OUR WEEKLY COLLECTION OF SHORTER REVIEWS | |
Dirty Walt and the Columbus Sanitations,
The Januaries,
Ashtray Babyhead,
Blonde Redhead,
Walkie Talkie,
Fatboy Slim,
Cathode Bob,
Scientific,
Roddy Frame,
Slash's Snakepit,
Hinageshi Bondage,
Gunshop,
Lindsey Thompson,
Tonjip,
Daniel Simonis,
The Big Wu,
Wobbleshop,
Solesides' Greatest Bumps,
L'Age D'Or,
Euphone
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Dirty Walt and the Columbus Sanitations / To Put It Bluntly / Triple X
(CD)
As a founding member of Fishbone, Dirty Walt has taken part in some of the
most exciting funk of the past fifteen years. Every Fishbone album has at
least a couple of sweet tracks, and this is no different. "I Need a Swig"
is a James Brown-styled, sweaty workout and "Don't Call That Man a Pussy"
contains a groove big enough to knock you off your feet. Given the size of
the buds on the cover, the record's somewhat sluggish tempos and bong-hit
peripheral sounds come as no surprise. At times, this lends the music a
dense feel, but elsewhere the result is unintentionally ominous in the way
that too much consumption can be. Despite this, the record remains funky
and fly with at least a couple of tracks that belong in your next party
mix. -- rd
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The Januaries / s/t / Foodchain (CD)
I love it! I hate it! It's driving me mad! Honestly, I
wish I could get my feelings straight with regard to this
album. The Januaries play a nicely modernized version of
bouncy, jazzy sixties pop -- think of them as a very
upmarket March Records band, with fancy new clothes and a
supermodel vibe. Lead vocalist Debbie Diamond pulls off a
modest French-ish accent that gives every song a sexual
tang, but it never seems entirely real. Yes, it's easy to
enjoy songs like the quirky "All Systems A GoGo", the creepy
"Love Met the Devil" and the downright absurd "Black
Transmission", and I'll freely admit to getting into them.
I particularly love the strident horns and groovy organ
accompaniment, which lends a distinct "Austin Powers" air
to the proceedings. Why, then, does it all feel so fake?
Like the Austin Powers films, there's a sense that
authenticity has been betrayed in some vague and troubling
way. Is it the too-clean production? Is it Diamond's
overly coquettish approach? Is it the subtle suggestion
that there's major label money lurking behind the scenes,
pulling strings as needed? I still can't tell. But I like
the songs. -- gz
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Ashtray Babyhead / Radio /
Glue Factory (CD)
Oh. My. God. Why? Why does this record keep getting made? Do these bands
go into the studio, turn on their local modern rock radio station, stick
a microphone in the speaker, grab three minutes of the stuff, overdub
their own dopey vocals and pass it off as their own? No. No they don't.
Because that would sound really crappy. So instead they find a hot-shot
producer and proceed to make yet another really well recorded, good
sounding, crunchy, boy-harmony-laden batch of the same boring,
predictable, tired old songs. Come on fellars! You can obviously play
your instruments. You know how to sing. You even write a witty lyric now
and then. So why waste all that talent on this boy guitar rock crud?
Jeez. Note to any aspiring rock stars: NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO START A
BOY-GUITAR-ROCK BAND! Go buy a computer or a ukulele or something. Be a
spoken word spazz. Hum all of your songs into a broken microcassette
recorder. Make songs that only small dogs with no fur can hear. Be
creative! -- ib
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Blonde Redhead / Melodie Citronique / Touch & Go (CD)
Melodie Citronique is a novelty
piece geared toward fans who live and breathe Blonde Redhead. It's a neat
thing, but I can't bring myself to recommend rushing right out to get it. Three fifths of Melodie Citronique revisits Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons;
the first two tracks are French and Italian translations
of "In Particular" and "Hated Because of Great Qualities", respectively,
and the final track is Third Eye Foundation's remix of "For the Damaged", remarkable only for the addition of new lyrics. The
translations are interesting, but don't seem to hold up as well as their
English originals. The two gems here, and the sole reasons I could
ever find to recommend it, are a cover and an original. "Slogan", a Serge
Gainsbourg song, was the A-side of a non-album single released a couple of
years ago. Featuring a lovely French vocal by Kazu Makino, something that
sounds like an out-of-tune child's piano and a concluding drum
solo/keyboard weird-out, this song has been a cherished prize in my 7"
collection, so it is nice that others who never had the single can hear it
here. There's also a new original, "Chi
E E Non E", that sounds more related to Melody of Certain Damaged
Lemons than either of the translations. Sort of a slow motion surf tune with an endearing Italian vocal by Amedeo Pace, it
mines the same vein of longing and gentleness that runs through Melody
.... I can see where Blonde Redhead most likely
wanted to go with this -- a release that celebrates being both
European and American -- but it fails for me. The band leans too much on
Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons to make Melodie Citronique
unique as a stand alone release, but at the same time it's too different to be
a fitting companion. -- jb
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Walkie Talkie / Twilite at Spanish Castle / MP3 (CD)
This record, a nice slice of Americana, is fueled by a tasteful production
and the fine vocals from Jim Lacey and Dani Francis. Its standout is "Hard
Times", a group original that sounds like an old-timey spiritual they found
in a gutter. As inspired as the work of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings,
it's the best showcase for their great harmony vocals and extremely solid
guitar, and wouldn't sound out of place on one of Harry Smith's classic folk
collections. The other choice tracks are more conventional, slightly less
engaging fare, but they still show the band to be a very good acoustic
outfit. While these songs -- "Lost and Alone", "Nitemares", "the Pain is
Past" and "Alien Boy" -- may not boast lyrics that bowl you over, the band
shares enough moments (Life seems hard/But it doesn't really
matter/'Cause I'm where you are) of quiet truth that your mind will by cosy
for quite some time. As for the rest of the disc, it shows the band
exploring a "Glenn Frey-goes-bluesy" vein. Of these, "Stop Dragging Me Down"
gets saved by its catchy chorus, and the rest seem to meander about, with
"Destruction" and "Good Luck Charm" causing a bit of anguish for the ears.
Still, their best stuff makes them well worth checking out on MP3.COM and in concert. -- td
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Fatboy Slim / Halfway Between the Gutter and the
Stars / Astralwerks (CD)
About the best thing I can say here is that rather than
produce another album that sticks religiously to
his established formula, Mr. Cook has mostly eschewed all
that stuttering digital slowdown stuff. But in place of
it...what has he done? There's
a lot of kooky sampling, a lot of borrowed vocals, a lot of
funk riffs and a smattering of gospel flavoring. There are
also a couple of songs -- "Lovelife" and "Demons" -- that
feature the talents of scratchy-voiced Macy Gray. I don't
mind Gray's voice, but the ostensibly hotter-than-shit
"Lovelife" comes off as tepid mid-tempo funk, and it
certainly isn't improved by Gray's cries of "I wanna 'f'
ya." Perhaps it gets better after multiple listens, but
since I'll be skipping over it, I may never know. The
gospel-flavored "Demons" is at least more involving, though
it will undoubtedly cause people to approach you and ask
where you got the advance of the new Moby album. A few tracks offer decent
techno workouts; "YaMama" and "Retox" have nothing new to
say, but they raise the energy level to a satisfying boil,
while "Song for Shelter" provides a satisfying blissout
close. The real shame here is that Halfway... gets its
weakest material out of the way first. After hearing
"Talking Bout My Baby", "Star69" and the execrable "Sunset
(Bird of Prey)" (complete with costly Jim Morrison samples), many
listeners may give up on the album before they get anywhere
near its good stuff. -- gz
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Cathode Bob / Threadbare / One Mad Son
(CD)
It sounds as if Cathode Bob has a split personality. Part of the band wants to drone through soft, yearning ballads that are part soul-wrenching and part self-reflective. The other side prefers the catchy, upbeat rockers -- yes, they may be simplistic three-chord ditties, but they
sure pack a punch that steals the show. Justin Mikulka has some smart guitar lines that save Cathode Bob from sounding like another bar
room band bomb. A few lyrics are pathetically childish and lackluster ("Star Tripping" and "Half Free"), making me wonder if this
really was the best the band had to offer. However, if this trio can write more winners like the angular "Girl Nervous" and the feverish and racy
"Zero Times Nothing", their next release will leave its mark. -- am
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Scientific / From the Nest of Idea / Burnt Toast Vinyl (CD)
If Stereolab replaced Laetitia Sadier with a lanky male art student
cloaked in black from head to toe, they'd sound a lot like
Scientific. On this seven-song EP, the Chicago-based quartet pump out their
own brand of future leaning-space pop, relying heavily upon warm
analog tones and flirty synth melodies to propel songs like “Fully Out
of Time” and “Not Rarely Inclined” into orbit. But it is not until
album closer “All For Wild Tiger” that the band manages to concoct
something truly spectacular. Wrapping an otherworldly groove around
heavily strummed guitars and a Fred Schneider-esque vocal delivery, "All
For Wild Tiger" is a galactically-inclined paean to pop brilliance. If From the
Nest of Idea is any indication of things to come, expect to see
Scientific on the cover of every indie rag in the land in the
not-too-distant future. -- jj
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Roddy Frame / The North Star / Independiente (CD)
This first solo release shows ex-Aztec Camera frontman Roddy Frame
in typically fine pop form. It's full of stupendous hooks, fabulous singing
and masterful guitar work, and contains only one song, "Autumn Flower",
that's inspired by his love of "quiet storm" soul. Since most people find
his Anita Baker influence a turn-off, I guess that's a good thing, though
there's no genre at which he outright fails. You
may have to hunt to find an affordable copy of this import, but it's worth it for
longtime fans; the arrangement of "Here Comes the Ocean" is probably
the most successful he has ever done. Frame has always been a precocious talent,
pleased to recycle what he loves, but he has seldom done it so well as on
The North Star. Among past efforts, it's most similar to Aztec
Camera's neglected, easy-to-find-cheap gem Frestonia, and
everything but "Bigger Brighter Better" could make a
splash on the radio. However, I'm almost positive it won't sell,
as nothing by Frame, Terry Hall or Edwyn Collins ever seems to be given a
chance anymore. Here's hoping Roddy's lack of US distribution comes more
from his own unwillingness to return to indies than from independent labels'
unwillingness to promote aging, once-hip stars who've remained damn, damn
good. -- td
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Slash's Snakepit / Ain't Life Grand / Koch
(CD)
On his latest outing, Slash does nothing that Guns & Roses didn't do a
decade ago: bigger than life, balls-out cock rock is still the idea. From
the heavy stomp of "Serial Killer" to the vicious "Been There Lately", the
band rips through hard rock with a wicked gleam in their eyes. Why, then, do
things seem lacking? Maybe it's that Rod Jackson's vocals simply aren't
Axl Rose. While Jackson has the skills, I find myself continually
waiting for Rose's nasal howl. It's impossible to think about Wings
without imagining the Beatles, and when listening to this album, I keep
itching to throw Appetite for Destruction into my disc player.
Musically, the songs here are as good as anything Guns and Roses did, but
nevertheless it feels like something is missing. -- rd
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Hinageshi Bondage / Diesel Fruit My Darling EP / Verdura (7”)
I am absolutely terrified of Janne Martinkaupi, for it's his
twisted mind that created the horrific murder-on-wax that is Hinageshi Bondage. Imagine the members of Kraftwerk being shoved through an
industrial sausage press while playing a double speed version of “Metal
on Metal”, and you're still not even close to the sheer abrasiveness of the
sound. Diesel Fruit My Darling is five tracks of electronic torture killing,
slowly slaying you with erratic blasts of high pitched frequencies,
metallic drones and something that sounds like someone shoving a fork
through their stomach. Looking for something on 200-gram wax that’s
completely fucked up from beginning to end? Your search ends here. --
jj
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Gunshop / 59 Surplus Seconds / C.i.P. (CD)
I was attracted to this disc by the packaging -- rather than
a jewel case, it's housed in an antistatic bag, which is
nice, since if I ever lose the CD I'll have a nice place to
stash surplus RAM. The music is a combination of white
noise and machine sounds, sort of the aural equivalent of
getting numbly drunk and hanging out in a machine shop all
afternoon. During a particularly quiet bit, I forgot it was
playing...and wound up getting the living crap scared out of
me a little bit later. The mixture of mechanical and
electronic sounds here is intriguing, though; it's clear
that the Gunshop folks set out to do more than hurt your
ears. Most pieces seem designed for listening, avoiding
ear-abrading volume in favor of various persistent,
mind-tickling hums that work their way inside your head and
make you feel them, in some less-than-entirely-tangible way,
inside your skull. Headphones are highly recommended. -- gz
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Lindsey Thompson / Room in a Basement /Keystone (CD)
If you love Tori Amos' voice, but prefer lighter Natalie Imbruglia
material as done by a complete unknown, this set by Lindsey Thompson might be
what you're after. Thompson, who hails from England's Black country, begins
her debut with a track that might have been left off some Human League album.
Four minutes later, her musical accompaniment loses the retro feel. This is all to her benefit,
I think, because Lindsey's voice is too strong to waste fighting
synthesizers for the listener's attention. "Who Can Be" is Tori for the mass
audience, with lyrics not personal but universal: think Karyn White "superwoman"
stuff. It's followed by "Charlie", which takes the music of Elton John
and adds sentiments that sober AA folkies like to dish out. It doesn't
approach the stature of Concrete Blonde's "Joey", but is bearable. "Got To Give"
is as catchy as anything Ellis Paul has ever written,
and is among the best pure pop songs I've heard this year. The chorus
could make it a hit in idealist camps ("We're a long, long way from making
these days the very best that we have got to give"), or it could make you gag.
As for me, I sung along and simply let its melody smother me. The album
fades in its final moments, with "A Little Melancholy" suffering from
its vestigial Alanis Morrissette influences. Still, songs like "Time Won't Wait" and
"Common Knowledge", which boasts a nice piano opening,
are catchy little buggers, and should be covered by any Saturday teen
sitcom band during its "serious-issue" episodes. -- td
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Tonjip / Ton-jip /
Toupee (CD)
Some of the music on this CD is startlingly good. Ringing guitars and
fuzzed-out, warbling synths create sonic washes that are driven by a solid
rhythm section and tight, clear harmonies. It's a vibrant, exciting
sound. "Electromatic" in particular is one of the best rock songs I've
heard in a long time. Unfortunately, not all of the songs are so good, and
the "Jesus is lord"-style lyrics on some of them really put me off. I
never do very well with lyrics that have lots of extra capital letters on
the pronouns. Nonetheless, this is an exciting band, and they really
seem to have mastered the fine art of combining tweaky electronic sounds
with straight-ahead rock and roll energy. Apply a bit of a lighter touch
with the Jesus stuff next time, and this Australian quintet could really
be onto something great. --
ib
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Daniel Simonis / s/t / Self-Released (CD)
Simonis plays a palatable blend of Americana rock and gentle
alt-country. He sounds less like Wilco than Chris Isaak, to
whom I'm guessing he's often compared -- mostly due to songs
like "Someone to Sleep With", which push his vocals into a
higher range. Performance and playing remain tastefully
understated; there's a pleasant lack of ostentatious slide
guitar, which makes a nice change from all those bands that
cram the slide guitar and pedal steel down your throat in
order to assert their dominant "Western-ness". Lyrically,
Simonis goes in for small-scale tales of personal
relationships, memories and sidestepped dreams. It's the
sort of stuff that seems trite at first, then grows more
relevant as you listen. Some listeners won't get that far
-- the disc's mannered mood and triple-A vibe will fail to
engage them, and they'll move on. -- gz
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The Big Wu / Folktales / Phoenix Rising
(CD)
Although I live in Eugene, Oregon (the hippy capital of the world), I have
always hated the Grateful Dead. It is no big surprise, then, that I don't
care for The Big Wu, a five-piece whose freewheeling, meandering jams
remind me of exactly why I never cared for the Dead. It's not a question
of their capabilities: the members are skilled on their instruments and can
both improvise intelligently and write cohesive songs. It's just that the
Mother Earth, patchouli-scented vibe gives me a headache. This ten-song
offering has enough swing to get the paisley skirts twirling and the
hemp-clad feet shuffling, and more power to them. I have to respect a band
that is so dedicated to their live music (they play over 200 shows a year),
but unfortunately, Folktales is not enough to make me like their
records. -- rd
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Wobbleshop / Bittergreen / Creative Engine (CD)
Wobbleshop's habit of rhyming lines by restating the same lines might
get a bit irksome, because their best songs -- "Belong", "Past Perfect" and
"Rural Dakota", all of which start off the CD -- are catchy enough that they
get deep under your skin. So with lines like "Come in, Come in" spinning
through my head, it seems right to call their brand of music very inviting --
yet not very intelligent. It's not so much pop that's too smart for radioas
pop that just isn't popular yet. All their great songs have potential to be
hits, and some of their rotten ones do too. "Red Hot", for example, written to
be memorable after a single listen ("I'm so emotional about things that aren't so emotional/And that's a
heartfelt fact/I wouldn't take it back/I'm so civilized"), but its
sincerely sung nonsense just leaves me baffled. As for sound, this is another
mainstream band that seems to have been inspired by Guadalcanal Diary
and REM, and they benefit from great use of keyboards and the excellent voice
of lead singer Brian Holmes. If they can write a bigger batch of melodic songs, and
this time slip an ounce or two of lyrical truth into them, you can expect Wobbleshop to be a pure, bona fide delight. Right now, though, they're just a very guilty pleasure. -- td
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Various Artists / Solesides' Greatest Bumps /
Quannum Projects (CD)
Before there was Quannum Projects, there was Solesides -- a
label responsible for many of the
early gems of independent West-Coast hip-hop. If names like
DJ Shadow, Chief Xcel, Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truth
Speaker mean anything to you, you've probably got a good
idea of what you're going to get -- namely, irresistably
bouncy hip-hop from the early-to-mid '90s. This is good
stuff -- a mixture of goofy sing-song SoCal-style delivery
and breakneck freestyling, driven by some killer loops and
breaks. There's hardly a gangsta in sight, thank God. Unfortunately, there's
a downside to this disc. This disc is a preview of a forthcoming
double-album retrospective, and while all of the tracks are here, the producers have opted to fade them out at the 2:30 mark in
order to keep this stuff out of the hands of eager internet
music traders. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying
that is. -- gz
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Various Artists / l'Age d'Or / Triage
(CD)
L’Age d’Or may be a French phrase, but it’s also a German recording label. Easily comparable to a big US indie like
Matador, the label has been around since 1989. This sampler, released on US label Triage, provides curious Americans with a
chance to sample some of l’Age d’Or’s copious bounty without having to sink large amounts of cash into imports. Bands
range from the better-known, like Tocotronic (perhaps the Pavement of Germany?) to more obscure fare, such as Jonas,
hailing from the wee burg of Bad Bentheim. My heart, however, belongs to Fink for their banjo-driven cover of “Autobahn”
-- easily worth the price of the CD by itself. Featuring eleven artists and twenty three songs, this compilation satisfied not
just my curiosity, but ultmately my ears as well. -- bl
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Euphone / Hashin’ It Out / Jade Tree (CD)
Get ready to move your butts: Chicago’s rhythmic jitterbugs are back in town. On Hashin’ It Out,
Euphone's second Jade Tree release, they bump and grind their way into the recesses of your brain as well as the soles of your feet. Post-rock in
the most rocking sense of the term, drummer and bandleader Ryan Rapsys
pounds out rhythms like an octopus on speed while bassist Nick Macri
weighs down the boogie with jazzy and meaty bass fills. Band friend and
hired hand Jeremy Jacobsen (the Lonesome Organist) helps round out the
sound with frantic guitars and swirling Farfisa stabs. A trip
through Hashin’ It Out will find you drenched in '70s porno-funk
(“Where’s the B?”), shuffling through a demented conga (“Bad Ascending”)
and sipping martinis while you mind succumbs to the slinky grooves of
“My Ladies Can’t Remember the Eighties”. Orchestras of jitterbugs have
never sounded so good. -- jj
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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 | bl - beth lucht | js - jenn sikes | rg - rodney gibbs
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