The clock is ticking on your chance to be the coolest dude at the bar who knows about Bruce Haack. I fell in like with him this morning, only to have a friend tell me, “dude, we didn't talk about this record last week?” So, you will already be way cooler than me.
I think what I like most about Bruce Haack is that you can say his last name by generating a loogie. Sure, his pioneership of the vocodor, which he named Farad, is mildly impressive. His scowl is bone-chilling and severely bitten by all modern curmudgeons. His experiments with peyote and relations with Native Americans inspire the most irksome fits of “why not me?” Same goes for his friendship with Mr. Rogers. He probably did a lot of undocumented groaning over the popularity of Kraftwerk's Autobahn. He is also the first person to make children's music and songs about the devil without having to play the record backwards. He pretty much hits all the major bullet points of awesomeness, but for me, it's still the loogie thing that reigns supreme.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say I think Bruce Haack was the originator of the term “party machine”. Look at that photo and tell me, in earnest, that hair part doesn't scream “machine that makes parties”. Speaking of machines, anybody got a time warping-thingy? I need to be at this party, yesterday:
Peanut Butter Wolf is doing his whole “unearthing” thing again by
collecting Haack's greatest Farad pieces and releasing them in hopes that we will all invoke his name when giving our well-practiced “oh, you haven't heard of Bruce Haack” elitist speeches.
Farad: The Electric Voice is out October 19 on Stones Throw.
