It’s been a weird road for Candiria. Matter of fact, it’s so weird, I’m not even sure who’s in the band anymore. Having gone through a bunch of shit for their last record, Kiss The Lie, which was sitting around for two years unreleased following the departure of drummer Ken Schalk, the band seems to have plans to reinvent itself as an electronic act.
But somehow, Schalk performs track seven, “Spectator,” where he performs a Zappa-esque piece (dedicated to Zappa) in the middle of what’s mostly a remix and cover album called Toying With The Insanities, a multi-volume limited release CD and vinyl packages (Vol. 2 is vinyl only, and Vol. 3 and 4 come out next year.). So it’s a little hard to tell who Candiria is for this album, besides guitarist John LaMacchia who is credited as the producer of this project.
It might not matter much. The bulk of the record is basically remixes from friends—most of which are hit-or-miss—the best of which is Budzy’s remix of “Tribes,” but perhaps unsurprisingly, the best work on the album is by the band in the form of Ghosts Of The Canal, the band’s jazz side-project, and the aforementioned Schalk track. Who would have thought that the band members would be the best ones to reinterpret their own material?
In A Political Strategy: Appeal To The Base
