Clockseed is the fourth studio album by Vampire Rodents, released on April 7, 1995, by Re-Constriction Records.

Clockseed
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 7, 1995 (1995-04-07)
Length68:39
LabelRe-Constriction
ProducerJoan McAninch
Vampire Rodents chronology
Lullaby Land
(1993)
Clockseed
(1995)
Gravity's Rim
(1996)
Daniel Vahnke chronology
Lullaby Land
(1993)
Clockseed
(1995)
Papa Woody
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Music and lyrics

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Clockseed has a larger number of guest vocalists than its predecessor, with Daniel handling vocal duties on only four out of twenty-two tracks. All the vocalists involved were known through Chase, who sent out tapes to anyone who could lend their lyrics and vocals to a track. Daniel has noted that they all wrote their parts completely without his direction and called it a great fortune to receive such incredible results from people he had never met.[2][3]

During the album's production, Re-Constriction Records label manager Chase mailed instrumental tapes to multiple musicians affiliated with the electro-industrial and Rivethead scenes for them to layer vocals and lyrics over. Christian Void of Killing Floor received the tracks for "Dowager's Egg" and "Mother Tongue" and chose the former to compose with. Concerning the lyrical content, Void stated "It is about people with disease like HIV and AIDS and how the public perceives them, and about things that happen to them because of their disease" that decries people being made into pariahs by society.[4] Written by Chemlab vocalist Jared Louche, "Low Orbit" is about two of his deceased friend appearing to him in his sleep. He has said the song was "influenced by my having had a series of dreams involving Craig and another friend who had died of a brain tumor around that time. They were haunting the orbits of my dreams."[5] Jason Bazinet of SMP (Sounds of Mass Production) has voiced his displeasure with his and Sean's work on "Revisioned", noting that they may have rushed the lyrics.[6] It is about people with disease like HIV and AIDS and how the public perceives them, and about things that happen to them because of their disease.

Release and reception

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Despite being out of print, the album can still be bought through the Vampire Rodents eBay page.

Aiding & Abetting gave it a positive review, saying that "while a little more accessible than Lullaby Land, Clockseed is still a compendium of discord and sonic discrepancies."[7]

Track listing

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All music is composed by Daniel Vahnke, except "Annexation II" by Victor Wulf and "Chemical Halo" (V. Rodents' Sax Mix) by Jared Louche and Dylan Thomas More

No.TitleLyrics/VocalsLength
1."Dowager's Egg"Christian Void2:58
2."Skin Walker"Sarah Folkman2:47
3."Low Orbit"Jared Louche3:45
4."Downwind"Daniel Vahnke2:43
5."Mother Tongue"Eric Powell3:10
6."Heliopause"Dee Madden2:41
7."Floater"Daniel Vahnke3:33
8."Scatter"Jim Coursey & Mark Edwards2:37
9."Zygote"Dan Gatto4:01
10."Revisioned"Jason Bazinet & Sean Ivy2:50
11."Unmoved"Rey Osburn2:44
12."Cocked, Loaded & Ready"Mel Hammond3:40
13."Another Planet"Daniel Vahnke3:46
14."Saturation"Steven Seibold2:49
15."Clockseed"Dave Creadeau & Boom chr Paige4:19
16."Terra Amata"Linda LeSabre5:33
17."Tattoo Me"Daniel Vahnke4:05
18."Ravages of Ease"Maria Azevedo2:42
19."Teapot"Hae Su Oh2:39
20."Iron Clad"Blake Barnes2:49
21."Tenochtitlan II"Pall Jenkins2:02
22."Little Canoe"Betty Martinez0:15
2019 Digital Re-Issue
No.TitleLyrics/VocalsLength
1."Dowagers Egg"Christian Void2:57
2."Skin Walker"Sarah Folkman2:47
3."Low Orbit"Jared Louche3:45
4."Downwind"Daniel Vahnke2:43
5."Mother Tongue"Eric Powell3:10
6."Heliopause"Dee Madden2:41
7."Floater"Daniel Vahnke3:33
8."Scatter"Jim Coursey & Mark Edwards2:37
9."Zygote"Dan Gatto4:00
10."Revisioned"Jason Bazinet & Sean Ivy2:44
11."Unmoved"Rey Osburn2:50
12."Cocked"Mel Hammond3:40
13."Another Planet"Daniel Vahnke3:46
14."Saturation"Steven Seibold2:49
15."Clockseed"Dave Creadeau & Boom chr Paige4:19
16."Terra Amata"Linda LeSabre5:33
17."Tattoo Me"Daniel Vahnke4:05
18."Ravages of Ease"Maria Azevedo2:42
19."Teapot"Hae Su Oh2:39
20."Iron Clad"Blake Barnes2:49
21."Tenochtitlan II"Pall Jenkins2:02
22."Blind Acceleration"Daniel Vahnke2:53
23."Little Canoe"Betty Martinez0:15
24."Annexation II"Pall Jenkins3:21
25."Chemical Halo" (V. Rodents' Sax Mix)Jared Louche4:48
26."Dowagers Egg" (Alternate Master)Christian Void2:58
27."Zygote" (Alternate Master)Dan Gatto4:01
28."Core" (Alternate Master)Athan Maroulis3:10
29."Mother Tongue" (Alternate Master)Eric Powell3:10
30."Saturation" (Alternate Master)Steven Seibold2:50

Accolades

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Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
1995 CMJ New Music Monthly United States "Dance" 22 [8]
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Personnel

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Adapted from the Clockseed liner notes.[9]

Additional musicians

Release history

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Region Date Label Format Catalog
United States 1995 Re-Constriction CD REC-017

References

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  1. ^ Bush, John. "Clockseed". Allmusic. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  2. ^ Vampire Rodents/Ether Bunny Interview 2007!. Daniel Vahnke interview. Retrieved on July 22, 2010.
  3. ^ Gariboldi, Marco. Vampire Rodents (Daniel Vahnke) (2009). e-mail interview, retrieved on August 26, 2010.
  4. ^ Christian, Chris (July 6, 1996). "Interview with Killing Floor, San Francisco". Sonic Boom. 4 (11). Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  5. ^ pHil. Chemlab - Teaching you how to bleed Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine. Jared Louche interview, Retrieved on August 26, 2010.
  6. ^ Jester. Interview with Jason Bazinet of SMP Archived 2011-09-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on August 26, 2010.
  7. ^ "Vampire Rodents: Clockseed". Aiding & Abetting. April 1995. Issue #74, cited August 26, 2010
  8. ^ "CMJ - Rock Dance". CMJ New Music Monthly. August 1995. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
  9. ^ Clockseed (booklet). Vampire Rodents. San Diego, California: Re-Constriction Records. 1995.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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