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OUR WEEKLY COLLECTION OF SHORTER REVIEWS
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Victory Style 4,
Boy Sets Fire/Shai Hulud,
Rye Coalition,
Six by Seven,
Esham,
Sonogram,
Michael Zapruder,
Rhythm-Time: World Percussion,
Starlet,
Consolidated,
Calexico,
Klaxon Guele,
Lucky Jeremy,
Unsound Vol. I: Pop!,
Anna to the Infinite Power,
Har Mar Superstar,
Snuff,
El Toro,
Matt Pond PA,
Commercial Food Processor
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Various Artists / Victory Style 4 / Victory
(CD)
On this twenty-three track compilation, Victory Records presents their
take on the current state of hardcore. On the whole, not a lot has
changed since 1986. Taken as a whole, the album is somewhat repetitive,
since most of the bands adhere to the genre's stylistic conventions.
While appearances by stalwarts Shelter and Earth Crisis differ little
from what they were doing a decade ago, recent upstarts provide some
much-needed variation. Catch 22 turns in a pleasantly ska-influenced
track and OS101 hits the mark with a song poppy enough to stick in the
heads of most listeners under thirty. On "Untitled", Strife deviate from
the typical 4/4 pounding and slink in behind you before bludgeoning you
over the head. Since hardcore radio doesn't exist, this makes a decent
replacement -- but by illuminating the repetitiveness of the genre, it
also shows why such radio stations don't exist. -- rd
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Boy Sets Fire/Shai Hulud / Crush Em’ All Vol. 1 / Undecided (7”)
Here’s the premise behind Crush Em’ All Vol. 1: take two Metallica songs, sick a two-headed hardcore hydra upon them and press up the results. This 7”, the first in the Crush Em’ All series, pits hardcore titans Boy Sets Fire and Shai Hulud against two old school Metallica jams. First up, BSF sprint through an altogether too faithful version of “Fade to Black” that, while good, lacks their usual ferociously guttural intensity. But ground is made up on the second side as Shai Hulud ravage “Damage Inc.” and turn it into the grinding, savagely howling metal-spewing beast it was always meant to be. Their version kicks the original’s ass, smacking it upside the skull with riffs that are twice as fast and twice as harsh. In addition to the excellent content, the record comes housed in a very nice die-cut package and is supposedly quite limited. With that in mind, run out and find yourself a copy of this little beauty and reminisce about that bygone era when Metallica themselves actually rocked this hard. -- jj
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Rye Coalition / The Lipstick Game / Gern Blandsten (CD)
Rye Coalition may have had some better song titles before (like "The Higher
the Hair, the Closer to God"), but a greater variety in style helps make
The Lipstick Game definitively better than their fine debut. Given
their tendency to making some of the heaviest songs you can imagine
(like "the Prosthetic Aesthetic"), the quiet beauty of the title track and a
loud but surprisingly affecting instrumental ("Through the Years") suggest
an extremely promising future for what is already one of the best young
bands around. While you still won't be able to sleep to this record, you can
now at least love their songs even on days when your ears hurt a little bit. -- td
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Six By Seven / The Closer You Get / Mantra
(CD)
There's something really gripping about the sound of The Closer You Get. "Eat Junk Become Junk" is like a jacked-up Psychedelic Furs song, only
sharper, faster, more urgent and epic feeling. I find myself singing along,
getting all hyped-up, thinking "Yeah man, when you eat junk you become
junk! Yeah!" "Ten Places To Die" is mellower, but no less compelling, with
a steady, unstoppable beat and a strange falsetto voice pulling you along.
It's a long slow buildup to something that never quite arrives. Six By
Seven are definitely digging around in the same "post-rock" craters as
bands like Radiohead and Love As Laughter, but they're doing it with their
own intense, fuzzy shovel. -- ib
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Esham / Bootleg (From the Lost Vault) Vol. 1 /
Overcore/TVT (Enhanced CD)
If you're looking for ground-breaking, influential acid rap, you need look no further than this compilation of hits and unreleased material from Detroit scene-maker Esham. In our post-Kid-Rock world, these tracks take on particular significance, as Kid (like Insane Clown Posse and Eminem) cites Esham as fundamentally influential. I like this disc better than I liked the NATAS album I recently reviewed. It's less theatrical and more gritty. It has a more old school feel (after all some of these tracks date back to the early 90s). On the other hand, I find tracks like "KKKill The Fetus" a bit thematically challenging. Bootleg features some enhanced features you can access with your computer. There's not a lot -- a short interview, some concert footage and some television commercials -- but it's nicely presented and ran well on my Windows machine. -- nw
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Sonogram / Heartbeat Submarines / Simulacra (CD)
Here you'll find eleven tracks of drowsy, snail's-pace ambience
-- vague, burbling keyboard
melodies slathered over thick, cushion-like beds of impenetrable
sound. Most of the music is calm and soothing, though a couple
of tracks -- most notably the title cut -- sport an undercurrent
of menace. I'm certain that when you listen to Heartbeat
Submarines a few times at a suitable level of immersion
(i.e. with headphones or a surround system), your thinking will
slow to the music's pace and you'll be able to perceive the
melodies on a more manageable scale. It's definitely a
soundtrack for your mind's wandering. -- gz
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Michael Zapruder / Lomograph / 52 Songs (CD)
Michael Zapruder, whose main gig is lead guitar for the Bay Area band Vagabond Lovers (formerly Naked Barbies), has unleashed his solo material on the world. In a
project that he calls "52 Songs", Zapruder plans on writing a song a week and uploading it to his website. This EP features a small
selection of those songs, as well as a multimedia track that's a somewhat dire video of Zapruder singing and playing one of his songs on his
guitar. Musically, he's all over the American songwriting map: a little Dylan-esque number here, a straight up pop song there. It's a bit
generic at times, but all certainly well crafted. Zapruder most likely will find a small niche of mainstream rock/pop fans who'll
appreciate his talent. -- ha-n
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Various Artists / Rhythm-Time: World Percussion / World Music Network (CD)
Rhythm-Time: World Percussion doesn't skimp on tantalizing percussive tracks from points between Japan and Cuba. This is an amazing primer which presents not only some of the world's drumming greats, but also a description of the array of percussive instruments used. Rhythm-Time: World Percussion clocks in at over seventy-five minutes and includes both solemn and brisk beats, yet the track organisation is such that the CD feels like a fluid, multicoloured procession. "Felix" by Arakatuba and Faze Action is a flourish of perfect disco-influenced beats with a trippy, pulsing backdrop. Another exercise in percussive hypnotism is Joji Hirota's "Element", with drumming which rises like waves and cymbals which announce the next rumbling wave. There are also appearances by Hassan Erraji and Arabesque ("Trance Beat"), Mahmoud Fadl ("Halawa Ya") and Fuji Dub ("Fuji Dr. Ewon"), as well as names which may not be as familiar but are just as compelling. Rhythm-Time: World Percussion is definitely one of those CD's which will have friends and guests foot-tapping and inquiring, "What's this playing?" -- dd
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Starlet / Stay On My Side / Parasol (CD)
This follow-up to the three year-old, Razorcuts-influenced From the One You Left
Behind is completely unlike its predecessor. Rather
than trying to be grittier than Acid House Kings, Starlet have decided to
beat their Swedish peers at their own game. In this acoustic
fare, you get great singing, great melodies and unaffected heart-baring lyrics. Unfairly compared
to Belle & Sebastian in certain circles, Starlet is not political in the
least. They simply make songs you can sing to. If you could make these
songs human, you'd hug them. Of the most stellar tracks, "At Least In
My Heart", "Friends", and "Diary & Herself" stand out as the ones sure to
make the teen girls scream (if only the band was marketed that way). Just as
Parasol claims, it would be surprising not to find this disc on many top ten
lists next year. -- td |
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Consolidated / Tikkun-Survivor Demos / The Orchard
(CD)
Until the mid-nineties, Consolidated were actually pretty good.
Their industrial-style white-man rap hadn't been overshadowed by
Rage Against the Machine, and their lyrical content induced
equal portions of thought-provoking politics and middle-class
guilt. Then something happened. It probably started with group
member Adam Sherburne's "Childman" side project -- an appalling
mess of cumbersome, apologetic lyrics -- and began to drag
Consolidated down into a morass of painfully excessive political
correctness and whiny ex-record label disses. Today,
Consolidated are a mere shadow of their former selves, and
Tikkun - Survivor Demos shows them mixing watered-down
hip-hop with generic funk and rock; they sound like half a dozen
bands whose complacence they'd have lambasted a few years ago
-- "Impermanence" sounds like frickin' Hootie, for
Chrissake! -- and their lyrics, though well-intended, are so
painfully PC as to be unlistenable. If you're a vegan
straightedge kid or you don't chuckle whenever anyone mentions
Earth Crisis, you might dig this; otherwise, stick with
Nettwerk-era Consolidated. -- gz
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Calexico / Descamino: The Blacklight Sketches / Quarterstick (12” LP)
As night pervades a tall, sinewy figure emerges and takes hold of the darkness, then through some strange power is able to channel that darkness into a purely alpha-symphonic musical creation. This is a fair description of Side A of Descamino, in which Bundy K. Brown twists and contorts fragments of songs off of Calexico’s The Black Light, eventually melding them together into a freakish collage of ethereal grandeur and frighteningly opaque beauty. Entitled “Dia de los Muertos”, this epic reworking also features additional subterranean bass by Doug McCombs and gauzy coronet courtesy of Chicago Underground Duo’s Rob Mazurek. Side B features remixes by Tasha Bundy, Kassel Krew and Calexico themselves, all of which are good, but are never able to muster the same intensity or otherworldly groove of the A side. Special mention should be made of Calexico’s “TTT Truckstop” in which a woozy pedal steel winds its way around shuffling grooves and buzzing dissonance. A wickedly entertaining ride, Descamino proves that with the right person guiding it, music can truly go anywhere. -- jj
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Klaxon Guele / Muets / DAME
(CD)
On this instrumental sound barrage, trio Klaxon Gueule create a
sonic wasteland reminiscent of Einstürzende Neubauten's harsher work.
Accelerating beatings, random crashes and vicious drill whines collide
to disturbing effect. Impossible to define, the musicians themselves
toss out the phrase "electroacoustic chamber ensemble," which is as good
as anything I could dream up. Musique Concrete at its heaviest, this
is a serious album intended for concentrated listening, assuming that
you can take it. -- rd
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Lucky Jeremy / Enigma Cum Laude / Self-Released
(CD)
Lucky Jeremy, whose music will soon appear on Trouble Unlimited records, is a wonderful
talent, and Enigma Cum Laude is one of the most relaxed albums ever
to appear from someone so young. He possesses a voice comparable to Neil Young
or Doug Martsch (of Built to Spill), but I think Jeremy gets more sleep than
they do. When he sings of an inability to "throw words away" in "Figure
Sleeping", you believe him: on Enigma Cum Laude, it's somewhat difficult to imagine
his life connected to any action verb. Then again, it's also hard to imagine
Lucky Jeremy's songs being disliked. The lyrics are honest and loping ("Heard
any good jokes about your old friends?/Do you miss them?), reminding me of
"Find A Way" and other slow Silos songs. When set with his voice against a
guitar played so gently that it sounds like he's merely dusting it, listeners
end up with six quiet moments of truth to be taken into any of our damn
siestas to come. -- td
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That's Unsound, not Insound, kids. This is a compilation
of home-recorded pop. As you'd expect, style and recording
quality are all over the map, and you might be surprised by the
relatively "conventional" nature of the twenty-four songs here
-- influences stick to the Beatles, Squeeze and XTC as opposed
to DIY punk. You can probably attribute that to the fact that
most of Vol. I's contributors are older -- not so much
college kids as guys who like to sit down in front of the Fostex
after a long day at the bottling plant/ad agency/bakery.
Seriously, some of these guys have owned more 4-track recorders
than you've had winter coats. Some of you may find that Vol.
I lacks the punk rock edge you require, but the rest will
revel in this field of unharvested pop delights. -- gz |
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Anna to the Infinite Power / Idea Guy / AnnA (CD)
According to VideoFlicks.com, Anna to the Infinite Power is a rad
sounding movie with the following plot: "Discovering that she is the
result of a scientific cloning experiment, a young girl sets out to find
her 'sisters,' connected by telepathy." Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
Well, too bad, because we're not concerned here with the movie, but with a
like-named pop-punk band from Chapel Hill, N.C. Despite
their nutty name, AttIP plays pretty straight-ahead guitar/bass/drums
indie-pop. Their strength is definitely in the melody department, and
tunes like "Unbutton Your Head" can't help but catch your attention, at
least momentarily. Unfortunately, some nice melodic material isn't enough
to keep things chugging along, and each time I listen to Idea Guy I
find my mind drifting to that other Anna, and wondering whether she'll
ever find her sisters, and what exactly she'll do if she does. -- ib
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Har Mar Superstar / Insound Tour Support Series Volume 9 / Insound (CDEP)
Har Mar Superstar makes the songs that Prince can't write anymore. His
introductory CD sampler is not just funny ("Baby do you like my
clothes/Because I sure don't like yours"), but flashy and effortlessly
funky too. In addition, it contains the best rap of a girl with an oversized
hump (courtesy of Dirty Preston) in ages (yes, in ages!). Like his brother
Sean Tillman (who produced the tracks, and who does a mean R Kelly cover himself), Har Mar Superstar helps unearth the great poetry and humor behind
the cocky swagger of modern R&B. These three songs, which retain their bump and grind over multiple plays, immediately cement his forthcoming album into the illustrious "Must Funkin Get" category. -- td
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Snuff / Numb Nuts / Fat Wreck (CD)
Throughout Numb Nuts Snuff often resembles that calculatingly difficult younger sibling some of us know all too well -- constantly teetering between being utterly annoying and amazingly charming and loveable. The utterly annoying facet of Numb Nuts is the group’s forays into the realm of ska. Songs like “Pixies” and “Marbles” lose their pointed ferocity amidst a sea of bland horns and boring rhythmic figures. On the other hand, songs like “Soup of the Day” and “Another Wet Weekend at the Tundra Theme Park” are exercises in triumphantly catchy, yet viciously bruising, three-chord blasting punk rock. A bit less Specials and a bit more Sex Pistols could make Snuff a force to be reckoned with. -- jj
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El Toro / Good Evening, Coney Island / Sandbox (7")
A subtle 7" that lets the glaring absence of a traditional rock band's
instrumentation enhance your listening experience. El Toro is the work of
one man, Kyle Richards. With clean notes and resonating harmonics gently
gleaming from his guitar, Richards quietly utters sporadic words of wisdom
that coax you to pay close attention. The flip side introduces light
drumming into the mix, so relaxed that it almost sounds backmasked. Pleasant and unobtrusive, El Toro's simplicity is
its vehicle for paving a path of crisp and enticing melodies that
effortlessly float from the speakers. -- am
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Matt Pond PA / Measure / File 13
(CD)
I reviewed
the Lancaster Records edition of Measure about 3 months
ago and liked it a lot. The folks at File 13 clearly felt the
same, as they've made Measure available to a far wider
audience. I don't know whether it's Pond's voice, the presence
of a full string section or some other intangible variable, but
the songs here seem to make more of an emotional connection than
most Americana-style pop. I miss the original cover art (a nice
picture of a bird -- a finch, I think) a bit, but otherwise I'm
very pleased that this charming little record will get a chance
to reach more people. Give it a try. -- gz
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Various Artists / Commercial Food Processor / Unread
(12")
Here's a good ol' fashioned group of home recordings that does a swell job of
keeping me
entertained through a swift combination of neurotic humour, odd lyrics and
amusing musical
punches. From a terrifyingly obsessive lover talking to his sleeping mate,
to a quick banjo
ditty, it's impossible to predict what sort of a strange concoction will
follow the previous
one! Violins, mumbling and deranged vocals finish everything off, and with
my own laughter filling
the room, I've gotta give this curious musical listening aid
an amused token
of appreciation! -- am
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gz - george zahora | nw - noah wane | am - andrew magilow | ib - irving bellemead | jj - jason jackowiak
ha-n - heidi anne-noel | dd - deirdre devers | td - theodore defosse | rd - ron davies
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