{{Short description|2016 album by Will Wood and the Tapeworms}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Self-ish | type = studio | artist = Will Wood and the Tapeworms | cover = Will Wood - Self-Ish.jpg | alt = | released = {{Start date|2016|08|23}} | recorded = 2015–2016 | studio = * Backroom Studios, Rockaway, New Jersey<ref name="Liner">{{cite AV media notes |title=Self-ish|others=Will Wood and the Tapeworms|year=2016|publisher=Say-10}}</ref> | genre = * Dark cabaret<ref name="MCJ Inter">{{cite web|last=Makin|first=Bob|url=https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/how-we-live/2016/10/16/makin-waves-wood-tapeworms/91869608/|title=Makin Waves with Will Wood & the Tapeworms|website=My Central Jersey|language=en|date=October 16, 2016|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=December 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206114024/https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/how-we-live/2016/10/16/makin-waves-wood-tapeworms/91869608/|url-status=live}}</ref> * punk jazz * gypsy punk<ref>{{cite web|last=Howells|first=Rich|url=https://nepascene.com/2018/03/should-listening-new-jersey-avant-pop-rock-band-will-wood-tapeworms/|title=YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING TO: New Jersey avant-pop rock band Will Wood and the Tapeworms|website=Nepa Scene|language=en|date=March 12, 2018|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=August 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825202114/https://nepascene.com/2018/03/should-listening-new-jersey-avant-pop-rock-band-will-wood-tapeworms/|url-status=live}}</ref> * glam rock<ref>{{cite web|last=Olivier|first=Bobby|url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/2016/10/the_25_bands_leading_new_jerseys_new_rock_movement.html|title=25 N.J. bands that you need to hear right now|website=NJ.com|language=en|date=October 13, 2016|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=September 28, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240928080606/https://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/2016/10/the_25_bands_leading_new_jerseys_new_rock_movement.html|url-status=live}}</ref> | length = 33:28 | label = Say-10 Records | producer = Kevin Antreassian | prev_title = Everything Is a Lot | prev_year = 2015 | next_title = The Real Will Wood (Live) | next_year = 2018 | misc = {{Singles | name = Self-ish | type = studio | single1 = Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia / Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to Fusiform Gyrus) | single1date = July 8, 2016 | single2 = Dr. Sunshine Is Dead | single2date = July 28, 2016 | single3 = 2012 | single3date = August 9, 2016 }} }} '''''Self-ish''''' (stylized as '''''SELF-iSH''''') is the second studio album by American indie rock band Will Wood and the Tapeworms. It was independently released on August 23, 2016, and later received distribution through Say-10 Records. Supported by three singles and four music videos, the album was written by Will Wood and produced by Kevin Antreassian. ''Self-ish'' received a positive reception for its chaotic energy and wide range of musical influence.
==Background== Prior to release, Will Wood described ''Self-ish'' to be "about identity, ego and lack thereof".<ref>{{cite web|last=Olivier|first=Bobby|url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/2016/07/inside_the_wondrous_piano-rock_chaos_of_will_wood.html|title=Inside the tortured soul and chaotic sound of Will Wood and the Tapeworms|website=NJ.com|language=en|date=July 1, 2016|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=July 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707221357/https://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/2016/07/inside_the_wondrous_piano-rock_chaos_of_will_wood.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He aimed for boldness and a lack of subtlety to strengthen his own honesty on the album. It was produced, mixed, and mastered by Kevin Antreassian of The Dillinger Escape Plan.<ref name="MCJ Inter"/> During the creative process, Wood was unmedicated and new to therapy, which resulted in frenetic writing sessions and intense emotional experiences.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hsu|first=Caitlin|url=https://nyunews.com/arts/music/2022/04/29/will-wood-interview-in-case-i-make-it/|title=Will Wood wants to be authentic, whatever it takes|website=Washington Square News|language=en|date=April 29, 2022|accessdate=August 25, 2024}}</ref>
==Release== {{CSS image crop |Image = Will Wood Dressing Room Shoot-Will Wood Dressing Room Shoot-0030.jpg |bSize = 700 |cWidth = 180 |cHeight = 200 |oTop = 70 |oLeft = 120 |Location = left |Description = Will Wood in 2017 with a painted third eye, referencing the cover artwork of ''Self-ish''. }} On July 8, 2016, "Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia / Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to Fusiform Gyrus)" was released as the lead single of ''Self-ish''. Alongside it was a music video co-directed by Will Wood and Adam Nawrot, featuring the band performing nude in a monochromatic room.<ref name="Capgras">{{cite web |last=Shrum|first=Tony|url=https://newnoisemagazine.com/will-wood-tapeworms-capgras-video/|title=Will Wood & The Tapeworms Release "Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity" Video|website=New Noise Magazine|language=en|date=July 8, 2016|accessdate=August 25, 2024}}</ref> "Dr. Sunshine Is Dead" released on July 28 as the second single,<ref name="Horror">{{cite web|last=Juvinall|first=Michael|url=https://www.horrorsociety.com/2016/07/28/exclusive-will-wood-tapeworms-premiere-bombastic-single-dr-sunshine-dead/|title=Exclusive: Will Wood & The Tapeworms Premiere Bombastic Single "Dr. Sunshine is Dead!"|website=Horror Society|language=en|date=July 28, 2016|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=August 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825202115/https://www.horrorsociety.com/2016/07/28/exclusive-will-wood-tapeworms-premiere-bombastic-single-dr-sunshine-dead/|url-status=live}}</ref> followed by "2012" as the third and final single on August 9. The latter had a music video published the same day, directed by Wood with Jesse Lazarus and Maddie Schwartz. It presents the band performing in an evidence room and a party, intermittenly cutting to Wood with body paint and various pieces of oversaturated or desaturated footage.<ref name="NNM 2012">{{cite web|last=Shrum|first=Tony|url=https://newnoisemagazine.com/will-wood-tapeworms-2012-video/|title=Will Wood & The Tapeworms Release "2012" Music Video|website=New Noise Magazine|language=en|date=August 9, 2016|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=August 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825202114/https://newnoisemagazine.com/will-wood-tapeworms-2012-video/|url-status=live}}</ref>
''Self-ish'' was released as Will Wood and the Tapeworms' second album on August 23, 2016.<ref name="Horror"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Olivier|first=Bobby|url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/2017/01/35_nj_bands_you_must_hear_in_2017.html|title=35 N.J. bands you need to hear in 2017|website=NJ.com|language=en|date=January 13, 2017|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=September 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240924210931/https://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/2017/01/35_nj_bands_you_must_hear_in_2017.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On May 26, 2017, a music video was released for "Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In!". Recorded in one shot and directed by Mark Jaworski, it features the band performing in a busy and cluttered room through a fisheye lens.<ref>{{cite web|last=New Noise|url=https://newnoisemagazine.com/will-wood-tapeworms-hand-shovel-video/|title=Video Premiere: Will Wood & the Tapeworms – "Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In!"|website=New Noise Magazine|language=en|date=May 26, 2017|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=August 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825202114/https://newnoisemagazine.com/will-wood-tapeworms-hand-shovel-video/|url-status=live}}</ref> This was followed years later by a music video for "Dr. Sunshine Is Dead", released on September 30, 2019. It shows the Tapeworms performing on a psychedelic background while Wood shaves his head, eats waffles in a patient gown, wears body paint, and digs a hole in the ground in a thunderstorm.<ref>{{cite web |last=Nelson|first=Joshua|url=https://bleedingcool.com/pop-culture/will-woods-white-noise-resonates-harmonious-a-review/|title=Will Wood's "White Noise" Resonates Harmonious – A Review|website=Bleeding Cool|language=en|date=July 19, 2022|accessdate=August 18, 2024}}</ref> On December 25, 2020, ''Self-ish'' was remastered and re-released by independent record label Say-10.
==Songs and reception== ''Self-ish'' contains the title tracks "Self-" and "-Ish", piano ballads that open and close the eight-song album, respectively. They discuss Wood's amnesia caused by his recreational drug use. The track "2012" additionally elaborates on this,<ref name="MCJ">{{cite web|last=Makin|first=Bob|url=https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/how-we-live/2016/08/28/makin-waves-chevonne-and-fuzz/89228960/|title=Makin Waves with Chevonne and The Fuzz|website=My Central Jersey|language=en|date=August 28, 2016|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=September 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909131148/https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/how-we-live/2016/08/28/makin-waves-chevonne-and-fuzz/89228960/|url-status=live}}</ref> a funk-oriented track with lyrics about spirituality and psychedelics. Its composition revolves around saxophone, piano, and kazoo, while the song's lyrics are sung at a fast pace. Tony Shrum of ''New Noise Magazine'' labeled it as "sarcastically-cheery drug-addled babbling",<ref name="NNM 2012"/> while Bob Makin of ''My Central Jersey'' referred to it as a "jazzy acid trip".<ref name="MCJ"/> In an interview with the latter, Wood stated that the year marked Quetzalcoatl's return and a tabula rasa of existential nihilism.<ref name="MCJ Inter"/>
"Cotard's Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca)" was described by Makin as a "zany, cirque de l’enfer revelry", likening it to Danny Elfman.<ref name="MCJ"/> "Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia / Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to Fusiform Gyrus)" is fourth on ''Self-ish'', which uses a swing-punk melodic pattern.<ref name="Capgras" /> It was later included in "Weird Al" Yankovic's 2024 summer playlist.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sandstrom|first=Emily|url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/weird-al-shares-his-zany-summer-playlist-with-us|title="Weird Al" Shares His Zany Summer Playlist. And His Social Security Number.|website=Interview|language=en|date=July 18, 2024|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=August 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240826193918/https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/weird-al-shares-his-zany-summer-playlist-with-us|url-status=live}}</ref> "The Song with Five Names a.k.a. Soapbox Tao a.k.a. Checkmate Atheists! a.k.a. Neospace Government (a.k.a. You Can Never Know)" follows as a "{{-'}}50s-spirited, gospel-inspired" song, featuring Alex Nauth of Foxy Shazam.<ref name="MCJ"/>
Dianne Miranda of ''Gauntlet'' included "Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In!" in a playlist of songs intended to put the listener in a state of numbness,<ref>{{cite web|last=Miranda|first=Dianne|url=https://thegauntlet.ca/2024/05/01/gauntlet-mixtape-vol-24-brain-rot/|title=Gauntlet Mixtape Vol. 24: Brain Rot|website=Gauntlet|language=en|date=May 1, 2024|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=September 2, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902180528/https://thegauntlet.ca/2024/05/01/gauntlet-mixtape-vol-24-brain-rot/|url-status=live}}</ref> while Makin called it an "insane funeral march", overall describing the album as "a circus from hell".<ref name="MCJ"/> "Dr. Sunshine Is Dead" is a progressive rock song with latin inspiration. It focuses on dramatic instrumentation with saxophone, guitar, and piano, additionally including trumpet by Alex Nauth.<ref name="Horror"/> Shrum related it to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and detailed it as a mix of My Chemical Romance and the Mars Volta,<ref>{{cite web|last=Shrum|first=Tony|url=https://newnoisemagazine.com/will-wood-tapeworms-dr-sunshine-dead/|title=Will Wood & The Tapeworms Stream New Single "Dr. Sunshine is Dead!"|website=New Noise Magazine|language=en|date=July 29, 2016|accessdate=August 25, 2024|archive-date=August 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825202114/https://newnoisemagazine.com/will-wood-tapeworms-dr-sunshine-dead/|url-status=live}}</ref> while Shawn Macomber of ''Fangoria'' described the track as a "gleefully deranged sonic ambience", comparing it to Gogol Bordello, Mr. Bungle, and Tom Waits.<ref>{{cite web |last=Macomber|first=Shawn|url=https://www.fangoria.com/new/exclusive-premiere-will-wood-the-tapeworms-wicked-new-music-video/|title=Exclusive Premiere: Will Wood & The Tapeworms' Wicked New Music Video!|website=Fangoria|language=en|date=July 8, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160711074432/https://www.fangoria.com/new/exclusive-premiere-will-wood-the-tapeworms-wicked-new-music-video/|archive-date=July 11, 2016|accessdate=August 25, 2024}}</ref>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | headline = | total_length = 33:28 | all_writing = Will Wood | title1 = Self- | length1 = 2:35 | title2 = 2012 | length2 = 4:04 | title3 = Cotard's Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca) | length3 = 5:05 | title4 = Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia / Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to Fusiform Gyrus) | length4 = 3:43 | title5 = The Song with Five Names a.k.a. Soapbox Tao a.k.a. Checkmate Atheists! a.k.a. Neospace Government (a.k.a. You Can Never Know) | length5 = 4:27 | title6 = Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In! | length6 = 5:51 | title7 = Dr. Sunshine Is Dead | length7 = 5:24 | title8 = -ish | length8 = 2:15 }}
==Personnel== Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.<ref name="Liner"/>
;Musicians {{div col}} * Will Wood – lead vocals, piano, kazoo * Mike Bottiglieri – guitar, theremin, power drill * David Higdon – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone * Matt Olsson – drums, percussion * Jonathon Maisto – bass guitar * Alex Nauth – backing vocals (5), trumpet (7) * Mario Conte – drums (demos) {{div col end}}
;Technical {{div col}} * Kevin Antreassian – production, recording engineer, mixing, mastering * Jonathon Maisto – additional engineering * David Higdon – demo engineer * Gabriel Francis – demo engineer * Will Wood – album art graphic design * Jesse Lazarus – album art photography * Adam Nawrot – logo design * Polo Itona – inner sleeve photography {{div col end}}
;Additional vocalists {{div col}} * Reese Van Riper – backing vocals * Dylan Jacobus – backing vocals * Chris McRae – backing vocals * Cheska Colombo – backing vocals * Lizzie Rowe – gang vocals * Kellyanne Zeleny – gang vocals * Timothy Simpson – gang vocals * Mike Vablon – gang vocals * Robby Stern – gang vocals * Bobby Sanner – gang vocals * Rebecca Paddon – gang vocals * Bianca Teresi – gang vocals {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Discogs release|17313544|Self-Ish {{noitalic|(2020 Remastered Version)}}|type=album}}
{{Will Wood}}
Category:2016 albums Category:Will Wood albums Category:Pop rock albums by American artists