Big Blood

Big Blood are Colleen Kinsella and Caleb Mulkerin, a married couple in Portland, Maine, who since 2007 have been recording prolifically at home with no attempt to make money. I love their music so much that I would rather spend the rest of my life listening only to Big Blood, than only everything else.

They each write and sing lead on their own songs, but Colleen usually sings backup for Caleb, and her voice is the heart of their sound. She has exceptional range and precision, and where opera singers and pop singers are tightly constrained in what they can do, she uses her voice so creatively that it's easily mistaken for bad singing. One listener described it as "discordant screeching", and my sister thought there was something wrong with the recording. Anyone can make noise, and lots of people can sing clearly, but it's rare to hear a voice with a clean sharp edge, and Colleen can sustain a level of laser-focused shrillness that other singers can barely touch. It's like the resonant frequency of my soul.

Even if she were an average singer, I would still love her edge-of-nonsense metaphysical lyrics, and they would still be my favorite musical stylists for their rhythms that hammer the one beat, their fuzz-folk instrumentation, and the way their songs get increasingly noisy.

Most of their music is available on this Free Music Archive page, but some of their best stuff is not, and they have a few good songs on side projects under other names. Here's their discography on Discogs, their web site, dontrustheruin, their bandcamp page, and a Facebook fan page.

When I first started going through their songs I only liked about one in ten -- but I liked those so much that I kept going through the duds looking for more gems, and kept finding more. So it's important to not start in the wrong place. Here are some three song samplers:

Light Colleen: Go See Boats, She Sells Sanctuary, Oh Country.
Heavy Colleen: Creepin Crazy Time, Dead Song, Away Pt III.
Weird Colleen: Destin Rain, Indang Pariman, Everything Is Improving.
Extreme Colleen: Glory Daze, Song For Baltimore, I Will Love You.
Rock Caleb: It's Alright, Sister, Sovereignty You Bitch.
Folk Caleb: Hangman, Sick With Information, The Rise of Quinnisa Rose.
Weird Caleb: South Of Portland, Sirens Knell, Don't Trust The Ruin.

And here it is album by album. Disclaimer: to the extent that musical quality is subjective, my judgments here are purely my own perception; and to the extent that musical quality is objective, my judgments are unfinished and I need to listen more. If you want to discuss the music, or you find a mistake, you can email me at ranprieur at gmail.

Asian Mae - Collsing (1999 - 2004)

Officially Big Blood are not a duo but a "phantom four piece of Asian Mae, Caleb Mulkerin, Rose Philistine and Colleen Kinsella." I'm guessing that when they do overdubs in their home studio, they're more creative if they take on imaginary alternate identities. Anyway, this is a collection of Colleen's recordings before Big Blood. The only thing I really like is a pretty folk song called Window In Time. They were also in a band called Cerberus Shoal, whose music completely bores me.

Strange Maine 11.04.06

Strange Maine is a place in Portland that has live shows, but this is not purely a live album because several songs have extra vocal tracks. Listen closely to All Operations and you can hear why Big Blood has never been "lo-fi", because it takes planning and skill to start with a live show and end up with two voices perfectly balanced between the left and right channels. The best single vocal track is on Past Time, and I love the timeless hillbilly folk choruses in Under The Concourse. A Quiet Lousy Roar is like an old rusty lamp that is polished by listening; every time I hear it it sounds brighter and more interesting.

Strange Maine 1.20.07

Sovereignty You Bitch is some great noise rock from Caleb, and if you like his voice, The Fall of Quinnisa Rose is the song where it's the most raw. Colleen does a cover of the Sumatran folk song Indang Pariaman, which at first I dismissed as some kind of awful Hindu temple chant. Then on my third or fourth listen, it was like the ear equivalent of seeing a magic eye image, and it suddenly became one of the most trippy things I've ever heard.

Space Gallery Jan. 27, 2007 Sahara Club Jan. 28, 2007

Yet another enhanced live album, and one of their best. Glory Daze is the first song where Colleen really lets it rip with her vocals. Shrining Light and A Hole In One are also good, and Sequins is a weird Alex Lukashevsky cover that reminds me of Tom Waits. I'm generally a fan of Colleen, but Caleb owns this album. She Said Nothing is an ambitious folk song with impressive string plucking, and one of the few times Caleb doesn't use his Neil Young voice. Don't Trust The Ruin is his best accomplishment in weirdness. And The Rise of Quinnisa Rose is his greatest song, with mind-blowing backing vocals. This is the song that made me lose all interest in Neutral Milk Hotel. Quinnisa Rose is their daughter, who was born in 2007 and would start contributing to their albums immediately if you count crying, in 2010 as a speaker, and in 2015 as a singer-songwriter.

Sew Your Wild Days Tour Vol. 1 (2007)

Colleen's voice has continued to get more polished over the years, but this is the album where it cracks my skull. Adversaries & Enemies is my fourth favorite of all her songs, and has almost her edgiest singing. Vitamin C is a screech-core cover of the krautrock classic. Don't Trust The Ruin II sounds like it was performed by Joanna Newsom's ghost. And Song For Baltimore is my god. Sometimes in a dream I'll hear a song that's better than any song could possibly be in the real world, but Song For Baltimore is that good. The first time I heard it, the sound was so shocking and seductive that I would have jumped out of my seat if I wasn't already at a stand-up desk. It has continued to sound better on every listen, and now it's such a powerful experience that I only do it a few times a year. This world is shadows on a wall and Song For Baltimore is turning to see the light. I make hard decisions by asking what would Song For Baltimore do. I'm not sure if it references the city of Baltimore, because there's also a Baltimore Avenue in South Portland, and I have a crazy theory that Baltimore is a joke name for death.

Sew Your Wild Days Tour Vol. II (2007)

My favorite track is Haystack, which has some nice singing and musical breathing, but there's nothing here that sticks with me.

Fire On Fire: Self-titled and The Orchard (2007-2008)

Fire On Fire is a side project with both members of Big Blood and some other folks. I'm lumping their two albums together, and I don't know where they fit chronologically with the other 2007-2008 albums. Colleen sings two good songs, Amnesia and Assanine Race, and one great song, Squeeze Box. The verses are folk but the choruses have a completely original sound, like doom chamber rock. Caleb's great song is Hangman, a much improved version of A Friendly Noose from their first album.

The Grove (2008)

Objectively this is Colleen's best singing yet. The title track, The Grove Is Hotter Than An Ocean's Oven, is a vocal tour-de-force about ecological disaster caused by human progress. No Gravity Blues is an exercise in doing more with less, just one electric guitar and one vocal track, with a stunning note at 1:44. Something Brighter Than The News is similar to No Gravity Blues and more complex. In The Light Of The Moon is a pretty Caleb song on one of my favorite themes, the conflict between the world of dreams and the depressing material world, and it has his best lyrics. "I used to be a lover from a well-oiled plan, but now I'm just loving the things I don't understand."

'Lectric 'Lashes (2008)

Another side project, a collaboration with the band Visitations. Everything is untitled, most of it is improvised, and the only thing I like is side A track 2, a super-dreamy soft-psych song.

Big Blood and The Bleedin' Hearts (2008)

The Bleedin' Hearts are three other Portland musicians who each play on four songs, but they don't seem to affect the sound. Graceless Lady was the first Big Blood song I heard, nine minutes of brilliant verse-chorus-verse psych folk. The Birds & The Herds is a catchy Caleb song about animals looking forward to the fall of humanity. And my third favorite of all Colleen songs is Oh Country (Skin & Bones), which sounds like a prettier Song For Baltimore: three verses, wordless wailing choruses, and drone-folk backing music that gradually builds. Here's a video of Oh Country live.

Already Gone I and II (2009)

On the whole double album the only thing I really like is a cover of the 80's hit She Sells Sanctuary. The Winds House is the rare song where I don't like Colleen's voice. I suspect that Comin' Home Pt I was completely improvised, and if so it's an interesting snapshot of her creative process. Breath In A Seed is a good Caleb song. Beatle Bones & Smokin Stones is impressively weird. And on the psych rock instrumental Polly + The Sheep, is that an electric guitar tuned like bagpipes?

Night Terrors On The Isle Of Louis Hardin (2010)

All I hear is amateur dark ambient, and they do it better on Radio Valkyrie.

Dead Songs (2010)

The title track is their first all-out rock song, and it kicks ass. I like to imagine what would happen if a classic rock station snuck Dead Song or Away Pt III into their rotation. A Spiral Down is less powerful but has even better vocals.

Operators & Things (2010)

A short album with some great short doom folk, South of Portland, and one of my favorites, Destin Rain. It's funny how some of their songs take me many listens to get, and others, equally strange, I get right away. I don't even know what it's about, but it's magical and alive, and I think of it as number three in the Song For Baltimore trilogy.

Dark Country Magic (2010)

I would not have guessed this as their most popular album, but in hindsight it makes sense. Creepin Crazy Time is well-crafted psych rock and probably Colleen's most accessible song for younger people, and her other major songs, She Wander(er) and Coming Home Pt III, lean more toward Stevie Nicks than Cthulhu. The experimental tracks are mostly short, and Caleb's two longest songs, Ringers in the Fold and Song for RO-HE-GE, are unthreatening and above average.

Big Blood & The Wicked Hex (2011)

If I could take one album to a desert island, it might be this. All five songs are by Colleen, and four of them are four of her best. Run is their first to pass 10,000 on YouTube and maybe their best written song, impeccably crafted from one guitar riff, one fuzz bass riff, and one great vocal hook. I Will Love You is their heaviest song, with banshee howls over chanting and distortion. Never Let Me Go is similar to Run, not as tight but darker and weirder. And after Song For Baltimore, Water is Big Blood's obvious masterpiece, 14 minutes of such beauty that I forget it was made by humans and not spun by angels out of starbeams. I can't tell if it's happy or extremely sad.

Micah Blue Smaldone Split (2012)

Micah is a friend who performed on at least one of their albums. He does two songs here and they do three really good ones. Sister is a dirge by Caleb, Kentucky Babe is a short ethereal cover of a traditional song, and the big one is The Queen and Her Court, Colleen's most ambitious work in the three years between Wicked Hex and Unlikely Mothers. For once, her lyrics sound like they were planned out in a notebook and not divinely inspired at the moment of recording. It's also an example of how music distorts time: I've heard songs under three minutes that seem to drag forever, and this is an 8½ minute song that seems to be over when it's barely started.

Old Time Primitives (2012)

The two best songs on this album are by Caleb, the title track and the epic Sirens Knell, which sounds like an orc anthem. Colleen has some early drafts of songs that will be perfected later. But how do they know, when they pick the title Leviathan Song Pt I, that it will be that particular song that spawns an improved part two, when it won't be recorded for another two years? I like to classify Colleen's songs by what season they sound like, and her best song on this album, Out Of Turn, has a low minor key sound that puts it in late fall. Scroll down or click here for a month by month playlist.

Radio Valkyrie 1905-1917 (2013)

There's only one remotely normal song, and a damn good one, Everything Is Improving. The rest are spooky and ambient. Cast Iron Hand is a good example, and I love The Mirror Like Sea.

Fight For Your Dinner vol. I (2014)

No sign of a volume two, and this seems to be one of those albums where they throw the dregs and flotsam of their creativity against the wall and see what sticks. Sick With Information is a beautiful song by Caleb about human extinction. The title track is a dark piano ballad, Twin Skin II is slow and watery with challenging vocals, and the hidden gem is You Need Then It Comes. It's one of their most musically interesting songs, with a distinctive high-pitched instrument complementing tight fuzz guitar and accordion.

Unlikely Mothers (2014)

Their most serious album. Every song is over seven minutes and aiming high. Caleb has always sung like Neil Young, and now they're playing like Crazy Horse on It's Alright and Endless Echo. As usual I like the Colleen songs best. Away Pt III is thundering psych rock and my favorite song to crank the volume and sing along. Here's a live video of Steppin' Time, which also totally rocks. Leviathan Song Pt II could be their best song yet for beautifully executed complexity. And A Watery Down II is like a new genre that I would call space lounge music. At 15 minutes it's their longest song, and not long enough.

Double Days I and II (2015)

The peak of Double Days I is a stunning cover of Black Sabbath's Planet Caravan, and there's also a good cover of Disintegration by the Cure. Double Days II has a celestial love song by Caleb, Magnetic Green, and three solid originals by Colleen. New Plan features a great spacy solo by a guest guitarist. Go See Boats is their most conventionally beautiful song yet, and my number one for 2015. And Time Stands Still is a hypnotic folk song that instead of building up slowly like usual, builds up all at once.

Human Adult Band split single (2015)

One dark and super-catchy song: Half Light Blues. You have to be a great performer to get so much mileage out of one vocal melody, and if Kurt Cobain were alive he would probably cover this.

Appendix 1: Calendar Playlist

February - No Gravity Blues
March - All Operations
April - Adversaries & Enemies
May - Destin Rain
June - Song For Baltimore
July - Oh Country
August - Time Stands Still
September - Graceless Lady
October - The Grove Is Hotter Than An Ocean's Oven
November - Leviathan Song Pt II
December - Water
January - The Mirror Like Sea

Appendix 2: my top 25

Song For Baltimore
Water
The Rise of Quinnisa Rose
Oh Country
Adversaries & Enemies
Destin Rain
Indang Pariman
Away Pt III
Graceless Lady
Go See Boats
Dead Song
No Gravity Blues
Creepin Crazy Time
The Grove
The Queen And Her Court
Run
A Spiral Down
Half Light Blues
A Watery Down II
Everything Is Improving
Leviathan Song Pt II
Squeeze Box
Vitamin C
You Need Then It Comes
I Will Love You