Cactuses Come In Flocks is an album by Melt-Banana

Melt-Banana

Melt-Banana is a Japanese punk band that is known for playing extremely fast noise music mixed with experimental electronica and pop-based song structures. They have worked with artists as diverse as Merzbow, John Zorn, Mike Patton, and Discordance Axis...

. The album was originally released on cassette by Chocolate Monk, and was later re-issued to CD and LP by A-Zap.

Cactuses Come In Flocks contains an early live performance in November 1992 at an improvisation festival at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

TUFS is a specialized institution only in foreign language, international affairs and foreign studies, thus it is not as well-known as other big universities such as University of Tokyo and Kyoto University...

. None of these songs ever made it to any studio recording although the song "To the Core" has the same lyrics as "Chicken Headed Raccoon Dog" on their debut album Speak Squeak Creak

Speak Squeak Creak

Speak Squeak Creak is the first album by Melt-Banana. It was first released in September 1994 by NUX Organization and re-issued by A-Zap in April, 2001....

.

The other half of the album is a studio session from July 1994 soon after the recording of the first album. These songs were recorded specially for this release. The sound is some of the rawest of Melt-Banana. This recording also marks the debut of Melt-Banana regulars "Ketchup-Mess" (in a much slower version) and "Picnic in Panic" (in a much faster version).

The CD/LP re-issue also contains a song not featured on the original cassette called "Interval". This song was usually played on a tape at the beginning of almost all their shows during the 94-95 period.

On the original cassette release the 15 studio songs were on side A and the 16 live songs were on side B. The re-issue has them switched with "Interval" in the middle.

Track listing (Re-issue CD/LP version)

1. "Just Grub & Run" – 0:53
2. "Talk Like Pop" – 0:51
3. "Shining Hatcher" – 0:46
4. "F. Part One" – 0:40
5. "To the Core" – 0:40
6. "F. Part Two" – 1:09
7. "Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" – 0:29
8. "Bunny Wasted a Month Waiting" – 1:14
9. "Party-Hat" – 0:47
10. "Shouting About Love" – 0:27
11. "Sonic Turtle" – 0:45
12. "Bored Elephant" – 1:43
13. "Up & Down 1, 2, 3..." – 1:21
14. "1 to 11" – 0:56
15. "Dried Up Water-Park" – 1:14
16. "How to Say 'Rip Them Off', Repeat After Me" – 0:29
17. "Interval........." – 3:00
18. "Locoweed In the Bottle" – 0:22
19. "Ketchup-Mess" – 1:21
20. "We Love Choco-Pa" – 0:14
21. "No Way to Hear" – 0:11
22. "We Had Tails In the Old Days" – 0:53
23. "So Far So Bad So What?" – 0:27
24. "Frog Swims the River Down Giggling" - 1:07
25. "I Hate It! [long version]" – 1:38
26. "Who Cares?" – 0:21
27. "FMFYYD" – 0:06
28. "Pie War" – 0:48
29. "Ants Living In a Narrow Box" – 0:49
30. "Clayfish Song" – 0:29
31. "6 Feet Long For Her Neck" – 0:17
32. "Picnic With Panic [long version]" – 1:49

• Tracks 1-16 were recorded live at the Tokyo Improvisation Festival in November, 1992.

Track listing (Original cassette version)

Side A.

1. "Locoweed In the Bottle" – 0:22
2. "Ketchup-Mess" – 1:21
3. "We Love Choco-Pa" – 0:14
4. "No Way to Hear" – 0:11
5. "We Had Tails In the Old Days" – 0:53
6. "So Far So Bad So What?" – 0:27
7. "Flog Swims the River Down" – 1:07
8. "I Hate It! [long version]" – 1:38
9. "Who Cares?" – 0:21
10. "FMFYYD" – 0:06
11. "Pie War" – 0:48
12. "Ants Living In a Narrow Box" – 0:49
13. "Clayfish Song" – 0:26
14. "6 Feet Long For Her Neck" – 0:17
15. "Picnic With Panic [long version]" – 1:49

Side B.

1. "Just Grub & Run" – 0:53
2. "Talk Like Pop" – 0:51
3. "Shining Hatcher" – 0:46
4. "F. Part One" – 0:40
5. "To the Core" – 0:40
6. "Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" – 0:29
7. "F. Part Two" - 1:09
8. "Bunny Wasted a Month Waiting" – 1:14
9. "Party-Hat" – 0:47
10. "Shouting About Love" – 0:27
11. "Sonic Turtle" – 0:45
12. "Bored Elephant" – 1:43
13. "Up & Down 1, 2, 3..." – 1:21
14. "1 to 11" – 0:56
15. "Dried Up Water-Park" – 1:14
16. "How to Say 'Rip Them Off', Repeat After Me" – 0:29