Fred Armisen’s ‘100 Sound Effects’: Every Track Ranked

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Fred Armisen has fewer equals erstwhile it comes to committing to the bit. Whether he’s playing Prince or gold-toothed Venezuelan timbales subordinate Fericito on Saturday Night Live, Dave, Spyke oregon Bryce on Portlandia, oregon Uncle Fester on Wednesday, helium inhabits his characters truthful wholly that they tin beryllium uncomfortable to watch—especially erstwhile those characters deficiency immoderate self-consciousness, are painfully naive, talentless oregon annoying. It’s a instrumentality helium brought to his nationalist persona arsenic well, particularly his bits with Seth Meyers arsenic the drummer of the 8G Band connected Late Night, explaining that helium was releasing his archetypal fragrance (a suspiciously acheronian liquid that smelled similar ink) oregon launching his ain personage circus.

So erstwhile Armisen appeared connected Netflix’s Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney last March and announced helium was astir to merchandise an medium of dependable effects connected the Drag City label, it was hard to archer if it was real, a joke, oregon an Andy Kaufman-esque spot that lived successful the abstraction betwixt world and comedy. Even Mulaney seemed uncertain. And erstwhile Armisen played a fewer dependable effects, the straightforwardness of it each lone fed the uncertainty.

Turns out, Armisen was not kidding — astatine slightest not joking astir releasing an medium of unadorned recordings of . . . sounds. Drag City released 100 Sound Effects in precocious September. As the Chicago label’s co-founder Dan Koretzky enactment it: “Fred projected a dependable effects record, and reasoning helium meant a tribute to The Jam, we were thrilled! When we realized it was a grounds of existent dependable effects, we were overjoyed!” Koretzky was referring to Paul Weller-led band’s 1980 near-masterpiece Sound Affects, and the screen of Sound Effects pays homage to that album. It is besides dedicated to the precocious shaper and indie stone icon Steve Albini, who helped Armisen find L.A. signaling studios for the task earlier helium died past year.

100 Sound Effects really contains a 101st bonus way — a throwback to the afloat flowering of the CD format successful the 1990s and 2000s. The recordings scope from 7 seconds to 1 infinitesimal and 49 seconds. (A nine-track compilation connected Spotify combines a fig of effects by subject.) Comedian friends besides diagnostic connected immoderate of the tracks, including Tim Heidecker, Mary Lynn Rajskub (remember her successful that torture procedural 24?) and his wife Riki Lindhome.

In interviews for the album, Armisen has said helium hopes immoderate of the recordings volition really beryllium utilized by the amusement industry. Licensing fees are a small unlikely, fixed the acceptable availability of royalty-free dependable libraries. But Koretzky does not dependable similar idiosyncratic acrophobic astir however overmuch the medium sells oregon streams. Asked wherefore his statement would perpetrate to an medium with small commercialized potential, helium replied via email: “We whitethorn person antithetic definitions of commercialized success.”

Given Armisen’s committedness to the task and his craft, Billboard committed to listening to and ranking the tracks on 100 Sound Effects. That said, 101 entries bash not follow. Some of the dependable effects are flimsy variations connected a theme, specified arsenic breaking glass, and, for the intent of this article, are evaluated arsenic a group.