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Consumable Online Issue 041
==== ISSUE 41 ==== CONSUMABLE ======== [May 30, 1995]
Editor: Bob Gajarsky
Internet: gajarsky@pilot.njin.net
Sr. Contributors: Jeremy Ashcroft, Martin Bate, Al Crawford,
Dan Enright, Tim Kennedy, Reto Koradi,
David Landgren, Tim Mohr, Joe Silva, John Walker
Other Contributors: Scott Byron, Kelley Crowley, Nigel Harding, Tim
Hulsizer, Sean Eric McGill, Melissa Pellegrin,
P. Nina Ramos, Jamie Roberts, Linda Scott, Ali Sinclair,
Jon Steltenpohl, Jorge Velez, Courtney Muir Wallner,
Scott Williams
Technical Staff: Chris Candreva, Dave Pirmann, Damir Tiljak,
Jason Williams
Address all comments, subscriptions, etc. to gajarsky@pilot.njin.net
==================================================================
All articles in Consumable remain (C) copyright their author(s).
Permission for re-publication in any form other than within this
document must be obtained from the editor.
==================================================================
.------------.
| Contents |-.
`------------' |
`------------'
REVIEW: Sponge, _Rotting Pinata_ -Linda Scott
REVIEW: Filter, _Short Bus_ - Al Crawford
REVIEW: Pavement, _Wowee Zowee_ - Martin Bate
REVIEW: Drugstore, _Drugstore_ - Tim Mohr
REVIEW: Boo Radleys, _Wake Up!_ - Tim Kennedy
REVIEW: Fugazi _Red Medicine_ - Martin Bate
REVIEW: Gene, _Olympian_ - Tim Mohr
REVIEW: Electrafixion, _Zephyr_ - Joe Silva
REVIEW: Leftfield _Leftism_ - Martin Bate
REVIEW: The Muffs, _Blonder And Blonder_ - John Walker
REVIEW: Truck Stop Love, _How I Spent My Summer Vacation_ - Linda Scott
REVIEW: Mercury Rev _See You on the Other Side_ - Martin Bate
REVIEW: Irrestible Force, _Global Chillage_ - David Landgren
NEWS: k.d. lang
TOUR DATES: Better Than Ezra, Catchers
The Readers Write Back! - Toad and Hootie
Back Issues of Consumable
---
REVIEW: Sponge, _Rotting Pinata_(Chaos/Columbia)
-Linda Scott
Sponge is a tightly knit alternative rock band from the Motor City,
Detroit, consisting of Vinnie (uses no last name) on vocals, brothers
Mike and Tim Cross on guitar and bass, Joey Mazzala on guitar and Jimmy
Paluzzi on drums. All music is written by the band with Vinnie writing
the lyrics. Formerly called Loudhouse, and signed/dropped by Virgin, the
band was picked up by Chaos/Columbia. _Rotting Pinata_ is their first on
the new label. The new label is paying them good attention. The album
is very professional - from the striking graphics of the cd booklet to
the mix by Tim Palmer (Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam, Tears For Fears).
This spring they opened for Live, and they are currently touring clubs
after two aborted tours (with the Manic Street Preachers and the Cult),
and they are signed for Lollapalooza.
Sponge is on the way up with a sound reminiscent of Midnight Oil,
Pearl Jam and even Aerosmith. _Rotting Pinata_'s ten tracks range from
the light pop "Molly" which became the second single off the album to the
fast-paced rocking title track. What lies between are tempos creating a
darker, downbeat feel. _Rotting Pinata_ is an album whose lyrics
reinforce the disquieting mood of much of the music. The album title
sets the mood - its inspiration was Dr. Jack Kevorkian and the right
to die issue. Tracks "Giants" and "Neenah Menasha" sound like dirges
while Drownin' tells of despair. The music keeps the album from sliding
into clinical depression. Lyricist Vinnie says the album reflects his
life during a transitional, down period. Perhaps the new album's success
especially that of the monster hit "Plowed", will cheer him up.
Sponge is an alternative rock band to watch. Commitment to the
band and music have made the band pull together to get ahead. Vinnie
says they work on their music and the set on the road all the time because
there is nothing else to do. Instead of sinking into the road's excesses,
Sponge is putting its energy into the next step. The band's devotion
show as they are warriors rather than weekend musicians. With this
focus, _Rotting Pinata_, and the exposure from the tour and Lollapalooza,
Sponge looks like a sure thing. Get yours now!
---
REVIEW: Filter, _Short Bus_ (Reprise)
- Al Crawford
Filter are going to be *the* big thing on the alternative
scene this summer. Major label backing'll see to that. Do they
deserve it? Alas, no. _Short Bus_ is unoriginal, uninspired and
unimpressive, the bastard child of Nine Inch Nails and grunge.
Filter come across as a reheated, TV dinner version of NIN, slick
packaging and similar style, but the substance is flat, bland and one
dimensional. Reznor food product. Speak the verse, shout the
chorus, NIN by numbers. True, they've ditched the ludicrously
overblown angst of the typical Trent Reznor lyric, but they've also
thrown away the good bits. No texture, no depth, loud but sonically
insipid.
Nonetheless, heaps'o'promotion and the band's trendier than
thou sound still guarantee that they'll shift units by the gazillion.
They'll be hailed as the Next Big Thing, large numbers of highly
individualistic alternative teenagers will suddenly sport identical
Filter t-shirts, then they'll vanish into oblivion in the wake of the
Next Next Big Thing. Sit back and watch, it'll be a lot more
entertaining than listening to the album.
---
REVIEW : Pavement, _Wowee Zowee_ (Matador)
- Martin Bate
_Wowee Zowee_ follows on from last years _Crooked Rain, Crooked
Rain_, Pavement's highly acclaimed, skewed take on classic rock. Early
reports suggested that this new album was Pavement shying away from this
direction and looking back to the more difficult art-rock structure of
their earlier works. However, stylistically, _Wowee Zowee_ is a bit of
everything that's gone before.
For those reeled in by "Cut Your Hair", "Range Life", et. al. there's
plenty to get lost in on the 18 tracks. Indeed, for the first
half, Pavement seem to have produced the logical progression to _Crooked
Rain_, with a step further towards beautiful lackadaisical melodies and
gentle, conventional song structures. Only "Brinx Job"s falsetto, looping
cartoonish yelp of "We got the money!" and the Sonic Youth style punk
squall of "Serpentine Pad" (a dig at Rancid according to singer/songwriter
Steve Malkmus) hint at what is to come later. The rest is stark, simple
beauty, :- the opening _Hunky Dory_-era David Bowie delicate
sentimentality of "We Dance"; the gentle sad stroll of "Grounded" which
drifts around the kind of heart-tugging riff that Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis
writes too rarely these days; the sidewalk strum of "Father to a Sister
of Thought" which features pedal-steel to make American Music Club green;
and especially the glorious sly rock'n'roll of "Rattled By the Rush" which
effectively makes a mockery of Malkmus' claims that there's no "Cut your
Hair" on here. This is perfect pop and should-have-been/will-be a hit.
But then the second half blows it.
"Extradition" comes in at the half way mark sounding like three
attempts before they get it right. "Best Friends Arm" is just as wilfully
screwed, a bouncy melody masked by atonal fuzz and jabbered vocals. "AT &
T" can't resist spoiling itself with Malkmus gibbering the chorus like
he's forgotten the words. All this spoiling treatment would almost be
excusable if there was a great song to speak of (see the mighty _Slanted
and Enchanted_ debut for evidence) but one suspects that all the mucking
about is here to detract from some uninspired songwriting as "Fight this
Generation" and "Kennel District" sound like they were written on Pavement
auto-pilot and the six-minute "Half a Canyon" is just plain boring.
Of the second half, only the bitter _In Utero_ style sneer of
"Flux=Rad", the cocktail-cool verse and _Slanted and Enchanted_ chorus of
"Grave Architecture" and the closing outer-space pop of "Western Homes"
are worthy of your undivided attention.
Malkmus' lyrics throughout are the usual stream of consciousness
stuff which aren't as impenetrable as some would have you believe; his
relaxed, drawling delivery and occasional snatches of crystal clear
imagery importing everything with a great feeling of depth and emotion.
Ultimately, it's an album that every Pavement fan should have. When
great (almost all of the first half), then Malkmus' song-writing soars
easily past the heights of the already classic _Crooked Rain, Crooked
Rain_. But when it's bad (most of the second half) then it approaches the
depths of the wilfully difficult non-songs of the pre-_Slanted and
Enchanted_ singles collection _Westing (by Musket & Sextant)_ that you
were probably all disappointed by.
Its a big, confusing album which too often sees Pavement slipping
from being under-achieving geniuses to just simply being under-achievers,
but hey, I still love them and forgive them and so should you.
---
REVIEW: Drugstore, _Drugstore_ (Go!Disc/London)
- Tim Mohr
The name seems rather apt for this new English combo, and even if it
gently tugs a reference to the film "Drugstore Cowboy" from deep within your
mass-culture-stuffed brain (as it did mine), the added connotations won't be
inappropriate: if Marlboro can be cited as a reliable source, the cowboy can
be reduced to a series of weathered images of worn rawhide, creviced faces,
and smoke. Isabel Monteiro's husky, leathery voice leads Drugstore through a
set of songs that almost would have to be lip-synched if not coming from
world-beaten faces clenched around cigarettes. Joined by Mike Chylinski on
drums, and Daron Robinson on guitar and piano, Monteiro, on bass and vocals,
unwinds exquisitely woebegone lyrics over songs that often trod slowly,
sparsely, through austere, tambourine-specked regions.
Although Drugstore are based in England, Monteiro moved there from
South America. Prior to this album they released a few singles; fortunately
they have included arguably the most touching song from the singles, a b-side
called "Acceleration" that recalls Galaxy 500's highpoints. The album
showcases Monteiro's voice, alternatively as full and rich as Lisa Germano or
Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano, as catharctic as Courtney Love on
Hole's "Doll Parts," or as meloncholic as Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval.
Stripped of the country-ish trappings of Mazzy Star but retaining a
similarly slow, plaintive atmosphere, Drugstore occasionally explode with
noise characteristic of PJ Harvey, the dynamic extreme from an unruly three
piece band not technically equipped to grunge-out. The self-titled debut is
characterized by Monteiro's textual malaise hitched to haunting instrumental
backdrops dominated by acoustic guitar, idly tinkling piano, and, throughout,
admirably restrained percussion.
The album opener, "Speaker 12," lays out a fundamental thematic
element, a marbling of sleep and death imagery: "These days time is dragging
real slowly, not much I feel like doing. I just want to slip away...maybe
I'll get myself into a coma, spend my whole life dreaming."
Drugstore twist the words and music together on "Gravity"; "Funny how
the stars look faraway, and it makes me sad to be surrounded...we are
hopelessly waiting for the sky to fall down." The band bursts into a 20
second maelstrom that simulates the sky falling, then fades into a lonely
slide guitar as if to say that the celestial shift was only a futile dream.
"Fader" nearly could be the Jesus & Mary Chain, with the classic feel
of a tambourine beat, tortured guitars, and "da doo doo, da doo doo"
background vocals. Monteiro sings, "I'm gonna dig myself a hole and get my
head inside, gonna keep eyes closed, feel my heart dripping by. Life can be
so ordinary..."
Similarly, on "Saturday Sunset", she sings that "life never changes
and nothing in this world is new." To be sure, many conflicts, shattered
dreams, and meloncholic sentiments have been repeated by each generation;
Drugstore has drained away the ephemeral elements of such repetitions and
molded the transcendant concentrate into what will surely prove to be a
timeless expression of feeling like shit.
---
REVIEW: Boo Radleys, _Wake Up!_ (Creation - Europe)
- Tim Kennedy
The Boo Radleys previous album, 1994's _Giant Steps_ was
critically hailed in the UK for its 60s-based eclecticism with some
people hailing Martin Carr, their songwriter, as a Brian Wilson of
the 90s. Strong praise indeed. However despite this critical acclaim,
the public thought otherwise and it only sold to the converted few.
Maybe seventeen tracks was too many - after all Blur's _Modern Life Is
Rubbish_ is easily better value than _Parklife_ but it was the briefer,
more focused of the two that finally broke big.
_Wake Up!_ is the gospel of the sixties as received on tablets of
acid via the scouse psychedelic prophets of the early eighties. Although
echoes of the Beach Boys'_Smile_ and the Beatles' _The White Album_ and
_Sergeant Pepper_ haunt this album, the Teardrop Explodes are also
forefathers of _Wake Up!_ as are Echo and The Bunnymen (who also
recorded in the Rockfield Studios where this music was made).
As with the preceding album, the band have used strings, brass,
glockenspiels piano and much more to achieve their effect. A variety of
styles are tackled within, even within the body of individual songs.
The subject matter relates mostly to the songwriter Martin Carr's
exile to the dour northwestern English mill town of Preston, where his
partner had found a job. The band hail from Merseyside (Martin and singer
Sice were childhood friends) but had set up camp in Camden, London for
sometime before Martin's move which he clearly hasn't enjoyed, being
separated from his mates in London. He bounces between guilt over his
behaviour toward Rebecca his partner and his frustration at being away
from his drinking buddies.
Zany acapella elements that figure throughout this material bring
to mind the Beach Boys tracks that were to have figured on 1967's _Smile_,
such as "She's Goin' Bald" and "Vegetables". Elements of this can be found
in the intro to "Wake Up Boo", the intro to "It's Lulu", the strange
swirling coda to "Charles Bukowski Is Dead', to "4AM Conversation" and
"Wilder". The soft intro to "Martin, Doom! It's Seven O'Clock" reminds
one of the gentle vocal styling that was to be on _Smile_, such as on the
final sections of "Vegetables" and "Wind Chimes" respectively.
Also close in spirit to Brian Wilson's original concept of the
ill-fated _Smile_ are the variety of random sound effects employed
throughout - e.g. "Martin, Doom! It's Seven O'Clock", "Charles
Bukowski Is Dead" and in "Wilder'". Amongst the effects are a collection
of clocks, bells and spoken word samples and a bugle. One might point to
the theme of staying in bed as another Wilsonian element here.
The single "Wake Up Boo" has been _the_ standout UK chart hit of
the spring, having a 60's Detroit soul driving beat and horns, and a tune
to set milkmen everywhere a-whistling. This has brought our seemingly
obscurist friends to the attentions of those who might normally be expected
to buy Take That. But the band have always at least aspired to this kind
of fame, if one is to believe their interviews.
Other songs here are more in the indie guitar mould - "Fairfax
Scene" for example is a gentle guitar ballad - albeit with a Love-esque
lilt to it. Blueswailing harp opens the song "Stuck on Amber" but its
steady, doomy verses - great tune and a rousing chorus point to the
excellent work done in the past by this group and peers such as the Pale
Saints - weird, distorted (yet unmistakable) indie pop tunesmiths.
"Stuck On Amber" also boasts a rather fine overblown finale. "It's
Lulu" has also got a heart of indie guitar pop.
Teardrop Explodes are a major reference point - "Wilder" being
also the title of the second Teardrop Explodes lp back in 1982. The
horns at the ending of "Twinside" and "It's Lulu" owe a lot to the
brass-drenched, footstomping Kilimanjaro album of 1980. The same goes
for the weird-out horns on 4AM Conversation. Oddly "Twinside" recalls
the Batman theme at its conclusion.
The band have long been open admirers of the Beatles and
different periods in the Fabs' career turn up constantly; such as
"Twinside", "4AM Conversation" (strings a la "Eleanor Rigby") whereas
"Wilder" relates to the end of the Beatles career, circa _Abbey Road_ a
piano ballad - "Golden Slumber" style. The Beatles' (and Wilson's) building
up songs from disparate elements is practiced widely - notably on the song
"Joel". A weird psychedelic heaviness pervades "Joel" - at first it is
part-mantra, then it becomes successively funky/indie rock/Lennon in
whimsical mode. All the while the song is interspersed with odd, vague
sound effects.
Elsewhere the influence of the sixties continues unabated.
"Find The Answer Within" is a Turtlesy pop anthem recast in '90s indie
guitar terms. The end section of the song features extended backmasked
vocals to weird effect. "Reaching Out From Here" is a magical
excursion - 60s San Francisco meets Bacharach-David. The middle of
"Martin, Doom!..." contains a flugel horn passage that would break the
great Burt's heart.
This is a CD which picks up strands from a glorious past and
seamlessly co-opts them into an indie guitar present. You don't need to
know the influences to spot the charm and the sheer class bursting out of
this album. All you need is love, as somebody once said...
This album is slated to be released in the United States this summer.
---
REVIEW : Fugazi _Red Medicine_ (Dischord)
- Martin Bate
Fugazi, eschewing major labels and the machinations of the music
industry conform to the old punk ethos of not fleecing the fans without
being shackled by the conceived notions of what a punk band should sound
like. Rumours since their last album, 1993's _In on the Killtaker_, have
suggested that all was not well in the Fugazi camp and so it's come as a
bit of a surprise for a few that _Red Medicine_ has suddenly appeared. On
the strength of this, their sixth album, and their live performances in
the UK the week after its release, Fugazi are back ripping things up in
fine style.
Their combination of punk moves with Gang-of-Four style rigid funk
has got subtly more screwed up with each successive album to match their,
more often than not, obtuse political and personal-angst lyrics. _Red
Medicine_ continues the development - like all Fugazi albums not messing
with the sound too much but never repeating past glories. If I had to pin
down the change in the sound here, it would be that this album sees
Fugazi getting a little bit older and wiser, sounding less angry and a
little more world-weary. There's more of a leaning towards slower,
creeping songs and Guy Piccioto's punk whine over Ian McKaye's hardcore
snarl although to my ears its still McKaye that steals the show. Just my
preference.
The low-key opener "Do You Like Me" rocks past before giving way
to the first of the album's gems - "Bed for the Scraping" is decidely
poppy and utterly brilliant, built on a way cool looping, infectious riff
and Ian McKaye's frantic vocals. It's Ian again who dominates the
alternately eerie and crushing "Birthday Pony" with his maniacal laughs
before the laconic "Fell, Destroyed" with Guy's ice-cool monologue
flowing into the warning "Ring the alarm or you're sold to dying" chorus -
its possibly the closest Fugazi have ever got to a conventional rock
ballad structure.
The lyrics to "Target" are another highlight - one of those
moments where Fugazi become unerringly clear. "I realize that I hate the
sound of guitars/A thousand grudging young millionaires" and the chorus
of "If you want to seize the sound you don't need a reservation" shouldn't
need explaining to anyone.
Bassist Brendan Canty takes vocals on the excellent "By You" with
its delicate picked interludes crashing in and out of drawled vocals and
wrenched chords and feedback; there's the four-square punk of "Back to
Base"; the instrumental "Version" where brooding bass is set off by bleak
saxophone squeals, sounding like a 3am walk through the scary rain-soaked
streets; and the closing, breathtakingly sad and hopeful "Long Distance
Runner" where it's impossible not to freeze as Ian states "And if I stop
to catch my breath" before almost whispering "I might catch a piece of
death" - a hint at a mid-life crisis ?
Like all Fugazi albums, it needs repeated listens to get into and,
like its predecessors, it's not quite consistent enough to be incredible.
But it is their sixth album in a row to be very, very good and I can think
of few other bands that can claim that.
---
REVIEW: Gene, _Olympian_ (A&M)
- Tim Mohr
There are a number of endearing qualities about Gene, most of which
can be garnered from listening to their debut album, _Olympian_. The album,
like the three U.K. singles before, is starkly different from most of the
other British bands that have been hyped during the past year. For one
thing, unlike Echobelly, Elastica, and Sleeper, Gene is not fronted by a
woman. For another, the music that Gene generates is not at all high octane,
instead winding through docile melodies with a tenderness not often found in a
musical neighborhood ruled by Oasis. Still, Gene has gotten a lot of press
coverage, largely positive, and the band may represent a continuation of a
lineage sired by the Auteurs - one of the first bands championed by the
British press as part of the continuing renaissance in British pop and rock.
_Olympian_ is fundamentally good, but perhaps the easiest way to
describe it is to bring up a few complaints rather than a list of hyperbolic
compliments. The frugal production means that all the minor faults of Gene
remain detectable; that said, the sonic honesty is more than tolerable since,
for the most part, Gene is charming even without dense studio make-up.
Singer Martin Rossiter still sounds a bit tentative at times, quietly
flailing in a brittle vibrato, though this is worst on "Sleep Well Tonight,"
a single which was recorded earlier than the album material. Occasionally,
Gene seems to have come up with a great chorus and then struggled to fill in
the verses with much of musical interest. This pattern is most recognizable
on the album's lead single, "Haunted By You," where a monotonous percussion
line is initially rather invasive. The swinging chorus is repeated endlessly,
however, and the choppy opening fades from mind after five or six repetitions
of the chorus. "Truth Rest Your Head" has a similar structure, with the song
essentially consisting of two separate parts: a couple of musically
forgettable verses, then a tuneful chorus that is repeated ad infinitum.
Criticizing songs on the basis of dependence on the chorus may be
unwarranted: REM scored their first hit with "The One I Love," an extremely
unambitious song when judged on such a basis.
The highlights of _Olympian_ far outweigh the flaws. The chorus of
the bisected "Truth Rest Your Head," after all, manages to induce finger-
snapping and Morrissey-esque hip swivels. And most of the songs are put
together much more handily. The dynamic range is more varied than on a
Morrissey record, as Gene sometimes adopts a tame version of the soft
bit/loud catharctic bit that Nirvana made so popular. The loud, unpolished
guitars that occasionally break across the basically calm _Olympian_ beach
add a welcome dimension to a band pursuing a potentially mopey, post-Smiths
agenda.
Lyrically, Gene steers away from the maudlin depths sometimes plumbed
by Morrissey while shying from the shameless novelties used by Suede. Rather
than swaggering around like Oasis, the band laments the violent climate of
England's yob-tinged youth culture on "Sleep Well Tonight": "Yet trouble has
sprung from the pubs and the clubs/We'll see blood soon, when the night's
through...And sleep well tonight/Tomorrow we fight, would you like it in
town?"
Gene evokes fairly obvious musical references without being trapped
by them. Gene is often referred to in the same breath as the Smiths, a
connection not dispelled by the fact that the band name derives from a
misspelling of a Smiths' b-side, "Jeane". In fact, Gene do not sound overly
derivitive, and fans of mid-tempo guitar pop will hum along with _Olympian_
without being hit over the head with influences; the album is not limited to
a dogmatic restatement of received history, and represents instead a new take
on familiar musical themes. For people who like the Smiths/Morrissey, the
Connells, the Auteurs, the Ocean Blue or other restrained guitar pop, Gene's
version of it well worth trying.
---
REVIEW: Electrafixion, _Zephyr_ (WEA - UK)
- Joe Silva
As I plumment into the dreaded third decade of my existence, I find
more and more that my new wave heroes of old are once again girding
themselves up to reenter the pop arena. The results have, of course, been
mixed. Those of you who were taken in by the more subdued, Anton Corbin-ized
version of Adam Ant that's appeared in the stores as of late know what I
mean. There must have been something to all that paint and feathers after
all. But while there was a limited assurance that Adam could rise to the
glory of his _Frontier_ days, Electrafixion seem like a safer bet. Once
known as the core of Echo and the Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant
are making a serious attempt to recapture the thunder the Bunnymen once had
in their hip pocket in a new four piece. Soon to appear in the US on Elektra
(no pun intended?), this single is probably the first on album reunion of the
two since the Bunnymen disintegrated after the death of drummer Pete DeFritas.
Sergeant temporarily took custody of the Bunnymen name along with their
original bass player long enough to issue and to put together one listless
collection of tunes and Mac dove into solo artist-hood with limited results.
The four tracks that make up the UK CD single/EP are short on the Bunnymen's
patented version of psychedelia and heavy with the fuzz driven garage riffs
that Sergeant probably always had a penchant for anyway. _Zephyr_ shows that
Mac has lost nothing in the way of range and attack and that Sergeant's
stadium sized guitar sound is as wonderfully left field and effective as
it always was. There's the same breadth of atmosphere that the pair had at
their Albert Hall heyday in 1982. The rest of the tracks are wrought at the
same forge but with a noticeable dip in the melody factor than the lead
track. Still, as second winds go, this show promises as much as anything of
late, and the dynamics laid down seem to indicate that the live incarnation
might be stunning. More to come. Be wary.
---
REVIEW : Leftfield _Leftism_ (Columbia)
- Martin Bate
Leftfield are a UK techno outfit commercially viable enough to
en-trance the chart-buying public yet engaging and imaginative enough to
still maintain underground respect.
The opener, "Release the Pressure" is ragga-influenced techno which
remarkably stays firmly on the right side of twee thanks to some Orbital
style atmospherics mixed with the dance-hall melodies. Next up is "Afro
Left", some African-influenced dance with accoustic guitar and tribal
jabberings over thudding beats guaranteed to get your head bobbing. Two
tracks in and already the breadth and scope of this album is clear.
"Melt" is beautiful - trumpets floating across a "2001"
synthesised landscape - and "Song of Life" uses the drum loop from the
Beastie Boys "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" as the backdrop for a
haunting female vocal and slo-mo sunrise before breaking out the more
traditional techno beats.
Then there's a dip as the first side runs out. "Original" sees
Curve's Toni Halliday adding vocals, but both parties seem a little
disinterested. This is followed by "Black Flute" whose harder beats and
drones sit a little unconvincingly.
"Space Shanty" gets things back on track though with some top
spiralling synths and a bouncing beat. "Inspection Check One" is a close
relative of The Prodigy's "Poison" - all juddering dark beats and scary
atmospherics. And "Storm 3000" continues in the darker vein with a cool
trawl through something approaching Jean Michel Jarre with break-beats.
The collaboration with Sex Pistols/PiL main-man John Lydon, "Open
Up" comes in at the end, sounding as fresh now as it did as a single 18
months ago, Lydon's caustic sneer married to an infectious techno brood.
But the album ends on "21st Century Poem", a little bit of cod-politics
despite a fine spinning and chiming backdrop.
_Leftism_ is a varied and solid album which nestles comfortably
alongside the last releases by The Prodigy and Orbital (although,
sonically, it is closer to the open-eyed wonder of the latter than the
adrenaline filled rush of the former). All three are albums demonstrating
to the uninitiated just how human, exhilarating and mysterious dance music
can be, away from the identi-kit pop pap that clogs the charts.
_Leftism_ will be released in the United States the first week
of July.
---
REVIEW: The Muffs, _Blonder And Blonder_ (Warner)
- John Walker
Muffs lead singer/guitarist/ Kim Shattuck is the kind of spoilt girl
who's constantly looking for attention: she'd rather show you her
panties (as a recent _Details_ rock scribe found out) than be ignored.
And of course, the name of her band is really a thinly-veiled "LOOK
AT ME!," prompting un-PC people like me to regale my editor with a
string of bad jokes upon receiving the CD for review. The really odd
part about Shattuck is that she's a middle-class girl from Orange
County who still lives with her parents at age 31, plays hard
bubblepunk music and dresses like a little girl. Actually, maybe that makes
her the quintessential Gen X'er. Except that she's actually sexy.
Kat Bjelland and Courtney Love may have beaten her to the punch
fashion-wise, but somehow Shattuck's second childhood seems more
convincing. As she sings on her band's second album, _Blonder And Blonder_
(ironic Dylan reference noted): "I'm Confused." But happily so. This
album is all Shattuck's show, from her--in turns--melodic, rasping,
and howling vocals to her neo-punk guitar stylings. Shattuck may
dress like Courtney, and at times adopts a Love-like scream (see
"Red-Eyed Troll"), but her overall demeanour is free of the whining
self-pity which has become a most burdensome cliche in current North
American rock. Shattuck can also write a melody and carry a tune,
which sets her apart from her aforementioned peers.
Hum-along, hop-along fun abounds on _Blonder And Blonder_, which
comes in at a little over 30 minutes, a refreshing change from the 70 min
plus epics we've grown used to in the CD age. There's no excess here
Shattuck has obviously committed the minimalist fury of the Ramones
classic _Rocket To Russia_ to memory, and can call up those magic
chord changes at will. Songs like "Agony" and "Oh Nina" do the
blitzkrieg bop, while Shattuck and the other 2/3 of the Muffs (Ronnie
Barrett-bass, Roy McDonald-drums) also display a facility for
straight-up pop-rock ("Sad Tomorrow") Byrdsy guitar riffs ("End It
All") and grunge-lite ("Ethyl My Love"), all the while never straying
TOO far from what they do best.
_Blonder And Blonder_ doesn't aspire to end-of-the-century
significance or philosophical profundity: it just wants to (slam) dance.
On that level, it succeeds marvelously. The Muffs would be a great band to
spend a sweaty summer eve with down at your local rock club. What more do you
do you need?
Note to Kim: If you make it to Toronto, about those panties....
---
Review: Truck Stop Love, _How I Spent My Summer Vacation_
(Backyard Records)
- Linda Scott
Heard of the growing Midwestern music scene and sound? Four of
its founders are Truck Stop Love and hail from the rural town of
Manhattan, Kansas. _How I Spent My Summer Vacation_ shows Truck Stop Love
doing that Midwest sound with its unique blend of punk, country and rock.
The band is: Eric Melin on drums, Brad Hehmann on bass and vocals, Matt
Mozier on guitar and vocals, Rick Yarges on guitar and vocals.
_How I Spent My Summer Vacation_ is the band's first full length
album, co-produced by Big Star alum Jody Stephens and Jeff
Powell (Afghan Whigs, Primal Scream, Alex Chilton). Band members credit
Big Star as one of their influences along with Husker Du and Hank Williams.
With such diverse musical influences, you might wonder what the music sounds
like. Like their Minnesotan contemporaries, the Jayhawks, the album has
country tracks, hard rock tracks and even a punk rock track or two. Some
tracks blend all or two of these styles together, but for the most part the
listener will have no problem identifying musical style by track. There are
pure country rock songs like "Whiskey Waltz", "Other Stairs" (where the
harmonious style is a further Jayhawks reminder) and "Walton's Mountain"
(where John Boy, Jim Bob and Grandma live). Other tracks like "Bitter
Boy", "You Owe" and the title track are hard rockers with "Benny" and
"Carolina's Eyes" being more alternative or punk. Can't forget to
mention a hidden thirteenth track, an acoustic Stephens/Mazier duet.
Truck Stop Love is representative of the new Midwestern musicians
who combine country with other styles. _How I Spent My Summer Vacation_
is a good one if you like an album featuring country, rock, punk. The lyrics
and style don't quite match up to the Jayhawks, but you can't go wrong
with this impressive album from Truck Stop Love.
---
REVIEW : Mercury Rev _See You on the Other Side_ (Beggars Banquet)
- Martin Bate
A few people seemed to have buried Mercury Rev before they've
even heard this. The reasoning goes like this: charismatic and
downright strange singer David Baker left last year after one too many
arguments and pretty quickly came out with his Shady project which saw
him working, among others, with members of the Boo Radleys and
Swervedriver. The album, _World_, was a well balanced combination of the weird
and the wonderful and seemed to contain a large element of the style that
had endeared Mercury Rev's first two albums - _Yerself is Steam_ which
in retrospect promised more than it offered, and the follow-up, _Boces_,
which was the quite brilliant realization of that promise - to all that
heard them. This then implied that David Baker was God and Mercury Rev
would be scum without him. _See You on the Other Side_ is the evidence
that this belief is a huge amount of bollocks.
Mercury Rev are a rock band - with flute and brass and lots more,
it should be added - that are unconstrained by form and style,
blurring boundaries because they weren't even aware they existed.
Previously, their beautiful pop melodies were smothered with feedback and
found sounds and sometimes a distracting air of eccentricity as if they
didn't want you to get too close. *That* is what has left with David
Baker, as the rest of the band and their songs are now allowed to breathe
in wide-eyed wonder. Guitarist Jonathan Donahue takes up vocal duties,
his pure clear voice not being unfamiliar to Mercury Rev fans of any
standing.
The journey begins with "Empire State", a big-budget movie of a
song, all gasping tales and flute, before it twists into more
disconcerting waters and explodes with squealing sax, wndswept rock-opera
guitars and the sound of the building coming down round your ears. This,
let us not forget is just the first song.
Next up is the fairly simple "Young Man's Stride" which rocks like
a 90's T-Rex before "Sudden Ray of Hope", all summery 70's pop complete
with flute, sax and "do-doo"s before it drops into a dirty pimp-funk organ
hustle where most people would put a guitar solo. Bloody jaw-dropping.
"Everlasting Arm" sounds like the dreamy recollection of childhood
Christmases, aided by some whistling, sleigh-bell piano and chimes, and
a lone sad trumpet and its chorus of "Up where there's an everlasting
arm/that keeps us free from harm". Nonsense ? Of course, but no less
emotionally affecting for it.
But it's the trio of songs that open up the second side that are
convincing beyond all reasonable doubt. "Racing the Tide" is a sad,
accoustic piece in the tradition of "Frittering", which meanders
beautifully for 7 minutes or so before some bongos start up as the whole
thing starts to drift away and the disco-funk of "Close Encounters of the
3rd Grade" clicks in. A magical moment to say the least, and the fact
that its soulful whoops are set off by someone playing a bowed saw (!)
takes it to another planet! Minutes later it segues into "A Kiss From an
Old Flame", a 30's romance set to waltz time finishing with some
beautiful "da-da-daaa"s as the piano tinkles and your heart flutters.
It all ends too soon with the piano-bar blues of "Peaceful Night",
the perfect invitation to turn it over and start again.
Not once do Mercury Rev come over as experimental or weird - the
whole album sounds perfectly natural and wonderful. They're not ones to
throw instruments and styles in for the sheer hell of it - everything is
there because its part of the vision. Sure it'll sound too dewey-
eyed romantic if you've just split up with your other half, but in any
other state of mind it'll have you gasping and smiling and crying for
joy.
Magical!
---
REVIEW: Irrestible Force, _Global Chillage_ (Caroline Records)
- David Landgren
Okay. Let's keep this short. This is ambient music. Of course, the
title is a dead giveaway. So, how good is it? Before slotting it in, two
points in its favour. This is a second album, coming three years after the
well-received 1992 debut, _Flying High_, so that's a good a sign as any to
pay attention. Secondly, there is an email address for the record company
if you want more info. (For the curious: astralwerks@cyberden.com). Mr.
Morris Mixmaster (the person behind the band's name) himself is far hipper,
having his own page on the Web (see below).
There is a lot to like about this album. As with a lot of ambient
material, at first it is like staring at a random-dot stereogram: luscious
colours and intricate details abound, but the overall structure remains
hidden. After a few listens, however, a deeper appreciation emerges, and
the individual pieces contrast themselves more.
The overall aspect is that most all of the sounds on the album are
purely electronic, or else, when they are samples of real-world phenomena,
they have been so heavily altered and twisted as to longer resemble
anything in the physical world. No gongs, birds, chimes or seashores. There
is the obligatory TV documentary narrator making an appearance at the
beginning, but it's really only "Sunstroke", with its breathy sixties
girlie "da-doo da-da-da-da-dah-doo" loop that seems a bit unfocused.
Head and shoulders about the rest of the tracks is the shimmering
"Waveform" closing the album, which alone makes the album a worthwhile
acquistion. You can file this one without shame along side The Orb's
_Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld_, or _Lifeforms_ or _ISDN_ by The Future
Sound of London.
While we're on the subject, a resource page on the ambient music
scene can be found at http://hyperreal.com/ambient/links.html. The webless
can just ftp to hyperreal.com.
---
NEWS: Fans of k.d. lang can now access information on the
artist through the Obvious Gossip World Wide Web lang site.
The address for this is: http://www.infohouse.com/obviousgossip/
---
TOUR DATES
Better Than Ezra
May 31 Boston, MA Local 186
June 1 Boston, MA Esplande
June 4 Albany, NY Saratoga Winners
June 6 Toronto, ON Lee's Palace
June 7 Rochester, NY Horizontal Boogie Bar
June 22 Nashville, TN 328 Performance Hall
Catchers
May 30 New York, NY Fez (Acoustic)
June 2 New York, NY CB Gallery
June 3 New York, NY Sin-e (Acoustic)
June 7 New York, NY Under Acme
June 13 Los Angeles, CA Luna Park
---
The Readers Write Back!
Thanks for the Toad the Wet Sprocket review. You were
right on about "Crowing" - that was intense when they performed
it in Seattle. In case your readers don't know, Hootie's name isn't
actually "Hootie" - it's Darius Rucker. With his voice
& Glen's songwriting, they could do some amazing things, eh?
In case anyone is interested, there is a Toad the Wet Sprocket
listserver. Subscription information is as follows:
*Send a message to listproc@sprocket.silverplatter.com Do not use a
subject line. The body of the message should be "subscribe TOAD
your_first_name your_last_name"*
I love Consumable - keep up the good work! - Kara M.
---
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