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OUR WEEKLY COLLECTION OF SHORTER REVIEWS
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Burning Heads,
Fly Pan Am,
Great Plains,
Elysian Fields,
Echo is Your Love,
Damon & Naomi with Ghost,
Tom Tom Club,
No Rest for the Dead,
Serpent Obscene,
Har Mar Superstar,
Travel,
Jebediah/Jimmy Eat World,
DJ Chris Fortier,
The Swells,
Sagor & Swing,
Better Off Dead Than Red,
Death of Marat,
DARYL,
Radiohead,
Holiday Matinee CD Compilation 2
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Burning Heads / Escape / Victory
(CD)
French hardcore may sound like an oxymoron, but this quartet from Orleans
is the real deal. Founded in 1988, the band has barreled along at
breakneck speed through seven full-length releases and a handful of
singles. The result is a band which is focused and furious, with a tight,
precise sound. Weaving bits of melody into their punk tapestry, they
belong to the same category as NOFX and Dag Nasty and should easily expand
their fan base across North America. Produced by Jack Endino (Nirvana,
Soundgarden), Escape is easily among the best punk albums of the
year. Cathartic and catchy, this enhanced CD even contains two sweet
videos, providing a treat for the eyes as well as the ears. -- rd
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Fly Pan Am / Sédatif en Fréquences et Sillons / Constellation (CD)
Fly Pan Am is not the sort of band you should be listening to if you
have not slept for two days. Trust me -- I know. On the second night
of sleepless study sessions, I slipped Sédatif en Fréquences et Sillons into the
CD player...and as you may have already guessed, it did nothing to help me escape
from my state of sleep-deprived delirium. Instead, it pulled me into
its paranoid sonic vortex and bounced my mind around like a pinball for
half an hour. Opening track "De Cercle en Cercle Ressasser et
se Perde dans L’illusion née de la Production de Distractions et
Multiplier la Statique Environnante!" is essentially an extended
cut-and-paste remix of tracks pulled from the group’s self-titled
debut. It succeeds in transforming the original material into an eerily
beautiful, ghoulishly demented and meticulously assembled merger of
horror and sound. Two new tracks, "Éfférant/Afférant" and "Micro
Sillons", back this ghastly masterpiece. The former utilizes a
snail's-pace backbeat and industrial clatter to induce its supernatural
ambience, while the latter emanates a particularly ominous static drone
over skewed production and mind-warping cross-channel panning. When the disc
finished playing, I was sweating and slightly
nauseous -- yet I desperately wanted to hear it again. Scary, more
intelligent and now the soundtrack to your term papers -- that’s Fly Pan
Am. -- jj
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Great Plains / Length of Growth 1981-89 / Old 3C
(CD)
Back in the old days, before the Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, there was Great Plains. Hailing from the not-quite-great plains of Columbus, Ohio, Ron House and company made a solid dent in the college music scene with their releases, including a trio of records on Homestead (trust me, kiddies, the mark of coolness for a band back in the mid to late eighties). Sounding not unlike a happy Gordon Gano, House asked all the questions everyone was wondering about at the time (like “Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls?” from "Letter to a Fanzine"). I probably hadn’t heard a Great Plains song for a decade until I received this CD in the mail. And you know what? They still sound pretty darn good. A little dated, but not in a bad way. Gems like “Dick Clark” still glow with Great Plains’ off-kilter, whimsical pop sensibilities. Length of Growth is a thoughtfully selected compilation, suitable for oldsters whose Great Plains records have worn through or youngsters curious enough to wonder about what came before. -- bl
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Elysian Fields / Queen of the Meadow / Jetset (CD)
Take the same violin sound that Mel Brooks went for in Young Frankenstein.
Add drunken piano and the stormiest, most sultry vocals you will ever
hear from an indie gal. Mix in a bit of drums, some deeply romantic lyrics
("While the walls tumble down/I won't rest till I find you") and a rash of
traditional guitars, and then let everything whirl around your ears. You'll
find yourself once, twice and always in the same daydream of having this
chanteuse, Jennifer Charles, sing you to sleep. Whether her band gets poppy
("Bend Your Mind") or jazzy ("Cities Will Fall") or somewhere south of
Drink #10 ("Black Acres"), the Elysian Fields will never make music more
memorable than the powerful and thoroughly alluring voice of Jennifer
Charles. For the band, I don't know if this is a good thing or not, as the
music is often so good that it should get a chance to stand out in the spotlight. It does, to some extent, on the rumbling tumbleweed track "The
Queen of the Meadow" -- but just because Oren Bloedow (the guy in the duo)
sings lead here. Otherwise, listening to the Elysian Fields is akin to
getting thrown a heap of good parts, and always only catching one. It is --
oh horror of horrors! -- too much of a good thing. -- td
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Echo is Your Love / Sheets of Blank Fucking Paper / Kylie Productions
(CD)
Echo is Your Love, a Finnish band that emulates latter-day Pere Ubu (think
Pennsylvania) mixed with a bit of Embarrassment and Mission of Burma,
presents their debut offering of avant-garde experimental rock. The band's
vocalist howls or intones more often than she sings; Pere Ubu's David
Thomas, besides having a far more interesting lyrical voice, also sings a hell of
a lot better than Echo Is Your Love's Nea. "Making beautiful noise" is
their stated goal, and while the heavy distortion and feedback of the
guitars practically defines noise, it rather misses the beautiful bit. I'd
guess it's the sort of thing you'd listen to late at night, alone and on PCP
-- but how many times does a listener really want to be in that state of
mind? And where can you buy PCP now anyway? I mean, really? -- js
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Damon & Naomi with Ghost / s/t /
Sub Pop (CD)
I gave it a chance, I really did. I gave it two chances. Hell, I've
listened to this thing ten times by now, and each time I find myself
thinking "man, this is bad". Although it's perhaps beside the point, no
one wore out more Galaxie 500 LPs at their college radio station than I
did. "Sorry" has been the soundtrack to pretty much every relationship I've ever had that lasted
longer than an afternoon. But somehow I've managed to stay
away from Damon & Naomi. So maybe it's lame of me to react to Damon &
Naomi with Ghost based on my love for their former band's music. But
that's beside the point, too; regardless of who made this album, it's
really not very good. The singing is sort of bad new age dreamy stuff,
the music is, well, music that goes along with bad new age dreamy
singing and the lyrics are overly ponderous and serious. The
packaging, however, is lovely! I'm not really sure what the contributions
of Tokyo's Ghost were -- they're credited with playing guitars and
keyboards, so I assume they functioned mostly as a backup band. Galaxie
500, no matter how dreamy and ponderous they may have been, always
managed to inject at least a hint of humor and roughness into their
songs. Damon & Naomi seem to have forgotten about those subtle, but
essential, elements. -- ib
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Tom Tom Club / The Good, The Bad and the Funky / Rykodisc
(CD)
The Tom Tom Club belong to a semi-elite group of bands (Echo
and the Bunnymen and the Violent Femmes among them) who,
upon releasing a new album, inspire two questions: "Are they
still around?", followed by a puzzled "Why?" It's certainly
true that the Tom Tom Club peaked early; after penning the
classic "Genius of Love" twenty-odd years ago, Chris Franz
and Tina Weymouth have done little but sit back and watch
their work be rediscovered every few years...and, of course, sampled
mercilessly. Subsequent Tom Tom
Club albums have straddled the border between nostalgia and
downright embarrassment; I can remember wishing that someone
would take Tina and Chris aside and ask them to stop. That
said, The Good, the Bad and the Funky is actually
quite surprisingly good. There are a number of obvious
attempts to recapture the flavor of "Genius of Love" -- "Who
Feelin' It" is pretty damn shameless about it, to the point
of including a chorus of "Whatcha gonna do"s -- but that's
what the fans want, sort of, isn't it? The rest of the
record sounds like a funkier -- far funkier -- Saint
Etienne. As descriptions go, that probably sounds horrible...but in fact I found
myself listening to The Good, the Bad and the Funky
quite a few times more than I strictly needed to. In the end, it's fun -- and
that's what matters. -- gz
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No Rest For the Dead / Interbullets Demo / No Rest For the
Dead (CD)
Tokyo's No Rest For the Dead started out as a grindcore band in 1997, but
have since dropped the grindcore sound in favor of something more
mainstream. The two songs on this demo remind me of early Smashing Pumpkins,
and to some degree Radiohead. It's well executed, if not entirely novel,
rock music. Track one, "Interbullets", starts out with facile guitar licking
and settles into a spacey, flangey type of fuzzed-out epic. It sounds good -- there's
a beautiful, flowing, musical guitar solo in the middle that really
highlights the fine chops these guys have -- but about five years out of date. Track two, "To Poor Folks", plays
on textural change as a driving force, alternating between a thin acoustic
sound and a thick electronic wall. It too is impressively performed, though
not quite as finely honed as the opener. It reminds me a bit of Spacehog.
In general, I liked both of these tracks, but I'd prefer to hear a full album
before I pass my final judgment on the band. -- nw
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Serpent Obscene / s/t / Necropolis
(CD)
Does Necropolis Records have the stranglehold on metal for this generation?
It's definitely a possibility, as the label’s latest find, Serpent Obscene,
delivers another punishing blow with this stunning release. Like their labelmates Usurper, this Swedish metal outfit exercises a packed punch of
grinding speed and unholy, tormented vocals to get its point across. With
Halloween just around the corner, tracks like "Evil Rites" and "Violent
Torture" loudly blasting from your stereo will either make your house the
place to visit or insure that it's skipped over by all the neighborhood's kids. The
band's matrimony of Slayer-styled speed-core riffs and uncomfortable
references to evil (a la Deicide) might make you a bit hesitant to dive headfirst into the music; get too close or too involved and there just may be a price to pay in the next world. -- am
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Har Mar Superstar / s/t / Kill Rock Stars
(CD)
Springing from a man who brags that he shares his name with a strip mall in
St. Paul, Minnesota, this debut full-length CD shows us what shopping mall
organ stores might sound like if Stevie Wonder and Tito Jackson ran them.
Har Mar Superstar, otherwise known as Harold Martin Tillman, stepped out
from his so-called brother's (Sean Tillmann of Sean Na Na) shadow last year with an EP. Mixing soul and sass, it caused a little stir. Lyrics like as "It's
a brand new day, I've even got love for Canada," pleased some listeners
whose bar for wit apparently is set a little lower than mine. While an
amusing novelty, the songs on this CD don't exactly hold up to repeat
listening. As with his namesake, a brief visit to the mall may be
enjoyable. But, really, how many Cinnebons and Orange Juliuses can you
stomach? It's like being stuck on an elevator with a bunch of frat guys
who think that knowing the lyrics to "Gin n' Juice" makes them as cool as
Coolio. -- rg
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Travel / This Is Our ~Music / Deary Me
(CD)
This deliciously odd record is the sonic equivalent of beat poetry. All of
the sounds were improvised during a seven hour session, after which the
master tapes were sliced, diced and generally molested until they
coalesced into songs. At times, as on "All or Nothing at All", the result
sounds like a standard song with melodies, a chorus and everything.
Elsewhere, like the track "Penniless, Straight Up & Down", there's just a mad
cacophony of bleating horns, random guitars and a repetitive motif that
sounds like Jed Clampett on crack. Is this quartet, all of whom are
credited as making "noise", a bunch of crazed geniuses...or simply insane? I couldn't
care less, because this disc is just too cool. -- rd
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Jebediah & Jimmy Eat World / Split / Big Wheel (CD)
What could be better than a good old fashioned street fight? This split
CD EP finds Arizona superheroes Jimmy Eat World going toe to toe with
Australian sensations Jebediah in a six round knock down, drag out duel
to the death. Each combatant is allowed three songs with which to show their
might and batter their opponent into submission. Unfortunately,
in spite of all the pre-fight hype, this turns out to be a rather lopsided
contest, because for their all of their poppy, guitar-driven bravado,
Jebediah never even land a punch. They manage to go down swinging,
though; the melodic buzz of "Animal" and "Harpoon" would be more than enough
to beat most opponents. But then again, Jimmy Eat World isn’t
like most other opponents. They deliver a refined, graceful and
effortless TKO via three new tracks: "The Most Beautiful Things",
"No Sensitivity" and "Cautioners", each more impossibly catchy than
the last. When the final bell rings, JeW remains standing -- they've won an easy battle, and have left us salivating at the prospect
of the follow up to Clarity. -- jj
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Chris Fortier (DJ) / Trance America / Engine/Will
(CD)
The highest compliment I can pay to DJ Fortier, who has toured with
turntable luminaries Sasha and John Digweed, is that he helps me to get
to work in the morning. Faced with a mile-plus walk between train and
office, I need something in the Discman that'll keep me moving. Fortier
obliges, dishing up seventy minutes of tightly and skillfully mixed,
relentlessly throbbing trance tracks. There's sufficient sonic
variation between cuts to keep Trance America from being a bland
thump-o-rama; while not overly frilly, they'll serve you equally well on
bustling urban streets or a dark and crowded dance floor. -- gz
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The Swells / Yesterday's Songs /
Sandwich (CD)
First off, any band that can manage to create a song that sounds
exactly like an early 1980s Echo and the Bunnymen tune is okay by
me. "Without a Trace" does just that, and it's the second song on the
CD, so Yesterday's Songs gets off to a pretty good start! While
the rest of the tunes are not Echo knockoffs, they're still quite good.
These are generally mellow, midtempo pop songs, with very nice boy/girl
vocals and subtle but lively music. There's definitely an '80s thing
going on, especially in the guitar parts -- someone's been studying his
Johnny Marr songbook. But despite the nods to the music of that fair
decade, I wouldn't call The Swells retro or derivative. Their sound is
broad enough to accommodate nods in an number of directions, from Echo
to early 1990s shoegazers to contemporary fuzzy electro-noodling. It's
a lovely mix, and it seems to be getting better every time I hear it. --
ib
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This is an adventurous release that pairs Hammond Organ and Moog with sharp drumming
to produce some
memorable, swinging tunes. If Jimmy Smith lived in Sweden and preferred
creating minimalist
bachelor-pad space music to bop jazz, this would be the resulting
offspring. Malmberg's
organ lines are exceptionally well played and uniquely entertaining without
being overdone.
"Vals på vingar" is half campy and half jazzy as it prances though a
progressive pattern of
choruses and solos. What's so cool about Sagor and Swing is the duo's
unmistakable sound.
It's crisp and even a bit hallowed, yet it also has a haunting backdrop
that's appealing to
those looking for a bit of pizazz and adventure. Superbly produced and
played, you're not
going to chance upon anything as hip as this unless you're really lucky --
so don't miss out
on grabbing your copy. Groovy organs and pristine drumming from Sweden?
Who’da thunk it? -- am
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Various Artists / Better Off Dead Than Red / Mishap Productions
(CD)
This compilation CD from the Mishap stable combines rap, punk and skate punk
in varying quantities. "Parsimonious"' spoken-word intro fondly recalls
Suicidal Tendencies' best song, "Institutionalized", and will ring
familiar to anyone who leaves stores after having stolen far too little.
Endorphin, who have three tracks on the CD, are a less melodic Fear,
but the singer's voice is nicely comparable to Lee Ving's. General Handywork
and the Phillistines are far better. Each of these bands possess good lead
singers with voices that are somewhat reminiscent of Social Distortion. The
Mishap Crew is another minor highlight. Their first track dabbles in fairly
good white rap ("Bootysaurus Crew"), while their second, a drunken acoustic
number, finds them apparently making up their lyrics on the spot. Maybe
you'll laugh if you find the show "Daddio" a hoot. Dos Gringos, while not as
good at rap as the Mishap Crew, is also worth a listen or two, and they're
proud owners of the nice line "My dick's as long as a Hebrew National".
Altogether, this isn't a bad compilation; the varied sounds
keep you interested enough to wade through all twenty songs at one sitting
without ever making you say punk is dead. In fact, Better Off Dead than Red occasionally
offers a good grin or a solid laugh, and
maybe even a yearning to eat a good ol' New York hot dog. -- js
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Death of Marat / The Shattered / Satellite Transmissions
(CD)
In addition to being perhaps the best punk rock band ever to take their
name from a French neoclassical painting, Death of Marat will do an
almost uncannily good job at setting your teeth on edge. Drawing upon
the squalling, knife-edged guitar lines and dischordant hopelessness of
early goth, DoM don't so much write songs as squeeze harrowing,
emotionally draining experiences into a musical framework. The lyrics
are suitably bleak and arty without ever quite slipping over the line
into pompousness, and occasional moments of stark melodic beauty will
keep you from practicing your noose-knots while listening. No, The
Shattered might not be the right disc to pick up when you're having
a bad day, but there's an unstoppable energy in its rhythmic assault.
When you've had some time to get used to the atmosphere the album
creates, you'll find yourself loving it. -- gz
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DARYL / Communication:Duration / Urinine (CD)
Do you remember the 1985 movie D.A.R.Y.L.? It's about a robot boy who hits a
lot of home runs, and then the Cuban government tries to kill him. In
some circles, the film has drawn comparisons to Pasolini's Gospel of Saint
Matthew. Now, God's not known in the Good Book as a Fella who made a bunch
of geniuses, so it's something of a surprise this is the first bunch of kids
who've named their band after the D.A.R.Y.L. movie. "Duration", the third of five songs on this
interesting EP, is filled with the sound of Moogs and synths. It's 90
percent new wave, ten percent Braid, and I am still baffled as to how it succeeds
so grandly. And furthermore, how did I always overlook the fact that a band like
Mathlete or My Favorite should sometimes have Bob Nanna in there, belting
out guest vocals about girl problems? Urinine's press sheets for
Communication:Duration, say that DARYL will inspire lots of
copycats. I sincerely hope "Duration" does this, because when one
robot boy can hit a homerun by mixing Moogs with vocal madness, there's
surely more home runs down the pike. At the very least, let's hope DARYL
work this angle more often on their next album, as the other tracks here suffer by reversing the
formula, or doing away almost entirely with it new wave aspects. Without
the heavy synth touches, they're just a run-of-the-mill emo/punk band,
albeit with occasionally clever lyrics. -- td
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Radiohead / Kid A / Capitol (CD)
First things first: Kid A is not the album of the year. As far as I can tell,
that honor will be reserved for those nine elusive Canadians. Kid A finds Radiohead
emerging from their three-year coma, having simultaneously delivered the
best and the worst album of their career. Essentially, it is
the sound of everything going wrong all at once. The title of opener
"Everything in its Right Place" couldn’t be more wrong; the song is
permeated by a dreamlike fragility, enhanced by Thom Yorke’s plaintive
vocals, then torn to pieces by the rest of the band. Other tracks, such as
"In Limbo" and "How to Disappear Completely" follow similar paths
of chaos and spiritual abandon, buoyed by Yorke. But when
they’re on, they’re on; "The National Anthem" will doubtless go
down as one of their most triumphant moments. Propelled by Colin
Greenwood’s ferociously filthy bass line and Phil Selway’s pared-down
clatter, the song whips and swirls, eventually melting down into a
Bitches Brew-styled musical melee, with horns blaring and pianos being
crushed to pieces. "Idioteque" is equally brilliant, pairing a
disjointed disco beat with swelling percussion, fucked-up sounds and
Yorke’s starry-eyed vocals. It’s not The Bends and it's not OK Computer;
it's the sound of a 21st century Radiohead. And in the end, it’s up to
you to decide exactly what to make of Kid A, for to take my or
anybody else’s word for it would be a great mistake indeed. -- jj
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Various Artists / Holiday Matinee CD Compilation Vol. 2 / Holiday
Matinee/Better Looking (CD)
As the title indicates, this is the second compilation of
acts who've employed the services of San Diego-based PR firm
Holiday Matinee, known for their grass-roots marketing
efforts and willingness to send promo CDs to anyone with
more than five friends. While the first HM CD was basically
an unabashed Festival of Emo, Volume 2 displays an
increasingly varied roster -- everything from low-tech
electronica and traditional pop to droning ambience and
proto-goth. The people who buy this probably won't care
about all of the acts -- if anything, they'll focus on
Tristeza or Cursive -- but at least it won't hammer the
standard overwrought guitar-punk sound into your head
for fourteen tracks in a row. However, after the first few
listens, you'll want to keep your CD remote handy for skipping
over the inevitable stinkers. -- gz
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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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