![[New Radiant Storm King]](new.gif)
New Radiant Storm King
Hurricane Necklace
Grass (CD)
The first track on Hurricane Necklace, "Honor Role", exposes New Radiant Storm King's art-pop pedigree; indeed, "Honor Role" could well have been crafted from discarded shards of Daydream Nation. Half of the songs on Hurricane Necklace are reminiscent of the downtown New York noise scene of the late 80's, displaying a betraying blend of barely pitched quasi-declarative vocals, pointillistic guitars drowned in fuzz and reverb, abrupt changes in mood and tempo and unorthodox song structures. More literal songs like the third track, "Lovers in Waco", however, display a more corporeal side to NRSK -- a post-Cobain organicism that sets the band apart from the abstract intellectualism of art-pop purists. It is this down-to-earthness that saves NRSK from being pigeonholed as a Sonic Youth shadow arriving ten years too late. --nw