.​.​. and in the constellation Cheese Mite

   The mood is set at with "Overheard Discussion at a Cocktail Party, Part 1", and that mood is Snufmeg. This collection contains all the requisite elements for a Cheese Mites experience, and if you're a fan (and who wouldn't be?) then prepare to enjoy.

   After the drinks are served, the light banter fades and the lovely acoustic "It Can't Be Helped" breezes us in. It wouldn't be Cheese Mites without some good old Snufmeg cannibalization, and it happens with "Rockin'" which first emerged credited to Top o' the Mornin', on the "Graffiti Music" release, produced by Williwill. He remains at the controls for the haunting "A Different Lime Coloured Planet (w/Vocals)" followed by the smash hit "Vaguely Beatlesque."

   "Mutual Attraction", absorbed from Alternateen, makes another appearance, enshrining itself as a bone fide Snufmeg staple, in the tradition of "Vomit Your Senses", and "Pros Jam with Pros". A switch back to Williwill with the near Snufmeg Klassikal (oftentimes referred to as Cheese Mites Classical) style "Discovering the Hideout." Snufmeg Surf returns with the beautiful "Surfer's Breakup."

   True Snufmeg avant-gardeism is showcased with "March of the Flesh-Eating Ghouls" followed by the "The Dancing Bears' Theme", fully absorbed from the DBs. Snufmeg Klassikal takes a more deliberate turn with Johnny B Dub flexing the baton with "Etude in 3/4." The back and forth between Johnny and Williwill continues with the latter's "Is Rockabilly a Form of Microaggression?" in an experimental mood. We never do seem to get an answer to that age-old question!

   "Umbrella Man" mellows out the vibe, only to be shaken back to the Snufmeg Klassikal edge of "Spontaneous Boredom" with Williwill's characteristic production. The blurring of lines between classic Snufmeg avant-ism and Klassikal is further illustrated in "Cartooning", but takes an overt turn to the drawing-room crowd with "Aetood."

   The abrupt tonal change of the blistering "8 Pound Maul" shakes the listener from any notion that safe listening is how the album approaches it's end. A retreat to melancholy flows in with "Lost Surf." To close out the 40+ minute excursion, "It Can't Be Helped" returns with an instrumental version, in a style befitting a Vegas show!

Nice is Nice

    In keeping with the long standing tradition of releasing archival material, one album at a time, the installment "Nice is Nice" once again shows the Cheese Mites willingness to stylistically confound and amaze. This collection reflects one of the wider expanses of time from their now apparently and obviously prolific career, 1985-2015. This encompasses the tail end of American Snufmeg and, to date, nearly the entirety of the Universal Snufmeg eras.

   Notable are the two songs "My Bag Rock" and "Snufmeg Foam", both of which were dub treated and also included, and along with "Blood Beach" keep the Snufmeg Surf tradition alive. Filling out the toe-tapping enjoyment are Williwill's "The White House is Haunted" and "I Can't Leave You Alone", which thematically borrows heavily from his composition "Del Guidiche" (from "Songs for Fighting and Marching").

   The epic length (18+ minutes!) "Rap Symphony No. One in E Major", originally included on Graffiti Music, is included, and scattered throughout are "Clarity", "Darker Days Ahead", a remake of "My Existence in the Shrubbery of Phantoms", "June Duet", "7 Qs" and "Listen, I'm Talking" (which reprises the "Del Guidiche" motif) all upholding the Cheese Mites tradition in Snufmeg for experimentation and the avant-garde, though with a more accessible flair.

Butterfly

    The Cheese Mites' album "Butterfly," released in 2016, is yet another in the ongoing list of productions which is comprised of archival material from the earliest "Universal Snufmeg" era (1989) to the very near present (2015). To date, it is one of the strongest collections in the post EIS era. Though not without experimentation and classic Snufmeg weirdness, the song craft in some instances is criminally overlooked by the public at large.

   To emphasize the song writing, however, will miss the Cheese Mites doing what they do best - confound. From the opening track to Williwill's brilliant "Color of Love" and "Mystery Girl", the Mites reveal that their compositional flair isn't merely accidental, as they were critiqued of earlier, but solidly building in deftness song by song. Willwill's production on both tunes reveals a mastery of both spatial appreciation and tasteful arrangement. "Mystery Girl"'s closing coda is reminiscent replication of the classic "Psychedelic Journey" updated but not demeaned by modern methodology.

   "A Nice Little Tea Room" and "Let's Have a Party Tonite" have been cannibalized into the Cheese Mites program, as referenced in other posts, but were originally credited to DJ Williwill on the 1986 (perhaps?) "Graffiti Music" compilation.

   Likewise, though originally attributed to the Dancing Bears, "Distinctive Sound", "Cricket" and "Anti-Shaving Protest Song" all bear unmistakable signature of classic Cheese Mites/Snufmeg fingerprints. Similarly, "Bop for the El" and "A Nice Home in the Country" were first presented as by the quickly and justifiably immolated Files Davis Quartet. Only "Que", "Black Sand Rock", "The Attic" and "Whirlwind" were penned under the flag of the Cheese Mites, with the second and last being recent additions to the Snufmeg Surf variety.