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our weekly collection of shorter reviews
New American Mob,
Appliance,
Bike,
Hangnail
Nebula,
Pspyched,
Hot Buttered Elves,
Chaz Vegas
Sister Sonny,
Cinematic Orchestra,
Control Workshop,
Exploitation of Sound, Vol. 1
Toilet Boys,
Choke,
Mogwai,
Sixteen Deluxe
DJ Spooky,
Gary Numan
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New American Mob / All Mob Cons / RAFR (CD)
All Mob Cons is a 17-minute, 5-song barroom brawl. You can almost hear the breaking beer bottles and crashing chairs in the background. New American Mob cranks out high-energy rock music with just enough irreverence to be sort of punky. The song titles say a lot about exactly what kind of music NAM peddles: "Shoot Me", "I Need a Drink", "Eating Me" and "College Girls". There's certainly nothing groundbreaking about All Mob Cons, and in terms of pile-driving hardrockers I have other preferences (The Tight Bro's From Way Back When, Zen Guerrilla). -- nw
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Appliance / Manual / Mute (CD)
Driving basslines, intricate guitar harmonies and deadpan vocals cause this
threesome to bear an intermittent resemblance to Ahead-era Wire. Squodgy
electronics give "Food Music" a funky touch, while "Pacifica" cribs (intentionally or
not) just enough of Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again" that only the vocals (and a nagging resemblance to "Lips Like Sugar") will
convince you
it's not a cover. Despite occasional interruptions by crashing guitar and
squalling feedback,
most of Manual is deliberate and rather placid; when Appliance plays
live, I can picture
them frowning with intense concentration as they painstakingly wrench songs
from their instruments. -- gz
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Bike / Take in the Sun / March (CD)
Finally, a warm, sunny album to warm those frigidly cold winter days. Bike
is the new project from former Straightjacket Fits leader Andrew Brough, so as you
might expect, Take in the Sun is a jangly, vibrantly melodic dose of pop goodness. Throughout the course of these 11 songs, the listener is treated to effervescent pop-splosions like the quirkily oscillating "Circus
Kids," swaying balladry (the light strum and gentle rhythm of "Inside") and
anthemic rock, as seen in the smooth vocals and powerful, ringing guitar of "Save My
Life." No matter what the season, Take in the Sun is a ride worth taking. -- jj
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Hangnail / Ten Days Before Summer / The Music Cartel (CD)
Here's to skate parks and wispy bongs! Take a puff, grab the board and
bring this stoner-rock outfit along for the ride. With classic 70's rock
riffs trudging through a slick 90's production (think Fu-Manchu), Hangnail
can not only kick out some thick 'n' zesty rhythms, but also knows how to
slow things down into a laid-back, tuneful groove. Stock up yer van, crank
that stereo and get ready for some low end bass rumbling with plenty of
fuzzed out guitar solos. Awww yeah! -- am
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Nebula / To The Center / Sub Pop (CD)
Tough-guy rock from a band that consists of two of the founding members of Fu Manchu. The press release says not to call them stoner rock, but it's hard to avoid it. These long-haired LA boys hope that the electronica wave quickly dies down and rock and roll makes a powerful resurgence. Nebula has no gimmicks. Guitar, bass and vocals round out the package -- it's plain old rock and roll, with throaty "yeahs" here and there. There's even a pretty decent cover of the Stooges' "I Need Somebody," which boasts vocals from former Mudhoney vocalist Mark Arm (Mudhoney has brought Nebula out on the road with them on their last tour of the states). If you're longing for a new band playing old time rock and roll, Nebula is a good place to start. -- ha-n
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Various Artists / Pspyched: The Secret Underworld of Alternative Nuggets / Beggars Banquet (CD)
"Review the disc, not the title. Review the disc, not the title..."
I've been muttering that mantra for several minutes now, but I'm sorry. I
can't help it. This is actually quite a good compilation, packed with
garage-y psychedelic goodies from the last twenty years, culled from Beggars Banquet's
ample vaults -- stuff from Darkside, Thee Hypnotics, Loop, Mercury Rev and
Tones on Tail, among others. But who the hell added the phrase "the secret
underworld of alternative nuggets?" I don't mean to be shallow, but even the more
honest "How Can We Successfully Leverage Our Back Catalog?" would've worked better. Clearly
even the disc's graphic designer was embarrassed by the phrase, and therefore opted
to render it background-blending orange text that's illegible from anything
less than six inches away. I just hope whoever came up with that phrase
doesn't moonlight in A&R, because if so, he/she's probably out right now
inking a seven-album deal with Matchbox 20. This is an intelligently assembled
catalog-milker, but it deserves to be described as something better than
"alternative nuggets," which sounds like the result of a successful meeting between
Fred Durst and some high explosives. -- gz
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If you are a diligent and faithful Splendid reader, you may remember that not so long ago (last week) my colleague Jason Jackowiak wrote a review of The Hot Buttered Elves' "Beer Vote Lets Thud" (
It's right here). At that time you may have thought to yourself, "good gravy on a gondola, who has the time and energy (not to mention desire) to fill an entire cassette with goofy, self-produced Christmas songs?" Well, The Hot Buttered Elves do. And not only that -- if you have a gander at their website, you will no doubt be overcome with...something or other...when you realize that they apparently have the time and energy (and don't forget the desire) to fill about 323 entire cassettes with goofy, self-produced Christmas songs. And each cassette has different songs on it. Really. The one I'm listening to right now features classics like "I'll Be Your Fruitcake," "Sodomy Xmas" and "Larry the Yule Log." The music is, um, diverse. Some of it is actually pretty interesting. Like maybe Tones on Tale (remember them?) and Johnny Mathis got drunk together, went up to Wisconsin, beat up a bell ringing Santa and had a jam. I'll let the X-Files geeks figure this one out. -- ib
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Chaz Vegas / Venus / Vegas (CD)
Venus is AOR (album-oriented rock, for you non-radio types -- Ed.) which picks up, musically and thematically, where David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Pink Floyd's The Wall left
off. "The Prophet's Whisper Departure" and "Venus Re-Entry" juxtapose the
vastness and claustrophobia of open spaces, while "Delicious" is a pining wah-wah
guitar groover. Vegas' voice is a pleading, world-weary whisper
reminiscent of Mercury Rev vocalist Jonathan Donahue. There are plenty of
piano flecks and distant, other worldly sounds as well as melodic power pop
moments. Venus is an earnest effort from Vegas which leaves the
listener feeling strangely hopeful and uplifted by the CD's end. -- dd
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Sister Sonny / Lovesongs / Jetset (CD)
While some Scandinavian bands respond to the region's radical temperature
changes with full-bodied, testosterone fueled rock, this group of
Norwegians instead accepts these extremities and lets the resulting
numbness trickle into their songs. Haunting guitar dominates
Lovesongs as it drones through subtle changes that interact with
swaying vocal melodies, producing an album that's quizzically warm and
gentle. Sister Sonny's blissful transmissions envelop the environment and
carefully transform your cold surroundings into a lush world of sleepy
ballads and beautiful melodies. A pleasant, relaxing album for those
seeking a bit of quietude for introspective examinations. -- am
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The Cinematic Orchestra / Motion / Ninja Tune (CD)
Equal parts Amon Tobin, Dave Brubeck and Barry Adamson, J. Swinscoe's
Cinematic Orchestra paints a grainy, jazzily noir-ish picture in shades of
crimson and black. It's a subtler style than Tobin or Gilberto, and not as quick to
relapse into obviously-electronic rhythms. If I understand his methods correctly,
Swinscoe applies a two-tier sampling methodology; an initial set of samples is given to
musicians, who play along to them and record the results, which are then
sampled and resculpted. You'd think this would result in a more mechanized sound,
but the opposite is true: unless you listen for the "joins", everything sounds
spontaneous and dynamic. Motion is mostly mellow -- though "Bluebirds" makes a
riotous departure from form -- but you won't be left unmoved. -- gz
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Control Workshop / Con to ol R (supra-natural workshop) / KOS (CASS)
It seems that avant experimentation is all the rage these days. Things like
19-minute spoken-word free-jazz associations with rocketship pants and bass
drums are becoming commonplace in musical society. Now, I'm not saying this
is a good thing or a bad thing, but as with every other type of music, you
get the good with the bad. Control Workshop fit into this sphere of avant
experimentation, and it seems to me that until given some direction they
slide into the "bad" sector of the musical populace. This cassette does not
necessarily show their gifts; given direction, the band could do some
amazing things, compositionally speaking, but this is basically one recorded jam
session with sax, flute, turntable and other instruments floating in and
out of the mix. Seamless and wandering, the "songs" never become cohesive
enough to lure the listener in, and after a while they become unlistenable. Some
rough song structures or even general themes could really help Control
Workshop's music. -- jj
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Various Artists / Exploitation of Sound, Vol. 1 / Hero Recording Co. (CD)
With all the great bands that have come out of North Carolina, it's hard to imagine any lame ones...yet Hero Recording Company has managed to find them all and put them on one compilation. Adam's Housecat, The Fatjackets, Dirt Poor Authority and The Fallen contribute just a few of the uninspired tracks that fill this album. All is not completely hopeless, however, as a live track by Pedro the Lion is the compilation's single saving grace -- their live version of "The Longer I Lay Here" is as luminous as the original. I can't explain how such brilliance found its way in among the other acts. The disc's other good quality is its packaging -- a wraparound-flipped-out digipak of sorts. -- ha-n
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Toilet Boys / Living Like a Millionaire / R.A.F.R. Records (CD)
Okay, they're trash, but they sure are fun! Think Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Billy Idol and Poison getting together for tea and a little jam session, and you'll be thinking of something pretty close to Toilet Boys. Lots of tattoos, shirtless guitar players, a foxy cross-dressing lead singer, flame engulfed amplifiers, mindless lyrics...you get the idea. Rock on. -- ib
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Choke / [foreword] / Smallman (CD)
These hyperactive, loudmouthed, snotty Canadian punks take control of the
mic and belt out number after number of speedy, crunch-riff driven tunes.
Armed with politically charged and socially sensitive topics, these guys
have memorized every "how to" in the official punk handbook.
[foreword] certainly bubbles with endless energy, but the vocals and
instruments hasten through each track at breakneck speed; instead of
racing each other, they should be working together to finish off a polished
product. The personality's intact, but Choke needs to focus its adrenalized
assault into a more palatable presentation. -- am
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Mogwai / EP+2 / Matador (CD)
The folks at Matador don't want you fickle music buyers to
forget about Mogwai! For that reason, they've released EP+2,
an "awareness maintenance" product designed to keep these Gods of Glaswegian
guitar-symphonies in your thoughts. The big shock this time is
that Mogwai have recorded an EP of classic third-wave ska tunes!
That's right, Braithwaite and co. have covered the Mighty Mighty
Bosstones, No Doubt, and...no, sorry, just kidding. The six tunes here,
which include two tracks from last year's No Education = No Future (Fuck
the Curfew) EP, adhere to the Mogwai standard: slow, dense, beautifully
mellow assemblies of guitars, feedback and the occasional keyboard. Like
most Mogwai music, these songs are best suited for times of low
mental/physical activity, and are guaranteed not to get your pulse racing. -- gz
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Sixteen Deluxe / The Moonman is Blue EP / Sugar Fix (CD)
More tasty goodness from these Texans: a little bit of PsychoCandy-era
Jesus and Mary Chain, a pinch of My Bloody Valentine and a tablespoon of
Flaming Lips-style oddness, spooned generously over a rock foundation and
carved into six bite-size chunks. "The 1st Go-Round" is probably the gem
of the
lot, packed with abrasive guitars and unpredictable transitions, while
those in the
mood for a little surf-inflected staring-in-the-footwear-direction will gravitate to the
poppier
"Over and Over". Sixteen Deluxe have slipped beneath my radar in the past,
but
The Moonman is Blue will keep me from letting it happen again. -- gz
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DJ Spooky / Subliminal Minded / Bar/None (CD)
This is a particularly robust remix EP, populated by
thoroughly rejiggered tracks from Spooky's recent Riddim Warfare album. Though
it occasionally slips -- very briefly -- into Generic Drum'n'Bass territory,
there's very little that can't be counted as top-shelf urban illbient goodness.
Loading up on the alt-star power doesn't hurt, either, as that Subliminal
Kid welcomes Kevin Shields ("Rapper's Relight"), Thurston Moore
("Dialectical Transformation III Peace in Rwanda Mix") and others.
"Peace in Zaire" gets stellar remix treatments from the Dub Pistols, DJ
Wally and Karsh Kale. If the beats don't get you, the evocative array
of samples -- including sirens, city ambience, modem connections, television
broadcasts and, of course, "Rapper's Delight" -- should still prove
fascinating, confirming the fact that you really can't go wrong with DJ Spooky. -- gz
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This is the Gary Numan album that most people haven't really
listened to. Most people pick it up to see if it's the one with "Cars"
on it, which it isn't. Considered offbeat and weird at the time of
its original release (1981), Dance seems perfectly ordinary
now, and indeed does an accurate job of predicting new wave music's
developmental arc -- compare it to any Thompson Twins album, for
starters. Numan's influence on electronic and ambient music
is also more distinct here than elsewhere. You've got to respect the man for
getting out of the business when he had nothing else to say, but if
Dance had come out in 1984 instead of 1981, we might all
be humming these tunes today and awaiting Numan's next stadium tour. -- 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
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