The Headscratcher

Somewhere in the early 2000s, an underground artist emerged from the darkness. His real name and identity are unknown, but he went by the alias "The Headscratcher". This name will not be familiar to many, as his music never made it to any big labels, and was mostly self-released in very small quantities on physical media. This page aims to document his incredibly obscure discography.

Origins

This information is scattered wildly on many now-defunct underground music fansites. The Headscratcher very rarely gave out any information about himself, and the tiny amount of interviews he did participate in are incredibly difficult to find. Therefore, information could be potentially inaccurate. Take it with a grain of salt.

The Headscratcher began experimenting with music-making somewhere in the mid-to-late 90s. At the time, he was somewhat proficient at playing the guitar. Originally aiming to start a progressive metal career, his interests quickly moved to ambient and electronic music after he listened to artists like Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada. These two projects are cited as being some of his big inspirations in terms of what music he wanted to make. Being in the underground circles at the time, he also managed to pick up the first few releases from Bass Communion and I.E.M., both musical projects created by Steven Wilson. Those two projects also morphed the style of the music that The Headscratcher ended up making.

Sometime in 2000, he began experimenting with making guitar samples for ambient music and combining it with electronic synths. Enough material came out of these experiments to create an EP's worth of music. However, these early experiments have never made it to any release, nor were they ever leaked, and they remain in The Headscratcher's private archives to this very day.

Eventually, after enough persistence, The Headscratcher ended up making an album with music he felt satisfied with, leading to the first album officially released.

Prosperous Deviance of the Seventh Star

PDOTSS

Genre: Ambient/Electronic/Drone

Year: 2001

Format/Copies Produced: CD, 16 Copies

Catalog Number: HEAD1

Track Listing:

  1. Packing My Briefcase (1:06)
  2. Personal Trial By Fire (13:23)
  3. This Route Isn't What It Claims To Be (5:34)
  4. Jupiter's Finest (0:46)
  5. Melting Fire, Burning Ice (7:42)
  6. Murderous Disease (0:28)
  7. The Seventh Star (21:33)
  8. I Will Never Be The Same (2:43)

Liner Notes: "my first album. hope you like it. cheers to jake for all the help. many thanks to jen for helping me make these."

The debut album was hand-made with burned CD-Rs and printed out art, and was mostly distributed to friends. Today, a copy can command extraordinarily high prices among collectors of rare music. 2 or 3 copies made their way outside of The Headscratcher's friend circle, and he quickly garnered a very tiny audience of people willing to listen to more. Nobody knew anything about who The Headscratcher really was, but they knew that they wanted more music from him. One of his friends managed to catch wind of this, and let him know, which made him begin work on his second album.

Cosmic Light Show

CLS

Genre: Ambient/Dark Ambient/Drone

Year: 2002

Format/Copies Produced: CD (35 Copies), MiniDisc (25 Copies), 60 Copies Total

Catalog Numbers: HEAD2CD, HEAD2MD

Track Listing:

  1. I Proclaim Myself God Of The Innocents (2:12)
  2. Lightbulbs Tied To A Live Wire (15:38)
  3. Conditional Plasma Infections (14:19)
  4. Solar System, Instability (3:23)
  5. The Fury Of My Burning Hands (9:54)
  6. 19770825230953098 (1:01)
  7. Cosmic Light Show Under The Imploding Sun (26:54)
  8. Resignation Letters (2:41)
  9. Untitled (hidden track) (0:30)

Liner Notes: "glad to see that you guys liked it. here's more tunes for your listening pleasure. jen wanted me to make minidiscs as well, so huge thanks to her for helping me again with these. if you want to write to me, here's a PO box address: the headscratcher, 1905 15th st # 1033, boulder, co 80302, united states"

Released in slightly larger quantities, and even on an entirely different physical format, Cosmic Light Show managed to spread beyond The Headscratcher's closed circles. More people noticed this time, and the album even managed to get reviewed on a webpage for underground music. It was an overall success in the underground community, and many people loved it. In fact, since The Headscratcher left an address for a PO box in Colorado, a lot of letters of appreciation made it his way. This made him even more motivated to work on another album. He decided to go a slightly different direction with his new release this time.

My Whimsical Creations

MWC

Genre: Ambient/Electronic/IDM

Year: 2003

Format/Copies Produced: CD (70 Copies), MiniDisc (45 Copies), 115 Copies Total

Catalog Numbers: HEAD3CD, HEAD3MD

Track Listing:

  1. Pigeon Box (0:39)
  2. Consider Where We're Going (5:52)
  3. Transmission Forty Four (6:20)
  4. Bug Bowl (0:44)
  5. My Skin Is Peeling Off (4:37)
  6. Arithmetic Aristocrat (6:32)
  7. I Eat ISBN Barcodes (2:23)
  8. Happiness In A Shopping Cart (9:33)
  9. We Went Where We Went (3:26)
  10. Unnerving Silence (0:20)
  11. Farewell And Thanks (4:31)

Liner Notes: "i appreciate the support and kind letters. decided to do something a bit different. hope you all still enjoy. thanks to jen yet again for helping with making these."

Released in the middle of the year, My Whimsical Creations gained an even more notable amount of attention. Several more webpages and even a small magazine covered this album, which resulted in one of the only interviews ever conducted. It was with one of the webmasters of the aforementioned pages. Conducted via e-mail, The Headscratcher retold his origin story and some of the challenges of keeping up with the somewhat increasing demand for copies of his albums. He also mentioned some of his musical inspirations, and went a bit back and forth with the webmaster about music they both liked to listen to. He refused to give out anything personally identifiable, stating that he prefers "being left alone when I want to, and I want that wish to be actually respected." The interview concluded with a hint from The Headscratcher that he was working on a "larger than usual" project.

Loneliness

Loneliness

Genre: Ambient/Electronic/Psychedelic Rock

Year: 2005

Format/Copies Produced: CD (140 Copies), MiniDisc (10 Copies), 150 Copies Total

Catalog Numbers: HEAD4CD, HEAD4MD

Track Listing:

  1. Escape (0:26)
  2. Scraping Metal Sheets (4:01)
  3. Gastroenteritis (5:55)
  4. The Second Half Of Me (3:37)
  5. Homesick (0:42)
  6. Orange Streetlight Illumination (7:29)
  7. Everyone Is Not Happy (4:12)
  8. A Song For Him (4:36)
  9. Ballad Of The Burning Ants In A Volcano (28:56)
  10. Stranded (1:29)

Liner Notes: "my grandest album yet. took me a long time to make, but i'm stoked with it, and i hope people also like the new sound. thanks to jen and will for helping me produce these, it was pretty tough work to get the larger amount of copies made."

The self-proclaimed "grandest album yet" is probably The Headscratcher's most well known album among the people that have heard of him. It also happens to be the most liked, with universal acclaim from all of the reviews from that time, particularly praising the increased focus on guitar and the new direction of a more psychedelic rock sound. The Headscratcher himself mentioned in another interview that he doesn't think he'll be able to top himself after this album. Nevertheless, speculation about his next release brewed somewhat in the underground music community, wondering whether he'll continue this direction, or maybe go somewhere else again.

Goodbye

Goodbye

Genre: Ambient/Drone/Psychedelic Rock

Year: 2007

Catalog Number: HEADINFINITY

Format/Copies Produced: CD, 25 Copies

Track Listing:

  1. Goodbye (38:51)

Liner Notes: "my final message and a tribute. it was an incredibly difficult decision, but i hope you understand. thank you all."

To the shock and surprise of everyone, the final release appropriately titled "Goodbye" was the last hurrah of the brief musical career of The Headscratcher. Clocking in at 39 minutes, it is by far the longest song he has released, and mixes ambient and psychedelic rock in what feels like one long musical journey. This album was made in far fewer numbers, and according to one of his friends, was mostly distributed to his friends and family. A very small number (claimed to be around 3-4) of copies apparently also include a 17 minute self-reflective audio monologue, as claimed by a confirmed family member. Neither his friends nor family that were able to be contacted gave out any details about what the monologue was about, nor any reasons for why he decided to quit making music, as per his wishes and to protect his privacy. Some theorize it was due to a death in the family or friend circles, while others claim it was due to burnout, but there has never been any official reputable confirmation, and The Headscratcher was never heard from again after this release.

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