Overview
“Locust Abortion Technician” is the third full-length studio album by American rock band Butthole Surfers.
Background of the Production
Butthole Surfers were formed by Gibby Haynes (lead vocals) and Paul Leary (guitar) in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. In the 1980s hardcore punk scene, the band became known for their sound that incorporated the elements of punk, psychedelia, and noise rock.
Commentary
The album “Locust Abortion Technician” was recorded in 1986, and was released on American independent record label Touch and Go in 1987. It reached number three in the UK independent albums chart.
The album has been generally considered their greatest work.
“Locust Abortion“ of the album title is a parody of “low-cost abortion“.
The album consists of the songs of experimental noise rock blending the elements of punk, heavy metal, and Texas psychedelia.
It is characterized by tape editing in the musique concrète style, distorted guitar, and bizarre vocals by heavy use of effects such as pitch modulation.
All songs were written and produced by Butthole Surfers, except for “Kuntz”.
Several songs were created by use of Gibby Haynes’ vocal effects system called “Gibbytronix”.
“Sweat Loaf” includes a parodic quotation of the guitar riff from the song “Sweet Leaf” (1971) by Black Sabbath.
“Kuntz” is a broken remix version of the song “Klua Duang/กลัวดวง (The Fear)” (1987) sung by Thai luk thung (popular music) singer Phloen Phromdaen. In this track, a word, which sounds similar to the plural of an English four-letter word (c-word) that means vagina, is repeated again and again. The title of this track is a German-style spelling of the English word.
Kurt Cobain listed the album in his top 50 albums of all time.
The album is also featured in Robert Dimery’s “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”.
In 2018, American online music magazine Pitchfork included the album on their list of “The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s”.
The remastered edition of the album was released on the band’s label, Latino Buggerveil in 1999.
Track Listing
Side A
- Sweat Loaf – 6:09
- Graveyard – 2:27
- Pittsburgh to Lebanon – 2:29
- Weber – 0:35
- HAY – 1:50
- Human Cannonball – 3:51
Side B
- U.S.S.A. – 2:14
- The O-Men – 3:27
- Kuntz – 2:24
- Graveyard – 2:45
- 22 Going on 23 – 4:23
Personnel
- Gibby Haynes – lead vocals
- Paul Leary – guitar
- Jeff Pinkus – bass
- King Coffey – drums
- Teresa Nervosa – drums
