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Japanic / Orpheus Express / Japanic (CD)
While Splendid E-Zine favourites Ho-Tu are no more, the resulting phoenix
from the ashes is Japanic. Anchoring these four demo tunes are deep, fat
bass lines that would make Gary Numan's Tubeway Army a jealous group
indeed. Offering no-wave tunes that are defined by brevity, neurotic
vocals and heavy doses of computerized keyboards, Japanic fashion their
nightmarish, Kraftwerk-inspired 80's youth experiences into an energetic,
feverish dance-out ex-tra-va-ganza that'll shake you into pieces! That's
right kids, shake it! -- am
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Yes, Elf Power have the highly-coveted-in-certain-indie-circles
association with the Elephant Six collective. If you're assuming
that's a sign of quality, you're quite right. The fantasy elements of
When the Red King Comes have been downplayed somewhat,
but the psychedelic pop quirks remain, as do the frequently wistful
lyrics. Although some of the tracks drag a bit -- or perhaps I'd just
had too much caffeine -- there are moments of unmitigated brilliance,
the most overt being "Simon (the bird with the candy bar head)", which
with its hummable horn-augmented chorus and interjected bird
twitterings, has become my new(est) favorite song. Nicely done. -- gz
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Robot / Palm Trees / T.O.N. (CD)
A band in the tradition of Radiohead -- i.e. yearning, moaning rock -- Robot carry themselves credibly on their debut, Palm Trees. I'll admit to being strung along by the soaring chorus of the first track, "Deep Sleep", and the strutting para-Brit-rock backbeat of "Mary Joe". Other moments are nice as well, but Robot seems to lack a unique sound, which is somewhat offputing. I get the feeling that these guys aren't so much "in the Radiohead vein" as that they think they are Radiohead -- to wit tracks 6 and 7, "Always" and "Fishtank". Oh well, if it's not one thing it's another! -- nw
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Frank Black and the Catholics / Pistolero / spinART (CD)
If this is your first brush with Frank Black post-Pixies (and post-Might-As-Well-Have-Been-Pixies-solo-material),
the first thing you're likely to recognize is Black's distinctive
guitar approach -- he still veers crazily from melody to chaos
in a give-my-guitar-some-ritalin fashion. But since Pistolero,
like his spinART debut, continues Black's back-to-basics, live-to-
two-track recording ethic, there's a far grittier aesthetic at work.
The album is raw and rootsy -- a naturalized evolution of past
sounds -- and perhaps and indication that Frank may turn out to
be the Neil Young of the 21st century. -- gz
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Buzz Prophets / Kentucky / Tender Stone (CD)
A musical recipe with roots in bluesy, 70's rock, NYC's Buzz Prophets
flash through a variety of tunes, heavy on the groove-rock and
determined to season the post-AOR menu with palatable portions of meaty
guitar work. Vocalist Wohl lets everything hang out as he wails out
his lyrics with impressive confidence. A solid and promising album; if
you prefer your rock with soulful chunks of Marshall stack guitar in a
rich rhythmic broth, go ahead and taste test the Buzz Prophets'
Kentucky. -- am
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Rachael Sage / Smashing the Serene / Mpress (CD)
When you hear a lot of music within a certain genre -- and, as a reviewer, I
tend to hear an unrealistically large amount, relative to most people's
listening
and/or purchasing habits -- it all starts to sound alike. And that's why
I'm having
a hard time reviewing Smashing the Serene. Sage is a singer-songwriter
(think Lilith Fair), equal parts sensitive and quirky. Her lyrics are
poetic and
aggressively deep, her is voice pure, clear and distinctive and her
arrangements
bristle with piano, strings and other orchestral flourishes. If you've
ever enjoyed
Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan or Ani DiFranco, you won't have any trouble getting into Smashing
the Serene -- especially if you're the sort of person who only buys
five or six
discs a year. But if you're the sort of person who hears a lot of
music,
expect it to rapidly become a better-than-average blur in an already
blurry genre. -- gz
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The Streetwalkin Cheetahs / Live on KXLU / Triple X (CD)
Equal parts punk band and jam band, the Streetwalkin Cheetahs owe much of their musical methodology to Motor City outfits like MC5 and The Stooges. Live on KXLU captures a recent set recorded for the L.A. radio program Noyz Pollution, nicely preserving the excitement and immediacy of a live performance. The secret prize at the bottom of this box is the three bonus tracks featuring Detroit heavey Wayne Kramer and Fishbone saxman Angelo Moore. The Cheetahs' musical mission seems to be raising the punk rock quality bar, and Live on KXLU is a pretty good argument that they're succeeding. The songs are well-written and tightly executed but maintain an attractive rock 'n' roll grittiness. I'm not convinced these guys are the Messiah of rock or anything, but they're worth a listen. -- nw
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Neil Hamburger / Left for Dead in Malaysia / Drag City (CD)
The world's best lousy comedian, Neil Hamburger, somehow finds
himself booked into a Malaysian karaoke bar. Will the total
language barrier help or hurt Neil's pathetic material? Will he manage
to drown out the sound of the jukebox? Increasingly drunk and bitter,
Neil alienates the audience, drives away his sleazy manager Art
Huckman and bombs worse than ever before, droning out his dull
material and slaughtering even his few "good" jokes with inept delivery.
It helps to be a Neil Hamburger "fan" going into this disc, as unlike
Raw Hamburger (which Neil shills during his performance) or
America's Funnyman, there's no laughter or crowd noise here to
break up Neil's monotone -- Neil's basically talking to himself in front of
an audience, and getting more and more depressed (and depressing) the longer he goes on. If you can't fasten your ears to his voice, you might
not get the über-joke. -- gz
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