Mike Silverman aka That 1 Guy is certainly a unique musician. He is not only a one-man band; he’s a one-man band who creates his own unique instruments. His favoured piece, a bizarre combination of a harp/bass/twisted metal pipe construction, he calls The Magic Pipe. And on Packs A Wallop, he unveils his brand new Magic Pipe. The sounds he gets out of the instrument is akin to a bass guitar mixed with an electric guitar and percussion instruments all with one whack, one pluck or one strike of his Magic Pipe.
This is his fourth studio album, That 1 Guy went into the studio with nothing prepared and churned out a solid album of distorted funk blended alternative jazz. Think Les Claypool of Primus with a healthy touch of Frank Zappa and a leaning towards Tom Waits and you get an understanding of That 1 Guy. The songs are funky. Title track Packs A Wallop, opener Modern Man, and Laser Bean are the stand out tracks on this record. Beans, it seems, is a recurring theme throughout the record with three tracks featuring bean in the title. (Laser Bean, Luck Bean and Funk Bean).
The nine tracks on the album are a good snap shot of the live sound That 1 Guy creates. This is certainly an album for people who appreciate a bit of experimentation in their music. You won’t find stadium rock numbers here or sappy pop songs. What you get is a true musical artist creating art.
