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Fun'da'mental / Erotic Terrorism / Beggars Banquet (CD)
Imagine Pop Will Eat Itself mobilized with a political/humanistic agenda
and the
intent to rouse Black and Asian kids to action in the racial tinderbox of
nineties England.
Propa-Gandhi and DJ Impi D will get their message into your head, even if
they have to
batter their way in with thunderous beats and badass samples. And the
message, which
ultimately involves basic human rights for all, isn't a hard sell anyway.
The most apathetic
kids are going to listen to this for the music, but the ideas are bound to
get through
eventually. -- gz
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A CD dedicated more to the voluptuousness of space and its drifting
surroundings than to precision and structure, midi Tapant
is the latest electroacoustical offering from Canada. With
Pierre Tanguay manning the batterie and Tom Walsh providing
accompaniment on trombone et échantillonneur, this duo
delivers a subtle approach to the interpretation and delivery of
experimental musical stimulations. With compositions ranging from
passively melodic to belligerently caustic, the CD sounds like a
soundtrack to an unmade film, or perhaps an outlandish, operatic
score. -- am
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Apocalypse Theater / Cain or an Open Vein / Hollows Hill (CD)
The curious multitudes are going to gravitate to Apox's gothified take on
"Time After Time" --
which is kind of a shame, because most of the original music on Cain
is superior
to the rather aimless Cyndi Lauper hand-me-down. The title track is a
particularly
striking bit of goth fun and though the disc occasionally hits the
doldrums, the black-clad
legions should be well-pleased with it. As for the Gap-clad legions...well, that'll be a harder sell. -- gz
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Various Artists / Rough Guide to Native American Music / World Music Network (CD)
When World Music Network's The Rough Guide to Native American Music
turned up in my listening pile, I had preconceptions about its content. I
was hoping for a collection of traditional Native American Music. What I
found were only a couple of songs falling into this category, with the
majority of tracks highlighting various areas of contemporary Native
American popular music. As far as this goes, like any pop sampler it is a
mixed bag, but you'll hear something
new and you just might find something you like. Surely the most peculiar
song on the disc is the polka-like, chicken scratch music of "Cuatro Vidas
Polka". -- nw
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Various Artists / Distorted Underground / Nesak/Kado (CD)
Some of the music here is borderline gabber, and your recommended daily
allowance of
thrumming, over-modulated bass beats will definitely be met, but there's
far less
bland linearity on this compilation than you might expect. Many of the
tracks here are
reminiscent of the halcyon days of nu-beat and rave-techno -- mid-tempos,
sampled
guitars and found "lyrics" full of sex-and-drug references. Mission
Extacy's "The Horrorist",
in particular, is done in the grand old Wax Trax!/Antler style you used to
love (didn't you?). -- gz
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The Subhumans / Unfinished Business / Bluurg (CD)
It seems as if nary a day passes when you won't see a teenager
patrolling the streets, armed with a Subhumans tee shirt. The
resilience of this anarcho-punk band, whose songs date back to the
early 80's, must mean something, eh? Unfinished Business
compiles four songs from '81-'83 as well as three tunes the band
rerecorded in '98. The Subhumans' patented sound is solidly displayed,
combining sneering, limey-accentuated vocals, trebly guitar and
tuneful bass lines into a pugnacious and socially conscious entity that
can only be described as gravely opinionated! Could thousands of crusty
punk kid fans (and older critics) worldwide be wrong? -- am
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Fantastic Plastic Machine / The Fantastic Plastic Machine / Emperor Norton (CD)
Yes, this is more bubbly-happy Japanese retro-futuristic pop, but it
deserves your
attention as more than just part of a crowd. In addition to making more
use of
vocal samples than some of their contemporaries, FPM haul in heavy-hitter
guest
vocalists like (Pizzicato Five's) Maki Nomiya and the delightful Laila
France. And even
if most of this sets your teeth on edge, the poolside-samba cover of Joe
Jackson's
execrable "Steppin' Out" is a low-key delight. -- gz
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Industrial Tepee / What Divine Engine / Mother West (CD)
Think swamp blues monster crashing the British Invasion -- that's a good
(albeit fanciful) approximation of Industrial Tepee's What Divine
Engine. It's rootsy, folk rock blended with just enough pop
sophistication to keep the city kids comfortable. Despite this general
comparison, keep in mind that Ween drummer Claude Coleman Jr. is
co-producer on this, so flagrant genre orthodoxy shouldn't be expected. -- nw
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