Soul-Junk

Soul-Junk is an experimental genre-hopping Christian rock / hip hop group from San Diego, California.

Background

The roots of Soul-Junk began in 1993 when Glen Galloway began experimenting while touring in Europe with his rock band Trumans Water.^[1] By the time Trumans Water moved to Portland, Oregon in 1994 he had already left and concentrated on Soul-Junk as a full time independent solo project,^[2] eventually taking the moniker Glen Galaxy. Influences on the group's early music include Nation of Ulysses, Sonic Youth, and Can.^[3] Galloway had been raised as a presbyterian but had been an atheist for most of his life.^[4] While a member of Trumans Water, however, he had drifted back to Christianity and cited his bandmates' lack of "spirituality" as a factor in his leaving.^[4]

Musical Evolution

Early Soul-Junk albums (such as 1950) almost exclusively feature low-fi, Indie rock style tracks of Glen singing Bible verses interlaced with instrumental noise tracks, with a similarity to his previous band but with overtly Christian lyrics.^[4] As Soul-Junk gained members its sound advanced toward rock and pop. 1953 and 1954 show signs of this continual change.^[2] Alternative Press stated in a review of 1953 that their indie musical arrangements are outstanding, "tuneful, energetic and original (almost to a fault)."^[5] 1955 is transitional, both in terms of Soul-Junk's sound and market stance. Like previous releases most of the lyrics came directly from the Bible, but 1955 was their first album released on a Christian record label.^[3] The double-disk set consists of pop / Indie rock / hip hop influenced sounds.^[6] It is also the last disk to make extensive use of Biblical quotes before 1959.^[7][8]

While there are fewer lyrics derived from scripture, the albums 1956 through 1958 still reflect on the groups' Christianity based viewpoint, sometimes offering critiques of the Church and in a stream-of consciousness manner.^[9] On 1956 the sound shifts toward hip hop,^[10] leading CCM Magazine to describe it as "beyond offbeat, beyond eclectic... beyond the grasp of its market."^[11] This position is intentional according to Galaxy, who seeks to reach a wider audience than simply the church, and states "We do need to rock the boat... I dont particulary want anyone to think they know what they can expect from Soul-Junk."^[12]

The albums 1957 and 1958 are based in experimental, abstract hip-hop^[13] which sometimes adds elements of "avant-jazz."^[9] Glen explained this period to HM Magazine, stating "energy-wise I'm feeling the drum n' bass, I'm feeling chaotic turntablism. But texture-wise I was feeling hip-hop."^[2] The resulting sound is fragmented; Soul Junk's "berserk-hop"^[7] on these albums is "hip-hop so out-there, so deconstructed, so avant-garde"^[8] that it creates a "carnival aesthetic".^[7] Between 2003 and 2007, no albums were released. Instead, Glen embarked on an effort to put the entire text of the Bible to music.^[13] The first results are 1959 (released in 2007) which consists of Psalms 1-23 verbatim. Glen has also released the entire Book of Genesis through his web site.

Recurring members

• Glen Galaxy
• Slo-Ro (2001 – 2005)

• Brian Cantrell (1995 – 2000)
• DJ Mizzicah (1997 – 2003)
• Ron Easterbrooks (1995 – 1998)
• Jon Galaxy(1995 – 2001)
• Nathan Poage (1998 – 2000)

Many others are credited per album or track.

Discography

Album naming convention

The first Soul-Junk release was called 1950. Its' name was derived from the musical style of the era, a fusion of rock and free-jazz. According to Glen 1950 "...was a good year for music".^[1] Subsequent albums have been numbered up from 1950; Extended Play releases have been numbered down, but further numbering does non reflect the music of those years. Soul-Junk songs have also been released on innumerable compilations.

References

External links