Hugo / Think I'm In Love / Canadance (CD single)
At one time or another, most reviewers have started a review with that
old quote, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
Which begs the question, how am I going to kill another 40 words? This
overly-sweet bubble-gum techno-pop song sports lyrics that only a man
who's head over heels in love would write -- so Hugo's sincerity is
laudable, but his delivery has all the poise of a half-blind
octegenarian negotiating a flight of damp wooden stairs. -- gz
Wreck (+2) is the sophomore EP from NYC indie hardcore rockers
Fluffer. Produced by Jason "Soundgarden" Corsaro, Wreck (+2) is
ten minutes of scorching guitar noise and thrashy rhythms. Vocalist
Laura Galpin's approach to song is banshee-inspired! There are two
guitarists in Fluffer and the mass of the added instrument provides
momentum and allows for the construction of some truly mammoth walls of
guitar noise, with frequencies from all over the spectrum! Short but
sassy, Wreck (+2) packs a heavy punch indeed! -- nw
Puzzle Gut / Puzzle Gut / Interscope Records (CD)
If you like your rock bratty and generic, you'll love Puzzle Gut.
Straddling the crevass between hard rock and punk, Puzzle Gut pepper
their lyrics with violence and foul language because hey, that's what
sells, right? None of the songs are outstandingly good or outstandingly
bad; they're just loud and boisterous power pop with nothing
particularly new to say. But if you don't hear several variations on this
concept every week, you might like it more than I did. -- gz
For lack of a better description, New Hampshire's Motorplant can best be
described as "modern rock" - overdriven guitar, melodic singing and
passionate lyrics, all to a radio-friendly beat. Nothing outrageously
innovative or ground breaking with this CD Single (2 songs), but Motorplant
shows their musical ability and tight songmanship, which both suggest that you’ll probably see them opening for the next big band at the local 20,000
seat venue soon. -- am
The Pat McGuire Band / Big Brown Sofa / Inverin Records (CD)
I loathe the Dave Matthews Band, so I had an irrational fear of the Pat
McGuire Band. This fear, naturally, turned out to be totally
unfounded. McGuire's sound is sort of late-eighties AAA (imagine
mellower Talk Talk or Tears For Fears), while his voice sounds a lot
like Elton John (sans histrionics and excesses). It would be easy for
this stuff to sound tired and schmaltzy, but McGuire and his band give
it an understated flair. Big Brown Sofa isn't an innovative
album, but it succeeds by placing conviction over showmanship, quality
over trendiness. The result is as comfortable and relaxing as the titular piece of furniture. -- gz
A strange equation of space-rock, folk, and trippy drug-induced sounds can
only equal Hopewell, and the instructor has got to be Priapus Records.
Another amazing release, this 7" will thoroughly confuse you -- especially
with the cover of "Paranoid" that glides over the airwaves with an absence
of any Sabbath hostility! These may be transmissions from another planet,
or maybe I just drank too much Pepto-B last night. Get your dirty mits on
this 7" pronto! -- am
Magnatone / Magnatone / No Alternative Records (CD)
Awright, a new Replacements album! Okay, not quite. But if you took
chunks of the 'Mats, The Clash, The Ramones, Elvis Costello and perhaps
the Monkees and Jesus and Mary Chain for good measure, and shoved them
all in a huge blender and switched it to puree, you probably wouldn't
have any trouble getting the members of Magnatone to drink the resultant
nasty mixture. This is an absolutely perfect punk-pop album -- not the
sort you write volumes of academic criticism about, but the sort you
crank on a sunny spring day, and to hell with what the neighbors say,
because you can't hear them anyway. -- gz
Save Ferris / It Means Everything / Epic (CD)
You've probably all heard Save Ferris' catchy remake of "Come On Eileen"
-- I'm actually quite fond of it; to me it represents a high point in the
current (and too often disappointing) ska-pop trend. While the tracks on
Everything to Me don't necessarily reflect the ska purism that is
embraced by those in the "authentic ska" movement (stuff you won't hear
on commercial radio, certainly) they are nonetheless tuneful and rhythmic
and worthy of head nodding and toe tapping. My "pick o' the disc" is
"Lies", a smoldering, soulful ska-pop ballad driven by a big fat bass
line and Monique Powell's passionate voice. -- nw
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