East Saint Louis (or Metro East, or the place uppity people have nightmares about) is home to broken dreams, white flight, abandoned buildings, economic degradation, urban decay, and a host of other horribly depressing things that America likes to forget about by going across the river to the marginally improved Saint Louis proper. East Saint Louis (more specifically, Tempora, IL) is also home to one of the most fucked-up freak-everything groups in the heart of America or any other of her body parts, Skarekrauradio (or Skare Krau Radio, or the Tempora Kuu Sect). The descendants of Kuu are America’s own Acid Mother’s Temple in a way, as profilic by way of tapes, yet embracing a bit more artistically. "The Iireal Me Sutura/ The Iireal Me Futura" has everything from spoken-word meditations to rock out head banging, and is equal parts hilarious and compelling, psychedelic and punk, completely destroyed and totally put together. Beautifully insane live during their “Warning Orbs”, Skare Krau wear sacred religious garments and attempt to warn listeners about the mass funneling of our minds into the 'insecthood'. The only feasible way out is to worship Kuu (who lives in your poo, your drool, and something about the semen of a virgin deer). The best way to worship? Purchase religious literature and listen at extreme decibels.

‘The Iireal Me Sutura/ The Iireal Me Futura’ is CD-R/DVD-R Combo is limited to 100 copies and housed in a 10" trifold slab of cardboard. It is also a physical treasure-trove, complete with jewels, a sticker, and a little comic book with, I believe, an actual ink-print of the human phallus (very central to the Kuu religion, I guess). It was released late last year on Apop Records, the new imprint of Saint Louis’s own (and only) worth-going-to record store.

The 40-minute album is a holistic experience, from the hilarious drone/spoken-word opener “Note To Self (Shoot The Old Into Space)” to its full on rock freak-out finale “Kummincation Breakdown”. It is a wonderful screaming, screeching, probably-played-while-wholly-or-partially-nude mess. Though it is completely uninhibited, Skarekrauradio have a keen ear for reeling in exploration for the sake of time, being able to go on all sorts of awesome tangents while still maintaining a single narrative. While broken down into normal-length tracks, ‘The Iireal me Sutura’ listens like a single stung-together freak-out, and I wouldn’t be in the least surprised if it was.

The accompanying DVD-R includes a few short-films as it were (expounding of course on the themes of insects, poop, and genitalia), as well some very awesome music videos for tracks including ‘Kummincation Breakdown’—many of which explore, in superb VHS quality, the resplendent glory of Metro East with its cop cars, late-night parades, homeless, and dilapidated buildings. As well, Skare Krau Radio are part of a broad (yet loose) community of East Saint Louis/Saint Louis musicians, the nexus of which is Apop Records and a few nearby venues (and basements). SKR (to introduce another alias) without a doubt best exemplify the vibrant music community of two woefully-overlooked cities. You owe it to yourself to track them down and believe. 8/10 -- John Ganiard (12 August, 2009)