...Sarah McLachlan...Orange Hat...GBH...The Crowd...Regurgitator...IDK...
Sarah's fourth studio album continues her trend of making huge stylistic
jumps in the two and three year gaps between releases. The songs here
show more of the world-weariness Fumbling Towards Ecstasy hinted
at, but approached in a more mature, serene manner. The beautiful
interaction between Sarah's voice and the piano remains, though several
of the songs seem designed to break the album to the Adult Contemporary
audience at large. It's still a great disc, and all the more quirky for
the inclusion of the instrumental "Last Dance" with its bowed saw. Oh,
and the multimedia bit's brilliant, as is always the case with Nettwerk. -- gz
Orange Hat / "Entropy" b/w "Humpty Dumpty" / Orange Hat (7")
It all comes with a 'zine and 3D glasses. You'll need the glasses to view the
record sleeve while you listen to this red slab of psychedelic pop. "Humpty
Dumpty" is melodic number that rocks in a gentle way while still maintaing a
good sense of conviction. "Entropy," on the other hand, is a bit too much like
Todd Rundgren for my tastes. --es
GBH / Punk Junkies / Triple-X
(CD)
Dang, I used to skateboard to these guys some ten years ago along with DRI,
JFA, DK, Exploited, Minor Threat, Suicidal Tendencies, etc. Well, here they
are again in 1997, and damned if I can remember what they used to sound like
back in the day. This whole thing moves fast, and I'd call it more on the
speedcore, metal-tinged side. There's really not much more to describe here in
literal terms as far as their sound, but damned if it doesn't make me feel like
throwing on a snake-skin jacket like Nicholas Cage in Lynch's "Wild At Heart"
-- flailing my boots all over the place. Two to three chord speed-metal-punk
that's meant for cranking out of rusted Dodge Darts in Smalltown, America. -- df
The Crowd / Letter Bomb / Flipside (CD+MM)
When you think of The Crowd think
of solid, Buzzcocks-like punk rock you'll have it on the nose. The first
song on Letter Bomb, "Run for the Money", is somewhat of an anomaly
-- its catchy power-pop feel is more Cheap Trick than frothing punk. By
song #2, though, you'll have a better idea of what the rest of the disc is
made of. "Politics" is seething Sex Pistols-worthy fare (think
"Problems") -- from here on you'll get nothing but pure punk rock. (Note:
Letter Bomb is not only a CD but a CD-ROM. Being state-of-the-art
challenged, however, this reviewer can't tell you how cool the CD-ROM part
is . . . though he's sure it's fabulous!) --nw
Regurgitator / Tu-Plang... / Reprise (CD)
Regurgitator seems to alternate between nose-thumbing power pop and a
melange of techno-trip-hop-rap-easy-listening-hardcore elements. Every
track is enjoyable -- there are no half-hearted attempts, although it's
hard to tell if Regurgitator are serious about their genre bending or
merely taking the piss. Such is the variance in styles and sounds that
you could probably convince casual listeners that Tu-Plang... was
a compilation. Whether that's evidence of diversity, or indicates a
lack of focus, is up to you. -- gz
IDK / Taking On The Monster / Earache (CD)
This New Jersey punk outfit decided to take all the angst out of punk and
inject a playful dose of major chord riff-dom to create songs that the kids can
swing their heads to with a grin. Lead singer Red spews forth each happy
anthem with a whiney Lydon-esque nasal tone that occasionally hits all the
wrong keys within the limited scale range that life dealt him. Need proof that
these guys are trying to be friendly with a punk guitar? Check out these
lyrics: "We don't need to abuse the fashions of the scene / Our music isn't
based on acting hard and mean / Something to believe in we'll believe in
ourselves / Living with free-spirit we enjoy ourselves." Congratulations,
boys. I'm finding it difficult to care. -- df