Biography
Bongwater operated as much like a performance art ensemble as a conventional band, springing from the combined efforts of guitarist Mark Kramer—who directed the Shimmy-Disc label after his time in Shockabilly—and actress Ann Magnuson. Magnuson had reached mainstream viewers through her recurring part on the ABC sitcom Anything But Love and her appearance in the feature Making Mr. Right. The pair first crossed paths at Club 57, her downtown New York nightspot, where Kramer engineered sound for her shows with the all-female percussion group Pulsalamma. They launched Bongwater in 1985 and recruited avant-garde guitarist Fred Frith to document their 1987 EP debut Breaking No New Ground, a crazed neo-psychedelic set built around Magnuson’s surreal narratives drawn from dreams about major celebrities and fellow downtown N.Y.C. denizens.
Once their anarchic live sets earned wider notice, Bongwater returned to Kramer’s Noise New York studios alongside ex-Phantom Tollbooth guitarist Dave Rick and former Shockabilly drummer David Licht to cut the sprawling two-LP opus Double Bummer in 1988. The wildly experimental collection included bizarro-world covers of Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll, Pt. 2” and Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused”—retitled “Dazed and Chinese” and sung in Mandarin—plus media satires such as “Decadent Iranian Country Club” and “David Bowie Wants Ideas.” Its 1989 successor, Too Much Sleep, assembled lo-fi recordings mottled with dialogue fragments, sampled answering machine messages and television soundbites.
On 1991’s The Power of Pussy, Bongwater parodied sex in all its forms. A European tour that featured rhythm guitarist Dogbowl followed, yet Kramer and Magnuson’s complex relationship began to fracture. After issuing one final record, 1992’s The Big Sell-Out, the duo separated both personally and professionally. The dissolution proved acrimonious, triggering a protracted legal battle that ultimately forced Shimmy-Disc into bankruptcy. Magnuson, meanwhile, pursued a solo path and released The Luv Show on Geffen in 1995.
Once their anarchic live sets earned wider notice, Bongwater returned to Kramer’s Noise New York studios alongside ex-Phantom Tollbooth guitarist Dave Rick and former Shockabilly drummer David Licht to cut the sprawling two-LP opus Double Bummer in 1988. The wildly experimental collection included bizarro-world covers of Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll, Pt. 2” and Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused”—retitled “Dazed and Chinese” and sung in Mandarin—plus media satires such as “Decadent Iranian Country Club” and “David Bowie Wants Ideas.” Its 1989 successor, Too Much Sleep, assembled lo-fi recordings mottled with dialogue fragments, sampled answering machine messages and television soundbites.
On 1991’s The Power of Pussy, Bongwater parodied sex in all its forms. A European tour that featured rhythm guitarist Dogbowl followed, yet Kramer and Magnuson’s complex relationship began to fracture. After issuing one final record, 1992’s The Big Sell-Out, the duo separated both personally and professionally. The dissolution proved acrimonious, triggering a protracted legal battle that ultimately forced Shimmy-Disc into bankruptcy. Magnuson, meanwhile, pursued a solo path and released The Luv Show on Geffen in 1995.
Albums
