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OUR WEEKLY COLLECTION OF SHORTER REVIEWS
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Noxagt,
Rachel's/Matmos,
Paul Manchin,
Andy Germak,
Sick Bees,
The Delta 72,
The Pin-Ups,
The Hasselhoff Experiment,
Enon,
Sneaky Feelings,
Joseph Benzola,
Horace Andy,
Ernesto Diaz-Infante and Rotcod Zzaj,
Gus Gus vs. T-World,
The Westbury Squares,
Mayhem,
The Slackers,
Piebald,
Tea for 2000,
The Modernist
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Let out a good cough and you'll completely miss Noxagt's pain inducing tune, "You Suffer." That's not because you have
some horrid smoker's cough (though you might), but rather because it's only five seconds long. The other 21 tracks on this 7" belt out little snippets of ugly bass grunts, incorporate staccato drum machine beats and are glaringly lacking in the vocals department. Consequently, some smart Norwegian type has coined the term "Nor Wav," due to its avoidance of typical 4/4 rock tempos and noticeably short
lengths (most under 30 seconds). "Drid Machine" and "I Don't Mind" manage to stabilize long enough for each to form some
resemblance to songs, but Noxagt's charm is in its refusal to buy into a comfortable structure -- except for its chaotic, self-destructive explosions of Crass-styled anarchy. -- am
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Rachel's/Matmos / Full On Night / Quarterstick
(CD)
Here, you'll find two versions of "Full On Night" from Rachel's
Handwriting LP -- which seems like a fairly skimpy amount
of music until you see that the two tunes add up to over thirty
minutes of music. Rachel's own take on "Full On Night" is a new
(or at least newer) recording of the song, sandwiching
moody, pastoral piano phrasings, post-rock noodling and uneasy
near-rock outbursts in the middle of a musical near-silence.
Matmos, meanwhile, dismantle "Full On Night" in studio and live
forms; renaming it "The Precise Temperature of Darkness", they cut, paste and add elements from other Rachel's songs,
creating an eighteen-minute epic whose final minutes will
jolt you from any reverie short of death. Highly recommended. -- gz |
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Paul Manchin / Trinity / Self-Released (CD)
Remember a couple summers ago when that dance hit by Ultra Nate, "Free", was constantly on the radio? It was in every dollar store and Filene's Basement and it blasted from every Iroc that passed (Fill in your own regional equivalents -- Ed.). It was super-cheesy in the best possible way. Paul Manchin is kinda like that. He's got catchy dance tunes that get stuck in your head. In fact, if the album wasn't self-released, I would bet that these tunes would be following you around the mall and at the gym. And just like any good dance album, almost every song is the "something-or-other remix". Bonus points are scored for Trinity being an enhanced CD-ROM, although those points are then lost for it being boring -- just some footage of Paul, wearing his pajamas and Timberlands, ip-synching to a song that has no lyrics. If you're into cheesy dance hits or are planning a dance party and you can find this CD,pick it up. -- ha-n
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Andy Germak / Color Through the Smoke / Captain Ron Music (CD)
The only problem with Andy Germak's debut comes from his melodies; they are
initially quite inviting, and reminiscent of countless folk song
classics, but some (like the 7-minute "American Dream Blown to Pieces") are
too simply constructed to sustain one's interest for very long. At
5 minutes, though, "Fireworks Over Ithaca" is perfect, as the lyrics
(fireworks fell all over Ithaca / and I laid on my back a while / tryin' to
salvage color through the smoke) and Germak's smoky voice blend seamlessly to
create music as engaging as most anything by the wonderful Steve Forbert. I
also loved "Kosovo", "Second Story Love Song", "Eve of the Millenium" and
"Winds of Oklahoma"; Germak has great success with political
subjects, whereas almost every other singer/songwriter fails. Germak's fantastic
voice, rather than his songwriting, accounts for much of this success --
it's so good that were he to make a bad turn and gadda-da-vida his politics
the next time around, it will still be a sophomore release worth checking
out. -- td
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Sick Bees / My Pleasure / Up (CD)
Out of place as these songs are, "Pretty is as Pretty Does" and "Love in a
Puff" show that the Sick Bees are a fine, fine group when they forcefully inject
samples into their music, thereby giving their voices a modern
soundscape from which to work. In this arena, the voices of Julio and Starla
bounce off each other like smoking juveniles at play,
and the songs just soar. In addition, Starla keeps on chanting "Pretty
Kitty", and I can dig that. Prior to reaching My
Pleasure's final two songs, though, the album seems divided between tunes fronted by
Julio's voice and cuts driven by Starla's singing. Each brings distinct influences
to their music, and they're so different it's hard not to have favorites.
Mine, by a long shot, are Julio's songs. He's got a great screaming voice
and seems to belt out his rock numbers "Clockwork Orange"-style. It's
crazy, cathartic fun. Starla's songs, by contrast, are reminiscent of
"Easter"-era Patti Smith. The melodies are difficult and stringent, if one
can argue that they're there at all, and when Starla screams out for morphine you
get the impression that to her, great music is always performed while waiting
in line at a methadone clinic. It's too bad that the sick female bee
isn't silent through more of My Pleasure. -- td
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The Delta 72 / 000 / Touch and Go (CD)
When I heard the relentless, booty-shaking, dirty southern soul of 000, I thought to myself, "I wonder if that Gregg Foreman moves as well as he sings…" With
tracks like the stompin' opener "Are You Ready'" and the sex-drenched "Great Paper Chase no. 1", a gal can't help but have thoughts like that pop into her mind.
The Delta 72 pull a mix influences like of James Brown, MC5, Rare Earth and Booker T out of their hat. Sounding like a lighter version of Mick Jagger, Foreman
leads the charge towards liberating listeners from their strait-jacket of conventions. Foreman's slide guitar against Mark Boyce's soul-spouting organ and backup singers Syreeta Ford and Delores Ford-Coleman are the elements that give the songs their bite. The instrumentals ("The Doctor is In!", "Hip Coat" and "Ten Pounds") give the listeners time to wipe the sweat from their brows, unfasten a few more buttons and adjust the volume before being hurtled into another
groove-laden track. 000 will fit nicely between the Black Crowes' Shake Your Money Maker and Primal Scream's Screamadelica when you're using the CD player's "random" mode. -- dd
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The Pin-Ups / Backseat Memories / Good-ink (CD)
The Pin-Ups are chrono-tricksters, 1950s punks playing 1980s girl rock
with a 1990s-Seattle-style twist. The ten tunes on Backseat
Memories really highlight the band's impressive range, both
stylistically and emotionally -- and while such a wide range can sometimes
doom a band to writing bland stylistic knock-offs instead of groovy
tunes,
no such fate seems to have befallen The Pin-Ups. This is largely thanks
to
the dynamic presence of lead singer Dejha, whose full, forceful voice
keeps things energized and interesting. "Narrow Escape" is a full-on
Blondie meets the Rolling Stones rocker. "Waltz for Lucy" is a slow,
pretty, countrified ballad. Weird guitar licks, mysterious background
sounds and pounding drums make "Poolside" a keeper. Look to "Heaven for
You Too" for some cute, sweet, rockabilly action. While not every song
on
Backseat Memories is a gem, none of them suck, and overall this
is an impressive, memorable debut. -- ib
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The Hasselhoff Experiment / Always Outnumbered, Always
Outgunned / Flying Nun (CD)
There are only two guys in The Hasselhoff Experiment -- Andrew
Tolley and Brendan Moran -- but lack of numbers hasn't stopped
them from producing a fierce live-wire of an album. As punk
rock as a near-fatal electric shock from an over-taxed amp, the
Hasselhoff Experiment dish up the requisite formula of vicious
guitar riffs and downright brutal drum-pummelling. Occasional
harmonica flare-ups add a bluesy angle, prompting comparisons to
JSBX or, more accurately, Cash Money/Audio (another two-man band
that'll ram its message down your throat). Always
Outnumbered, Always Outgunned is best listened to at
speaker-killing volume, and you're probably best off taking it
to a not-so-good-friend's house, as the album gives off a
distinct "Let's trash the place!" vibe that you won't be able to
ignore... -- gz
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First things first. Enon is John Schmersal of Brainiac and Rick Lee and Steve Calhoon of Skeleton Key , and the first song, "Rubber Car", is a scary Midnight Vultures-era Beck song that sounds like it's been slowed down and put through some kind of distortion machine. The rest of the album is much of the same but lacks the Beck reference. For some reason I just don't get it. There are some samples going on, some noise, distorted vocals, crazy, swirling guitars and at times glimpses of actual good songs. It just seems like a lot of effort has to go into trying to find them. Live it's even worse. I've seen really great Enon shows as well as really awful ones. It's practically impossible to pigeonhole them. They apparently guessed that this would happen as the press release even reads "Complete and total inability to be succinctly classified by lazy music journalist types -- check". Check indeed. -- ha-n
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Sneaky Feelings / Positively George Street / Flying Nun
(CD)
I don't know where you were in the mid-1980s, but if you were in
Dunedin, New Zealand, chances are you were a Sneaky Feelings fan. I was busy in
Philadelphia, stealing 6-packs of coke from the local 7-11 and playing
Centipede, so I missed them the first time around...but that's what
re-releases are for! Flying Nun was pretty happening in the 1980s; the
Chills and Tall Dwarfs probably being their most widely known bands
outside of New Zealand. Sneaky Feelings never quite hit, but not for a
lack of fine 1980's style semi-new wave pop tunes. Positively George
Street is a collection of 22 Sneaky Feelings tracks (some
remixed/restored), originally released from 1984-1992. The music is
pretty
interesting, although it's hard to listen non-nostalgically -- the vocals in particular
conjure memories of disastrous middle-school dances and unwise haircuts,
listening to Simply Red songs and discovering Echo and the Bunnymen. I
don't
know what stopped Sneaky Feelings from being a lot bigger than they were
-- perhaps New Zealand in the 1980s wasn't the easiest place from which
to
launch an interenational pop career. It's a shame, because these are
fine
songs. They're catchy, well played, well written, harmonically and
lyrically rich. For a peak back in time at a band you've never (but
should
have) heard of, Positively George Street is a pretty good bet. -- ib
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Joseph Benzola / Dig the New Breed / Amanita
(CD)
Sometimes you come across an album and no matter how hard you try, you
still can't decide what to make of it. Joseph Benzola's latest is one of
those head-scratchers. The disc opens with the clockwork curiosity of
"Portraits of the Dead: Lester Bowie" and closes with the space-aged
underwater fantasy "Distant Memories". In between, well...things are weird.
The only lyrical explanation is the disembodied voice in "The
Conversation", which seems to have something important to say about HIV and
dogs. What, I'm not quite sure. This is an interesting piece of work, and
I've got the feeling that I'll wake in the middle of the night a week from
now screaming, "It all makes sense!" -- but for now, I'll knit my eye-brows
and wonder. -- rd
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Horace Andy / Living In the Flood / Melankolic (CD)
Entire new generations of music fans (myself included) were introduced to the smooth tones of Horace Andy through his work on Massive Attack's epochal album Mezzanine. Now, seemingly to show their gratitude for his contribution to their record, Massive Attack have released Living In the Flood on their own Melankolic label. The album's sound is similar to a jam session between Peter Tosh, Portishead and the Clash -- roots reggae with dashes of electronic
ambivalence, all infused with pure punk energy. Album collaborators include Joe Strummer, who spruces up the flashy funk of the title track with slinky guitars, and Massive Attack’s 3-D, who wrote the breakbeat driven ragga groove of “Doldrums”. But above all, the strength of Living in the Flood lies in Andy’s
soulful croon; songs like “Juggling” and “Some People” would surely become boring and tedious in the hands of lesser vocalists. Living in the Flood proves that some performers actually do get better with age. -- jj
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Ernesto Diaz-Infante & Rotcod Zzaj / Sirius Intrigues / Zzaj
Productions (CD)
What would happen if Daniel Johnston stopped writing Beatles songs and
decided to become a free improvisation nut? Well, he'd probably end up
making something a lot like the latest opus from frequent collaborators
and Splendid regulars Rotcod Zzaj and Ernesto Diaz-Infante. This
time
out, we've got an engagingly weird mix of noisy guitar noodling and
experimentation, telephone blips and bleeps, voice samples, random
noises, drum machine hits and spoken word passages, topped off (as usual)
by Zzaj's half goofy, half cheesy, half fundamentally strange keyboard
virtuosity. There seems to be a serious space travel theme going on
here judging by the track titles: "Dog Star Afternoons," "Black Dwarf
Beatnik," "Voyage to Canis Majoris," etc. Then again, music from Zzaj
and
friends always tends to the alien, so who knows what these folks are
thinking! Everyone should have at least one CD from the ever-expanding
(like the universe???) Zzaj Productions catalog, and Sirius
Intrigues is as good a place to start as any. As is often the case,
the disc gets a bit bogged down in some of its noodlier sections, but
the quality of the playing and the honest strangeness of the ideas it
contains makes it a fine, likable addition to the Diaz-Infante/Zzaj
canon. -- ib
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Gus Gus / Gus Gus vs. T-World / Beggars Banquet (CD)
T-World was a sort of side project for Gus Gus member Biggi and former
collaborator Herb. Though "Anthem" achieved a certain amount of notoriety
among DJs in the late nineties, very little T-World material has seen the
light of day until now. Reflecting the more electronic side of Gus Gus'
wildly eclectic music, Gus Gus vs. T-World serves up seven extremely
beautiful and enjoyable deep house tunes, all of which deserve a long and
happy life on the dancefloor. While most Gus Gus fans should find this
within their spectrum of taste, you should be aware that it's not a true
Gus Gus album. Listeners drawn to the group's idiosyncratic style may find
these club-centric grooves a bit too linear by comparison. -- gz
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The Westbury Squares / s/t / Fuzzgun (CD)
The Westbury Squares are a three-piece powerpop indie rock band based on a collection of Superchunk, Velocity Girl and Flaming Lips records. Vocals get so buried beneath the blustery guitar fuzz that it's hard to tell if it's a girl or a boy singing. There's a jangly bomp, bomp, bomp bass line underlying enough that you don't really hear it when you listen to the song -- but it gets stuck in your head for the next week. You'll also catch "ooh ooh ooh" backing vocals, and even a little Moog and Hammond organ. Sound familiar? The Westbury Squares are good, but they don't really do anything new. In the end, I'd rather stick to my Superchunk CDs. -- ha-n
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Mayhem / Grand Declaration of War / Necropolis (CD)
Sometimes, it really is the vocal delivery that makes
or breaks a band. Keep in mind the fact that we're separating
delivery from lyrical content here. In Mayhem's harsh
metal world, the lyrical content is even recognizable
at times. Unfortunately, the delivery is the band's
own nemesis, as it clotheslines the music to an
awkward standstill. Swift beats and agile riffs are
adjoined over an imposing aura of warfare, doom and
destruction throughout Grand Declaration of
War, casting a classic metal shroud upon the
listening audience. While the metal connoisseur can
appreciate the band's strong musicianship, the vocals
are
confusingly drab as they incorporate two voices: one
that reeks of sobriety and another that's reminiscent
of Satan himself, spraying out raspy lines of sin.
Together, the two negate one another, leaving neither
a sinister feeling of lurking, omnipresent evil nor a cataclysmic metal philosophy transposed to
music. Scrap this bizarre metal duet and give us a
true vocal hell, and then there will be mayhem indeed. -- am
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The Slackers / Live at Ernesto's! / Hellcat
(CD)
Ska is best enjoyed live while skanking in a packed, sweaty room, and if
you're willing to invite some friends and turn up the heat, this disc
should get you pretty close to the real thing. The Slackers have been at
it for almost a decade, and these songs prove the value of continuous
touring. Tight and rock-steady, the band avoids falling into the
hyper-kinetic ska-punk trap and sticks to more traditional tempos. Make no
mistake, however, there is plenty here to make you dance. Recorded over
two nights in a Dutch Mexican restaurant, this American band playing
Jamaican music nails down what has kept ska continually bubbling just below
mainstream radar –- great music that crosses all borders. -- rd
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Piebald / The Rock Revolution Will Not be Televised EP / Big Wheel Recreation (CD)
I was first drawn to Piebald by the fantastic Gadjits-like title of their last LP. I mean, who could refuse a musical offer as intriguingly titled as If it Weren’t for Venetian Blinds, It Would be Curtains for Us All? And as an extra-added bonus, the music on the album was just as good as the title. Hell, its opener -- the beautifully cathartic “Grace Kelly with Wings” -- alone is worth the price of admission. Now a year older and sporting a new drummer, Piebald are back to do what they do best: bring the rock. The Rock Revolution... kicks off with the catchy-as-hell chorus and guitar bravado of “American Hearts”, which segues effortlessly into the bitter lyrical tirade and gritty chug of “They Don’t Understand Us at the Academy.” Then it’s on to the unabashed tribute of “David Lee Rock”, in which the band reminisce about the Diamond Dave days of Van Halen amidst their own tuneful guitar rave-ups and pounding rhythms. The album ends with the acoustic led “Rock Revolution” which finds the band crafting a good old fashioned rock ballad that just might find its way onto Monster Ballads: Volume 2. While simultaneously bringing the rock and keeping their tongues firmly in cheek, Piebald have crafted a sly EP that is all but irresistible. -- jj |
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Various Artists / Tea For 2000 / Beggars Banquet (CD)
The breadth of the Beggars Banquet roster is on focus here, with Tea for 2000
sampling all the popular musical styles making waves both
here and in in Europe. Among my favorites is "Yellow" by the Llama Farmers.
It's a very pretty number which (falsely) makes this grungy act seem like a
Belle & Sebastian ripoff. "Poodle Rockin'", by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, is
also quite easy to fancy, making them appear equals to the wonderful Super
Furry Animals. There are a number of other great acts (Hefner, Delgados,
Mojave 3, and DJ Spooky) featured here, but it is seldom
their most representative material, which might make it scary when you're
trying to use this comp as a shopping list. While I love
Hefner, I would never have given them a chance just on the basis "Pull Yourself
Together", a modest rocker styled like early Boomtown Rats material. The
groups the CD will make me seek out, though, are Gus Gus, whose "Sleepytime"
reminds me of Lithops, and Brassy, whose "Can't Wait" makes them seem like a
British version of Salt 'N Pepa. Lord knows why that is appealing, but it is. -- td
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The Modernist / Explosion / Matador
(CD)
The Modernist is the latest guise of prolific electronic artist
Jörg Burger, whom American audiences might also recognize
as the Burger half of Burger/Ink. Explosion is a rather
understated affair -- rhythms percolate gently-yet-assertively,
while jazzy melodies brood and linger at the very limit of your
attention's threshold. Regrettably, the titular
Explosion never comes; Burger seems content to keep his
engine idling rather than giving it some gas. Similar to much of WARP
Records' output, there's never quite enough going on here to
justify 100% of your attention, so you'll probably want to find
something else to do while listening. -- gz
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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 | rd - ron davies | bl - beth lucht | jp - jennifer perkins
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