Self

A month and a half in and I'm at 1996. While going through the mid 90s I listened to Self's Subliminal Plastic Motives for the first time in forever.

I miss Self.

They were poised for big things, or at least they seemed to be at the time. In the post-grunge mid-90s they produced two minor hits ("Canon" and "So Low"), but they were never able to follow them up with mainstream success or critical adulation. Partly due to their utter lack of angst (that wave wouldn't crest until after the end of the century), and partly due to the fact that they never had a record that truly captured their sound - Self was always on the cusp of success, but couldn't break through. Main man Matt Mahaffey had a Prince fetish and a background in hip-hop production that was obscured by the need for their records to sound "grunge", which led some of their songs to be viewed as cynical cash-ins.

But on the mail-order only Half-Baked Serenade the songs were stripped down and allowed some room to breathe. Self sounded more comfortable in their own skin and the proved the pop on Subliminal Plastic Motives was no mistake - it set up their upcoming major label release Breakfast with Girls perfectly. Big things seemed imminent.

But it never happened. Partly due to mis-management from their label - it was Dreamworks after all - the record flopped on its release. While its tempting to play the "corporate clusterfuck of a good record" card, the album doesn't justify such a defense. Betraying his past as a producer, Mahaffey made Breakfast as bloated and endlessly overdubbed as any Pink Floyd record. All that studio trickery might have been worth it, but sadly, the songs are just not that strong. The best songs ("Uno Song" "Suzie Q Sailaway"), are not coincidentally, the simplest. With the odds against them Self needed a solid record on their side, but Breakfast With Girls was not that record.

Oddly, a novelty idea (making an album with only toy instruments) gave Self an opportunity to make their best record, Gizmodgery. The limited range of the instruments focused the band into sparsity - though with Mahaffey at the dials the album is still heavily produced and processed. But the limited palette works to his favor as the simple structure and production suit Mahaffey and his sugar-rush brand of pop. Plus, this was the first record where he broke down and broke out his falsetto and indulged all the Prince affectations so long harbored in secret. And it works, except for the dumb, attention getting "Trunk Fulla Amps". Come on guys, Self was always dangerously close to being written off as a novelty band, and you pick the novelty-est song on the record as the lead single? Also, "Chameleon" is no good. But the rest of the record is a damn near perfect confection.

I don't really know what happened to Self after that. They've released a few internet-only b-sides comps since Gizmodgery, and have an unreleased Dreamworks album, but I'm still waiting for that great pop album that I know they have in them.

I just looked up their music online at www.selftunes.com, and the album art that is listed for the on-line only Feels Like Breakin' Shit is something that I did in high school. No idea how that ended up there, but cool.