If Attic Ted was something you could eat, it would strike pie holes with the what-the-hell discombobulation of raw oysters and grape jelly. With a $20 Hammond chord organ serving as sonic fulcrum, the San Marcos collective warbles and groans like a living Rube Goldberg device hopped up on ergot alkaloids as they belch forth a bouquet of Eastern European shortwave signals and corn dog-scented sturm und twang. This latest multicolored vinyl missive captures Attic Ted in full flower thanks to producer/engineer Paul D. Millar’s 16-track analog prowess. Lead instigator/mask-maker Grady Roper corrals Benny Hill bleats and a cowpunk beat to drive swirling opener “Next Time.” A twisted take on Bob Wills’ “Take Me Back to Tulsa” steers Western swing down the rabbit hole, while 1919 sheet music smash “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm?” gets debrided by Roper’s exaggerated falsetto and a synthetic rhythm cribbed straight from Tex and Edna Boil’s Organ Emporium. Coupled with Roper’s elaborate worn visuals, Parade Dust Mischief undulates a life all its own.

***.5

This article appears in November 25 • 2016.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.