Butthole Surfers Unveil “Imbuya” From Lost “After The Astronaut” Album

Butthole Surfers have released Imbuya, the track is the second single from their upcoming album, After The Astronaut, that will be released on June 26th via Sunset Blvd Records. Never fitting into neat genre boxes, Butthole Surfers‘ remarkable ability of mixing psych rock with industrial, punk, and abstract guitar noodlings becomes quite apparent with Imbuya. Keeping pace with a rhythmic drum shuffle programming (courtesy of King Coffey), the track showcases Paul Leary‘s adept guitar prowess while vocalist Gibby Haynes delivers lyrics worthy of an evangelical sermon.

A mythical “lost’ record, After The Astronaut was originally scheduled to come out on April 7th 1998 but it was shelved by Capitol Records for being too abrasive and uncommercial, the album was pulled off the release schedule and tossed unceremoniously in the closet. Its tracks were later reconfigured and reworked as the album Weird Revolution in 2001, which the band wasn’t very happy with. The 12-track album is filled with acid-drenched, industrial-inflected soundscapes peppered with Haynes’ ofttimes stream-of-consciousness vocals, After The Astronaut is exactly what you’d expect from Butthole Surfers but nothing you’d predict. It’s an album of textures and abrasion but with solid musicianship to keep it anchored, sinuous and serpentine, it encircles the melodies in orchestrated musical anarchy