Cribshitter recorded ‘Acapulco’ at Blast House Studios.
Founded on inside jokes and fueled by retro sounds, Cribshitter’s music exists in a world of its own. Pairing comedic, over-the-top lyrics with ’80s hi-fi pop production, the Madison band is set to release its latest full-length album, the vacation-themed concept record Acapulco, on Oct. 10, at a performance at Mickey’s Tavern.
Cribshitter first took the stage in 2004 when three of the group’s current members signed up for a set at the Memorial Union Rathskeller’s weekly open mic. With no songs prepared and no intention of forming a real band, the trio slashed through 15 minutes of “total chaos” with “performance art,” hoping to unsettle the audience. “The whole point was trying to see how quickly we could get booed off the stage,” says Karl Christensen (stage name Diaper Daniels), the architect of the group. Instead they received applause. “It was just enough to keep us going,” he says.
Eleven years and four LPs later, Cribshitter is still cranking out bizarre music, but they’ve thrown out chaos in favor of calculation, spending three years on Acapulco’s elaborate synth and rototom-heavy songs that follow one man’s odd journey through the Mexican tourist haven. The band set up a website mirroring the record’s timeshare theme.
Beginning with “bikini bottoms, salted rims, margaritas, Maui Jims,” Cribshitter sets the tone for a venture into “paradise” that slowly drifts into beachside raps and tales about “crazy boobies,” “hard-ons,” local beer and hard drugs.
Continually riding the line between ridiculous and serious, Cribshitter isn’t worried about what the audience thinks. “We’re trying to confuse people. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s always fun,” says Daniels, who collaborated with his wife Christine Christenson (stage name Danika Dutchcap) and four other alter-ego bandmates on Acapulco’s sprawling pop-, R&B- and country-tinged tunes.
Drawing inspiration from the soundtracks of Miami Vice, The Karate Kid and BMX movie Rad, Daniels genuinely loves the “inspirational rock” of the 1980s. He says Cribshitter’s lyrics are often dramatic, crude or reference-filled comedic commentaries. But for all the lyrical craziness, there are some dense textures, catchy melodies and unexpected arrangements.
A perfect example is Acapulco gem “If These (Vaginal) Walls Could Talk,” a Madonna- and Paula Abdul-influenced number that regales listeners with tongue-in-cheek sex talk placed over a bed of floating saxophones, electronic drums and melodic synth lines.
Completing their throwback feel, Cribshitter will put out a limited-run Acapulco cassette in addition to CD and Bandcamp releases, designing a 1980s Warner Brothers Records-style tape package that would look right at home on a used cassette rack.
One of the most thoughtfully weird acts out there, Cribshitter begs you to dive in with them. They’re sharing the bill at Mickey’s Tavern on Oct. 10 with Heavy Looks, but Cribshitter is playing first. That will give the Christensens enough time to get home to their own cribshitter: a new baby boy.