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Shiva Speedway / Psychic City / FireEater (CD)
I've got a new favorite female hard-rock trio. If you haven't already
got a favorite female hard-rock trio (and really, entirely too few people have), give the job to Shiva Speedway.
Trust me, you won't find better candidates. A combination of
raw-yet-sinuous guitars, aggressive drumming and the sort of sighing
vocal choruses that make puberty so difficult for young male rock fans,
Shiva Speedway are the real deal. This is hard, nasty, grimy punk rock,
full of distortion and sharp edges and scraped strings and buzzing amps.
There are some serious songwriting chops at work here, too -- your music-buying currency unit goes towards complex pieces of music (see "Moonshine" for a prime example), not
simplistic verse-chorus-verse ditties written by an anonymous producer. It's not all dischord, either -- the
melodic "Dub City" is hummably delicious. -- gz
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Gitane DeMone / Life in Death '85-'89 / Amsterdamned (CD)
While primarily the keyboardist, backing vocalist and songwriting
contributor for gloomy goth-rockers Christian Death, Gitane DeMone also had
a few stints as lead vocalist while in the band. Life in Death
'85-'89 compiles these vocal tracks into a confusing audio profile that
seems to be more of an attempt to milk the Christian Death cash cow than a necessary musical retrospective. While the various styles from band's
catalog are adequately represented, DeMone's vocals vacillate between on-target and irritatingly out of key. The cover of Hendrix's "1983" from
Scriptures proves to be the best track here, with DeMone offering equal parts sass,
confidence and overshadowing doom. However,
wouldn’t a comprehensive Christian Death compilation be much better than
focusing on one member’s vocal contributions? -- am
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Saint Etienne / Places to Visit EP / Sub Pop (CD)
Running only slightly more than 21 minutes, Places to Visit is a bit slight, even by
EP standards. You're not going to find any earth-shaking revelations in
its six tracks, although the Sean (High Llamas) O'Hagan-produced "52 Pilot"
creates summery lounge-style insouciance with vibes and marimba, and
"We're in the City" sports modest disco-ready charm. Unless you have a
burning need to own everything Saint Etienne releases, this one's a coin-toss
purchase that's best filed in the "We're Working On A New Album But Here's
Something To Make Sure You Don't Forget We Exist" bin. -- gz
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Gypsy & Reno / A Journey to the Heart, Remember... When? / Nova/Quantum Records (CD)
Gypsy Eden and Reno La Grande...what can I say? The press release is pretty great, so I'll have to drop a few quotes on you: "Hold on to your heart... Get ready to remember... Get ready to feel it!" Oh yes, Gypsy, yes Reno, I feel it. Here's another one: "[Gypsy and Reno] combine into a nova-like performance... Two bright stars combining talents, creating performances of intense quality." At first (due to a fading photocopied press release) I thought it said, "performances of intense duality." Either way, you get the intense part. So what's the music like? Jazzy standards, "Misty," "Cry Me a River," etc. Lots of reverb on the often in-tune voices. Synth-strings, a
sax or two, mellow drums. Ultimately though, it's more about the "feeling" than the actual music, right? So come on, get ready to feel it! -- ib
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Tracy and the Hindenburg Ground Crew / Glitter Disco Synthesizer Night School / Action Box (CD)
While the last
T&THGC album I reviewed
seemed lightweight, polished and upbeat, Glitter Disco Synthesizer Night
School
opens with the dense, dischordant and decidedly cynical "Drunk". "Caged"
continues the
downbeat trend, reeling off a litany of life's failures, and by the time
"Horny" rolls around
it becomes pretty obvious that Mr. Thielen and his (Ground) Crew aren't going to be
writing songs
about bunnies and sunshine and true love any time soon. There are some
clever moments
on Glitter Disco Synthesizer Night School, but if you're in the wrong frame of mind you might wind up too
depressed and/or
sardonic to enjoy them. -- gz
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Mystic Fix / Drunk on Arrival / Mystic Fix (Cassette)
On this temperamental release, Mystic Fix celebrates all things
Louisianian (conveniently summed up by the word "alcohol") and utilizes all
of the classic poses that are associated with sleazy punk rock. Five
tunes are penned in the key of drunk, and several others clock in at
little over a minute. If tunes like "The Cat Ate My LSD" and "Marliyn
Monrobot" make you leer and smirk, then join me in this Dayglo Abortions-inspired revelry. -- am
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Bjorn Fogelberg / KarooshiPorn / NinetySix Sounds (CD)
There's a bit of a retro feel to Fogelberg's work. His analog
sensibilities recall mid-eighties synth-pop, but the scale of his work
is more reminiscent of the massive, sweeping grandeur of Vangelis. While the lush,
relaxing textures employed on KarooshiPorn could easily be
lumped in with the ambient crowd, these are quite clearly compositions
with goals more specific and lofty than gently easing the listener out of
an E-induced
euphoria. While danceable cuts like "Life in a Tube" argue
KarooshiPorn's place
among nineties techno, you might find it most enjoyable if you enjoyed the
not-quite-electronic/not-quite-New-Age material Private Music released in the
late eighties -- Patrick O'Hearn's albums, for instance. -- gz
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Port Vale / There Goes the Patience b/w Mass Transit at Midnight / Ojet (7")
Only two songs here, as you might have guessed. "There Goes the Patience" is moody and a bit downbeat, but in a pleasantly jangly sort of way. "Mass Transit" is more overtly upbeat and percussive, more straight pop than emo-leaning, and might trick you into believing it's an instrumental, as vocalist Lance Walker seems to be doing his work from behind a damp mattress several rooms away. Not that that's a bad thing, sound-wise. Both songs left me wanting more, so I hope Port Vale's new Western Winds EP finds its way to the Splendid offices some time soon. -- gz
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