Cabo Boing

About

Cabo Boing is Brian Esser. He is one of the originators of a punky quirked-out electronic music that grew in the early aughts when his first band Yip-Yip were resurfacing then-cheap analog synths and toy instruments and recontextualizing their capabilities into heavily layered blips of mechanical noise. Esser grew up in that band, touring across US and Europe with The Locust, An Albatross, and others. Then as Yip-Yip came to a close in 2012, the beginnings of Cabo Boing were already forming in the crude array of harmonizers pitch-shifting Esser’s voice and Yip-Yip’s iconic handmade outfits and face masks. These two things, the pitch shifter and the mask, are Cabo Boing’s essential elements. His pitch shifter sends his voice to highs and lows he can’t sing and his mask gives him the extra bit of anonymity needed to not pass out in the middle of his set. Add his guitar, and Esser’s transformation from electronic producer into rock-and-roller is complete. His melodies have only gotten catchier over his more than 20 year career, culminating in the poppy bizarro new wave we now know as Cabo Boing. Says SNL’s Sarah Sherman on Cabo Boing, “Best clown freak music eva. I listen to Blob On A Grid when I don’t want to be living my boring life anymore and want to be living inside of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.” Cabo Boing has toured with Lightning Bolt, Snooper, Macula Dog, and has played shows with Sarah Squirm, Machine Girl, Dan Deacon, Pearl & The Oysters, Body Meat, and many others.

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