Song of the Day: “TIML / Ears Adjust” by Wippy Bonstack
The sound of a man trying to build a Rube Goldberg machine out of guitars, synths and anxiety.
Ben Coniguliaro, the mastermind behind the Wippy Bonstack project, clearly didn’t get the memo that humans usually prefer their songs to have one time signature at a time. This album, Correct Irregulars (released September 2025), is a 22-track marathon of “Avant-Pop” that feels like being pelted with every note, from every scale, all at once—it’s sugary, fast-paced, and just slightly overwhelming to the casual listener.
The style sits somewhere between the playful/artful complexity of XTC, the jagged math-trap of Polyphia, and the “what if we used every instrument all at once?” energy of Frank Zappa. The production is DIY but remarkably sharp, managing to keep up with melodies that refuse to stay in one place for longer than a few seconds. It’s “Prog” in the sense that it progresses rapidly through every idea Ben has ever had, usually before you’ve finished processing the last one.
If the album is a high-speed tour of Ben Coniguliaro’s brain, “TIML / Ears Adjust” is one of the more accessible thought pathways on display. He uses his voice less like a singer and more like an additional melodic instrument. The way the harmonies are stacked—tight, dry, and slightly dissonant—creates a sense of “productive claustrophobia” that is the hallmark of the Wippy Bonstack sound, and extremely reminiscent of Frank Zappa’s compositional style (albeit more so with other songs on the record like “Rufking Tonic” and “Glimpse of the Echomaniac”).
Side Note: While it’s true Coniguliaro must be influenced by Zappa’s work, what I’m hearing in his Wippy Bonstack music is more specifically influenced by artists who were Zappa disciples like Mike Keneally, Steve Vai and Ike Willis. Here are a few records from those artists that share similarities to this record:
Ike Willis - Dirty Pictures
Mike Keneally - Hat.
Steve Vai - Flex-Able
“TIML / Ears Adjust” manages to be rhythmically complex but strangely polite and melodic at the same time. One minute you’re being hit with a synced, multi-instrument ascending runs that I’m sure sounds a little like a dial-up internet connection to those who know what that sounds like, and the next, there’s a pop sensibility peeking through that reminds you Ben actually knows how to write a hook; he just chooses to make you work for it.
The Song
Spotify:
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/song/timl-ears-adjust/1843960727
The Album
A Promo Video for the album is the best I could do:
Spotify:
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/correct-irregulars/1843960725
The Band
https://wippybonstack.bandcamp.com/