''Bonsai Superstar'' is the second album from the band

Brainiac Brainiac is a colloquial adjective used to describe exceptionally intelligent people. It may also refer to: Culture Fictional entities * Brainiac (character), a fictional supervillain in DC Comics, and an enemy of Superman * Brainiac (story arc), ...

released on November 21, 1994. It is the first album on which guitarist

John Schmersal Enon was an indie rock band founded by John Schmersal, Rick Lee, and Pretendo, Steve Calhoon that was active from 1999 to 2011; for most of its history, however, Enon was a three-piece outfit composed of Schmersal, Toko Yasuda, and Matt Schulz. Th ...

appears, who remained as the band's lead guitarist until their break-up in 1997. Originally released through

Grass Records Wind-up Entertainment was an American independent record label founded by Alan and Diana Meltzer in 1997. It was based in New York City and was distributed by BMG Distribution. Wind-up's best-selling artists worldwide were Creed and Evanesce ...

on LP and CD formats, the album is now out-of-print. Currently, the album's copyright is owned by The Bicycle Music Company after Grass Records merged with

Wind-Up Records Wind-up Entertainment was an American independent record label founded by Alan and Diana Meltzer in 1997. It was based in New York City and was distributed by BMG Distribution. Wind-up's best-selling artists worldwide were Creed and Evanesce ...

and subsequently sold the copyrights to the band's music.

Background and recording

The album was recorded in

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with engineering and production duties done by

Girls Against Boys Girls Against Boys is a post-hardcore band which formed in Washington, D.C. and subsequently relocated to New York City shortly after their formation in 1989. The band released albums on the labels Adult Swim, Touch and Go Records, Geffen Record ...

bassist Eli Janney. The album was edited at Ward Joe,

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and was mixed in Brooklyn. Larry Nicki mastered the album in Ardent,

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. The track "Meathook Manicure" was specifically recorded in the basement of one of the band member's house. To record the vocals, a cheap bullet microphone was used, which experienced a short out during the recording, resulting in some added feedback noise in the final recording. The track "You Wrecked My Hair" was the first song by the group to feature contributions by Schmersal. The voice samples on "Fucking With the Altimiter" was taken from a record Taylor found at a store Knoxville, Tennessee. The vocals for the chorus on "Fucking With the Altimiter" were performed in front of a fan, giving them a type of stutter effect.

Reception

While the album received little critical attention since its initial release in 1994, the attention it did end up receiving was very positive. Today ''Bonsai Superstar'' is considered as one of the best recordings by the band. In Brain Egan's review for the All Music Guide, he rewarded the album four out of five stars, stating that the album "captures a band that was ahead of their time and still moving forward".

Allmusic review AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

/ref> Tim Krug (of Oh Condor) referred to the recording as his favorite album of all time; he would later join Brainiac for a series of reunion shows in 2023.

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

ranked this album #57 in their Top 100 albums of the 1990s feature.

Track listing

Personnel

Brainiac

*Tim Taylor (credited as timmytaylor) - vocals *

(credited as Little Greenie) - guitar *Juan Monasterio (credited as Monostereo and B Chango) - bass *Tyler Trent (credited as Claire Quilty) - drums

Production

* Eli Janney - production, engineering, navigation *Larry Nicki - mastering *The Puddles - photography

References

{{Authority control 1994 albums Brainiac (band) albums