Five Starcle Men (partially found noise music group discography; 1990-1997): Difference between revisions

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{{NeedingWork|poor formatting, lack of clarity, and references}}
{{InfoboxLost
{{InfoboxLost
|title=<center>Super Smash Bros. Slamfest '99</center>
|title=<center>Five Starcle Men</center>
|image=Scunibro.jpeg
|image=Scunibro.jpg
|imagecaption=Sleeve/album cover for Scunibro, the found vinyl LP from the group.
|imagecaption=Sleeve/album cover for Scunibro, the found vinyl LP from the group.
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
}}
}}
'''Five Starcle Men''' were an electronic noise music group from the 1990s whose music consisted of heavily distorted and edited samples, dextromethorphan-fueled rambling, alien abduction testimonials, and circuit bent toys and other electronic gadgets.


Five Starcle Men were an electronic/experimental/avant-garde noise music group from the 1990s whose music consists of heavily distorted and edited tape loops, drug-fueled rambling, alien abduction testimonials, and circuit bent toys and other electronic gadgets.
The group was comprised primarily of two members, Luke McGowan and Glen Hobbs. After Hobbs' suicide in 1997, McGowan went on to be a professor of psychology at the California Institute of Technology.


The group was comprised primarily of two members, Luke McGowan and Glen Hobbs. After Hobbs' suicide in 1997, McGowan went on to be a professor of psychology at the California Institute of Technology.
Ever since the release of the posthumous digital compilation [https://archive.org/details/lf074mp3 ''Gomba Reject Ward Japan''], Five Starcle Men have been noted for being shrouded in mystery, with very little written about them beyond blogs and a brief mention in an article in the Village Voice<ref>[https://www.villagevoice.com/2004/01/20/go-ahead-kill-yourself/ Village Voice article mentioning Five Starcle Men.] Retrieved Apr. 22, '21.</ref>. They had a Wikipedia page at one point, but it has deleted due to lack of notability, despite ''Gomba Reject Ward Japan'' having 27,000+ downloads on archive.org.<ref>This is not how [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability WP:Notability] works. The page could be restored if a reliable source that mentions Five Starcle Men is found.</ref>


They had a notable obsession with the chemical dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant with psychedelic/dissociative hallucinogen properties when taken in higher doses; their full-length album Scunibro contains an advertisement/URL for obtaining free samples of the chemical.
There are two official digital compilations released via the Japanese label Lost Frog Productions (including ''Gomba''), along with an unofficial bootleg cassette tape compilation called ''The Five Starclemen''. The second digital compilation is called ''Only Kids of Nothing Star''. Both of them are available on archive.org.


They had a Wikipedia page, but it has deleted due to lack of notability, despite the group's compilation album Gomba Reject Ward Japan having 27,000+ downloads on archive.org.
==Known Albums==


The only full official album to have surfaced online as it was released in the band's lifetime is Scunibro, a 12" vinyl released by Bobby J Records. There are two official digital compilations released via Lost Frog Productions, a Japanese label, along with an unofficial bootleg cassette tape compilation called The Five Starclemen. Lost Frog also released a CD compilation titled Ghost Starbie's Collected Kids, but it appears to have the same tracklisting as the digital compilation Gomba Reject Ward Japan. The second digital compilation is called Only Kids of Nothing Star.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! style="background-color:green" | Release year
! style="background-color:green" | Title
! style="background-color:green" | Notes
! style="background-color:green" | Status
|-
|1992||ISTINT||According to a YouTube upload{{which}}, the second half of side A and the first half of side B of the Five Starclemen bootleg cassette contains songs from this tape. It is unknown whether this is actually the case.||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
|-
|1993||Briskle Discal||||<span style="color:orange;">[https://soundcloud.com/user-410047783/bd_a_2 '''Partially Found'''] [https://soundcloud.com/user-410047783/five-starcle-men-hey-you-kid '''(2)''']</span>
|-
|1993||Sicicbral EP||||<span style="color:green;">[https://soundcloud.com/user-410047783/sets/five-starcle-men-sicicbral '''Found''']</span>
|-
|1994||Briskle Discal 2||||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
|-
|1995||R/Eject Ward||Luke allegedly confirmed its existence, and called it his favorite from their later years.||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
|-
|1995||Scunibro||Only known vinyl release.||<span style="color:green;">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgYk8odBSEI '''Found''']</span>
|-
|1995||Beast 666||||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
|-
|1996||Gomblasemba Lumbieca||||<span style="color:green;">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6b2FbG-ST8 '''Found''']</span>
|-
|Unknown||I Told You Human||According to a YouTube upload{{which}}, the first half of side A of the Five Starclemen bootleg cassette contains songs from this tape. It is unknown whether this is actually the case.||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
|-
|Unknown||Dwck Jired||According to a YouTube upload{{which}}, the second half of side B of the Five Starclemen bootleg cassette contains songs from this tape. It is unknown whether this is actually the case, or if it actually exists.||<span style="color:grey;">'''Existence Unconfirmed'''</span>
|}


An incomplete discography was listed on their Wikipedia page, with album titles and release years as follows:
==Misc. Media==


ISTINT (1992)
The band was also featured in the inaugural and presumably only issue of the zine ''Whump!'', with some audio of the interview existing on the 7" bonus record that was included with the magazine. There was also a live album released on VHS, ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eixve9lvTX8 Live + Dead]'', which has been reuploaded to YouTube.


Briskle Discal (1993)
==Status==


Briskle Discal 2 (1994)
According to Luke in an email he doesn't wish to be shared publically, a "crazed fan" stole most of the masters. This makes the complete recovery of their discography even harder, if not outright impossible.


Reject Ward (1995)
For the longest time, the only Five Starcle Men material available were the aforementioned compilations and, eventually, ''Scunibro''.


Scunibro (1995)
However, in late 2020, a musician who knew Five Starcle Men personally when they were active joined a Discord server dedicated to the band and posted flyers and pictures of cassettes he had in his possession. He promised to contact Luke to see if he could release them. Luke initially denied him permission, but eventually allowed him to upload small amounts of what he had. He uploaded the ''Sicicbral'' EP to Soundcloud alongside individual songs from ''Briskle Discal'' and a collaborative cassette with his own group, Bobeli.


Beast 666 (1995)
He also confirmed the rumor that Luke is compiling songs for what he calls a "mega-compilation" from the few masters he had left.


Gomblasemba Lumbieca (1996)
==References==
{{reflist}}


The band was also featured in the inaugural and presumably only issue of the zine Whump, with some audio of the interview existing on the 7" bonus record that was included with the magazine.


Scunibro vinyl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgYk8odBSEI
[[Category:Lost music]]
Live + Dead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eixve9lvTX8
[[Category:Partially found media]]
Archive.org page with compilations released by Lost Frog - https://archive.org/details/lf074mp3

Revision as of 21:43, 23 May 2022

Lmwtan cleanup.png


This article has been tagged as Needing work due to its poor formatting, lack of clarity, and references.



Scunibro.jpg

Sleeve/album cover for Scunibro, the found vinyl LP from the group.

Status: Partially Found

Five Starcle Men were an electronic noise music group from the 1990s whose music consisted of heavily distorted and edited samples, dextromethorphan-fueled rambling, alien abduction testimonials, and circuit bent toys and other electronic gadgets.

The group was comprised primarily of two members, Luke McGowan and Glen Hobbs. After Hobbs' suicide in 1997, McGowan went on to be a professor of psychology at the California Institute of Technology.

Ever since the release of the posthumous digital compilation Gomba Reject Ward Japan, Five Starcle Men have been noted for being shrouded in mystery, with very little written about them beyond blogs and a brief mention in an article in the Village Voice[1]. They had a Wikipedia page at one point, but it has deleted due to lack of notability, despite Gomba Reject Ward Japan having 27,000+ downloads on archive.org.[2]

There are two official digital compilations released via the Japanese label Lost Frog Productions (including Gomba), along with an unofficial bootleg cassette tape compilation called The Five Starclemen. The second digital compilation is called Only Kids of Nothing Star. Both of them are available on archive.org.

Known Albums

Release year Title Notes Status
1992 ISTINT According to a YouTube upload[which?], the second half of side A and the first half of side B of the Five Starclemen bootleg cassette contains songs from this tape. It is unknown whether this is actually the case. Lost
1993 Briskle Discal Partially Found (2)
1993 Sicicbral EP Found
1994 Briskle Discal 2 Lost
1995 R/Eject Ward Luke allegedly confirmed its existence, and called it his favorite from their later years. Lost
1995 Scunibro Only known vinyl release. Found
1995 Beast 666 Lost
1996 Gomblasemba Lumbieca Found
Unknown I Told You Human According to a YouTube upload[which?], the first half of side A of the Five Starclemen bootleg cassette contains songs from this tape. It is unknown whether this is actually the case. Lost
Unknown Dwck Jired According to a YouTube upload[which?], the second half of side B of the Five Starclemen bootleg cassette contains songs from this tape. It is unknown whether this is actually the case, or if it actually exists. Existence Unconfirmed

Misc. Media

The band was also featured in the inaugural and presumably only issue of the zine Whump!, with some audio of the interview existing on the 7" bonus record that was included with the magazine. There was also a live album released on VHS, Live + Dead, which has been reuploaded to YouTube.

Status

According to Luke in an email he doesn't wish to be shared publically, a "crazed fan" stole most of the masters. This makes the complete recovery of their discography even harder, if not outright impossible.

For the longest time, the only Five Starcle Men material available were the aforementioned compilations and, eventually, Scunibro.

However, in late 2020, a musician who knew Five Starcle Men personally when they were active joined a Discord server dedicated to the band and posted flyers and pictures of cassettes he had in his possession. He promised to contact Luke to see if he could release them. Luke initially denied him permission, but eventually allowed him to upload small amounts of what he had. He uploaded the Sicicbral EP to Soundcloud alongside individual songs from Briskle Discal and a collaborative cassette with his own group, Bobeli.

He also confirmed the rumor that Luke is compiling songs for what he calls a "mega-compilation" from the few masters he had left.

References

  1. Village Voice article mentioning Five Starcle Men. Retrieved Apr. 22, '21.
  2. This is not how WP:Notability works. The page could be restored if a reliable source that mentions Five Starcle Men is found.