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MORCHEEBA
Who Can You Trust?/
Discovery Records
Morcheeba's self-pro
duced debut release “Who
Can You Trust?" is a mesmer
izing ride through three
people's creative conscious
ness. It hits you like a ton of
bricks but leaves you floating
like a thousand tiny stars. Can
you tell I like this band?
The London-based en
semble consists of brothers
Paul and Ross Godfrey and a
smooth hypnotic voice named
Skye. Paul and Ross collabo
rated on their songwriting ven
tures for four years but did not
feel complete until Skye en
tered the picture. They each
have their own unique influ
ences that compliment each
others style to create a dy
namic sound. Paul's affinity for
textural organ,c sounds be
comes apparent in the very first
song, "Moog Island" which
opens with oozing, aquatic re
verberations. Some songs on
the album are catchy (addic
tive), like "Trigger Hippie,"
while songs like "Howling"
have a very atmospheric pres
ence. Skye's wonderful '60s
influence (Jimi Hendrix,
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
shows itself through the whole
album but really emerges on
songs like "Enjoy the Wait,"
which incorporates a folky
acoustic guitar sound. Which
brings up the interesting fact
that all of their songs begin on
an acoustic guitar, and sin^
the only way they like to cat
egorize themselves is as
singer/songwriters, their way of
structuring songs is not that
surprising — it creates deeper
roots for their songs. Last but
not least is Ross's strong jazz-
bluer influence which is the
subtle undercurrent that flows
through the whole album. Skye's
soulful voice flows with that cur
rent on "Col," which is a classic
scenario of singin' the blues.
All of Who Can You Trust?
melds together in a way that
makes Morcheeba's work
sound like the band is having
one long musical conversation.
Their enchanting sounds are
like a thousand little fingers
massaging your soul.
Jessica Meiller
NIK-L-NIP
Frorr the Runt/
Yakuza split issue 7-inch
The band Nik-L-Nip appar
ently formed spontaneously just
to be on the record accompany
ing these two 'zines. While the re
cording quality isn't very good, it's
still clear that this duo is pretty
darn good, if a bit unrehearsed.
Sounds like Kincaid. The Yakuza
half of this 'zine is probably the
best reason to buy this. Its entirely
devoted to the subject of grand
parents, particularly those of the
editor. Actually, the second track
on the T is a message his grand
mother left on his answering ma
chine. There are anecdotes ("The
Great Thanksgiving Day Squirrel
Caper”), a list of grandma's more
sage advice ("Never do anything
you wouldn't want published on
the front page of the Philadelphia
Inquirer"), and much more. The
writing manages to convey a
sense of nostalgia without sound
ing sappy or lapsing into dull, eso
teric stories with no obvious pur
pose. Unfortunately, the Runt half
of the issue leaves a lot to be de
sired. Most of the 32 pages are
taken up by interviews with The
McTells, Hood and Vehicle Rips
as well as 11 pages of ads. There
is also a page-long introduction
and a page-long mini-comic
about driving that was not terribly
dull, once I found a magnifying
glass to read the tiny print with.
The interviews are all pretty much
standard fere, with the interviewer
asking each band the same
questions. Also, the McTells and
Hood interviews sound almost like
the person doing the interview
was also answering her own
questions. Overall, the writing in
this 'zine is two-dimensional, lack
ing the depth and feeling so vital
to interesting writing. (Nic-L-Nip
529 Heath Rd.. Merion. PA 19066,
Runt 'Zine, PO. Box 261. Merion,
PA 19066-0261 / Yakuza 'Zine,
P.O. Box 260390, Wilmington, DE
19899-6039)
Jenna Epps
EXCRUCIATING
TERROR
Expression of Pain/
Tneologian Records
Excruciating Terror have sur
faced from the bowels of some
unknown hell and vomited up their
debut full-length effort that is long
on pain and suffering, short on joy
and sunshine.
Expression of Pain contains
17 tracks of purely hateful grind
ing power violence. Excruciating
Terror is your worst nightmares
come to life. Reducir g everything
in their path to basically nothing,
Excruciating Terror spews forth a
wall of pulverizing, barbed-noise
that rips out your throat and feeds
it to you all in the same motion.
God, this is frightening.
But the chills leave me want
ing more, and their own-brand of
grinding insanity is more than
adequate. Fans of Despise You,
Stapled Shut and Rshcticks take
note as Excruciating Terror up the
ante to a point that rivals on the
absurd. Kill for the pleasure.
(Theologian Records, P.O. Box
1070, Hermosa Beach, CA
90254)
John Mincerr.oyer
MOONSHINE WILLY
Bold Displays of Imperfection /
Bloodshot Records
When it came time to check
out this CD, I was a little nervous.
I really liked this bluegrass-meets-
jug-band-meets-country-meets-
square-ciance band live, and
feared a letdown on the CD. For
tunately. Bold Displays of Imper
fection is a great toe-tappin' CD;
it combines the very clear and dis
tinct vocals of Kim Docter with
fiddle, dams, upright bass, banjo,
mandolin and. of course, some
guitar. The last three of these are
amazingly played by Nancy
Rideout.
DocteTs vocals don't fall into
a “hey, let's sound like we've got
a fake hick accent because we're
playing country-esque music"
area. Straightforward, strong and
—most importantly—believable,
they help keep the music from
being seen as some sort of nov
elty act Moonshine Willy is for real
There are a few small com
plaints. The great bass-playing is
often muffled in the music as are
the male backing vocals (but the
vocals aren't much of a loss —-
they're not very melod ic and soni-
cally just don't mesh with Rideout's
leads). Finally, some of the mid-
tempo songs tend to drag. That
being said, Bold Displays of Im
perfection is quite excellent and
original. And when Moonshine
Willy hits their stride on uptempo
numbers like "Eatin’ Crow" or
“Message From the Grave," you
simply can't sit still. Yeehaw!
(Bloodshot Records, 912 W.
Addison, Chicago, IL 60613)
Jeff Montgomery
ABSCESS
Seminal Vampires and Maggot
Men/Relapse Records
Abscess, in my most humble
opinion, is the most sick and de
praved band in the entire world
(with maybe the exception being
Cannibal Corpse). I will not repro
duce any of their lyrics within this
review lest I be labeled a sick and
oepraved person myself. But
what the hell? Abscess's own
brand of over-the-top, porno-
grind, shit-laden insanity is pure
guilty pleasure for closet perverts.
Of course, everything is in good
fun, so we cannot get entirely too
serious about these things.
This is not fa the fe'nthearted,
and you will not catch people
blasting this from their car stereos.
Like I said, pure lights-out,
drapes-drawn guilty pleasure for
those who hate personal hygiene.
I cannot say any more about this
release, for if I do, I might regress
to a point from when I might never
return. Tnen again, that might not
be a bad thing. If yai can find this,
get it and wallow in your sin. (Re
lapse. P.O Box 251, Millersville
PA 1755')
John Mincemoyer
DRYER
I Wish I Had a Positronic Brain
EP/ Tramp Records
This EP is c'early divided into
two halves. Side A features two
cutesy mid-tempo songs with
bassist Rachael Sunday on vo
cals, and is ycur usual sugar-pop
fare, apart from the toy xylophone
used to back up the guitar.
Sunday's voice is somehow remi
niscent of a kiddy sing-along tape.
While I have no idea whether or
not this is intentional, it certa ; nly
creates that effect. Side B picks
up the pace a little with “Girlfriend
and "Chip," two faster songs that
are much heavier on the guitar.
Also, the vocals on this side of the
record switch to those of the gui
tarist fa a mae adult sound. While
there is nothing particularly un
usual about these two songs. I
think that they are the high point
of the EP. Where the lirst side
sounds like a prank recording
used to fill up extra space,
“Girlfriend" and “Chip" sound
like something the band wrote
with the intention of actually
being heard by other people.
Still, the whole EP is one of the
better records to come my way
in a while.
Jenna Epps
iMfmMii
SEtiUI
"Home of the Mexican Bulldog"
TUESDAY
Bud and Bud Light
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