Party Boobytrap

Party Boobytrap
Partyboobytrap 1.png
EPs
Released April 2003 (variant 1)
November 2003 (variant 3)
Recorded Early 2003
November 2003 (Banana Man)
Length 15:14 (variant 2)
15:53(variant 3)
Label None (Self-produced)
Producer Tally Hall
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Album of the Year

Party Boobytrap is an EP recorded by Tally Hall and initially released in April of 2003.

Overview

Party Boobytrap is Tally Hall's first release, produced in very small quantities to be sold at early live shows. It was recorded in the attic bedroom of Joe Hawley using a digital camcorder and edited together using Final Cut Pro.[1] All of the songs featured would later be slightly touched up and re-released on Complete Demos in 2004.

The title was chosen because it was a palindrome, and would later be used as the name of a fictional rap group in the music video for Good Day.[2]

Variants / Versions

Variant 1 (April 2003)

 
Variant 1 of Party Boobytrap.

This variant is likely the earliest version of the EP, given its design which is inconsistent with other, newer Tally Hall media. The CD is blank white except for the band name and EP title printed on the lower third of the disc. This version came with a receipt-like paper insert with the tracklisting and production notes. It's generally believed that the font used for the insert was made by digitising Joe Hawley's handwriting, as it's similar to his handwriting style, but too consistent to be hand-written. The only known copy of this variant was sold by Andrew Horowitz as part of an ebay auction in 2019 to support Coz Baldwin and is now owned by a private collector.[3][4] It is unknown if this variant has different mixing to the later two variants.

Variant 2 (Between April and November 2003)

 
Variant 2 of Party Boobytrap.

This variant was pressed sometime after Variant 1 and before November of 2003 as Banana Man was recorded in November of 2003. Two copies of this variant are known to exist, one in the possession of Hidden In The Sand moderator Ruby Red.[5][6] This variant does not contain any differences in mixing to Complete Demos.[7] The artwork was revised for this variant, featuring the logo used on tallyhall.com at the time, and the track listing is now on the disc itself instead of on an insert.

Variant 3 (November 2003)

 
Variant 3 of Party Boobytrap.

This variant is the newest of the three, notably swapping out Stationary Love for Banana Man. The mixes of Banana Man and Ruler Of Everything on this variant are different from the ones on Complete Demos; Banana Man has different panning of vocals and instruments, and Ruler of Everything has very slight timing changes. In addition, all songs are less compressed in their mixing compared to variant 2 and have higher dynamic range. The artwork was further revised, adding a list of all the band members and their colors, the recording location, "Produced By Tally Hall", and a black stripe at the bottom of the disc.

Partyboobytrap +1-1 (2003)

A "partyboobytrap e.p. +1-1" was also released sometime in 2003, containing the Super Mario Bros. Overworld theme in addition to the other tracks. This version has yet to surface online.[8]

Mystery Rip

A rip of Party Boobytrap was given to a fan by Andrew Horowitz in 2019 and is identical to Variant 2's mix, but it is unknown where the mix was sourced from. Interestingly, Good Day is mislabeled as Goodday in the metadata of this rip.[9] Also included alongside the songs is a .pk file for Greener, possibly generated by a version of Adobe Audition before CS5.5.[10]

Track Listing

Variants 1 & 2

# Title Writers Lead Singers Duration
1. "Good Day" Horowitz Hawley, Cantor 3:31
2. "Greener" Cantor Cantor 4:04
3. "Stationary Love" Cantor Cantor 3:42
4. "Ruler Of Everything" Hawley Hawley, Sedghi 3:55

Variant 3

# Title Writers Lead Singers Duration
1. "Good Day" Horowitz Hawley, Cantor 3:29
2. "Greener" Cantor Cantor 4:02
3. "Banana Man" Hawley Hawley 4:26
4. "Ruler Of Everything" Hawley Hawley, Sedghi 3:55

Liner Notes (Variant 1)

produced by tally hall

RECORDED AT:
ㅤjoe's bedroom
ㅤ420 s. division st.
ㅤann arbor, mi. 48104

visit us at:
www.tallyhall.com

e-mail us at:
[email protected]

tally hall is steve gallagher, the incredible
andrew horowitz, zubin sedghi, rob cantor
and joe hawley.

Gallery

Trivia

  • The title is referenced in the Labyrinth game by WonderFling Studios in the Hidden Skeleton Dialogue.
  • Andrew is credited as "the incredible andrew horowitz" on the insert included with Variant 1.
  • On Variant 3 the tallies are listed and numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 (Despite there only being 5 members)

References