Muchos Backflips!

Scan your ticket and climb aboard this wild ride channeling Edgard Varèse by way of Frank Zappa and Mike Patton. Muchos Backflips! specializes in mostly instrumental avant-rock incensed with cinematic jazz-creep horns skittering through Herb Alpert-like bullfights, Ennio Morricone spaghetti Westerns, and Tom Scott cop shows. Lengthwise, the local quintet's songs range from 60-second blips ("Night Blaster") to rollicking, eight-minute epics ("Fortress of the Frogs"). The latter's narrative reaches a high point with a suspenseful trumpet solo from guest Margaret Whitt. Animators and game designers, take note: This piece demands a companion visual.

-Greg Beets - The Austin Chronicle

Experimental and completely off-the-wall, Winston Barrett’s Muchos Backflips! mix up hardcore, metal, epic soundtracks, mariachi brass, unstructured jazz flip-outs and previously untested jerk-rhythms, sometimes all within the same song. Mostly instrumental, when words appear they do so as grunted asides, left to fester in and amongst the cacophony of shredded guitars, weepy horns and convulsive beats.

Opening cut “El Zilcho” begins fairly straightforwardly with crunchy guitars, but we’re less than a minute in before a reggae trumpet and a love of spy-movie themes comes to the fore. The title track includes a vocal of sorts, gentle at first, but then growly and ugly and you won’t be singing along in the shower. “Worst Episode Ever” builds and destroys, embraces its stimuli before quickly dying.

Needless to say “Curtains I Tell You” will appeal to a limited audience; they are the lucky ones. Of course it’s a record that challenges listeners to make choices, but for all its flights of aural insanity, it retains a musical core. Barrett’s obviously a fanboy at heart, utilizing his many influences to make his own musical investigations. Indeed, I’d love to spend an intimate week with his record collection.?

www.muchosbackflips.com

Rob F. - Leicester Bangs

Experimental and completely off-the-wall, Winston Barrett’s Muchos Backflips! mix up hardcore, metal, epic soundtracks, mariachi brass, unstructured jazz flip-outs and previously untested jerk-rhythms, sometimes all within the same song. Mostly instrumental, when words appear they do so as grunted asides, left to fester in and amongst the cacophony of shredded guitars, weepy horns and convulsive beats.

Opening cut “El Zilcho” begins fairly straightforwardly with crunchy guitars, but we’re less than a minute in before a reggae trumpet and a love of spy-movie themes comes to the fore. The title track includes a vocal of sorts, gentle at first, but then growly and ugly and you won’t be singing along in the shower. “Worst Episode Ever” builds and destroys, embraces its stimuli before quickly dying.

Needless to say “Curtains I Tell You” will appeal to a limited audience; they are the lucky ones. Of course it’s a record that challenges listeners to make choices, but for all its flights of aural insanity, it retains a musical core. Barrett’s obviously a fanboy at heart, utilizing his many influences to make his own musical investigations. Indeed, I’d love to spend an intimate week with his record collection.?

www.muchosbackflips.com

Rob F. - Leicester Bangs

Again, hats off to the talented musical explorers of our town who are not content to let their rock merely roll. Ska, punk, and metal twist their way through this organic piece of multiple moods and textures. There's not a standard track on the album as it also finds a way to toy with funk, rap, reggae, jazz, and spacious ambience while the ghost of Zappa nods approvingly over their shoulders. - Charlie Martin - 91.7 KOOP (Radio de la Comunidad en Austin)

Local favorites Muchos Backflips finally got the SXSW Showcase show they’ve always deserved this year at the outdoor stage at Opal Divines, and they responded by delivering the tightest performance I’ve ever seen them give. Playing an outdoor stage on the coldest day of SXSW can clearly put strain on any band; however, it didn’t seem to affect Muchos or the audience one bit. With their special blend of fanciful, psychedelic post-ska rock and often-instrumental, occasionally vocal songs, the band grabbed the attention of all in attendance and didn’t let go till they left the stage. Winstons’ vocals, when present, come through the mic with potent staccato enunciation, like a precise machine gun launching volleys of word bullets. Backing them, Eric destroyed the drums with lock-step precision, while the bass grooved and saxophones accented sharp, ska-infused intonations. They delivered handcrafted, Zappa-infused post-ska psychedelia and drew a clear positive response from the fans. I even caught members of the bands that were following Muchos’ set jamming out on the side-stage throughout their performance. They’ve been local Austin favorites for some years now, but they deserve the recognition of the masses. It was nice to see that the SXSW committee finally agrees this year and gave them their well-deserved showcase show. - James Segerson - LAmusicblog.com

"A wonderful sounding record filled with surprises and originality." - Daisy Riprock - Austin Daze Magazine

"Muchos has the crunch that makes you feel guilty about being a metalhead in the 80's" - Demon Monk

If you are like me, a child of Zorn, lover of all things Patton, worshipper at the feet of Sleepytime...then I have a band for you. Muchos Backflips! are a very talented group of musicians from Austin with a propensity for extremes. They cascade through a variety of musical styles, often mixing them to create odd and unexpected songs. Trumpet and saxophone add a carnival feel, much like in early Bungle. Lyrically, they're closer to Zappa, with obviously not-so-serious songs about food and other crazy anecdotes. So, if you like a little metal in your spy jazz, then this may be the band for you. - Adrian Fallwell - NONzine.com

"What's better than pizza and the self-proclaimed 'wind-baggery' of Muchos Backflips?

-Shannon McGarvey - Shannon McGarvey, austin360.com

With a self-described sound of an "Atari-punk hoedown," Austin, TX's avant garde quintet, Muchos Backflips!, fuses the outrageous energy of Mr. Bungle with Parliament to create a sonic explosion. Using percussion, horns, and shouting vocals on tracks such as: "Snackntackle" and "Soup Jug Shift." For information about how to buy the groupÕs debut CD, visit muchosbackflips.com.

http://www.onewaymagazine.com/inthebin_24-1175.html - One Way Magazine

I never thought I would be so intrigued yet so confused about music until now.

"The Reckit" is the newly-released album from Muchos Backflips, formerly known as WatermelonFastBass. Some of you may know that WatermelonfastBass recorded an album in 2001 called "Phobophobia," which was recorded entirely at SPC's Creative Arts Department.

To catch you up to speed, the members of Muchos Backflips now include: Winston Barrett on guitar, vox, keyboards, dr-202, sp-808 and bongos; Eric Brown on drums, bongos, shakers, vox and kalimba; Kris Lindahl on tenor sax, guitar and vox; and Eric McFarlin on bass. Barrett and Lindahl are former SPC students, and the band is currently based in Austin.

The confusing thing about "The Reckit" is that it is so oddly unique, complicated and simple, all in the same premium blend. This band compiles all different types of music, such as rock, jazz and funk to illustrate their music. The songs have a silly charm about them that you can't help but like.

One of the songs on the album is called "Snackntackle." First, what's not to love about a song called "Snackntackle"? The originality is just seeping through every measure of the music. The song starts out with a basic groove that turns into a tidal wave of horns.

Needless to say, the music is right on. The lyrics on "Snackntackle" are a rhythmic masterpiece. Unfortunately, you will not be able to tell unless you look them up like did.

"It's a vexatious situation to anatomize my think machine, she brought me to the uppermost with another rude awakening dream," is an example of the brilliantly-constructed lyrics.

The song I enjoy the most on this album is called "Drinky Poo." It is a clever and simple song that is fun to dance to. I don't think it gets much better than dancing around your room to lyrics such as, "It's my drinky, drinky, drinky poo." How hilarious is that?

To be honest, Muchos Backflips is a really talented band, and they really bring something to the table that many bands do not have in this area. However, if you are looking for a band to take your breath away in a more serious way then Muchos Backflips probably isn't what you are looking for.

Also, if you're a stickler for Grammy-winning lyrics, you won't find that here because the lyrics are minimal. But if you're looking for a good time and something new, Muchos Backflips is for you. I give "The Reckit" 3 out of 5 stars. - Heather Daniel - The Plainsman Press (Levelland, TX)

Lubbock, Texas, best known to many as the home to Texas Tech University, is also the hometown to many a country musician. But Winston Barrett can tell you that Lubbock wasn’t quite the ideal place for his experimental rock project, then known as Watermelonfastbass. So the band made its way to Austin in 2003 in search of a bigger music market, added a much needed bass player (Brendan Vlass), threw in a trumpet player (Margaret Whitt), as well as a change of name and Muchos Backflips! was born.
A name like Muchos Backflips! sounds like the kind with a story behind its origin. When prompted to discuss where it came from, Barrett chuckles before launching into the tale.
“A friend of mine in high school, he had a kid that grew up speaking English and Spanish. One day, he was playing with a little toy motorcycle and kept yelling that, over and over again to his grandma. He just kept yelling it, and it was hilarious,” he explains. “When we moved [to Austin], we wanted to change our name. And I remembered that, I’ll never forget it. I suggested it to everyone and they agreed, they thought it was awesome.” If you’re attempting to categorize the band’s sound by listening to their first album, The Reckit, good luck trying. Calling them experimental is really only the tip of the iceberg, because Muchos Backflips! won’t provide you with a standard track. They instead take a bit from every genre possible to create what can only be described as a smoregashboard of sound, with no two of the 12 recorded songs sounding alike.
So how do you go about trying to describe the somewhat undescribeable? Barrett has two words for you: adventure rock. “That’s what we’ve been calling it ourselves,” he adds. “I’ve heard a lot of different things, like absurdist death-jazz. My favorite review of our CD was, ‘If you like a little metal with your quiet jazz, this might be the band for you’.”
With rock as the foundation to their music, Mucho Backflips! does make good use of almost any established sound you can think of beyond metal and jazz, including ska, punk, rap, reggae and any other undertone you can catch woven into Barrett’s clever compositions.
2007’s The Reckit is a testament to this. Towards the beginning of the record, you have a song like “Snackntackle”, which starts with heavy, synth-based based beats, with some rap thrown in, before having the horn section come in full blast. “Fantastamabulous” is a song that can be found somewhere in the middle and starts off in a light, quirky-sounding manner but you can’t help but brace yourself for the ruckus of gritty guitars that ultimately come crashing in. The track “Funky Lady” comes in towards the end and rises and swells, almost like it has its own interlude. It begins with a decidedly alternative, ska-like beat before switching into laidback latin-jazz, only to immediately pick up again with a crash of distorted riffs.
While Barrett enjoys having a unique sound, he describes the band’s upcoming album, Curtains I Tell You, as their way to begin leaning towards a more cohesive sound. “It’s definitely still distinct, and it’s a little darker and heavier,” he explains. “More classically influenced. Lots more horns. The first album was more of a collaborative thing but this one is kind of the album I’ve wanted to do.”
While Muchos Backflips may still be evolving, their high energy take on “adventure rock” is one worth checking out. - Daniela Garcia - Nu Magazine

Lubbock, Texas, best known to many as the home to Texas Tech University, is also the hometown to many a country musician. But Winston Barrett can tell you that Lubbock wasn’t quite the ideal place for his experimental rock project, then known as Watermelonfastbass. So the band made its way to Austin in 2003 in search of a bigger music market, added a much needed bass player (Brendan Vlass), threw in a trumpet player (Margaret Whitt), as well as a change of name and Muchos Backflips! was born.
A name like Muchos Backflips! sounds like the kind with a story behind its origin. When prompted to discuss where it came from, Barrett chuckles before launching into the tale.
“A friend of mine in high school, he had a kid that grew up speaking English and Spanish. One day, he was playing with a little toy motorcycle and kept yelling that, over and over again to his grandma. He just kept yelling it, and it was hilarious,” he explains. “When we moved [to Austin], we wanted to change our name. And I remembered that, I’ll never forget it. I suggested it to everyone and they agreed, they thought it was awesome.” If you’re attempting to categorize the band’s sound by listening to their first album, The Reckit, good luck trying. Calling them experimental is really only the tip of the iceberg, because Muchos Backflips! won’t provide you with a standard track. They instead take a bit from every genre possible to create what can only be described as a smoregashboard of sound, with no two of the 12 recorded songs sounding alike.
So how do you go about trying to describe the somewhat undescribeable? Barrett has two words for you: adventure rock. “That’s what we’ve been calling it ourselves,” he adds. “I’ve heard a lot of different things, like absurdist death-jazz. My favorite review of our CD was, ‘If you like a little metal with your quiet jazz, this might be the band for you’.”
With rock as the foundation to their music, Mucho Backflips! does make good use of almost any established sound you can think of beyond metal and jazz, including ska, punk, rap, reggae and any other undertone you can catch woven into Barrett’s clever compositions.
2007’s The Reckit is a testament to this. Towards the beginning of the record, you have a song like “Snackntackle”, which starts with heavy, synth-based based beats, with some rap thrown in, before having the horn section come in full blast. “Fantastamabulous” is a song that can be found somewhere in the middle and starts off in a light, quirky-sounding manner but you can’t help but brace yourself for the ruckus of gritty guitars that ultimately come crashing in. The track “Funky Lady” comes in towards the end and rises and swells, almost like it has its own interlude. It begins with a decidedly alternative, ska-like beat before switching into laidback latin-jazz, only to immediately pick up again with a crash of distorted riffs.
While Barrett enjoys having a unique sound, he describes the band’s upcoming album, Curtains I Tell You, as their way to begin leaning towards a more cohesive sound. “It’s definitely still distinct, and it’s a little darker and heavier,” he explains. “More classically influenced. Lots more horns. The first album was more of a collaborative thing but this one is kind of the album I’ve wanted to do.”
While Muchos Backflips may still be evolving, their high energy take on “adventure rock” is one worth checking out. - Daniela Garcia - Nu Magazine

I really didn't care to research this band prior to attending the show, only because their name was the cover on the book that sold me. Muchos Backflips? How can you go wrong? And I didn't. This band certainly surprised nearly everyone in the Bovine that Saturday night.

Visually, this band had diversity written all over it. Why? I'll break it down. This Texas five-piece included a drummer that looked a lot like Eddie Murphy, a lead guitarist who looked like a biology major, a bassist who looked hand-picked from a folk-ska unit, a trumpet player who looked like she just came from a law firm, and a saxophone player that could have been at a Slipknot rehearsal before coming to the show. ThatÕs diverse enough for me, and so were the tunes.

For starters, very few bands can impress the hell out of me without any lyrics. Instrumental compositions are a difficult genre to be in, especially for a rock group. Much like jazz, the notes and rhythms must carry the attention of an audience and make them forget that lyrics even mattered. Muchos Backflips! did just that.
From the first note played, I knew I would have trouble categorizing their sound. The instruments played hot, fast and loudly. Try to imagine the Dave Matthews Band, if they played metal. Muchos Backflips! are simply a group of incredibly talented musicians. They worked around time measures that would even make Radiohead scratch their noggins. Individual players executed each note with technical precision, without compromising any of their live performance. The bass player even looked like he was trying to put out a fire on the stage with his feet moving so fast. Honourable mention must also go to their drummer, who played faster, funkier, and utilized more complex fills than any drummer IÕve witnessed since Bernard Purdy.

Next time Muchos Backflips! comes into your town, be sure to get your ticket. This instru-metal (damn, that's good) band is sure to satisfy fans of anything from Pantera, to John Coltrane, to Al Green. - Andy Schmidt - torontoindie.com

I really didn't care to research this band prior to attending the show, only because their name was the cover on the book that sold me. Muchos Backflips? How can you go wrong? And I didn't. This band certainly surprised nearly everyone in the Bovine that Saturday night.

Visually, this band had diversity written all over it. Why? I'll break it down. This Texas five-piece included a drummer that looked a lot like Eddie Murphy, a lead guitarist who looked like a biology major, a bassist who looked hand-picked from a folk-ska unit, a trumpet player who looked like she just came from a law firm, and a saxophone player that could have been at a Slipknot rehearsal before coming to the show. ThatÕs diverse enough for me, and so were the tunes.

For starters, very few bands can impress the hell out of me without any lyrics. Instrumental compositions are a difficult genre to be in, especially for a rock group. Much like jazz, the notes and rhythms must carry the attention of an audience and make them forget that lyrics even mattered. Muchos Backflips! did just that.
From the first note played, I knew I would have trouble categorizing their sound. The instruments played hot, fast and loudly. Try to imagine the Dave Matthews Band, if they played metal. Muchos Backflips! are simply a group of incredibly talented musicians. They worked around time measures that would even make Radiohead scratch their noggins. Individual players executed each note with technical precision, without compromising any of their live performance. The bass player even looked like he was trying to put out a fire on the stage with his feet moving so fast. Honourable mention must also go to their drummer, who played faster, funkier, and utilized more complex fills than any drummer IÕve witnessed since Bernard Purdy.

Next time Muchos Backflips! comes into your town, be sure to get your ticket. This instru-metal (damn, that's good) band is sure to satisfy fans of anything from Pantera, to John Coltrane, to Al Green. - Andy Schmidt - torontoindie.com