: ''For the actual machine, see
fog machine.''
''Smoke Machine'' is the second and final album by
Chocolate USA
Chocolate USA was an American indie rock band from Tampa Bay, Florida, formed in 1989 as Miss America. The band featured Julian Koster who went on to form The Music Tapes and join Neutral Milk Hotel.
History
The band formed as Miss America in 1 ...
.
It was released in 1994 on
Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Early history
Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Having previously worked in pirate radio and booked and promoted bands in his na ...
.
The band, always more a project of
Julian Koster, broke up after the release of the album. ''Smoke Machine'' contains some of
Bill Doss's earliest recorded performances.
Critical reception
AllMusic
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 databa ...
wrote: "While every melody and song is catchy as hell, and although Kostner's vocals are tender, this is pop music at its most exploratory without aspiring to (yet not sacrificing) accessibility. The whole of it is unselfconscious brilliance."
''
Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...
'' also praised it, and wrote that it "retains the determinedly unpretentious vibe of the first album, but the songwriting and arrangements are surer and more fully realized."
Track listing
# USA: Milkiest Theme
# Bookbag
# My Cherry Bomb
# Another Lego In Tha Cross
# (Unlisted Track)
# The Boy Who Stuck His Head In The Dryer (And Whirl'd Round N' Round)
# Intermission
# Playing In The Mud
# Ugly Girl
# Milk (Theme)
# Isn't A Lie.../Glow Worm
# We Stole The Cow
# (Bonus Tracks From Chocolate Monthly Tapes)
Personnel
*
Bill Doss - "multi instruments"
*
Julian Koster - vocals, guitar, bass, piano, drums, viola, concertina
*Liza Wakeman - violin
References
1994 albums
{{1990s-indie-rock-album-stub