OUR WEEKLY COLLECTION OF SHORTER REVIEWS | |
Palace of Oranges,
Lenola,
Alice, Texas,
Blacklight Braille,
Strunken White/Sorry About Dresden,
Paul & Lara,
Jahmings Maccow,
Slybersonic Tromosome,
Whitford,
Brokeback,
Howling Wolf Orchestra,
Suicide Commando,
Gwenmars,
Craig Bennett,
V. Sirin,
Fire in the Radio,
The Get Up Kids/Rocket From the Crypt,
Evidence,
Emperor Penguin/Knodel,
The Gabriel Mann Situation
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Palace of Oranges / Prepare to Greet a Guest / Rubric
(CD)
Imagine an album full of bridges and you're close to Palace of Oranges'
debut. No, not the kind of bridges which join masses of land, but the kind
that link the vocal parts of songs. Both types of bridges exude
the same exhilarating sensation of being in no man's land, where one wrong
step leads to disaster. Tinged with moments of psychedelia, these mainly
instrumental rock compositions bypass the typical noisy passages of which
indie-rock bands are so fond. Instead, the tunes feel more akin to
the interludes between voice and chorus which pepper more traditional
music. While this may sound aimless, the songs are actually quite focused,
reaching their emotional cores in a relaxed rather than frenzied fashion. A
strong statement by this Shambie Singer (The Lonely Moans) fronted trio,
Prepare to Greet a Guest clearly shows that you don't need unpleasant noise to achieve lo-fi
nirvana. -- rd
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Lenola / Treat Me to Some Life / File 13 (CD)
Imagine Mercury Rev as an Elephant 6 band, with all the psychedelic
harmonics intact, but everything generally a little more indie. That's what
you get in Lenola. The band exists, it seems, to promote the male-harmony
style so overratedly perfected by The Beach Boys. The voices here are a
bit more in the high range than such musically like-minded bands as The Flaming Lips and Rollerskate Skinny. The effect is such that it sounds like Emmet
Otter and pals handling vocals on tracks like "Do You Want to See a
Volcano?" "Lazy Eye" is one of the better songs, rocking out more than most of the
other tracks and achieving an inspired mix of Middle Eastern and bluegrass elements. "Come Down" is the finest moment here, sounding very much
like,
but not equalling, Mercury Rev circa "Deserter's Songs." Lenola isn't doing anything new, but they seem like accomplished musicians.
Perhaps with
better melodies and less reliance on sound effects (you can only fumble
around so long
when searching for interesting sounds), they would have a stronger
identity, adding
needed substance to their style-heavy persona. Production is superb, but
this kind of
music needs to be a bit catchier to demand repeated plays. You wonder if
Olivia Tremor
Control is their primary influence, instead of the infinitely better bands
which influenced
Olivia Tremor Control... -- tnd
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Alice, Texas / Gold / Alice, Texas (CD)
These New Yorkers, led by the vocals and songwriting of Alice Schneider,
betray their geography only through their band's name. Their solo release,
Gold, is a dreamy rock record that you can imagine being performed on
the Brooklyn streets, with more doo wop than alt-country influencing the
music. Their music occasionally
recalls Ida's harder moments ("My Love"), but "Big Black Motorcycle"
is a female Chuck Berry number for the new milennium, and songs like "One
More Time" and "Forsake" are poppier equivalents of the Cowboy Junkies.
Random, tossed-about comparisons are meant to show the band's songs have a
strong ring of familiarity, but only on an individual basis. When you set
"Lullaby" (another fifties-flavored rocker) next to "Guardian Angel"
(alternative woman-sung pop), they're a band with the rare goal of trying to
tackle every type of song they were weaned on. Rarer yet, they tend to
succeed with all the strokes they use to paint such a wide, melodic
landscape. Aside from "Guardian Angel", "Lullaby" (too dull) and "Poison"
(too abrasive for its own good), they don't fall much short of their aims. You can tell the band enjoys the songs they're making, and the joy will go straight through to to any ear that hears 'em. -- td
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Blacklight Braille / In a Dark Garden/ Razzled (CD)
Blacklight Braille is nothing if not brave. Even one of the more daunting rules of rock-n-roll fails to scare this Cincinnati outfit: if you're recording a ten-minute song that pairs fiddle
and distorted electric guitar, don't end it a capella. It's Spinal Tap waiting to happen. Some cuts, such as "Bottle Green Waters", adhere more strictly to the rules of taste and end up sounding more like Don McLean than Nigel Tufnel. Effects-free vocals over clean, twangy guitars on this track create a stark contrast to the CD's other silly offerings. With Blacklight's overwhelmingly large lineup (thirty plus musicians), everyone gets a shot at the helm. Sometimes the results please; other times, they just pester. -- rg
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Strunken White/Sorry About Dresden / Rock School! /
Moment Before Impact (7")
This is a better-than-average split 7" with an at-best nominal school
theme. On the A-side, Strunken White (whose name is a play
on Strunk and White, the authors of the classic writing text
The Elements of Style, which you can find on the
record sleeve photo if you look for it) deliver "Constant
Coloration", a long-ass, driving hardcore tune with roots in
the classic da-da-da-DUM rhythms of thrash rock, tinted with
prog-guitar detail. It's likeable, but goes on a bit too
long. Sorry About Dresden split their side between two
tracks. "The State You Hate" is a scruffy mid-tempo pop
tune reminiscent of the Replacements (more in attitude than
delivery). "Lachrymose/Obsequious/Vehement/Elated" is a
Park Ave. tune, played slow and moody but building to a big,
loud, cathartic climax. Nothing here will change the way
you live, but for only $3.50, Rock School will stay
with you far longer than an overpriced bottle of beer. -- gz
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Paul & Lara / Action b/w Roundagon 7" /
Kittridge
(7")
Come on now, don't tell me you wouldn't get a little bit happy about a
7" wrapped in a beautiful blue and silver slipcover, especially when the band is described in its
press release as a "brother/sister new wave futuristic pop duo". Heck,
I bet you're getting a little happy right now, just reading about it! And
well you should. While I don't know that I would call "Action"
futuristic, exactly, it is definitely strange and poppy, which can only
be good. It's an odd combination of 1950s sweater-pop, robot drums and
dorky keyboards. Nice. Strangely, the B-side is even less
futuristic; it's a lot closer to a 1960s guitar-pop tune than it is a
Devo tribute. I'm not complaining, though, as "Roundagon" is still pretty
weird and entertaining, especially during the girl-group chorus.
Apparently Paul & Lara play out a lot in the LA area; I bet their shows
are a lot of fun, and maybe they wear silver suits or something! That
would be cool. --
ib
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Jahmings Maccow / New Way / Rebels Production (CD)
Born on the island of Anguilla, Jahmings Maccow has spent a considerable
portion of his life wading in music. This CD is a rerelease of a
cassette-only album, padded with four new tunes. Maccow synthesizes
reggae, R&B, new wave and a bit of jazz into a modern day interpretation of
distinctively rasta-friendly rhythms that can effectively speak to a wider
audience. While the traditional reggae sounds will please any roots fan
with their familiarity, Maccow also takes a few daring genre bending
plunges that will be received differently by each listener, depending on
specific acquired tastes. Jahmings introduces everything from guitar solos
to bluesy harmonica to soulful crooning with agreeable results. New
Way initially looks like something that
you'd find in the bargain bin of your local used CD store, but a careful
inspection of its contents shows that Maccow's progressiveness produces
some true gems that are well worth unearthing. -- am
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Slybersonic Tromosome / S/T / Penumbra
(CD)
I've heard some of sythesizerist Tom Hamilton's stuff before. He's
done some work with jazz guitarist/general improviser Bruce Arnold,
with whom I conducted a rather in depth interview a few years back.
Trombonist/irrigation hosist/superfunnelist Peter Zummo is a musician
I hadn't heard perform before I gave this disc a spin. The two
of them make up Slybersonic Tromosome, a downtown-NY-type of
electro-acoustic duo. Their music is fairly experimental, focusing
on phrase, gesture and electronic/acoustic interaction. The nine
tracks on this album are stark and introspective -- a bit
difficult to dive into at first, but once in the proverbial pool
you'll find layer upon layer of nuance and complexity. This is
clearly the work of seasoned artists who have played together often
and who can bend their own personal style towards a common musical
goal. My favorite track is "Trance for the Bopanon Set" (mainly
because the word "Bopanon" sounds really cool!). Some of the very
analog sounding synth stuff recalls work by Morton Subotnick. With
the reverb-drenched trombone drones, it becomes almost spacy enough
to interest an illbient hack like DJ Spooky. -- nw
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Whitford / Orson Welles: Planetdevouringrobot / Rotary Dial(CD)
Whitford is named (according to the Internet, which is always true, yes?)
for the dead black cat of one band member. That's the first clue to their
darker sound, I suppose, although the banner on their website,
"darkjazzmathpunks", kind of sums it up in a single portmanteau word. Whitford's
disturbing debut is a live
recording of their instrumental mix of eight string bass, electric guitar,
saxophone and percussion. Initially, I was disposed to like them just for
the picture of Whitford on the cover, who strongly resembles a cat friend,
Ben. The music is almost, but not quite, beautiful. The edges of the guitar
lines are not perfectly melodic; there's something just a bit out-of-kilter
and dissonant about the music, as in "The YK22 Problem". This song's grating bass alone can easily
make you imagine the disaster we were supposed to be
experiencing this time last year. Some of
the slower, jazzier tracks are so mellow as to be hypnotic, as in the
untitled #11, or in the poppier "Strangers Have the Best Candy". Just when
your ears start to relax, though, the tempo speeds up and the bass starts
jarring again. The music is always interesting, and it'll keep you on the
edge of your seat. -- js
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Brokeback / Morse Code in the Modern Age: Across the
Americas / Thrill Jockey (CD)
It's been over a year since we've heard anything new from
Brokeback, the six-string bass project from Tortoise's Doug
McCombs. Morse Code... shows McCombs moving in a
more speculative direction, favoring deep bass textures and
jazzy sonic ruminations over even the most vestigial "rock
song" structure. The two main pieces here, "Lives of the
Rhythm Experts" and "Flat Handed and on the Wing", are
enhanced by Quicktime films; in fact, they're the same films
that accompany the music in Brokeback's larger-scale live
performances, so if you've seen Brokeback live in the last
year or so you'll probably recognized "Flat Handed" as "the
one with the airplane wing footage". Of the two, "Flat
Handed" is also the most accessible. Featuring six-string
bass, double bass, electric guitar and coronet, it stumbles
around, halting and bleary, like a liquored-up jazz tune -- or, perhaps,
like a half-awake passenger on a red-eye flight. "Lives of
the Rhythm Experts" initially creates a womblike ambiance,
with opalescent organ tones and percolating beatbox rhythms
provided by Yo La Tengo's James McNew. The dreamlike
elements gradually sour, drifting toward a mood of subtle
menace. The third track, a reworking of Roy Orbison's
"Running Scared" with vocals from Stereolab's Mary Hansen,
captures that fifties "anthemic" quality, while also
demonstrating why Orbison's music fit so easily into Blue
Velvet. A little bit of Brokeback goes a long way, but
despite the longer tracks' lack of distinct structural
waypoints, they are more pleasing to the senses than
previous material. The films are cool, too. -- gz
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Howling Wolf Orchestra / Speedtraps for the Bee Kingdom / Record Head/Rockathon (CD)
Most of you are probably wondering who the fuck the Howling Wolf
Orchestra is. If you’ll just sit tight a moment I will tell you. The
Howling Wolf Orchestra are, in fact, Robert Pollard, Jim Pollard and
Nate Farley, known to the majority of the world as Guided by Voices (or
a good portion of them, anyway). Yes, the HWO is yet another
pseudonym for the inimitable Mr. Robert Pollard. Speedtraps for the
Bee Kingdom is release number nine in the ongoing Fading Captain series, and its
short-but-sweet demeanor has old school GBV written all over it.
Dispensing eight songs in 14 minutes, this limited edition EP is a must have
for any fan of the fading one. "Fruit Weapon" and "Is it Mostly? (It is
Mostly)" are simply awesome; the former is a guitar-soaked lo-fi
instrumental dirge while the latter is a tender acoustic ballad that
bears a strange resemblance to Under the Bushes, Under the Stars’ "Don’t
Stop Now". Any way you slice it, Speedtraps for the Bee Kingdom is
bloody essential stuff. The fans don’t chant "In Bob We Trust"
for nothing. -- jj
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Suicide Commando / Mindstrip / Metropolis
(CD)
Although more dance-floor oriented than Skinny Puppy, it is clear that
Johan Van Roy, a.k.a. Suicide Commando, relies heavily on that seminal
trio's legacy. Following the well-trod paths of tirades against God
("Slaves"), the miseries of heroin ("Comatose Delusion") and Clive Barker
tributes ("Jesus Wept", "Hellraiser"), Van Roy creates a dark soundscape
filled with distorted vocals, punishing rhythms and movie dialog samples.
Unfortunately, Van Roy has neither the twisted charisma that made Nivek
Ogre an industrial god nor the synthesizer inventiveness of cEvin Key.
Thus, although Mindstrip is a very solid album, it is neither
innovative nor engaging enough to interest the casual listener. -- rd
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Gwenmars have made a pleasant throwback to the late '80s power-pop era, recalling The Jesus and Mary Chain (but with more synths) and Public Image
Limited (but with more growl and less sneer). The band is quite capable of
delivering
an original, demanding and dynamic atmosphere on each track. Some songs,
like
"Neon Tom," have a glam-fuzz sound, not unlike late period Shudder to Think.
"She
Hung the Moon" has a definite Peter Murphy feel, without all the gothic
harps, violins,
and assorted world-goth accoutrements. The best track, hands-down, is "The
Race," a
touching, bombastic song worthy of comparison to PIL's "Rise"; it impresses
immediately. Not every song reaches that level of
beauty, but "The
Race" is worth the price of admission alone. The aggressive stance taken on
some of the
songs brings an unwelcome "Is this Orgy?" feel to the affair (well, at least
that's
unwelcome in my book). If Gwenmars can produce more show-stoppers, and
perhaps tone-down
some of the aggresive stylings that creep in, they might become more than
just a throwback.
Again, "The Race" is incredible; it bodes well for the band's future. -- tnd
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Craig Bennett / Happy Hollowdays /
BlackCottage
(CD)
This one has me a bit confused. There are many elements here that I
like a lot: clever lyrics, glammy vocals, interesting arrangements,
references to outer space and astronauts. But there's something missing
too, and I'm not really sure what it is, or why I'm not more into this
CD. Bennett's voice is quite nice, although the faux British accent is a
bit much at times. There's obviously a Ziggy Stardust angle to a lot of
these songs, both vocally and musically, which is fun, but it's also a
bit distracting and Bennett doesn't ever really go whole hog for the
outright freakiness that makes the Bowie stuff so great. Suede also
comes to mind in a few of the songs, although sadly, Bennett doesn't seem
as interested in the swishier aspects of glam as Suede and Bowie and
friends were. On the more positive side, this CD sounds very good, which
is especially impressive since it seems that Bennett wrote, produced and
engineered the songs himself. It has a very full, nicely fuzzy sound,
and the extended instrumentation (including guitar, piano, drums, bass,
cello, violin, accordion and horns) really fills things out and keeps
the songs harmonically interesting. So don't get me wrong, Happy Hollowdays is a
very nice CD. I just can't help feeling that it would be even nicer if
Bennett turned up his inner freak a notch. --
ib
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A squirrelly pop trio, V. Sirin seem to have something to
prove -- specifically, that they can cram
more (and more abrupt) melodic and tempo-related shifts into
a single song than any other band out there.
"Sandy Truth" and "The Story of the Hundred" prove this most
readily, as both tunes are longer than average
and stuffed with unexpected changes. For the most part,
it's an enjoyable voyage into the unexpected, like a
much mellower version of Upsilon Acrux or math rock with
easier equations, though
fidgety listeners might see the frequent switchbacks as an
idea overflow in need of editing. The third track, "These
Whales are Obviously Snakes", doesn't change the formula,
but has such a winning title that I can't knock it. Emo
fans will be pleased by the dubious vocals, which suggest
that V. Sirin could benefit from finding someone with some
good pipes and becoming a quartet. If the
band continues beyond this point -- and I hope they do --
future listeners will probably describe this 7" as
"formative". The ideas are good, but they're not quite
there yet. -- gz
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Fire in the Radio / Red Static Action / Wednesday (CD)
Great guitars, good melodies and often substandard vocals make Fire in the
Radio the perfect band for small clubs whose acoustics are so bad the singer
goes unheard. Sadly, the sound on Red Static Action is pretty damn
nice. This attribute ultimately showcases the band's fatal weakness each
time their singer goes after the emotional knockout (as in the otherwise
enjoyable "Tryst Affair" and "Separate Piece"). There are three exceptions,
though, all of which are more traditional rockers ("Probably German", "The
Bean and the Cod", and "Talk for the Tired"). They succeed because the
singer and band sound relaxed, natural and in line for their fourth or
fifth drink. Fire in the Radio seem better, then, when their songs swagger,
and not burn with melodrama and Eastern teen angst. It's too bad their lives
appear to have given these Pennsylvanians a heaping of the latter, and not
nearly enough confidence to act like they own the joint. If they fully
capture that attitude, be prepared to be blown away. -- td
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The Get Up Kids/Rocket From the Crypt / Split 7" / Vagrant (7")
Pitting labelmates Rocket From the Crypt vs. The Get Up Kids, this
beautiful split 7" comes on heavy white vinyl and is packaged in a
rather impressive foil-stamped cover, sporting embossed images of a spider
and a snake, which represent the respective bands. The Get
Up Kids’ "Up On the Roof" goes that little bit further in confirming my
theory that the band saves their best material for singles. A shimmering,
piano-drenched romp, "Up On the Roof" is easily the Kids' best work
since "Central Standard Time" from their split single with The
Anniversary. On the flipside, San Diego’s favorite sons deliver the raucous, horn-and-guitar driven "Free Language
Demons". Filled with powerful rhythms and dynamic vocals, this song
serves as a teaser to their forthcoming full-length, Group Sounds.
Pretty to look at and oh-so-good on the ears, this one’s a no brainer. -- jj
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Evidence / Live à la casa (musique de Thelonious Monk) /
Ambiances
mangétiques (CD)
Evidence is the Montréal trio of Jean Derome (alto sax), Pierre
Tanguay (drums) and Pierre Cartier (electric bass). Regular readers
of Splendid are sure to associate these names with many of the
Ambiances mangnétiques releases we've reviewed over the years.
In most cases the music we've reviewed from guys like Derome or
Tanguay has been of the highly experimental, free-form variety. With
Live à la casa they move onto more well-known ground by
performing the compositions of Thelonious Monk. Their effort is
generally meritorious. Certainly the group plays tightly and with a
certain liveliness, handling itself well enough on classics like
"Straight, No Chaser", "Reflections" and "Ask Me Now". Derome's alto
sound is just a tad anemic and the rhythm section does seem a bit
square, but these guys are well-rounded musicians and you can't
really fault them for not being specialists. I can't really escape
the feeling, however, that they aren't real dyed-in-the-wool jazzmen,
and "Straight, No Chaser" has been performed by every college
and high school jazz combo in recorded history. I'm not saying that
Evidence doesn't have a right to play these unarguably great
compositions or even that they don't do it well. All I'm saying is
that, barring brilliantly deep or novel performances, I'm not sure
how many recorded interpretations of some of these tunes we really
need. -- nw
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Emperor Penguin/Knodel / Split EP / Box
Factory (CD)
Uninitiated listeners should be forgiven for mistaking this
split EP for the work of a single artist. While they don't
sound much alike on their other recorded output, analog
tricksters Emperor Penguin and time traveling, Phil
Collins-loving "Frenchmen" Knodel are all but
indistinguishable here. Mind you, the Knodel boys' decision
to work almost entirely without vocals has a lot to do with
the similarity. Resemblances aside, this is an excellent EP
of analog electronic instrumentals, and either band should
be proud to accept credit for the whole shebang. A
delicious mixture of beat-driven blips, bleeps and
squiggles, the disc is alternately funky, soulful and
beautiful. Emperor Penguin's "The Beatbox Wore Tennis
Shoes" is a marvel of low-tech invention, and Knodel's
"Re-Entry" mixes a gorgeous sonic dreamscape with
Speak-n-Spell vocals and airline terminal ambiance. Nothing
here disappoints, save the all-too-brief run time. -- gz
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The Gabriel Mann Situation / Morsels / Self-Released (CD)
For a demo EP, Morsels is remarkably good. The Gabriel Mann Situation
profers pop/rock with piano, vocals, percussion and, in a big surprise for a
good piano band, guitar. Since there aren't too many pop bands out there
with piano, comparisons to other bands would be difficult -- the band doesn't
sound anything like Ben Folds Five, really, or Joe Jackson, although I
suppose small fragments of both of them could be found in the group. Mostly,
GMS are themselves, and that's surely going to stand the band in good stead
when they record a full length, which I surely hope they do. The lyrics
aren't impressively creative: "I Know Everything" has to have the first
mention of a fruit-roll up that I've ever heard in a song, but it's
otherwise another song about unfulfilled love, and part of the chorus, "because I
done what you wanna do already", is just annoying. "#1 in Slovakia" is funny
in a post-modernist sort of way; "Dirt Road" is more interesting, musing "Sometimes a reincarnation / is what two people need". Invariably, the music far outshines the words. It's jangly, hard-rocking (as
hard-rocking as a piano can get), upbeat and mainly uptempo, and I can
easily imagine this group getting radio airplay if their stars fall right. -- js
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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 | tnd - tim digravina | im - iain macleod
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