Team Sleep -- Unmastered Advance

8/10

At some point during senior year of high school, I decided Chino Moreno was the man. His mysterious and powerful voice was like nothing I'd ever heard. Right before I started a November 1999 evening shift in layaway at the New Roads Wal-Mart, which almost solely consisted of me carrying bicycles to a storage container in a sugar cane field behind the store, KLSU played Deftones "My Own Summer (Shove It)." I then had the song stuck in my head all shift, as I carried bicycles into the sunset and on into the night. From that point on, I was Chino and Deftones obsessed. I bought all of Deftones albums, but the band wasn't as prolific as I'd prefer. By early 2005, despite being in their 17th year of existence, Deftones had only released four full-length albums. I needed more.
In January of 2005, I heard that Chino had another band on the side called "Team Sleep." I search engined (it wasn't just referred to as "Googling" yet, as there were actually other viable search engines) "Team Sleep," and after digging around, found that someone had leaked an album by the band three years before. I immediately downloaded it and burned it to a CD, giving myself the caveat that I'd buy whatever the band would ever commercially release, even if they put the same identical album on store shelves. To this day, the band have only physically released one full-length album. It isn't this one.
This leaked album has come to be known simply as Unmastered Advance, though I've also seen it listed as Rough Mixes (The Leak). Whatever you want to call it, it's a bit of a lo-fi masterpiece.
The album begins with the quiet, brooding "Natalie Portman." The song starts with a slightly distorted, gentle guitar line, which is slowly layered over throughout the intro with even dreamier ones, until Moreno's voice comes in softly, through the dark mists of night. This conjured late night feel sets the tone for everything that's to come, and fits the band's name aptly. The distant sound of a train passing over tracks plays "Natalie Portman" out, a quiet catharsis before the band dives into some less organic sounds on the electronically driven "Appolonia." Moreno aggressively barks out arcane technological terms over a big beat, and dark 90's synths. The song generally has the vibe of visiting your office at one in the morning, and smashing up the place. This darker vibe continues into the menacing "Iceache," which replaces the electronic beat of "Appolonia" with live drums, constantly building into an angry swarm of an ending.
At this point, a major landmark appears in "Ligeia," a slightly frightening track centering around a repeated piano line, a programmed beat, some freaky ambient noises, and Mary Timony's haunting guest vocals. "Ligeia" lyrically takes influence from Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name. "Hear the nighthawk call/his voice is dry and hollow/hear the crowd call/they cheer me to the gallows" Timony sings, with the album digging ever deeper into that late night vibe.
At this point, we reach the album's extroverted middle, with the more positive vibes of "Cambodia" leading into the dancey "King Diamond," and then the optimistic instrumental rock of "Solid Gold" and "Blvd Nights."
More sinister tones start to filter in again with the clubby "Mercedes" before the pleasant, wistful, early morning loll of "Acoustic One" rolls in. This is then undercut by the glitchy "Interlude," which sets up the album's dark and terrifying climax, "Kool Aid Party."

"Kool Aid Party" is one of the darkest, scariest songs I've ever heard. Faith No More's Mike Patton takes over vocals, using mostly the very LOW, demonic register of his amazing range. The song's freaky, minor key guitar line is bolstered by spooky, horror film atmospherics, and boy does this song sound like you've wandered down the wrong back alley one night, and Patton's grabbed you by the shoulder and is pulling you into a world of nightmares. "The night has taken a dark turn" doesn't even cover it, as Patton sings of "sweet dreams of a soft night in jail" and it actually sounds like a good alternative to all the other things he's suggesting. You almost get the sense that Team Sleep is trying to create the most horrifying song they can think of, but nightmares are a natural part of sleep, and as a penultimate track, "Kool Aid Party" is perfectly placed.
The album closes with the sleepy, sad "Death By Plane," which drifts by like a lonely morning fog. It's my favorite track on the album to the point that I, aspiring filmmaker at the time, filmed a music video for it with my Sony. I just dug through my old stuff and found it, so now I am posting it to Youtube for your viewing pleasure. I can't claim to have never been emotionally dramatic.

Despite the fact that it was never intended to be heard by the general public, Unmastered Advance feels like a cohesive, fully-realized, finished product. The mid-section does drag just a tiny bit--you can tell vocals would have probably been added in certain spots--but otherwise, this is something everyone involved with can be proud of. Indeed, Chino Moreno is the man.

2002 Maverick (not released to the general public)
1. Natalie Portman 5:55
2. Appolonia 3:03
3. Iceache 3:26
4. Ligeia (featuring Mary Timony) 4:57
5. Cambodia 2:57
6. King Diamond 3:51
7. Solid Gold 4:34
8. Blvd Nights 2:52
9. Mercedes 3:52
10. Acoustic One 4:12
11. Interlude 2:20
12. Kool Aid Party (featuring Mike Patton) 5:25
13. Death By Plane 2:16