Album Notes

"RJ May's writing is vivid, flitting from abstract to detailed and, when paired with Pnapper's music, makes for a provocative listening experience." - The Seattle Times

Prolific? WORDBLENDER has managed to release three full length CDs in two years. 2003 harkens the arrival of both Nectar and Tainted Ambrosia. Two albums, two very different themes, created by two artists (Pnapper and RJ May) bursting with artistic energy. WORDBLENDER is a music/spoken word/mish-mash of nearly every possible genre of sound found in modern culture. They seek to expand the boundaries of what has become a predictable landscape of spoken word and music.

Tainted Ambrosia is a dark piece of work, a complete and total contrast to Nectar (released on the same day). As far as substance is concerned, this album seems to be the true follow-up to their debut record In Vino Veritas. The main ingredients: alcohol, alienation, depression, reclusiveness, sex, childhood psychology, suicide, addiction, overdose, blame, confusion... and a bit of humor thrown in to taste.

The artwork adds to the music. Renowned artist Rick Klu did the original artwork for the cover and booklet. A 20-page full-color booklet with all lyrics is included.

Tainted Ambrosia plays like a book reads, moving from chapter to chapter with a flow aided by random vocal recordings and samples from movies. RJ May claims that the album is an "exorcism of personal demons." Indeed, some of these poems rattle the very essence of the soul. Pnapper answered May's battle cry with music that rides the edge of a razor, leaving a trail of emotions, forcing the brain and body to react. This is serious stuff. Art for the ears!

A quick rundown of Wordblender’s Tainted Ambrosia:
“Cross-Pollution” opens the CD with a horn section setting a groove that undermines a call to the gods: “Is anyone listening?” The guitar work on “Seven Year Void” is nothing short of disturbing circus music and May’s words offer no forgiveness. “Twelve By Six By Zero” addresses a certain 12-step program from an impossible non-recovering standpoint. Fans have claimed “Tired” to be Wordblender’s first true masterpiece, a song that eventually finds funk within veins full of painkillers. The phone call to a porn shop that precedes “Stop at Blue Video” is hilarious… and then the song, driven by the sound of a straw moving in and out of a Big Gulp, is both naughty and pathetically right on. “Hot Dog” must be heard to be believed. “Like Lizards Crawling through My Skin” is another funky/jazzy gem delivered with raw abandon (this track is oddly compelling). “Mr. Sun” marks a turning point of the CD; even in its deep freeze this is the last ray of hope. From here on out we wander through a sonic labyrinth that is icy and wicked. “Telescope With a Diamond Lens” throws a fuck-you finger at family issues while riding a sonic heaviness. Performed acoustically, “Cemetery Life” deals with the darkness of a broken relationship. Immediately following that is a tear-jerker (“Dodging the Ghost”) that deals with an overdose and ends in a brutal vocal assault (this song is obviously the follow up to “Thursday” from In Vino Veritas). If you as a listener are still hanging on, “X” will blow your ears out. “Another New Year’s Eve” and “Where Am I?” end the assault on the senses much as the CD started: by finding no answers, no gods to get answers from, nothing but “the gray emptiness of dawn.” Indeed, at the end of the rainbow, the ambrosia lies putrefied. RJ May seems to be drowning in his own shit, and willingly so. Tainted Ambrosia is a fascinating listening experience.


www.wordblender.com