The complete Flumergex discography! Be sure to scroll to the bottom to see all our classic recordings and upcoming releases.
Classic recordings
Flumergex is not like the other bands.
Most “major-label” artists typically go into the studio and record an album over a period of a few weeks, or maybe stretch it out over a few months. That’s not how we roll. Each of the Flumergex albums was recorded over a period of several years. This is largely because most of the songs feature Jesse S. Smith on all the instruments and vocals.
Emerges
Flumergex Emerges was a 2011 release that saw the music taking many new directions. For these sessions, Smith intentionally tried to write the catchiest pop songs he was capable of, and that intent shows through in numbers like “Understand U” and “Make a Little More” (both featuring Tom Morgan on the drums). Listeners may note a strong retro vibe in these songs, stretching back to the early rock and roll sounds of the 1950’s and ’60s. The hand drums and sitar on the song “Peace and Love” (featuring Jon Rigby on the hand drum) are reminiscent of late Beatles or solo John Lennon, while the drum machine and psychedelic synthesizer of “Groove with U” are danceable like a Molly-infused weekend at the club with friends in the 1990’s.
The Great Recession struck while Smith was recording the tracks for Emerges, and the economic calamity deeply weighed on his mind. This shows up in heartfelt working-class anthems like “Faded Blue” and “Might Not Be Tomorrow.”
Emerges includes two older songs that hadn’t made it onto Smith’s earlier recording projects: “Feeling Down,” which was (mostly) written but never produced during the Barnlife sessions; and “Behebik,” which Smith wrote during his year teaching overseas.
But what really takes Emerges over the top are songs like “Over the Top,” an instrumental featuring Andy Hoke on the mind-blowing keyboards and Jon Rigby on the hand drum; Smith’s stirring instrumentals, “Striving in Samsara” and “The Great Triumph;” and the peppy rocker “The Creatures of the Forest,” which Smith co-wrote with Hoke back in the “Operation J” days, featuring Hoke on keys and Tom Morgan on drums.
Flumergex Emerges was mixed and pre-mastered by Moon St. Clair.
This One
This One was officially released in 2007. Smith recorded most of This One in a Portland basement, just up the street from the “Fight Club” themed Victorian you may have noticed near the railroad tracks. (Is that still there? With the mannequins in the window? I’m pretty sure they filmed part of the video for “The Dream of the 90s is Alive in Portland” just across the street from it…)
The album art for This One is based on travel photography. The original front cover photograph of a pile of Buddha statue heads was taken by Lindsey LaRock (Jesse’s amazing sister) during her travels in the Far East; and the back cover and CD insert proudly feature images that Jesse captured during his year teaching overseas.
The songs on This One continue that theme of spiritual quest and exploration. “The Key to Happiness” is the ultimate song about seeking fulfillment; while “Vishnu’s Dream” ponders the very nature of reality.
The song “The Ritual” features Jon Rigby on hand drums, with spirituality-themed lyrics co-written by Rigby (erroneously attributed to “a traditional Pagan ritual” in the original liner notes).
“Soapbox” gets political, expressing concern for world peace, the natural environment, and the right to privacy.
This One also includes some hip and happenin’ instrumental tunes: from the Celtic sounds of “The Purple Paisley Jig” (an old favorite among Jesse’s friends and family) to the Eastern fusion of swirling “Sheherazade’s Sister,” “Turkish Frenzy” (with experimental mandolin!), and the heavy “Chera Tessa” — as well as the jazzy groove of “New Lazy Swing,” complete with Jesse honking on the clarinet. The album concludes with the driving beat of “Industrialysis,” featuring the amazing Andy Hoke on the organ.
This One was mixed and pre-mastered by Moon St. Clair.
Barnlife
Barnlife is a self-produced double-CD album, originally released in 2004 under the artist name, “The Mushtones.” However, for simplicity’s sake if nothing else, we’re planning to re-release the album under the newer artist name, “Flumergex.”
Barnlife is an epic 28 song tour de force.* Jesse recorded these songs during the years when he lived in the barn; hence the album title.
The songs on Barnlife were selected as the best of the songs Jesse had composed up to that point in his life. Jesse played the drum kit, hand drums, drum machine sequencer, bass guitars, keyboards and synthesizer, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, sitar, clarinet, vocals, percussion, and random noises. Jesse even sampled the timeless coyote howl for “Natural Selection” by sticking a microphone out the barn door one day.
* That’s 28 songs if you count “Girl Trouble part 2” and “Listen Reprise” separately from “Girl Trouble” and “Listen to the Words,” respectively. Which is the count that makes the most sense, because it aligns with the song indexes on the CD tracks.
Barnlife Disc 1: Reflected in Water
The first disc of Barnlife are the sweet songs. Reflected in Water are the love songs, the sappy songs, the happy songs, as well as the introspective and sad songs. These are the songs with acoustic guitars and harmony vocals. Some songs are folksy and whimsical (such as “Listen to the Words,” “Armor Amour,” and “Friends”), while others follow the theme of the spiritual quest or hero’s journey (such as “Wanderin’,” “Sometimes Closer,” and “Balance”). Other songs tell of struggles and sorrows, mistakes and recovery (such as “Back Up,” “Dream Confessions,” “You Will Be OK” and “Memory Loss”).
Jon Rigby played the ashiko hand drum on “The Barnjam.”
Barnlife Disc 2: Burned by Dragons
The second disc of Barnlife gets into the deep funk of rock and roll. It’s tempting to describe these songs in terms of hard rock; but that would be misleading. The groovy style is actually more Funkadelic than Nine Inch Nails.
Burned by Dragons are the songs of angst, yearning, and isolation. These songs speak of an agnostic quest for spiritual fulfillment (“Paradise Regained,” “The Pensive Pooch”) and problematic personal relationships (“Never,” “Overflow,” and “Girl Trouble”). These are songs of emptiness and loss (“Soulfire,” “The Dragon’s Aftermath,” and “Spunky Haste”) and the individual’s rejection of a callous conformist society – or is it the other way around? (“Voices,” “Natural Selection,” and “Faceless Man”).
But despite all that, these songs are remarkably funky! Here, have a listen:
Upcoming releases
I know, I know, you’ve been scrolling backwards through time, and suddenly you’re looking at the future. That’s the circular nature of Flumergex…
Watch for upcoming official releases of the songs we’ve been recording over the past several years. Tentative album titles include “Just for Fun” and “Too Much!”
“Just for Fun”
Jesse moved to a new town in 2012, and soon thereafter started a new recording project. This was an ambitious recording project of almost 40 songs. These included some songs he’d written during the “Emerges” sessions but hadn’t yet completed; as well as some of his very earliest songs, written between 1995 to 1999, which had never gotten a proper studio recording. Also, for the first time Smith decided to include well-known popular cover songs as part of a recording project; and although it’s not yet decided if those covers will be released as part of the final album, those cover songs certainly added to the ambience of the session.
These tunes include fun songs about going dancing with pretty girls; some introspective thoughtful pieces; and even re-makes of some of Smith’s best songs from earlier projects, including Barnlife.
To add to the challenge of this project, Smith decided that every single track recorded during these sessions had to be played “live” all the way through from beginning to end, with no studio magic: no patches, and no overdubs. Multiple takes were allowed; but if he made a mistake, he either had to keep it, or else do the entire take over. This was meant to create a “live” feel, as though performing at a bar with friends. (That means there’s only one guitar, and only one keyboard, on each song: none of the layered instruments for the solos which are often heard on other Flumergex recordings.) The stripped-down sound is raw and real AF.
The project included several songs co-written with Andy and Jon. To round it out, this project was made truly amazing by one last crazy but crazy-productive late-night recording session with Jon and Andy at an empty house in Portland.
“Too Much!”
After wrapping up the “Just for Fun” sessions, Jesse completely devoted himself to business and family concerns for a few years.
But spending too much time away from his creative pursuits was not the authentic Jesse life experience. After a few years, Smith found himself plunged deep into the darkest depression. In 2018, at the lowest point in his life, Smith decided to get back into songwriting. He wrote a series of song lyrics, and set about composing music for them.
These are not happy songs. They are songs of shame and rage, failure and alienation. But these songs are as f*cking authentic as hell. At the time, Smith was too depressed to even finish the recording sessions; but a more recent listen back to the work-in-progress recordings reveals some deeply valid music. Our plan at this point is to put the finishing touches on the best tracks, and release these songs from rock bottom out into the world. In the Covid era, it seems likely that many, many people will relate to these songs of loneliness and frustration.
Watch this space (and the newly created Flumergex social feeds) for announcements about the upcoming releases of this hard-hitting music!