Consumer Alert! I missed seeing Panicsville, a new band featuring members of Pound of Flesh & Fruitcake last week, and honestly was quite sorry I did. So it came as somewhat of a relief & a surprise when I stumbled upon a limited edition LP by them. I immediately paid the cash – it was pretty expensive but I paid it anyway- & trotted home to listen. The sleeve itself was a gorgeous handmade piece of A-R-T. It was obvious that if as much care & thought went into the music inside, this consumer & music aficionado was in for pure delight. The package had a certain lumpy thickness to it, which I interpreted to mean that there were a bunch of goodies stuck inside the sleeve.

   So I remove the plastic & slowly pull out the record, & it was BROKEN INTO SIX PIECES. And it was no accident, because they hot-glued the record back together. It’s a record that was intentionally broken, then glued back together. It’s all scratched & beat up. There’s no way it’ll play on anyone’s turntable.* The circular label on the center of the record had one word: “Panicsville!”

   The only information at all was on an insert, which contained pictures of the collective having a great time smashing records. The following message was enclosed: “Nihilist Records is proud to present you the consumer, another superior product…An adventure into Noizak. Noizak is a concept developed to deliver the utmost in listening pleasure (or pain). This is not your common experimental noise record. Noizak will draw you in like a warm fire & dazzle you like a thousand cocktail parties. We recommend volume.

:: St.Louis Post Dispatch
July 1996