During the mid-to-late ‘90s, there was a resurgence of interest in the Tennessee rock scene. New independent labels and groups crashed onto the scene, creating music that pulled from various influences under the alternative rock banner. At the center of this was an independent record label called Spongebath Records in Murfreesboro. Although only lasting from 1995 to 2001, the label would work to publicize many critically acclaimed artists.
One of the artists attached to Spongebath Records that received the most public attention was sElf. The band is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Matt Mahaffey, one of the co-founders of Spongebath. He and his brother Mike Mahaffey had been writing and performing music since the age of four. They turned their basement into a home-recording studio during high school and college, where they recorded multiple demos.
In 1995, some of these demos would become their album, “Subliminal Plastic Motives,” with the resources provided by Spongebath Records, mixing power pop, jazz and hip-hop samples and clear harmonies to create their unique sound. Similar to bands like Ween and They Might Be Giants, Matt Mahaffey’s lyrics are parody adjacent; there is a smug, ironic twist to their clever wordplay that’s not meant to be taken too seriously. Even if the lyrics get sappy and saccharin, they’re very tongue-in-cheek. “Subliminal Plastic Motives” received positive critical reception and moderate commercial success, with their singles “So Low” and “Cannon” getting decent air time on KROQ-FM and accompanying music videos air on MTV.
After touring with Tim Nobles (later Mac Burrus) on bass, Chris James on keyboard and samplers, Mike Mahaffey on lead guitar and Jason Rawlings on drums, Matt Mahaffey returned to his home recording studio to create “The Half-Baked Serenade” in 1997, an album that traded the hardcore rock elements from the first for more electronica experimentation. The album was only available through mail order catalog, so relatively few fans were exposed to its shift in music. The same year, executives at Spongebath encouraged Matt Mahaffey to release a compilation of leftover B-sides and covers he had been sharing around the office and with friends and family. Experimenting with the rise of music sharing in the early days of the internet, this compilation album, “Self…Feels Like Breaking Shit,” was released for free download on the Spongebath website, a music-sharing trend the band would return to for many of their B-side releases.
Around this time, Spongebath had brokered a deal with the much larger music label DreamWorks Records to co-release a few Spongebath-signed artists, which included sElf. Matt Mahaffey devoted most of his time to creating the new sElf album using resources from both labels, including access to renowned producers like Richard Dodd and Hugh Padgham. Complications in working with a more prominent label caused some delays, but the album “Breakfast With Girls” released in 1999, with an accompanying EP titled “Brunch” as consolation for fans who preordered the album. Reception to the album was initially negative because of its shift away from rock and more into the experimental, so the album did not perform as well as either label had hoped, given its large budget and production. Today, however, most sElf fans consider it a masterpiece.
During the recording of “Breakfast with Girls,” Mahaffey also made songs intended for a release back home at Spongebath called “Gizmodgery.” The gimmick of these songs was that they were entirely made on toy instruments, which included toy guitars, keyboards, drums, various sounds from toy phones, animals and robots. When the album was released in 2000, the reception was very positive. The toy instrumentation was more than a gimmick, but a tool Mahaffey used to flex his production magic — creating a novel, low-budget but charming collection of sounds. Mahaffey’s oddball sense of humor was very apparent in this album, creating an overall pleasant electronic listening experience with more rock elements than their previous album. Included on the album was a cover of the Doobie Brothers’ “What A Fool Believes,” which performed well critically, along with “Dead Man,” both of which have recently resurged in popularity on Spotify.
After releasing two internet compilation albums in 2000, Spongebath Records had trouble sustaining itself and fizzled out of the music scene in 2001. Still working with DreamWorks Records, Matt Mahaffey moved to Los Angeles. Here, he’d work with artists like Smash Mouth, Snoop Dog, Beyoncé, Mandy Moore and many others to produce and record their music, occasionally touring with artists like Beck. He also composed music for movies, TV shows and commercials. Of these, he made the ending credits song “Stay Home” for the first “Shrek” film, composed music for multiple Nickelodeon and Netflix TV shows, and wrote the original Expedia jingle.
sElf technically finished “Ornament and Crime” in 2004, but it was shelved indefinitely by Universal Music Group, who had purchased sElf’s label DreamWorks Records the year before. This album stripped many of the complex elements present in sElf’s previous work, creating a more focused hard rock album. Frustrated with the label and grappling with the tragic death of the lead guitarist Mike Mahaffey in 2005, the band became burned out and went on an indefinite hiatus, each member choosing to focus on their own careers and projects. Before doing so, sElf released a compilation album full of leftover songs recorded between 2001-2004 called “Porno, Mint, and Grime.”
Over the next few years, sElf, or mostly just Matt Mahaffey, occasionally performed various small shows, but nothing indicative of a full return. However, in 2007, Mahaffey hinted at the release of an entire album titled “Super Fake Nice,” which eventually became an EP of the same name released under El Camino Media in 2014. In 2017, El Camino Media would give “Ornament and Crime” an official release 13 years after it was finished.
Besides off-handed mentions and cryptic Instagram captions, there have been no official announcements regarding new sElf music, but Mahaffey has continued to compose for film and TV. Most recently, he lent his composing skills to the crowd-funded film “Onyx The Fortuitous and The Talisman of Souls,” where Mahaffey also appears as a disapproving fast food worker.
sElf is a beautiful little pop band that never got the commercial attention it deserved. If you ever need some white boy funk or to match your unserious mood, give sElf a listen. With all of their experimentation, listening to sElf is embarking on a fun journey where you discover what works and what doesn’t along with Mahaffey and company, never taking anything too seriously. Despite pressures from the music industry, making music can be fun and sElf revels in that notion. With this, sElf has created a series of albums and EPs where there’s at least one song you’re guaranteed to like.