Marijuana Deathsquads is an American music group based in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

, Minnesota. The group's sound has been described by ''

City Pages ''City Pages'' was an alternative newspaper serving the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. It featured news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and music criticism, available free every Wednesday. It ceased publication in 2020 due to ...

'' as "ear-bending improv/dance grooves that defied listener expectations and spit in the face of easy categorization." NPR described the group as "a thrilling, relentless bombardment of sight and sound."

History

Formed in 2009, the band consists of Ryan Olson of Gayngs, Isaac Gale, Stef Alexander (a.k.a. P.O.S), Ben Ivascu of Poliça, Mark McGee of To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie, and Jeremy Nutzman (a.k.a. Velvet Negroni). Frequent collaborators include Channy Leaneagh and Drew Christopherson of Poliça, Har Mar Superstar, and

Jim Eno Jim Eno (born February 8, 1966) is the drummer and one of the founding members of the Austin, Texas band Spoon. He is also a record producer and a semiconductor chip designer. Eno is not related to sound engineer and record producer Brian ...

. In 2011, the group released its first studio album, ''Crazy Master''. In 2011, singer Isaac Gale won the ''

'' Best Male Vocalist award, his singing described as "a

poltergeist In ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional desc ...

creeping out of a snowy, crackling television screen, Gale's tortured, throaty hollering is the stuff of zombie nightmares, simultaneously gut-wrenching and enthralling." In 2012, the group released the ''Tamper Disable Destroy'' mixtape. In 2013, the group released ''Music Rocks I & II'', two EPs featuring Ryan Olson, Isaac Gale, Jason Power, Ben Ivascu, Channy Leaneagh, Mark McGee, Jeremy Nutzman, Stefon Alexander, and Madden. In that year, the group released ''Oh My Sexy Lord'', a studio album that '' Spin'' called "ferocious" and described as fusing "jagged grooves, scratchy analog effects, and robo-warped vocals into a full-length, experimental freakout." The album features guest appearances from

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...

frontman

Justin Vernon Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voi ...

, Poliça frontwoman Channy Leaneagh, and Har Mar Superstar. In 2016, the group contributed a cover of the song " Truckin'" to ''

Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

'', a

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

tribute album. In 2018, the group released ''Tuff Guy Electronics'', which was recorded at

Pioneer Works Pioneer Works is a non-profit cultural center in Red Hook, New York City. The center builds community through the arts and sciences to create an open and inspired world. It encourages radical thinking across disciplines by providing practitioners ...

(

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

) and Funkhaus (

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

Style and influences

Chris Reiemenschneider of '' Star Tribune'' stated that "Marijuana Deathsquads has been steadily blowing eardrums, breaking drum heads and tearing at the seams of conventional music-making since its semi-mysterious inception."

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Crazy Master'' (2011) * ''Oh My Sexy Lord'' (2013) * ''Tuff Guy Electronics'' (2018)

Mixtapes

* ''Tamper Disable Destroy'' (2012)

EPs

* ''Music Rocks I & II'' (2013)

Singles

* "The River" (2013) * "The World Beyond" (2019)

References

External links

Official website

Marijuana Deathsquads
at Totally Gross National Product * {{Authority control Musical groups established in 2009 Musical groups from Minnesota