The Muties™ are a band that defies easy categorization, an audacious fusion of punk, rock, and cosmic experimentation. Their music is not just something you listen to; it’s an experience—raw, gritty, and relentlessly inventive. This collection, aptly named Toxic Waste Barrel, is a wild ride through the band's live staples, scraped through an arcane sieve and decanted into primitive stony jars, all while draped in the viscera of a full-band sound. It’s the kind of music that demands to be played loud and with reckless abandon, best enjoyed by those with a taste for the odd, the outlandish, and the downright bizarre.

Recorded across a sprawling timeline from Fall 2023 to Fall 2024, in various locales around Ohio and Kentucky, including North College Hill, Walnut Hills, Batavia, and Ryland Heights, this album serves as a sonic time capsule of a band at the height of their creative powers. With credits from musicians scattered across the globe, but grounded in the streets and studios of the Midwest, Toxic Waste Barrel isn’t just a collection of songs—it’s a document of the Muties' relentless pursuit of their own musical truth.

Incorporating elements of "vaguely exotic jams" sprinkled with "punk'n'roll space dust," the album captures the band's penchant for blending raw, unrefined energy with cosmic overtones. There’s something almost primordial about it—like you’re listening to the echoes of the cosmos through a rusty amplifier. But make no mistake: despite the cryptic and abstract descriptions, at its heart, Toxic Waste Barrel is "just rock & roll music."

Led by Jake Taylor on vocals and keyboards, The Muties™ come alive in this release with a band that’s as tight as ever: Devin Fields on drums and backup vocals, Matt Stewart on electric guitar and backup vocals, Charlie Taylor on electric guitar, and Paul Vine on bass. It’s a ragtag group of players that make the magic happen, and the recording, engineered by JT and PV and mixed and mastered by Lil Jakey, has a sound that’s unapologetically raw but utterly infectious.

Expect a sound that’s "sentient sludge in a cosmic vivarium," and an album that’s as much a journey as it is a soundtrack for those moments when you feel "lovesick, homesick, seasick, or just plain sick." With a swirling mix of familiar rock'n'roll aggression and something much stranger, Toxic Waste Barrel is a reminder that the best music is the kind that feels like a ride through the unknown, where every turn leads you further into the wild, weird depths of the human spirit.