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THE BETA BAND
The Three E Ps
Astralwerks
Every girl's gotta have a gimmick
nowadays every mdie band woith its
stripe has a hook that sets them apart
— Neutral Milk Hotel & co incorporate
odd instrumentation. Macha add a
touch ot Indonesia to their stew. Tortoise
retuse to play songs, even man-ol-the-
moment Beck essentially does Dylan
with a sampler and an 808 The Beta
Band knows this the genera! sound ol
Astraiwerk s comp ol their first Ihree
hard-to-tmd EPs is that ot tale 60s
lime/ folk-rock in the vein ot Blind Faith
and side Uo of Acbey Road Fine it
that* your bag but not the type cl thing
to gem-rate the buzz the Beta Band has
generated, and certainty not the fype ot
thing that makes Asiraiwerks sign *ouf
hand - which s where the gimmick
comes <n tor underpinning the totk-rock
strum n hum is a s'c-ady tic* * sore
experimentation an t ‘\i nnp
Sometimes f*v- approach rs very
conservahve - D r y The Ram. tram
Champion Versions s esseniia'ly
Detan-.-y and Bcnme with n jruin
machine But .\her the Beta Band is
willing to let then freak flag tty the
results are very interestmg Monolith'
from The Patty Patty Sound is asca'ed-
down take on Primal Scream's
“Vanishing Point*: hints ol melodies
slide in and out in between beeps, bird
chirps, and swampy echoes — it's like
trying lo listen to WFMU on your com
puter
The rest ol the songs on The Three
E Ps lit in either one camp or the other,
at limes you'll thmk the Beta Band are
going to make a breakthrough, then
they'll regress back to the campfire The
group's full-length debut is due later
this year but tor now it* too earty to tell
if they’re worthy of the hype created by
NME, Melody Maker. Q. etc This disc
is equal parts brilliant and banal (104
West 29th SI. New York. NY 10001)
James Blounl
ESCAPE MECHANISM
independent Release
100 percent recycled culture —
these are the ingredients ol the rr< f sle-
r ous digital gumbo Escape Mechar um
a project alcr.g the .r»es of Negativing
that explore*., the world ol unauthorized
sampling and pop cultural borrow eg m
the name ol commercial anarch, ar.d
artiSbc fieedom Pillaging everything
tr in The Beades to The Meiers to
William S Burroughs to Ben and Ernie
Escape Mechanism makes for a very
bi/arre album
Piecing together a plethora of obvi
ously unauthorized samples Escape
Mechanism re-contextuahzes snippets
ol sound by placing hip-hop beats and
weird ambient soundscapes on top ol
various sound biles The result is at
once intriguing, creepy, and hilarious
Never has Mister Rogers sounded so
ominous, staling that ’children are lively
enough and small enough lo go down a
bathroom dram. It s funny to think about
it. but it* true.* The strangeness is only
amplified by a sample ol a tire-and-
brimstone preacher screaming about the
heathen's outlook on modem exislence
over the lunky groove ol The Meier's
'Cissy Strut *
While there's not much in the way ol
“music* here. Escape Mechanism is
worth a listen as an artistic statement
that redefines mundane elements ol
information lhal we experience and
process daily (3010 Hennepin Ave
South. No 145. Minneapolis MN
55408)
Chris Morns
THE WEE TURTLES
“Here Comes Lucky"/
"Southern Bound" single
Blackbean and Placenta
One of the belief local tieid record
ings l ve heard in some time Recorded
by folklorist L M Gaither on a Nagra
tape deck and shamed through a piece
ot Samsonite luggage the two tunes on
this one-sided 7-mcher have been in
high rotation on the turntable i found n
the shed behind my house lor weens
Southern Bound’ reeks o! trial sloppy
Mersey Beat clang fhat made earlier
Guided hy Voices slutt so good "Here
Comes lucky kmda reminds me of the
first time i discovered the wonders ot
the Georgia countryside Two more rea
sons to love 45's (Wee Turtles — fOQ
Slonemill Run No 37 Athens. GA
30605 or bCfews'Sarches uga edui
Bruce Miller
THUMB ATTACK
Bum It Down
Local Independent Release
Had Athens band Thumb Attack
(formerly known simply as Thumb)
released this debut album back in 1981
or so. they would have become local
legends Like the mosl memorable
lunes on albums by Pylon. The B-52*
and others in the glory days ol Athens’
early- 80s music scene. Thumb Attacks
sound relies more on straight-ahead
4/4 dance beats, very lew chords and
singer Bryan Cooks distinctive vocal
style than any sort ol grandiose
modern-rock sophistication
Musically and technically, the
album sets itself tar. tar away from so
much of contemporary rock radio no
trills, no tricks and no gimmicks It's an
old-school back-to basics rock record
that sounds refreshingly different trom
the Peart Jams and the Korns cluttering
the CD bins and airwaves today
Each song y<*!$ right to the point
imos* ol the 18 tracks barely lop two
mmufes n length ■ and wastes little time
shilling 'rjm intro to verse to chorus
The baft* sung arrangements and com
fortably stiff fechmcal execution are
reminiscent ol early work by Wire ( the
ie f k n shuttle gem “Faces Of The Future'
and the dissonant ‘Eleanor Rooseveil "),
The Fall' the ah* suffix works its way
rito Cocks vocals ol 'In My Eyes ) and
Pete Ubu tlhe nervous, ramshackle rant
“10 ) Cry Baby," “8 Ball" and the two-
chord Gerund" sound like accidental
pop hits assembled by amateurs in the
rehearsal space The poly-rhythmic
dance numbers "Voices,” "Dance Baby"
and “Grey Coal* stand oul as the most
infectious '80s-slyle new wave rave-
ups
Cook was the man behind some
great AJhens bands ol the '80s (Time
Toy. Is Ought Gap. Bryan and the
Cooks). His yelping sell and his lour
bandmates have recaptured a sound on
Bum II Down that harkens back to lhal
era |oyous. no-lrills rock and roll wilh
a universal dance beat played without
pretense Play this at any beer parly and
witness even the mosl sour-laced nod
ding along unknowingly.
Ballard Lesemann
SQUAREPUSHER
Music is Rotted One Note
NothingWarp
Ladies and gentlemen. I am here
before you today to announce lhal
Miies Davis is not truly dead in tact, he
has been re-mcarnaled as a white
British blokp named Tom Jenkmson,
w*ho was most probably the subiect ot
ridicule by his friends when he insisted
that they call him Squarepusher I am
also here to testify that young
Squarepusher has crafted one ol the
finest jait albums released since the
heyday of fusion >n the tate '60s/early
70s
OK perhaps I'm exaggerating a tad
Does Squarepusher possess the gentle
touch subtle nuance, and copious
amounts ot true-blue soul that the
above-menlioned ja// innovator utilized
to consistently deline and redefine an
entire culture and genre ot music 9
Perhaps not. but Music is Rolled One
Note sounds awfully damn close to the
surrealistic ambiance and groove-con
scious chaos ol Sir Davis' legendary
fusion experiments (see Bilches Brew.
On The Comer. Agharta)
This is especially surprising g>ven
lhal Squarepusher is more well known
lor producing music described by some
as dance music sub-genre No. 4080:
Intelligent Drum N' Bass No program
ming. sequencing, or sweat-inducing
percussion pounding here (or is
(here?); Squarepusher blurs the line
between machine and man. synthetic
and organic Synthesized textures and
live instrumentation are blended so well
here that Ihe difference becomes a moot
point, other than the lad that the bril
liant tucker did this entire album by
himself The results are intoxicating,
nightmarish, and occasionally even
funky, in a slightly cerebral sort ol way
The bottom line: while you may
lind this exquisite piece ol music in the
"techno* section ol your lavorite local
music outlet, it is mosl certainly not
"techno.* nor is it jazz, nor is it any
thing lhal can be summed up m a one
word, catch-all label This guy is a lew
light years ahead ol Ihe curve
Chris Morris
THE SLACKERS
The Question
Hellcat
Traditional Jamaican/60s-style ska
It's got that laid-back, irresistible island
groove At least that's The Slackers' take
on it These guys aren't about high
decibels and breathless tempos Sure.
FLAGPOLE MUSIC DIRECTORY
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FLAGPOLE FEBRUARY 24, 1999
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