OUR WEEKLY COLLECTION OF SHORTER REVIEWS | |
Piano Magic,
Rise Against,
Morricone RMX,
Muhal Richard Abrams,
Fall Silent,
The Dickies,
Furballs of Frustration,
Enemies/Pitch Black,
Cherry Lane,
Tomas Jirku,
DulceSky,
PlateSix,
Border Music - Flicker of a Smile: US Pop Life Vol.
10,
Jonny Polonsky,
Dureforsog,
Vinny Golia,
PC Munoz and the Amen Corner,
Jozril Dahl,
Atomic Mint,
Kudra,
The Postage Era,
Hairballs of Hysteria,
Small Wonder,
Cog,
Rita Chiarelli,
Annea Lockwood and Ruth Anderson,
Second Story Man,
Aspera,
Mom's Megillah,
The Great Glass Elevator,
Crazy Mary,
silence.,
George Washington,
Josie
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Piano Magic / I Came to Your Party Dressed as a Shadow / Acuarela (CD)
London-based experimentalists Piano Magic have returned with an extremely subdued, ambient/spoken word EP. In creating their minimal soundscapes, Piano Magic prefer children’s toys to computers, Casios to drum machines, and they record everything on their own four-track. The title track begins the EP, sounding like something leaked out of Aphex Twin’s Ambient Works Volume II. The difference comes when Angele David-Guillou whispers a haunted, melancholy tale of lost love, written by band member Glen Johnson. The second track, "Blood & Snow", is an instrumental, and is beautiful in its expansive, cinematic scope, sounding like glaciers slowly sloughing through unknown arctic waters. Cheap Casio chimes ring alongside wintry keyboard drones, reminding me of Eno’s '70s ambient work (except for those damn cheesy chimes). The final track, "The drowning of St. Christopher", floats by with wave-like drums, bass, echoed guitar and Glen Johnson’s hushed, philosophic imagery. Overall, the stories and sounds here are interesting audio films, but I’m not sure if it’s worth buying the DVD. If you are interested in these guys, pick up their acclaimed album "Artists’ Rifles", which shows a bit more range and some actual songs. -- ea
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Rise Against / The Unraveling / Fat Wreck Chords (CD)
Not to be a cranky old fart or anything, but isn’t punk supposed to be,
well, kind of offensive? I mean, at least on some level. Seems like these
days the only thing I find offensive about the punk I hear is how generic,
safe and mainstream it sounds. Rise Against, a pretty typical-sounding Fat
Wreck band, have made a perfectly decent pop/rock album. It sounds like a
more 7 Seconds-influenced Offspring, without the tremendous irony and humor
of the latter. Despite being poppy, anthemic, even rocking, I find The
Unraveling kind of formulaic...although I suppose as far as formulas go,
theirs isn’t a bad one. -- az
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Various Artists / Morricone RMX / Reprise
(CD)
It had to happen eventually, right? Ennio Morricone's film
scores have been sampled by techno and industrial artists
for years -- his spaghetti western soundtracks have even
inspired a sort of cowboy-techno subgenre (Juno Reactor's
"Pistolero", anyone?) -- so a full-on Morricone remix album
was probably inevitable. Sadly, with the majority
of the remix artists favoring a mid-tempo approach (as, in
all fairness, Morricone did in the majority of his work),
the
result is really just a trip-hop album with some
exceptionally good
samples. There are a few standouts: Apollo Four Forty takes
"The Man with the Harmonica" to stratospheric heights of
over-the-top stoner dub, and
Terranova's pumped-up "For a Few Dollars More" is a cheesy
technowestern delight. Fantastic Plastic Machine's take on
"Belinda May" is actually better than anything on his own
latest record, Beautiful. The rest of the album,
while pleasant enough, predictably fails to be as
interesting as its source material. -- gz
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Muhal Richard Abrams / The Visibility of Thought / Mutablemusic (CD)
Highly respected jazz experimentalist Muhal Richard Abrams showcases his
classical chops here. That's definitely
"classical" with a small "c"; the venerable composer has not
taken to writing symphonies and sonatas! Instead, the pieces on The Visibility of Thought
fit squarely into the realm of 20th-Century art music. For some reason I'm
reminded of the works of Alban Berg -- stuff that is lyrical, yet still
intellectually rigorous. This certainly holds true for compositions
like "Baritone Voice and String Quartet", in which accomplished experimental
baritone Thomas Buckner and the string quartet Ethel join forces to deliver
a strong performance of an evocative and complex piece. The title track
also happens to be the most unique -- good old-fashioned computer music,
in the style of someone like Subotnik. It's mainly percussive in nature
with lots of repeating sequences. It's MIDI-driven, almost certainly, but
Abrams deftly avoids the "factory presets" trap with a slew of interesting,
if somewhat old school, timbres. Abrams fans who want to see him in a
new light will not want to miss this and anyone who appreciates "difficult"
music will certainly not be disappointed. -- nw
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Fall Silent / Six Years / Revelation (CD)
Levi Watson and the men of Fall Silent give us a feel for Six Years in the Desert of Reno, as well as a punk rock desert. This full-length retrospective of songs from
'95 to the present (current tracks play first) comprises the contents of the EP No Strength to Suffer, the 7" Life: Beautiful But Heartless and some other
leftover surprises, all out of print. "Sunny Days", opening as a straight, off-key cover of the Sesame Street theme, moves into punkish-high speed howling, dropping off into
the familiar Big Bird ending. The newer tracks are better, showing lots of talent but few surprises. "The Wheel of Pain" has fat bass chords that will
open your head as cleanly as a scalpel. You may well have missed Fall Silent, given punk's below-radar range; remedy that. -- js
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The Dickies / All This and Puppet Stew / Fat Wreck Chords (CD)
All This and Puppet Stew is the first release in six years
from these '70s punk stalwarts, not to mention their first for the
esteemed Fat Wreck imprint. Though it has been nearly four decades
since their inception, the band bristles with an infectious energy
that puts the majority of today’s bands to shame. Rollicking
shout-alongs like "Free Willy" and "I Did It" showcase the group’s
trademark blend of buzzsaw guitars and sickly-sweet harmonies. "Whack
the Dalai Lama"'s bone-crushing rhythms and dense keyboards somehow
manage to exceed the promise of the tune's brilliant title. The Dickies'
trashed up cover of the Isley Brothers’ "Nobody But Me" is absolutely
storming; its distortion ravaged guitar rave-ups and double-time rhythms
stage a full-on coup of your eardrums. No matter how you slice it, All
This and Puppet Stew is yet another chapter in the utterly amazing career
of Los Angeles’ original punk rock renegades. -- jj
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Denmark has never rivaled Seattle, say, in the attention of the world's typical rock fan, which makes this sixteen track sampler all the more surprising in its appeal. The first in a two-part set (see below for part two, Hairballs of Hysteria), the songs here are mainly of the lo-fi variety, recorded on four-tracks and similar machines. The hand-folded, photocopied collage art of the cover emphasizes the project's DIY nature, making it easier for the listener to lend a benefit-of-the-doubt ear to sometimes unremarkable music. Furballs begins, unfortunately, with its weakest tracks; track six finds All Occupied blasting through some straight-up punk with the English-language "What is Right?", and from there the songs grow generally stronger. Guided by Voices apparently remain a huge influence in Denmark, but bands like Klods Hans & the Cola Flaske Band ("En Fugl Kaster Med Aebler") and the amazing Tsk Tsk Tsk ("Funky Rapper", naturally) hold their own cracked appeal. The second volume contains both the best individual songs on the two compilations and the higher overall quality, but there are enough winners here to recommend this disc along with its companion. -- rt
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Enemies/Pitch Black / Split CD /
Lookout!
(CD)
Clad in stark black apparel accented with
leather-studded jackets, Enemies employ cutting melodic punk rock with a decisively sharp
hardcore knife -- snotty, snarling punk that distances itself
from other Lookout bands. Showering you with a dark and metallic sound,
the Enemies are hell-bent on keeping you from pogoing up and down like a big
freakin' idiot. Rather, this trio placates you with angular bass lines and
fiendish hardcore, like an updated Stiv Bator and Co. Pitch Black
rattles your skullcap with psycho guitar lines and pedal-to-the-metal punk
rock that leaves tire marks in your driveway. Ferocious skin pounding and
an unstoppable bass player could cause severe heart palpitations. These hardcore gems should be avoided by anyone with a family history of nervous jitters. Has Lookout finally welcomed real punk
rock back into a genre that's grown slack polished pantywaists and
baseless balladeers? -- am
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Melodic rock and hardcore usually stare warily at each other from the
stoops of different venues, but in Cherry Lane, they have made a curious
truce. The guitars are big, blasting anthem-like chords designed to
reach inside the chest. This is combined with vocals that are barked instead of
wailed, and held in place by mathematical rhythmic excursions, for a result that sounds like
a very pissed off troupe of college men. The band deserves props for
twisting a familiar genre to their own vision and they are remarkably
successful at it. Too pretty for emo, too hard for arena rock, Cherry Lane
make an interesting crossroads for two disparate styles. -- rd
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Tomas Jirku / Immaterial /
Substractif (CD)
Despite the implications of the cover art (mystical looking geometric
designs over a bed of fluffy clouds), there's nothing particularly New
Agey about Immaterial. In fact, the whole thing seems to be about
such dichotomies: bare, glitchy bleeps coexist with deep, ambient
soundscapes; generically electronic sounds are mixed with richly
detailed field recordings; deep, incessant, pulsing bass lines morph
into poly-rhythmic steam-driven percussion studies. These four
substantial tracks ("Meson", "Gluon", "Baryon", "Pion") run into each
other, creating one long, mostly ambient, often absorbing wash of noise,
rhythm and nature. I wouldn't mind a bit more detail in some of the more
static parts, but overall this is an engaging, soothing chunk of sound. --
ib
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DulceSky / Self-Titled / Self-Released (CD)
Though it is usually hard to get a clear picture of a band's music after
listening to only two songs, DulceSky managed to catch my attention in just
that -- the passing of two, solitary, beautiful songs. This is a two-song teaser
for the group's Songs From August EP, which is scheduled to be
released shortly. Those songs, "Music For An Action Film" and "6000
Years", sound like what would happen if the members of Shudder To Think were
feeling dismal and depressed one day and sat down to play with Luna for
a while. The guitars move from crunchy to swirling in the blink of an eye, while eliciting a tone of alienation that complements the accompanying
lyrics. If these two songs are an indication of what's
to come from DulceSky, it's a promising beginning to say the least. -- al
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PlateSix / Summer of '03 b/w Love Will Tear Us
Apart / Fleshban (7")
PlateSix's instrumental lineup -- two guitars and drums --
allows for extremely detailed, albeit anguished, music.
"Summer of '03" is a lengthy prog-cum-hardcore track, heavy
on strangulated screaming and abrasive, angular riffing. It
is not, by any stretch of the imagination, "feel good"
music. The band's cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear
Us Apart" is an interesting effort; it's not an easy song to
pull off, and PlateSix aren't entirely successful, but they
give it a spirited shot. There's something about the melody
that isn't quite on, and the vocals just don't sound
right when they're delivered in half-spoken style, but
otherwise it's a faithful interpretation, and will likely
score the band some attention and radio play. -- gz
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Various Artists / Border Music - Flicker of a Smile: US Pop Life Vol.
10, Athens Experimental / Contact (CD)
The credits claim 17 songs by 17 bands, but due to a sequencing error the disc contains only
eleven tracks (some of which contain more than one song). Of
these eleven, the 13-minute track credited to the Mysterious Band could easily be
divided into ten different songs, if not more. It puts me in a bind, then,
to recommend bands, because I lost the piece of paper that details which tracks are
doubled-up and therefore can't say that I'm certain which band performs
where. With that, my first conclusion: Compact Records took the
"experimentalist" aesthetic to heart. Rather than hearing the performances of
several like-minded groups, listening to this compilation is like taking a strange voyage with one band, which plays in a variety of places: in a heart, in a hospital and in a theatre
with a room full of Mack Sennett film fans. The opener is Tubular
Bells with female singing and old-school scratching, while the ninth
track struts like theme music for cartoon pimps. It had a few too many
abrupt stops for my tastes, and did not work the melody like a
prostitute. Most of the bands here provide a convincing aural argument that
they were abducted by space aliens, and the "sense" quotient in every song
is on par with David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Because
of the variety of oddities contained in the whole shebang, the comp is
easily recommended for those curious about the burgeoning Athens scene, which drugs only partly explain. -- td
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Jonny Polonsky / There is Something Wrong with You / Eggbert (CD)
Some five years after the release of his debut album, Hi, My Name is Jonny,
Chicago-based singer/songwriter Jonny Polonsky has finally come up with
the follow-up. This six-song EP shows the same flashes of brilliance that his
debut did all those years ago. Fuzz-encrusted nuggets like "Roll On" and
"Freezed" give the impression that Polonsky was reared on a steady diet
of Big Star and The Raspberries, while the layered synths and
hyperactive rhythm of "Long Gone" hint that he’s prayed at the alter of
(Ric) Ocasek on more than one occasion. Filled with top-flight
songwriting and spirited playing, There is Something Wrong with You just
might be the most enjoyable fifteen minutes of your summer. Maybe the folks who dubbed Polonsky the "Midwestern Matthew Sweet" were really onto something. -- jj
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Dureforsog / Exploring Beauty / Kool Arrow (CD)
The album cover, which looks like a perfume ad, features a sexy woman standing in front of a jacuzzi. Judging from that image, the album's title and the title
of the first song ("Space Loneliness"), I expected something in the field of
cosmic rock -- that is, music with lots of subtlety, synthesizers and song
climaxes marked by choir sections. And while there are plenty of
synthesizers, Exploring Beauty lacks any form of artistic subtlety. Take the aforementioned
"Space Loneliness". Instead of using winding violins or enticing riffs to suggest
the titular feeling, the song culminates with the singer yelling
"Space" and then "Alone", Beastie Boys style. Unfortunately, this is as good
as the album gets; any attempt at creating actual mood or emotion ends up
being flat out annoying. -- jk
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Vinny Golia / Clarinet / Meniscus (CD)
For Clarinet, "woodwindist" Vinny Golia hit the recording studio armed
only with a Bb Clarinet -- no band, no crowd, nothing but a mandate from
Meniscus main man Jon Morgan to document some of his solo compositions.
Nine pieces wound up etched in aluminum-coated plastic. Golia's style draws
equally from contemporary art music and avant-garde jazz. Extended
performance techniques abound, with multi-phonics, vocalizations and
overblowing forming an integral part of Golia's timbral world. His music is
lyric, evocative and introspective, but once you've heard the opening, "Joined
to the Songs of Ancestory (For Davige)", you've pretty much heard the
whole disc. I'm not sure that solo clarinet noodling, no matter how fluid
and skilled, can adequately carry a 67-minute disc. Clarinet
doesn't do much to convince me otherwise. -- nw
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PC Munoz and the Amen Corner / Two / Beevine (CD)
This two-song sampler is a sensual mix of smooth love
monologues and rich co-ed vocals. With influences
ranging from Barry White to...Barry White, the arrangements
aren't nearly as important as their not-so-latent sexuality
and deep, reverberating vocals.
This is definitely "fans of genre" specific: there's
nothing intensely unbearable, yet nothing exactly
stands out, either. The band's lush R&B bent
prevails throughout, with major maleability coming in the relative
despondency of the lyrics. It's impossible not to end this review by
referencing this genre's pervasive cliche: yeah, it's good for sex. -- jw
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Jozril Dahl / For Sleepless Children's Eyes / Unread
(CASS)
Coyly entitled For Sleepless Children's Eyes, this cacophonous
cassette release is just that: a grinding, warbling lo-fi recording that'll
keep you staring at the ceiling at night instead of drifting off into
dreamville. Dahl stumbles through semi-coherent lyrics with trebly
guitar and looming background feedback that's anything but comforting. He
prefers to mask his surreal lyrics with ear-piercing screeches and floods
of white noise, suggesting Daniel Johnston backed by the Boredoms. Brutal honesty is revealed on "I Can't Hit the Notes Right" (he's got that one right!) and shaky musical ground is
explored on "Song I Wrote Just Today", leaving Dahl unpolished and
remarkably accessible despite having terrorized your aural senses.
After it's all been said and heard, you'll either be relieved that the
cassette player has clicked off or be delightfully intrigued and ready to
give the tape another whirl. -- am
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Atomic Mint / A Better Mouse Trap / Self-released (CD)
According to their press kit, Atomic Mint play "alternative music". This would likely come as a shock to anyone who has heard A Better Mouse Trap. That's not to say there is anything wrong with the album; the group knows how to forge listenable melodies, and lead singer/guitarist Brianna Wanlass possesses a voice which, at times, sounds like it's channeling the spirit of Janis Joplin. This last part, however, is the crux of the problem. Atomic Mint is a blues band, and a very good one at that. They know how to rock, and at times they come near the verge of being a full-on rock band. But, all in all, this is a band with the blues, and they aren't afraid to let the world know. Listen, by all means. Just don't expect anything resembling an "alternative" band. (Use of the term "alternative" in this context means "we'd like to sell CDs to people under 25 - Ed.) -- mp
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Kudra / Self-Titled / Self-Released (CD)
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that none of the members of
Kudra have purchased a new CD since 1993. Their music fits
neatly into the grunge-era aesthetic -- and yes, this is the real
thing, not retro-focused emo. The guitar riffs are thick
and bleak, their execution surprisingly nimble, while Chris Crowley's
vocals switch from raw-throated growling
to sensitive crooning with minimal difficulty. All in all,
it sounds...authentic. Skilled, even. So what's missing?
If you like the genre, nothing; Kudra should be exactly
what you're looking for. However, if you had your fill of this sound in the
early nineties, there are no innovations here to renew your
appetite. -- gz
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The Postage Era / Fatal Autopsy / Action Driver (CD)
The gory scenes depicted on Fatal Autopsy's cover might make you
think that The Postage Era are a metalcore outfit like Drowningman or Converge. But rather than conform to that hastily determined stereotype, TPE smack the listener across the
face with their potent brand of emo-core histrionics -- which, at times, is
vaguely reminiscent of stalwarts like Rites of Spring and Turning
Point. "Ipecac like Wine" and "Particular Order" find the band in full
splay, with guitars turned up to twelve and a vocalist who sounds as
though he’s jammed the microphone down his throat into his abdomen. Their cover of
The Beatles’ "Blackbird" works surprisingly well, replacing the solitude
and innocence of the original with a sense of immediacy and ignored
morality, while "The Ballad of Rod and Todd" might just be the
greatest Simpsons-themed punk song of all-time. While it might not
always be the easiest album to digest, Fatal Autopsy is one of the most rewarding hardcore-leaning records to come along in quite some time. -- jj
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Hamlet notwithstanding, the Danes are apparently very funny people. This fifth (and a half) release from BSBTA, the second part of a two-part series, allows sixteen bands from the Danish underground (many of whom repeat from part one; see above for Furballs of Frustration) to literally emerge from their kitchens, basements and even bathrooms. The rampaging first track, Popular Organs' "Quicke", lays down an instrumental, guitar-heavy assault that outshines its provenance as a four-track recording. Manual follow that winning opener with another success, the engaging, laid-back electronic dream of "In the Wake Of...". Bands range from Heartbreak Basement to Tang Under Broen, stretching across a universe of musical discovery. Those represented rarely let things get boring; variety, in fact, recommends the set highest. No song here sounds like what came before it, from kitchen table blues and bedroom electronica to lo-fi alternative. Nothing quite matches the glorious garage-pop of the first track, but that's no reason to dismiss this original, unlikely find. -- rt
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Small Wonder / ...and in between /
Self-Released (CD)
I've listened to this San Francisco quartet's four song EP at least ten
times now, and each time I find myself wishing that there were a lot
more songs on the disc! Singer Johanna Keith has a big, clear,
expressive voice that's ideally suited to the stripped down guitar
pop that drives these songs. There's a hint of Natalie Merchant in
there, both in her open, friendly delivery and her slightly twangy,
soulful inflection on certain lyrics. The lyrics themselves aren't
particularly noteworthy, although they're not bad either -- these are
pop songs, after all! "Melodies of Maladies" has the most memorable
melody of the bunch, and strongly reinforces the 10,000 Maniacs resemblance.
"Weather Report" is a mellower, more atmospheric number that really
helps to bring out the many subtle variations that make Keith's singing so
good. "Day to Day", another straight-ahead pop tune, highlights some of the
disc's best guitar playing, while the last track, "Once Again", has a
cowpoke-style bass line and lazy-day feeling that end up dragging it
down a bit; it sounds good, but lacks the fun pop impact
of the other three tracks. -- ib
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Cog / No Time at All / Cog (CD)
There's definitely a Southern sound to this Alabama based band, as its
guitar-centric tunes and heavy rock influences are worn on the band's
figurative sleeves. With husky vocals a la Creed or Stone Temple Pilots,
and a familiar-sounding rock/alternative bent to the music, Cog has
obviously carefully studied the headliners in the alt-rock radio arena and
applied these inspirations into their own music. Acoustic guitars quietly
strum in the background of "Roll the Dice", while "Eject the Shells" lets
out a tirade of barnstorming guitar and crashing cymbals. If you've heard
more than your fair share of made-for-radio alternative rock bands, Cog
will be a forgettable experience -- there's not a lot of depth to the
band's particular rock attitude, and their sound has been done a zillion
times before. Cog needs to make a beeline for a much heavier sound...or
to break those Collective Soul CDs in half, and quickly. -- am
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Rita Chiarelli / Breakfast At Midnight / Northern Blues (CD)
As with Tracey Nelson, Marcia Ball and many of her female contemporaries,
Canadian blues artist Rita Chiarelli performs a gamut of styles, all of them
well. There are a few moving ballads ("Memphis Has Got the Blues", "Since
I've Had You On My Mind", "If You Were Crying Over Me"), a dose of Cajun
soul ("Never Been Loved Before") and a good gallon of straight-whiskey,
BB-riffing blues. The greatest reason to choose Chiarelli over her peers is her
rough, weathered voice, which conveys passion and resignation at the same
time, and lyrics that add a few new images to the genre ("eggs over easy
with a vodka or gin"). The supporting musicians are superb, too, with special
mention given to Richard Bell, whose accordion work lifts every piece into "instantaneous standards". -- td
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This head-scratcher consists of two tracks. The first is Lockwood's "World
Rhythms", which, rather than an ethnic jam, uses actual nature sounds as its
basis. Clicking pulsars, croaking frogs, volcanoes and human breathing all
find their way into the mix. The result sounds remarkably little like a
"nature sounds" record, despite its lack of traditional "music". Anderson's
"I Come Out of Your Sleep" fills the disc's second half with barely audible pink
noise -- something like a crowd of very tiny people cheering a
soccer match. The link between the two pieces lies in Zen meditation; by
focusing on the relation between the rhythms in your own flesh and the
world around, it is possible to divine previously hidden connections. Both
works are interesting gestures, but will probably leave most (unenlightened) listeners baffled. -- rd
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Second Story Man / Weddings, Parties, Sympathy / Landmark Record(ings) (CD)
The disc is nothing more than a CD-R with a magic-markered title, and the packaging looks like a slapdash affair, thrown together at the last minute. Luckily, this is the one of only two faults I found with this four song EP. Sounding like Modest Mouse or Built to Spill (if either of those groups had the occasional female vocal), the Louisville-based group makes excellent indie pop. Weddings, Parties, Sympathy, though clocking in at a disappointingly brief fifteen minutes -- that's the second fault -- definitely serves to whet the appetite for a future full-length. -- mp
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The shadows of the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Mercury Rev’s Johnathan Donohue
hang cumbrous over Sugar & Feathered. On this debut full-length, the Philadelphia-based quartet (you might know them better as Aspera Ad Astra) tries its
hand at the sort of left-field psych-pop that brought both of the
aforementioned groups to global prominence. However, rather than adding a new
chapter to the book of weird (a la Grandaddy), Aspera sound like a
hackneyed amalgamation of everyone else who has come before them. On
"Hummingbird" the band sounds like a watered-down version of
Sparklehorse, while "Goodnight" takes every opportunity to mimic the
Deserter’s Songs blueprint for oddball orchestral pop. That said,
the real problem with Sugar & Feathered is that it offers its listener
nothing new. Sure, it sounds pleasant, and the band clearly knows its references well, but
where’s the imagination, the adventuresome spirit that made us love
those other bands in the first place? Until they are able to envision
and create their own sound, Aspera are little more than a Flaming Lips cover band -- and a blatantly obvious one at that. -- jj
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Mom's Megillah / Megillah / Self Released (CD)
Mom's Megillah play Texas-flavored rock and roll. This traditional three-piece band is more than competent; the rhythm section is strong and tight, while the guitar picks and strums well-thought-out songs. There are two problems: the singer’s talk-sing frequently wrangles itself out of tune, and the band easily falls into Bad Bar Band rock, a la Hootie and the Blowfish. They also could have added some more overdubs to fill out their sparse sound. The first two songs, "Pre-Storm BBQ" and "Plush Boys", offer some catchy melodies and interesting rhythms, but the latter five songs fail to impress. The tongue-in-cheek lyrics are sometimes cheesy and sometimes just weird: "I saw your face on the bathroom wall. You were lookin’ very sad today so I won’t be so pissed off". The low point comes with "Cornacowpaddie", an absolutely hokey song in every sense of the word, which makes the entire album sound amateurish. -- ea
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The Great Glass Elevator / Self-Titled / Orange
Entropy (CD)
I wanted to like this disc, or at least embrace it in the
spirit of DIY. I really did. But I really couldn't. I
think that some artists -- Great Glass Elevator, for
instance -- use the DIY ethic and lo-fi aesthetic as an
excuse for not working particularly hard, as if they're
somehow letting the side down by spending a few extra
minutes getting recording levels right or making
nice-looking cover art. The music itself is listenable, if
you like psychedelic pop; these are basement-quality
recordings, brittle and treble-intensive, but they're
slathered in so much muffling reverb that it gives them a
thick physical presence. Most of the songs are a little too
sprawling and downbeat (or just deficient in the hook department)
to succeed as pure, jangly pop, and too modest in scale to
really take off as psychedelia. Instead, they meander awkwardly between
genres, bereft of identity. The cover art puts the nail
in the coffin; I'm sure it looked great in Photoshop -- or,
more likely, in CorelDraw -- but this faded print-out is, like
the music, a little underwhelming given the resources available
to modern DIY musicians. -- gz
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Crazy Mary / Burning Into the Spirit World / Humsting (CD)
Crazy Mary's fourth release is their best effort to date -- it's tighter and the production is better. Sophia seems to have grown as a vocalist; while her voice never lacked character, she's far stronger in terms of emoting, volume and
even range. Perhaps she's just using her voice in different ways. Whatever the reason, the change is a plus. The band's style is psychedelic/surf/punk voodoo rock, but certain tracks clearly favor one genre over others. Burning Into the Spirit World is much more surf-ish, and summery, than previous albums; perhaps the band was dreaming of summer during this
winter's recording. Burning should be a favorite for driving down highways this season, and on into the future. -- js
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silence. / Self-Titled / Uncarved Block (CD)
It's becoming rare these days to read a band's press release and not come across
talk of "numerous lineup changes" -- it's probably one of the most
overused phrases I've come across. Three piece band silence.
(yes, they don't capitalize it and they have a period at the end of their name) is no exception to
the revolving door phenomenon, having gone through four bassists and three
drummers in roughly two years. I think Spinal Tap had better luck.
Considering all this discord, it's a no wonder that silence. lacks a bit of
focus here. What starts out as engaging, though slightly familiar,
on "1000 Lies" (reminiscent of Smiths-era Morrissey) becomes nothing short of bizarre when vocalist Steve Markwell starts screaming during "Unknown Quantity". This latter distinction unfortunately
appears to be the trend for several of the songs. On "Look Away", silence.
does their version of a thrash metal song, then proceeds to go back to the
Morrissey thing a couple of songs later. The flow (or lack of it) is
puzzling. It doesn't come across as a band wanting to experiment with
different sounds; it's just confusing. -- al
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George Washington / Self-Titled / Self-Released (CD)
Don’t let the moose on the cover fool you. George Washington’s self-titled
release didn’t make me think of a moose even once. In some ways this is an
inscrutable album -- I can’t quite figure out what George Washington is trying
to do. Alternating between atmospheric moodiness and noisy reverb, the
songs sometimes sound very familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on
who the influence is. What comes to mind is something like "What would happen if
an Echo and The Bunnymen fan heard the Beach Boys and really liked them?" Or
something. There’s no single track that stands out; rather,
all eight tunes blend into one long, textured, spooky pop soundtrack. -- az
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Josie / Unkunvenshunal Girl / Qwest (CD)
Britney sells teenage sexuality, Alanis sells teenage
angst, and Josie? Well, she sells a little bit of
both. Warner Brothers' newest nymphet fuses said
personalities with the artistic integrity of a
Milli Vanilli in the production of her ironically
titled (and I'm not talking about the spelling) debut
album, Unkunvenshunal Girl. It's almost as if
the higher-ups at Warner Brothers popped in their
taggared copy of POPSTAR 3.0 and selected the new
"feisty-yet-sensual" option that the label intern
downloaded from the Microsoft website. I guess they
don't call them producers for nothing. Rather than
vainly attempt to characterize, I'll just let Josie tell it
like it is: "Some say I'm aggressive/ but I'm a
pussycat/ or something like that." -- jw
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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 | rt - ryan tranquilla | al - amy leach | jw - john wolfe
az - alex zorn | ea - ed anderson | jk - josh kazman | mp - matthew pollesel
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