Up from the vaults, freshly transferred in 24-bits from the original master tape, is this anomalous gem from Astronaut Ice Cream Headache, the baroque pop song “Underwater Cave Diving Stress.” Much more musically involved than the music the duo figuratively “built its name on,” with two cassette tapes on Beeshu Records in the late nineties, this song is the likely high water mark when it comes to AICH’s attempts to transition from a goofy bedroom 4-track concern between two friends to an actual band with dynamic, fully fleshed out arrangements.

AICH alum and Kaji-Pup Records head honcho Dave A. explains: “Mike and I had been playing out a bit in the Milwaukee area for a while, here and there, and in the early aughts there was a sense of us wanting to up the ante somehow, to make a ‘proper record,’ in a professional studio, instead of home-recorded larks on cassette. But, as a whole, this ended up being a misguided endeavor.”

What originally started out as an attempt at an album became a five-song EP, Infinite Christmas Party, that was completed around 2003 but ultimately aborted as an official release. Dave, who made most of the recording by himself with the help of guest musicians, after Mike had left the band, was never altogether satisfied with the effort. “In hindsight, I think it was a casualty of the ‘early Pro Tools era,’ given that it was recorded in different places and lacked a technical consistency, to the point of being amateurish," he remarks. "And I was undoubtedly guilty of having delusions of creating ‘audio gold’ as a studio rat, whereas I didn’t always know what we were doing. Add to that that thematically the EP was probably too self-conscious, immature, and not as ‘fun’ as it should’ve been, and I don’t think it stands out as noteworthy, no. The exception, though—in my mind at least—is ‘Underwater Cave Diving Stress.’ It’s not ‘for everyone’ by any means, but I’ve always been fond of it, when in the mood for something different.”

Tracked at Sound Sound Studios in downtown Milwaukee with a guest rhythm section, the track makes use of Farfisa, keyboards, piano, and Hammond organ fed into a Leslie cabinet to evoke the joys and potential perils of underwater cave diving. “I can’t remember what the impetus was for the song,” Dave says, “but somehow there was this thought that strapping on scuba gear and going aqua spelunking must be at once thrilling and terrifying. It just came to me, this vision of how your goose might be really cooked if something goes wrong down there.”

Kaji-Pup now presents “Underwater Cave Diving Stress” as a standalone single, in its best extant form, newly transferred and mastered in the highest possible fidelity with better EQing and a more tasteful level of compression. We hope you like it.