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our weekly collection of shorter reviews
King for a Day,
The Banjo Spiders,
Edaline,
8 Bold Souls
Dave Hubbard,
The Gazillions/The Run For Cover Lovers,
Crooked Fingers,
Red Giant
Cooter,
The Hellacopters/The Powder Monkeys,
DragsterBarbie,
Insectgods
Hero of a Hundred Fights,
Charles Atlas,
WorldsTallestThing,
Jeremy Boyle
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King For a Day / Before I Go / Initial (CD)
A casual listen to Before I Go will probably cause you to
quickly (and ignorantly)label King for Day as one of those typical hybrid
metal bands. A careful excavation of this Detroit band's resonating sonance
certainly unearths tinges of metal, but also reveals a tasty strain of
emo-math rock that hastens forward with focused energy, yet prudently
analyzes the surroundings with a degree of mature restraint. The rhythm
section parries with the vocals and guitars, producing a sound that's
agitated and volatile but clearly still the product of a team effort, ushering in an intensity that rings true on the majority of these appetent
tunes. -- am
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The Banjo Spiders / s/t / Spinning (CD)
Ironically, if perhaps predictably, the Banjo Spiders don't
play banjos at all. And needless to say, they aren't spiders either.
However, above and beyond truth in advertising issues, they're
a pretty damn good band -- continuing a fine tradition of jangly,
rockish pop, touched by the Stones, the Replacements, the
Smithereens, the Black Crowes and a dozen others. On "Nice
Guy Club," the band even cops a very recognizable vocal riff
from Simon and Garfunkel's immortal "Mrs. Robinson," which
I suspect every single reviewer feels obligated to mention.
What's more important, though, is that the band's material is
fast, upbeat and interesting. If you're the sort of person who
likes to say "I was into them years before they were big," start
looking for this album now. -- gz
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Edaline / I Wrote the Last Chapter for You / Law Of Inertia (CD)
I admit it, I'm generally not a big fan of emo, emo-core, "emotional indie-rock," whatever you want to call it (although I tend to love wuss-rock like Belle and Sebastian...go figure). I Wrote the Last Chapter for You seems to have worked some strange voodoo on me, though -- I like this CD quite a bit, even though its distributor, Law of Inertia Records, explicitly promotes Edaline as an emo band. First off, the packaging -- or at least the CD booklet -- is inventive and intriguing. The CD is described as a novel, and the liner notes consist of the pages of the novel...eight short chapters in all. But rather than just printing the lyrics of the songs as chapters, these chapters are like small, time-stamped journal entries, and the songs' lyrics are distillations of those journal entries. The music is fairly heavy rock, with a lot of quiet/loud quick changes -- and while it isn't super interesting (and an awful lot of the loud parts sound the same), it's full of energy and emotion, and manages to get across the sort of tumultuous but dreamily nostalgic feeling that the chapters seem to be trying to evoke. If you've been put off by emo in the past, this CD might just be the thing to bring you around. -- ib
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8 Bold Souls / Last Option / Thrill Jockey (CD)
8 Bold Souls are a bass-heavy jazz octet from Chicago that mostly
perform the complex but accessible compositions of the celebrated Edward
Wilkinson, who is also their reedist. The group formed in 1985, so it's no
surprise that even the clarinet and tuba play smoothly off each other -- but I am still amazed at how swiftly and deftly these
compositions can change from sounding like Steve Coleman to Stravinsky.
"Odyssey" and "Gang of Four" best convey how the classical is worn within
their intimate grooves; being driven more by emotion than the intellect,
they stand out as the most enjoyable pieces. The only area in which the octet disappoints is in more energetic numbers like "Brown Town", which is probably best heard in concert. Outside of non-U.S. dates, the group does not stray far from Chicago, so Last
Option will probably be your easiest route toward discovering their
genuine and generous gifts. -- td
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Dave Hubbard / Inside Passage / When I Play (CD)
You can't always judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it works
pretty well. If you looked at Inside Passage's artwork and
assumed it to be a new agey sort of disc, you're absolutely right. It's just the
sort of disc you might find on a wall rack at your local Nature Company
store or self-help-intensive bookshop -- heavy on the clear, bell-like
keyboard melodies and faux-exotic percussion, with an abiding sense
of wonder at the world and a lot of ponderous touchy-feely song
titles ("Dancing in the Light", "Heartlamp"). I suspect that Hubbard has legitimate
talent, but his work here seems mired in the cliches of the genre. It's those cliches, regrettably, that make Inside Passage cloying and a bit synthetic -- especially the ersatz Jimmy Buffet ambiance of "Dancing in the Light". -- gz
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This split single pits the nerd-core of the Gazillions against the
pseudo-filthy minds of the Run For Cover Lovers. Lacing unpredictable wit
with ringing guitars, The Gazillions' clever antics aim to please with the
dual punch of dorky song topics and catchy college-rock-based beats. The
Run For Cover Lovers are a more difficult aberration to dissect. With
keyboards and peculiar vocals, the band's music is certainly unique (as is
its name), and you'll either enjoy its gloomy verses on sex and, er, uhm,
more sex, or find them disgustingly unpleasant. It's fun, it's stupid, it's
refreshingly amusing -- it's California rock done by puzzling
people named Whipped Creama and David Hologram! -- am
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Crooked Fingers / s/t / Warm (CD)
This self-titled effort seems like two different musical entities that want to occupy the same place at the same time. On one hand we have Pogues-like tracks fit for a pub or pool hall, full of hoarse vocals and harsh realities ("New Drink for the Old Drunk" and "Man Who Died of Nothing at All"). On the other hand are pieces which are notable for their bittersweet orchestral austerity ("Broken
Man" and "Juliette"). Yet what binds these siblings are the wry, dolorous lyrics on tracks like "She Spread Her Legs and Flew Away" and "Broken Man." The latest musical incarnation of Eric
Bachmann (Archers of Loaf and Barry Black), Crooked Fingers is good poetry sung with sincerity and an assurance of good things to come. -- dd
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Red Giant / Ultra-Magnetic Glowing Sound / MIA (CD)
For everyone who longs to recapture a bit of that good old Black Sabbath
mystique, we recommend Ultra-Matnetic Glowing Sound (and, for maximum effect, a bottle of cheap whiskey). Red Giant doles out the sludgy, sizzling riffs, the vocorder-treated vocals and the fret-burning solo rhythms in mass quantities, tempering them with just the right amount of industrial harshness. It's ultra-heavy space rock,
kind of like what you'd get if Monster Magnet and Chrome collaborated
on a concept double-LP about flesh-eating Martian warriors, complete with
a gatefold jacket full of lurid Frank Frazetta artwork. Pretty damn lethal, in other
words. Pop it in the player and watch the emo kids squirm. -- gz
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Cooter / Looking Up / Fastmusic (CD)
Dynamic drumming is the highlight of this suburban New York four
piece. Vigorous and consistent beats, full-laiden chunky guitars and
a sweet, muffled boy singer make Cooter a dead ringer for the next
Get Up Kids. In fact they sound so much like the Get Up Kids, you'd
hardly be able to tell the difference between the two albums.
Sounding like the Get Up Kids is a good thing in my book. Cooter delivers super
energetic, fun filled pop/rock songs whose lyrics you don't have time
to really listen to because you're too busy pogoing like a fool. -- ha-n
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The Hellacopters / Powder Monkeys / split release / Safety Pin (7")
90s cock-rock takes a look back at its heritage as Sweden's Hellacopters
and Australia's Powder Monkeys grab their guitars, guzzle down a few cold
ones and barrel through two fine covers of everyone's favorite 70s
smart-aleck rock schticksters, New York City’s one and only Dictators.
The Hellacopters manhandle "Master Race Rock" with keen
precision while the Powder Monkeys' sludged-out rendition of "Two Tub Man"
would make Handsome Dick Manitoba think twice about who the real King of
the Ring really is. While neither band radically departs from the original
Dictators song credo, each one does its designated tune justice, reviving
the original sleaze and good-natured fun that have made these two songs the
underground classics that they are today. -- am
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DragsterBarbie / High Octane Promo Demo / DragsterBarbie (CD)
If you can buy an album by the Dickies and be fully pleased by it, you'll
have no complaints with DragsterBarbie. Singer Amy Hartman has a voice
nearly as strong as Elizabeth (Sarge) Elmore's, but her lyrics run the gamut from cute
to sitcom-inspired. Some of the songwriting borders on the stupid -- how,
exactly, can a tampon wrapper get stuck in a person's hair? -- but the
lyrics often display an equal measure of originality. While it's among their least catchy
numbers, "Nail Polish" possesses all the charms which made Girlfrendo's "Cat
Heaven" so oddly essential; along with "He's a Vegetarian", it also
indicates what an enjoyable live band DragsterBarbie might be. The three girls behind
DragsterBarbie have been making a big splash over the Internet with their
catchy "garage pop", and this CD should inspire record labels to splash upon
them too. Their future artistic success depends on whether they can
accentuate the parts of High Octane Promo Demo that make them unique,
or whether they perversely place their focus on borrowed, bland-sounding songs like "Sad
Beach". -- td
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Insectgods / s/t / Permafrost (CD)
A hummable, skillfully-executed piece of girl-fronted
noise-pop, Insectgods starts out somber but
grows increasingly upbeat over the course of twelve tracks.
The band has youthful energy to spare -- especially vocalist
Debbie Wilson, who belts out the tunes as if her medical
plan supplies a free set of new vocal cords every three years.
At times, the mix favors Wilson's voice at the expense of
Mike Sentner's frenetic guitar, which is regrettable as her
raw-throated delivery is best when submerged in riffs as opposed to
floating several yards above them. Mostly, however, this
is a promising effort from a promising young band, and
Wilson's vocal acrobatics give them a distinct edge. -- gz
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Hero of a Hundred Fights / s/t / 404 (CD)
If only you could see me now, sitting in front of my
computer writing this review. I am gritty, sweaty and rather ill
tempered (due to snowfall), and as such I bear quite a
striking resemblance to the music of Hero of a Hundred Fights. Blasted
with equal doses of adrenaline, spit and blood, Hero of a Hundred Fights
mixes dirty riffing with sideways rhythms and a blood-curdling vocal
delivery. The resulting eight songs form a bone-crushing slab of white-hot
hardcore. Crunching, circular guitars and thick but elastic rhythms
propel "Finite Wish" right into the cymbal smashing, jackhammer riffed
assault of "Saying it’s all in the Math." And if you close your eyes
really tight, you can almost see the slam-dancers writhing in front of the
stage, waiting for the bombastic kick-drum of "Triumph, the Flight" to
hit so they can commence smashing your face into the floor. Visceral
raw energy fused with a relentless musical vision -- that’s what Hero of a
Hundred Fights is all about. -- jj
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Charles Atlas / Two More Hours / Star Star Stereo (CD)
On Two More Hours, Charles Atlas -- AKA Charles Wyatt -- siphons your senses
into an electronic abyss where reality zips above your head in brilliant
bolts of multi-colored lightning. Your body reacts by jerking back and
fourth to "Outstretched’s" ominous beats and sizzling electro-drone, and by
flailing through the aquatic synth wash and tom-tom rhythm that plunges
"Character" into the murky deep. You fight but find your soul held
captive by the gentle piano, sparse rhythm and ghostly reverb of "Stasis
and Fingernails." Then the music stops, releases its grasp and pushes
you back from whence you came -- where you now sit, wondering where your
shoes went, why your hair’s soaked and why you suddenly feel like
dancing. Is it the work of deviant co-workers, Dick Hyman or Two More Hours? You decide. -- jj
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WorldsTallestThing / Be Prepared to Stop / Midair Collision (CD)
This 4 song EP introduces the world to WorldsTallestThing. Primarily the brainchild of Ian Baker, WTT has a very Paul Westerberg feel to it, offering sweet singer/songwriter tunes
plucked and strummed on a guitar with a bit of strings as
accompaniment. The slower, more sentimental songs are the winners of
the bunch. Nothing particularly ground breaking, but nothing that
warrants complaints, either. WTT could easily find a place on the next H.O.R.D.E. tour. -- ha-n
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Jeremy Boyle / Songs from the Guitar Solos / Southern (CD)
I never thought heavy metal could be ethereal, but in the capable hands
of Jeremy Boyle (Joan of Arc) this normally vicious style of music has
been turned on its ear. On Songs from the Guitar
Solos Boyle has taken the unholy guitar blasts of artists like Black Sabbath,
Kiss and Led Zeppelin and transformed them into drifting, lulling ambient
soundscapes. Cutting and pasting like a mad kindergardener, Boyle
combines the original artists’ guitar lines with subtle melodies,
industrial-type dirges and empty spaces, forming colorful, free-form
compositions. Heavy metal for the Tortoise enthusiast -- that’s Songs
from the Guitar Solos. -- jj
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gz - george zahora | nw - noah wane | am - andrew magilow | ib - irving bellemead
jj - jason jackowiak | ha-n - heidi anne-noel | dd - deirdre devers | td - theodore defosse
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