunk's final performance was in 2004 at the De Stijl festival in Minneapolis, MN alongside The Dream Aktion Unit (Thurston Moore
/Chris Corsano/Paul Flaherty/Jim O’Rourke
), Devendra Banhart
, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, Dead Machines, and other noise/freak weirdos.
Since the dissolution of Neon Hunk, Mossmaster and Mothmaster have continued recording music under various names. Mossmaster has self-released several solo CDr's, and as of 2009 is working on a full length album and recording music for various film and video related media.
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
duo, composed of Jennifurmium (Mothmaster) - vocals and analog synthesizer
Analog synthesizer
An analog or analogue synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s such as the Trautonium were built with a variety of vacuum-tube and electro-mechanical technologies...
/ring modulator, and Pink Diamond (Mossmaster) - Drums, Vocals, and Modular Digital Synthesizer. Neon Hunk formed in the summer of 2000 under the name Abracadaver, but changed their name to Neon Hunk in 2001. Neon Hunk Disbanded in 2004. Both members of Neon Hunk have continued to record music independently after halting activity with the band.
The music of Neon Hunk featured sparse, drum and synthesizer arrangements, generally non-tonal, and often in non-standard and frequently changing time signatures. Neon Hunk's vocals were processed with a vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
with a noise source as the carrier, and were often likened to the sound of a cougar.
Their sound combined aspects of progressive and experimental rock, punk, avant-garde electronic/noise music, and at times, free-improvisation. The music is held together with a quirky, cartoonish pop sensibility. Typical Neon Hunk songs rarely exceeded two minutes, though live shows sometimes featured longer improvised jam-sessions (as documented on their tape-only release Neyan Honkies and the self-released tour only release, SECRETS OF THE HUNK).
Neon Hunk sited diverse influences including Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, Melvins, Ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
, Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
, Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer was an American psychedelic blues-rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009...
, early Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
, and Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, as well as musical contemporaries such as many of their Load Records
Load Records
Load Records is an American noise/experimental independent record label based out of Providence, Rhode Island. "Load Records might possibly be in possession of the world's most challenging record roster," writes Mark Hensch of Thrash Pit...
peers and many other artists within the underground noise and punk community.
The twosome was known for their lively, high energy shows, disjointed dance moves, and scrapped-together, bright, home-modified masks and costumes.
Neon Hunk toured the US and Canada several times in summers and winters from 2001-2003 including partial or whole tours with Hair Police
Hair Police
Hair Police is an American psychedelic noise band based out of Lexington, Kentucky formed in 2001. They have released records through labels such as Troubleman Unlimited, Hanson Records, Gods of Tundra, Freedom From, and Hospital Productions...
, Mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
, Wolf Eyes
Wolf Eyes
Wolf Eyes is a post-industrial/noise band from Detroit, Michigan, United States.-History:Wolf Eyes began as a solo project of former Nautical Almanac member Nate Young, with Aaron Dilloway joining in 1998, and John Olson in 2000...
, The Locust
The Locust
The Locust is a musical group from San Diego, California, United States known for their unique mix of grindcore speed and aggression, mathcore complexity, and new wave weirdness.- Style :...
, Chinese Stars, Kites, and Black Coitus Family.
Neon Hunk's final performance was in 2004 at the De Stijl festival in Minneapolis, MN alongside The Dream Aktion Unit (Thurston Moore
Thurston Moore
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...
/Chris Corsano/Paul Flaherty/Jim O’Rourke
Jim O'Rourke (musician)
Jim O'Rourke is an Irish-American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene...
), Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Obi Banhart is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San...
, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, Dead Machines, and other noise/freak weirdos.
Since the dissolution of Neon Hunk, Mossmaster and Mothmaster have continued recording music under various names. Mossmaster has self-released several solo CDr's, and as of 2009 is working on a full length album and recording music for various film and video related media.
Discography
- AbraCadaver 7" EP (Liquid Death/Hello Pussy Records 2001)
- Split 7" EP with My Name is Rar Rar (Liquid Death/Hello Pussy Records 2002)
- SECRETS OF THE HUNK (Self-Released tour only release - two versions with different packaging 2002 & 2003)
- Neyan Honkies Cassette (Heresee 2002)
- Smarmymob (Load RecordsLoad RecordsLoad Records is an American noise/experimental independent record label based out of Providence, Rhode Island. "Load Records might possibly be in possession of the world's most challenging record roster," writes Mark Hensch of Thrash Pit...
2003) - Split 10" EP as Crystal Fantasy with Hair PoliceHair PoliceHair Police is an American psychedelic noise band based out of Lexington, Kentucky formed in 2001. They have released records through labels such as Troubleman Unlimited, Hanson Records, Gods of Tundra, Freedom From, and Hospital Productions...
(Liquid Death/Hello Pussy Records ??)