Smoke Machine (album)

Smoke Machine is the second and final album by Chocolate USA.^[2] It was released in 1994 on Bar/None Records.^[3][4]

For the actual machine, see fog machine.

Smoke Machine
Studio album by Chocolate USA
Released	1994
Genre	Indie rock
Label	Bar/None Records
Chocolate USA chronology
All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today (1992) Smoke Machine (1994)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

The band, always more a project of Julian Koster, broke up after the release of the album. Smoke Machine contains some of Bill Doss's earliest recorded performances.^[5]

Critical reception

AllMusic wrote: "While every melody and song is catchy as hell, and although Kostner's vocals are tender, this is pop music at its most exploratory without aspiring to (yet not sacrificing) accessibility. The whole of it is unselfconscious brilliance."^[1] Trouser Press also praised it, and wrote that it "retains the determinedly unpretentious vibe of the first album, but the songwriting and arrangements are surer and more fully realized."^[2]

Track listing

1. USA: Milkiest Theme
2. Bookbag
3. My Cherry Bomb
4. Another Lego In Tha Cross
5. (Unlisted Track)
6. The Boy Who Stuck His Head In The Dryer (And Whirl'd Round N' Round)
7. Intermission
8. Playing In The Mud
9. Ugly Girl
10. Milk (Theme)
11. Isn't A Lie.../Glow Worm
12. We Stole The Cow
13. (Bonus Tracks From Chocolate Monthly Tapes)

Personnel

• Bill Doss - "multi instruments"
• Julian Koster - vocals, guitar, bass, piano, drums, viola, concertina
• Liza Wakeman - violin

References

1. "Smoke Machine - Chocolate U.S.A. | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
2. "Chocolate USA". Trouser Press. Archived from the original on 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
3. "Who's Counting?". The Stranger. Archived from the original on 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
4. Johnson, Ken (Nov 30, 1996). "Continental drift". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 48. p. 16.
5. "The Story Of Elephant 6's Bill Doss, Told In 10 Songs". Stereogum. October 4, 2012. Archived from the original on June 10, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.