OUR WEEKLY COLLECTION OF SHORTER REVIEWS | |
The Mercury Program,
Son of Sam,
Rocket from the Crypt,
hollAnd,
Boring Jason,
Novasonic Down Hyperspace,
Paul Newman,
Saint Etienne,
Autour de Lucie,
Novillero,
Volta Do Mar,
Square Root of Margaret,
Glasstown,
Defiled,
Lefty's Deceiver,
The Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers,
Jumprope,
Mistletoe,
Bhreus Kormo,
El Guapo,
Sunless Day,
Jackhammer,
Ikon,
The Lillingtons
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The Mecury Program / All The Suits Began To Fall Off /
Tiger Style
(CD)
I should come clean right away and admit that I have a natural aversion
to instrumental rock records. It was probably all of those Rush albums I
was forced to listen to as a boy. So although All The Suits Began To
Fall Off is an enjoyable record, I find it hard to get very
excited about it. The playing is first rate and keeps to the rockier
side of fusion, with vibes, electric piano and various percussion
instruments keeping things from straying too far into dreaded guitar
death-noodle territory. The five tunes here are all pleasantly
groovy, with occasional bursts of manic energy creeping in around their edges. However, that energy isn't really enough to hold on to my ears for more than a couple of minutes at a time, causing the disc to slip into the background each time I put it on. That's not
necessarily a bad thing; as background music, All The Suits Began To
Fall Off is excellent. --
ib
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Son of Sam / Songs From the Earth / Nitro (CD)
Before you even get through the first track on Songs From the Earth,
you'll be thinking about The Misfits, Danzig, Samhain and all evil things
associated with those aforementioned artists. After you hear the organ blare on
the opening tune, you probably won't be
surprised to learn that Son of Sam
boasts two former Samhain members, along with Danzig guitarist Todd Youth
and AFI vocalist Davey Havok. As these eerie numbers race by, charring
everything in the area, guest appearances by other Danzig members -- and by his most excellent evilness himself, Glenn D. -- finish everything off in
a blaze of campy brilliance. Imagine if Danzig said "fuck it" to his
menacing gloom-and-doom numbers and stuck with the uptempo punk, and you'd
have Son of Sam. If songs like "In the Hills" and "Purevil" don't freak you
out enough, this all-star cast of badness will certainly raise the hair on the back of your neck. -- am
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Rocket from the Crypt / Group Sounds / Vagrant
(CD)
Some bands are a blast live. Some are meant to be heard via speakers or
headphones. Can you guess which one RFTC is? Yes, it's
balls-to-the-wall rock-o-rama from start to finish. Yes, it's turned up
to eleven from note one and it never deigns to drop back down to ten. Yes, it has a
certain something that makes you bob your head and/or shake your ass to
songs that you'd probably be ticked off by if someone drove
past your pad blasting them out his windows. But no, it's not the stuff
that great CDs are made of. "White Belt", riddled with three crunchy
chords
for your listening convenience, takes a minor turn from the typical RFTC
routine by pumping horns into the mix. "Venom
Venom" sticks to the Ramones/Donnas basics as it proffers a wannabe-catchy
chorus
that never quite sticks. It has the same sing-songy quality as a
commercial, albeit a punk rock one. The best thing about Group Sounds
is that it will prepare you for tourmeisters RFTC's next stop in your
town. After the show, listen to
it again at home -- not so much for the great songs as to rekindle the
great memories you'll have of the live show. -- rg
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hollAnd / Drums / pulCec (CD)
Damn! Seven songs in twelve minutes! Trevor hollAnd (nee
Kampmann) minces neither words nor riffs, ripping through a
series of tunes too brief and too vibrant to wear out their
welcome. Though it's held together by the irresistably chewy
drone of analog keyboards, Drums maintains an
admirably punk rock aesthetic, flaunting its rough edges and
reveling in the economy of its compositions. Of particular
merit are the Gary Numanesque "Oh Death" and the solid-state "American Eyes", both of which beg
for an extra minute or two of playing time. Fans of
Barcelona's technofied pop and the analog athletics of early
Depeche Mode should flock to Drums; not only can you
get all the way through it five times in a single hour, but
you'll actually want to. -- gz
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Boring Jason / Brazen Face / Self-Released (CD)
Their name begs for a pot-shot, but I'll behave. The three songs on this EP are
much like the other Britpop I've heard, but with breathier vocals and a
more idiosyncratic sound. Actually, they kind of remind me of EMF -- isn't
that embarrassing? The title track is deceptively urgent,
the vocals so breathy and pained that you begin to believe they're
singing about something really deep. Unfortunately, when you look at the lyrics on the
insert, they read like bad adolescent poetry. So don't read the lyric
sheet. One thing I will say in Boring Jason's favor is that they take more risks
than most bands, varying tempo and dynamics frequently -- often several times within a single
song. Now if only they could make it sound like they did it for a reason... -- az
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Novasonic Down Hyperspace / Mathing Moonlight / Spectra Mobile
(CD)
This collection of soothing tracks is best summed-up by the word "space".
The songs have the wide-open, rolling sensation of a river as it flows
through the plains beneath a sapphire sky. Touches of keyboard and guitar
give the music solidity, but for the most part this trio prefers to push
off from the earth and meander around the cosmos. On occasion vocals or a
bit of distortion give you something concrete to hold on to, but during
long tracks like "Hallway (9 Reasons for Sanity)", things get a bit out
there. While this approach can be stunning, the music here is too open.
Because of this, I find myself waiting around in the time between notes
rather than longing for the next one. Thus, while the band definitely
evokes a mood, it is not one that I find particularly engaging. -- rd
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Paul Newman / Re-Issue! Re-Package! Re-Package! Re-Evaluate the
Songs / My Pal God (CD)
As you might guess from its title, Re-Issue! Re-Package! Re-Package!
Re-Evaluate the Songs is a compilation of hard-to-find Paul Newman songs
that have appeared on multiple formats on a slew of labels, including
Temporary Residence Limited, Zum, Twistworthy and My Pal God. Spanning
the band’s entire history, from their first release through songs that
missed the cut for their last full-length, Re-Issue!... shows the band's gradual
evolution from timid rockers into a fully formed,
fire-breathing art-punk monolith. The earliest tracks, "Way to Breathe" and
"All Black, All Anal", are repetitive, slow-burning pieces of
contemplative post-rock. Conversely, "Beeline to Mamou" finds the band
trading valence for violence as they thrash their way through a series
of sinister chord progressions and thunderous cymbal blasts. The
monstrous "I Know My Luck Too Well" stretches its mighty wings over
nine-and-a-half minutes of serpentine guitars, chiming melodies and
propulsive rhythmic figures. The remaining six songs are also worthy
additions to any collection. -- jj
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Saint Etienne / Interlude / Sub Pop (CD)
In the fickle field of breezy
indie dance-pop, Saint Etienne have retained their appeal far longer
than most. The 13-year-old band's latest release, collects B-sides and a few
never-before-heard tracks recorded at the same time as last year's
Sound of Water. The LP comes on an undeniably cool slab of
orange vinyl, but the CD adds two bonus tracks (a radio edit and a
techno-y remix of "Lose That Girl") plus two versions of the
video for "How We Used to Live", catering to those computer-equipped
obsessives who can't get enough of the cool allure of lead singer Sarah
Cracknell. Not all of these lush, keyboard-driven tracks will appeal to
listeners who aren't already enamored of the band, but enough charms are on display
to woo the uninitiated. The soaring "Red Setter" tops the B-sides --
which more than hold their own against the newly-released songs -- while
sexy, cooing French adds some smolder to the exclusive "Le Ballade de
Saint Etienne". This isn't a major release (if anything it's a "don't forget
about us" product), but you'll still be left feeling
positively continental. -- rt
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Autour de Lucie / Faux Mouvement / Nettwerk (CD)
Somewhere between Ivy and Mono lies the atmospheric pop of French import
Autour de Lucie. Combining the acoustic and electronic worlds of pop,
Faux Mouvement plays like a moody soundtrack for film noir. Vocalist
Valérie Leulliot characterizes some odd combination of Shirley Manson,
Jennifer Charles and Beth Gibbons, slipping easily between dark and light moods.
Recorded entirely in French (everything seems to sound
better in one of the world's most romantic languages), Faux Mouvement
is a rainy day delight. Accompanied by lilting harmonies and equal portions of
space and solid instrumentation, Autour de Lucie's music rivals
the effect that Portishead had on my ears when first I heard them. Rainy day
or not, this is a band I wouldn't mind hearing a bit more. -- al
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Novillero / The Bradford Follies / Endearing (CD)
Composed of members of Duotang, Transonic and Bullet Proof Nothing, Novillero spreads the songwriting duties evenly. The pop sensibilities of the bandmates are widely varied, so The Brindleford Follies produces an eclectic sound that varies significantly from track to track. It's a bit spacy, a bit jazzy, with some '60s lounge sound and straight pop thrown in here and there, depending on whose work you're hearing. "The Day the Trumpet Player
Fell in Love, and Learned to Hate Men" is by far the poppiest of all the tracks, with Matyas' trumpet playing enhancing David
Berthiaume's bouncy, cheerful vocals. "Cat Scan" is spacier thanks to some burbly keyboards, but retains "Trumpet Player"'s jangly pop sound. The jazzy, Stereolab-ish
lounge elements are most apparent in "Stumble On", with Rod Slaughter's cool vocals surrounding the listener in a retro atmosphere. The variety of styles -- although not
completely disparate -- can draw the listener into the band's schizophrenic sound...though perhaps polytheistic would be a better word, as there's something to
adore about all of these tracks. Hopefully, as the band gets tigher, their sound will grow more cohesive. Endearing has a tendency to pick quiet winners, and with Novillero's The Brindleford Follies, they prove to have done so once again. -- js
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Volta Do Mar / Self-Titled EP / Arbor
Vitae (CD)
Like most record labels, the folks at Arbor Vitae, Volta Do
Mar's label, would like their releases to be Picks.
They've told me as much -- though I'll reiterate, the
difference between Picks and At a Glance reviews is far more
complicated than Pick=Good, At A Glance=Not So Good. So for
all you record label folks: if you want a Pick, send me a
full-length album that's as consistently good as this EP.
This Illinois quartet works the same post/math-rock turf
mined by countless other bands, but they do it with a verve
and energy the others lack. What's the secret? Frankly, I
think these guys haven't forgotten that half of post-rock is
ROCK. Rather than languidly slouching their way through
their chosen repetitive sequences, these guys hurl themselves into
the music, dishing up melodies with surgical precision and
turn-on-a-dime riffs. They hit the usual jazz landmarks,
too, but this jazz isn't plodding and dull -- it's seething
hot stuff that makes your arm hair stand up. I've heard a
lot of bands with the same basic sound as Volta Do Mar, but
almost none of them managed to communicate their
vitality and love of their music as well as these guys.
When a band is into the music, the audience follows suit. Please, bring on a full-length. -- gz
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Square Root of Margaret / Heard Music Playing... / Self-Released (CD)
Weird Canadians with bad luck make up Square Root of Margaret. Their musical
equipment, recently lost in a fire that burned down the club that kept them
paid, is put to good use here. "Locals Theme Song" at once harkens back to
sixties "drag race" instrumentals, and forward to Futurama episodes, with
nice spacy UFO noises laid over cruising guitars. "Ghost of a Man" has them
confessing to the listener that they don't have a great singer, while "Hoya
Seehja" sounds like Big Country meeting Navajo Indian. Aside from the
drums, I wouldn't be surprised if all the other instruments here were
handmade or exotic. "Race Car Song", an instrumental, rocks the skies like "Locals Theme Song",
and each song afterward keeps the listeners' feet somewhat off the ground.
The slow songs work against the band's strengths, but manage modest success. Heard Music Playing ends with an "Epilogue" done in the spirit of early, bizarre Camper Van Beethoven. For a few minutes afterward, it'll have you shaking your head. While I'm doubtful this band will
cause an obsession in the hearts of young girls and boys, it's interesting
enough to make you hope there's more to come from the belly of this
square root. -- td
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Glasstown / Living and Forgetting / Bitter
Stag (CD)
Glasstown sounds like an orchestral, roots-rock
version of The Aluminum Group (with more guitars, and
no female vocals) -- or maybe just an Americanized
version of Coldplay minus the foo-foo hi-fi
production. Living and Forgetting is clearly a
mature debut offering, but therein lies the trouble.
There is nothing strikingly "wrong" here -- the
band is obviously a talented group of musicians who
know how to construct a song -- but there is an obvious
lack of urgency. Songs like "Library People" develop
interesting orchestral crescendos, but you can't help
hope for the lyrics to drop their quasi-literary
posturing and for the band to develop some engaging
hooks. It would also be interesting to hear a little
variety and liveliness in the vocals; anything
to break the album out of its somnambulistic slump. The closest the vocals ever come to leading a song is
on "Fireflies", in which the lyrics dance along a Cole
Porter-like piano melody. While the album incorporates
eclectic instrumentation, notably the French horn,
along with synths and straight up guitars, it fails to
do anything interesting or unusual with them. Sometimes subtlety isn't the best approach. -- jw
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Defiled / Ugliness Revealed / Necropolis
(CD)
This quartet of Japanese metal extremists blasts a calculated and
intricate form of
musical malice. Ugliness Revealed doesn't strike any answering chords in me --
I don't have the urge to track down every Defiled release -- but it provides enough of a musical
document to judge Defiled as a powerful, well-orchestrated metal outfit that knows when
to crank up the
speed and when to apply guttural, bass-heavy riffing that can rip your
woofer speaker right
out of its casing. "Decimate with Hysteria" has a haunting Dark Angel
sound to it, complete with grinding vocals, while "Crush the Enemy Rising" brings back
glorious memories of '80s metal-masters Possessed and their ultra-speedy delivery. If you
enjoy being kept on your toes as a band plays tricks with tempos and technical prowess,
Defiled's East-meets-West death metal will suit you just fine. -- am
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Lefty's Deceiver / Conversations on Favored Nations / Happy Couples Never Last (CD)
I assume Philadelphians Lefty's Deceiver chose their name as
some sort of commentary on Steve "Lefty" Carlton, the Phillies' strikeout
maestro (More likely it's a flyfishing reference. -- Ed.).
But what exactly are they trying to say? If it is they who are
deceiving Steve Carlton, how are they doing it? Are they simply fooling
Steve, a notoriously vain man, into thinking the band's about him? At any
rate, Lefty's Deceiver are definitely not being deceptive with their music.
By the end of the very first song, it's hard not feel certain about their
musical leanings (emo, and the herky-jerky DC approach to guitar playing)
and their almost inevitable failings (song subjects that are
melodramatic -- "She says that she's all right/At least until morning" -- to
the point of silliness). Still, derivative as they truly are, Lefty's
Deceiver should not be overlooked. There are very good reasons they're
developing a big following, among which is Andy Williams, their lead
singer, who sounds like a young American Andy Patridge raised on Braid.
Also, in songs like "September Til First Night", they show a deep respect
for melody, something still uncommon among most emo bands. This "September"
song, easily my favorite, starts off with a fantastic bass intro by Ed
Hogarty, followed by a stuttering guitar sequence that gives the
thumping beat a sort of raggedy edge. The vocals, though decent, are
carried by the instrumentation, but this might change when Andy
gains enough confidence to stop indicating the song's dramatic peaks with a
melodic scream. They're not yet a must-hear band, but Lefty's Deceiver show
they have the raw talent to eventually make a very fun, over-the-top record
that will give Mr Carlton something new to brag about. -- td
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The Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers / Ume Sour / Darla
(CD)
This disc from Jeannine Durfee and Robert Christiansen is a souvenir of the
time the pair spent in Japan. Recorded in their living room and named after
a favorite drink, the music is a curious mix of East and West. Some tracks,
such as Casio-inflected "Ami-chan, Mai-chan", clearly show their Japanese
influences. Others, such as "Armstrong Archer", betray a gaijin folk
upbringing. Either way, the duo's sound is dominated by keyboards, which
are simultaneously cheesy and cute. Like most Asian pop,
the music here will probably sound wispy and lightweight to Western ears. Nevertheless, Ume Sour has
its moments and presents an interesting take on what can happen when
cultures fuse. -- rd
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Jumprope / Suitcase and Umbrella / Planting Seeds (CD)
For a bunch of kids from Boston, Jumprope continue to do a
good job of sounding Swedish. There's something
delightfully relaxing about their mixture of
lighter-than-air pop stylings, bossa nova undertones and
breathy female vocals; you'll feel like you're relaxing on a
beach somewhere exotic and sunny, or at the very least shopping at a very
friendly Ikea. Of course, these are gentle songs, bursting
with good-natured vocal harmonies, swelling keyboard fills
and jangly guitars. Like the Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, Club
8 or even the Cardigans, they won't register higher than a
three on your handy rock-o-meter, but they're not
overwhelmingly twee either. Ultimately, the bossa-nova
lounge-pop scene is showing its age, and Jumprope doesn't
say anything about the genre that hasn't been said before...but
this is not a genre known for its philosophical heft. Like the best vacations, Suitcase and Umbrella manages to be light, enjoyable and pleasant -- in short, its
modest expectations are well met. -- gz
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Mistletoe / Sorry It's Been So Long / June (CD)
Artists J. Romero and Alex Rose formed their own label, for which Sorry... is the first release, when they formed their band. While self-released music is frequently a travesty, at other times it reveals musical genius (Fugazi's Dischord label, etc.). June Records falls somewhere in between, amazingly enough. Mistletoe is said to be inspired by Siamese Dream-era
Smashing Pumpkins, and you can definitely hear that in the soft sounds of "Patty Mayonnaise" and
"Hover", both of which overtly echo song titles from Siamese Dream.
Romero and Rose are lucky not only in their friendship, but also in their musical melding: they harmonize fantastically. Not many current indie pop bands are that great at harmony, and it's a talent upon which the pair ought to capitalize, big time. Nowhere does this talent shine more strongly than in "Hover", which stands out
not only for the harmony, but also because most of the rest of the album is full of hardcore punk guitars. Mistletoe's web site says that their music is only getting harder in
performance. That's fine, but bring back some of the softer ballads. It's the softer, prog-rock sound that made Siamese Dream such a success; if Mistletoe is
going to model themselves on the Pumpkins (at least in part -- not by any means in toto), then Romero and Rose ought to try basing their homage on that
prog-rock tendency. In any case, this EP promises a bright future. -- js
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Various Artists / Bhreus Kormo / C.I.P. (CD)
This is an eclectic compilation of experimental, electronic
artists, all of whom share a sort of slow-moving, texture-based approach to
making music. Each of these pieces conjures a unique sonic dimension that, when
inhabited for a bit, can be quite mesmerizing -- from the disembodied-sound
electro-acoustic approach of Brutum Fulmen's "Before the Invention of the Nose Hair Tweezer" to the
slow-moving-but-still-somehow-lyrical whistling "To Bdelugma Tes Eremoseos (Part IV)" of Irr. App.
(Ext.) to Coeurl's "Nothing, But a Certain Palpable Numbness", which I'm quite certain begins
with a stolen snippet of Penderecki's "Threnody for the Victims of
Hiroshima" before moving into something alarm-clock-like and then into
something on the threshold of human perception. All proceeds from the sale
of this CD go to support a study about lesbians and breast cancer. If this
is a pet cause of yours, you might want to pick up Bhreus Kormo,
regardless of your musical tastes. -- nw
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El Guapo / The Geography of Dissolution / Mud Memory (CD)
It has been my experience that bands like El Guapo tend to be much
better in theory than in practice. That isn't to say that
their music is bad, but that it's pretty difficult listening. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these guys, El Guapo are an avant-art-punk quartet hailing from the musical hotbed of
Washington, DC. The Geography of Dissolution is a live
release split into two sets -- one recorded in March of 1999 and the other
in July of the same year. The first set consists of what can be
considered actual songs: "South of No North" and "John Hinckley Knew
This One" bounce around like superballs, their outlandish arrangements
peppered with sporadic percussion, glassy keyboards, crazy vocals and
corrosive guitars. The second set, however, consists of nine musical
"Sectors", and these fall more along the lines of experimental/noise-based
composition. Throughout this half-hour set the band makes extensive use
of dissonance, bursts of tribal percussion, random vocal assaults and
ragged bass figures. Neither set is particularly easy on the ears, so
less-than-adventurous listeners will want to stand well back from The Geography
of Dissolution’s warped take on modern composition. -- jj
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Sunless Day / Electric Ahhh.... / Amazing Grease (CD)
The bio says this is "music for the nether regions." If Electric Ahhh.... is
supposed to make my groin tingle, I'm afraid it's failed miserably.
However, the looping beats, backed by some thick 'n' meaty guitar work,
definitely make my head swim in musical delight. As a matter of fact,
Sunless Day takes aim at the psych-inspired punk of the late '60s, filtered through a strange combination of Guided by Voices, The Sonics and The Ramones. Everything from racy guitar solos to garrulous vocals can be heard on Eletric Ahhh...., as overdriven glory and raw
production leave the disc sounding like a blast from the past. Wanna trip
back to unconsciousness without being sucked under by hippies or wastoid
stoners? Sunless Day successfully applies its own damaged goods with fuzzed
fury and a wry punk rockitude. -- am
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Jackhammer / Self-Titled / Kapital K (CD)
Jackhammer share little with the nü metal outfits (Slipknot, etc.)
who have risen from the midwest to take the charts by storm over the
past couple of years. Old-school Metallica and Pantera is more their
style, as pounding riffage and crushing vocals dominate this Peoria, IL
trio's debut. True to their name, there are few flashy moments or quiet
interludes, and nothing resembling the mooky rock-rap of Limp
Bizkit -- just a steady stream of heavy, powerful metal. The surprisingly
positive, triumph-of-the-will lyrics ("I will create a man immune to
force/I will stay confident, strong, and coarse") are difficult to make
out in the shouted assault, as intensity substitutes for clarity. Still, for a
straight shot of furious musical Armageddon, with no watered-down chaser,
Jackhammer fit the bill. -- rt
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Ikon / On the Edge of Forever / Metropolis (CD)
Though their sound and mood are often reminiscent of
First and Last and Always-era Sisters of Mercy, with
a little bit of (Clan of) Xymox thrown in for good measure,
these Aussies succeed on their own merits. The
raw-edged aggro of the Nostradamus-inspired "King of Terror"
and the retro-pop loneliness of "Stone Frailty" make it clear that
there's some interesting stuff going on in the Ikon camp. Sticking firmly to
middling tempos and never taking its electronic elements too
far, On the Edge of Forever will probably please
older listeners more than black-clad eighteen year olds.
The lyrics mostly avoid the overwrought and clichéd depths of goth
imagery, favoring a broader variety of lovelorn malaise. Though
well-educated listeners may find it overly familiar, On
the Edge of Forever offers a comfortably dark return to a
bygone era. -- gz
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The Lillingtons / The Backchannel Broadcast /
Panic
Button (CD)
It's hard to take a band seriously when they sound this much like the Ramones.
That's not a bad thing, though; it's hard to be serious while
pogoing around the living room in your PJs. Fast boom-chucka-boom-chuck
drums, three finger power chords and tightly rhymed sing-along lyrics are
pretty much all there is to The Backchannel Broadcast, but that's more than enough to get
your head bobbing and your hand reaching for the nearest tube of model
glue. There seems to be some sort of paranoid retro-spy thing going on
in some of the songs, but to tell the truth, these aren't exactly the
kind of songs that encourage deep reading. Just shut up and dance! -- ib
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gz - george zahora | nw - noah wane | am - andrew magilow | ib - irving bellemead | jj - jason jackowiak | td - theodore defosse | rd - ron davies
js - jenn sikes | rg - rodney gibbs | rt - ryan tranquilla | al - amy leach | jw - john wolfe | az - alex zorn
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