Cunning Stunts is the fifth studio album (if you count their phantom first LP, 1987’s Taint Pluribus Taint Unum) by the Minneapolis-based noise rock band Cows, released on September 9, 1992 by Amphetamine Reptile Records.
The release of Cunning Stunts signals a “maturity” to the Cows, but it really means that riffs and hooks are starting to emerge from their usual tar pit of sound. Although Shannon Selberg’s ranting and raving dominate the proceedings, it’s guitarist Thor Eisenstrager who steals the show with his frenetic playing and bold experimentation. Not the pure noise of their earlier work, but certainly not an attempt at mainstream respectability, either.
The Cows are simply too frenzied and defiantly idiosyncratic for that to happen.
1. “Heave Ho” 2:08
2. “Walks Alone” 2:47
3. “Contamination” 3:11
4. “Mr. Cancelled” 4:19
5. “Mine” 3:31
6. “Midnight Cowboy” 2:50
7. “Everybody” 3:01
8. “Two Little Pigs” 3:00
9. “The Woman Inside” 2:34
10. “Terrifique” 3:15
11. “Down Below” 4:06
12. “Ort” 4:22