Newspaper Page Text
DIANE IZ20
One
Sugar Free
One look at the cover ot this record
and it's obvious that Diane l/zo is a
moody character Her songs tell the
same story as her glare, sounding loose
and carefree like Liz Phair one second,
then dipping into the darkness ot Patti
Smith and PJ Harvey the next When
Izzo can't seem to decide which line ot
emotion to pursue, she just mashes it
all together, losing the listener and the
song m a tangled mess In the song
■Ground." she growls. 'Hunted down,
hunted down' in a smoky whisper while
a guitar melody happily marches along,
seemingly oblivious to her troubles
Izzo has steeped herself so com
pletely in the poetic tradition of Dylan,
Smith. Tom Waits and Liz Phair that it's
no surprise she Hies from happily off
hand to gloomily frustrated — shes
picked some pref’y big shoes to t ii
,Vher Y7Q IS 0 Of' Wistfully SA***! 'dal*'
:he mus-c and poet'y shine >Jt-spite 'heir
obvious cops : Ves Vv arid
crime to cast her off without giving her a
fair chance to develop there are sug
gestions here that she's capable ot the
transition from idolatry to idol (PO Box
14166 Chicago IL 60614)
Travis Nichols
THE ROOTS
Things Fall Apart
MCA
With their insistence on maintaining
purity in a Black musical genre that's
gleefully impure. The Roots are to hip-
hop what Wynton Marsalis is to iazz
Like Marsalis, they're breathtakingly vir
tuosi musicians, but their rigid insis
tence on keeping it real mules a certain
elusive exuberance inherent in the best
hip-hop and jazz
On Things Fall Apart (named after
the Chinua Achebe novel, but more
interested in the politics of hip-hop man
Lreader Pan-African issues >. The Roots
serve up enough dense, deep iams to
satisfy hardcore heads especially on
The Next Movement* ar.d the tune
")C - Dundee which s tuefed by
-an/e s a'j.M' r jman peatbox
nation Irom hustlers, and a little more
limeius! doing the hustle
Richard Fausset
JOHN BROWN S BODY
Among Them
Shanachie
Formed out ot the core members ol
Tribulations, a Boston-based Reggae
outfit. JBB is the nearly-authentic
sounding brainchild ot Kevin Kmsella. a
native New Yorker It makes sense that
this release is on Shanachie. a label
known lor putting out roots and roots-
retated music Irom Ireland to Jamaica.
Madagascar to Norway And John
Browns Body is an apt name for this
band As John Brown was a white man
who so boldly !estii»ed about and fought
against Alncan-Amencan oppression,
JBB is a passel ol gringos who in
Kmsellas own words ‘Sing liberation
music for black people “ Than* Kev
Arid these guys know their dub
T h*ry can peel 'avers oft and paste them
back - a: : ackwards a la King Tubby
r j j. j a most mistake -B9 for
Z i tuf\ * !n K;mc-ze n.; was
SBPNSflHg?
.iva ;- • > t •* r* <«' r »-s‘
'fie lyrics cr the v-eakinq «^si •c , c r *' $
these guys are mposfors — ' - s s'
doesn 1 work
Or s if because ineyre white 7 just
ke i don I wanna near Pal Boone do
*. the Richard or Sammy Davis do Isaac
Hayes (wait a minute .). I don't need
this With Troian records reissuing ail
that vintage Lee Perry/Upsetters stuff,
and every label Irom Mango to Rhino
delving into those great, mostly tor-
gotten Rock Steady/Ska gems, this
record isn't necessary U-Roy it ami
Bruce Miller
THE LO FIDELITY ALL STARS
How To Operate With A Blown
Mind
Columbia
From the opening utterance ol
'stick 'em up motherfucker.’ The Lo Fi
All Stars let it be known I hat theirs is not
music for silvery space cadets grasping
at the ether on the dance floor, but for
sweaty punks break dancing on the
street corner
Ts Big Beat and like the music ot
p rodiqy and The Chemical Brothers, the
-mphasis is on block-rackin' power But
jnlike those ovemyped duds, the All
S'ars deliver the goods — rramiy
because of the sfree! manifesto that
track
s tu Ke.th c - > -asft...-,
da ■
j' *v ,',v •> i " r ::•' handle me An
v s • as ■ i w»se Cu* ,f i tu
'• • •' fa
v i t-ai •' i brad; BM-L-ihk
«:a ’• "I-3! * >* ti'iO’S' ‘ .St
ah / f; "3 rhymes ana mghty
fas' '* : l t-J re animation ot mea»y
r’ et t ns as we.i
v Tram is a B-Boy. but lor a>l me
standard boasting, hes not afraid to let
his heart go splat on ihe concrete He
even seems io nave created a new sub-
genre tor the Biq Beat heading The B-
Boy Torch Song "I Used To Fall In
Love." "Wilt I Get Out of Jail' and the
album closer "Nighttime Song" are slow
iams tilled with more soul than most
Brit pretenders are willing to let show
Some ol these ramblmgs would get
a little grating with anyone else backing
him up. but the decksdrumsandrockn-
roll put down by the rest ol the band
make How To Operate electronically-
charged punk rock that lives up lo the
hype 'Kool Rot Bass* and 'Battle Flag
teat Pigeonhed' are two no-holds-
barred anthems that would be break
through singles if it weren't lor their
live-minute plus length. It's a shame
too. because »his kind ol drunken pas
sion deserves to be heard
Travis Nichols
DOYLE LAWSON & QUICKSILVER
DL&Q/Quicksilver Rides Again
Once and For Always/
The News is Out
Sugar Hill
.V . : • Dov •
»iAvjn v i Vfj jn t-rtj>‘ jry Country
jHififmen : '• ;fvy influential blue-
grass ca't bt- ] been a orchiinei f • ■»-
Ve if 'or amiust eight years — i eatiy
1979 be set out to bring tack too and
- ./ret smg ng he’d be.-rc as d young
! f Ea^f Tennessee and marr, it with
•t-wf* material from younger and.o r
- • mwn sonowntHs
Dal he dioni enfiecl was me suc
cess and influence his band would have
alter just two albums. DL&Q and
Quicksilver Rides Again (from 79 and
82. respectively). Here. Lawson,
bassist/vocalist Lou Reid. Jimmy Haley
(guitar, vocals) and Terry Baucom
(banjo, vocals) run a parallel line
through everything from the 16th cen
tury Scots-lnsh balladry ot 'Shady
Grove* to Dave Loggms' coincidental 'A
Touch ol Pennsylvania *
Live in the studio, blending tunes
by Jimmy Martin and Carter Stanley
with contemporary pieces by uncele
brated songsters, they managed to
simultaneously invoke the a capella
gospel style asserted by the Stanleys
and point Ihe direction tor the next gen
eration ol bluegrass pickers
This influence returned when
Lawson needed a brand new band in the
mid-1980s Hearing the Quicksilver-
inspired Southern Connection at a show
in Tarkington. Texas. Lawson knew who
the replacements would be Hiring most
ol this band for ‘The News is Out,*
Lawson and Quicksilver continued the
near-impossible task ot setting new
standards for the music, taking a tune
from '80s California and burying it deep
in Tennessee soil
Though they were considered cut
ting edge. Quicksilver maintained a
straight-ahead approach to hard-driving
bluegrass. waltzes and gospel tunes
They were conservative when compared
to contemporaries Ihe Seldom Scene or
Bluegrass Alliance
However, bluegrass has always
been about the blend Bill Monroe took
old-time crookedness ol his native
Kentucky and dropped it in a vat with
Mississippi tJ'.es wing the color
ne amt nrujenc rtg ~<erybodv who
'•-ard him D:vi<; w awson a:ui
'isilv^rf «a .t.»-frrti Monroe arid
the music some -a props (PO
• ■ ■ • Durham N T717
Bruce Miller
FLAGPOLE MUSK DIRECTORY
Flagpole Magazine's Music Directory provides effective, affordable advertising to studios, labels, bands, instructors and everything else musical!
FLAtiPOLK^va^
ClIHIHTMAH
At.Hi'M
A compilation of
local txjrxis
Proceeds go to aid
Community Connection^
and Project Safe
OROCR vuiiti coei tv wmoni
706-549-030 t
*y^ c, - fl N-s
V^fAREHOUsT ;
447 East Clayton St.
(706) 548-7233
24 bit VI) cowmictvKcjItiroc Atwnf Uju-, plutpnvRrdbunk Srcifiution*
E^gl^alSweei!
CD Mastering b\ Ric Wallace
\v\v\v. di^i taUweet.com ^ c ^ vc ^ c
welcome! (706>6i.*-oi45 tapes!
M ri •] «
The fcncst Sclcctidn
• Or used &. New •
MuSICAU iNStwuMCNTS
In The UNIVERSE
C3UV -'SELL - TRADE
(7lDlft79-B3B 1
ONLINE
• Weekly Issue
• Classified Ads
• The '98- 99 Flagpole
. Guide to AtherPs
• Ort
• '99 Mu^sic Directory
WlVW.FLAGPOLE.COM
A 1 week ad will cost $18 per column inch.
A 4 week ad will cost $15 per column inch, per week.
An 8 week ad will cost ^13 per column inch, per week.
A 13 week ad will ost SI 1 per column inch, per week.
A 26 week ad will cost $9 per column Inch, per week.
To reserve your ad space call Russ Hallcuer at 706-549*030!
Deadline: F'riday®2 00pm
ELIXIR t RECORDING
2" Analog Recording
Lowest Evening Rates!
NOW AVAILABLE: ONE-OFF CDs!
Downtown Athens 706-546 0602
PWA
MOON
IguiMOal
Athena ’ moat affordable
2-inch Analog 24 track
SPECIAL KATE5 AFTER 10PM
769-4100
Check Out
Our
Website
at
WWW.
netnik.
com
Place Your Ad in
Flagpole’s Weekly
■ Music Directory
and Get a
mu
Classified
Every Week
Your Ad Runs.
LOW PRICED
CP DUPLICATION!!!
CD'S DUPUCATfO W/ IIWUCA5IS
10-J55 • 20-J95 • 50-$>35
FULL COLOR CD PACKAGES
Q PANELS. TRAY, CD LABELS)
LOWEST SHORT RUN
PRICES AROUND!
lET US TRANSFER YOUR
CASSETTE TO CD!
MEALTIME BROWN
(706) 369-90)4
DOGWOOD
RECORDING
32 track 0A-88s, Automated
Mix to 1/2" 30ips. DAT or CD R
Neumann U-87s, AKG Tube
Mies, Tube Mic Pres. &
Comps, Lots of Lexicon
DW, Slmgerland & Roland V
Drums. B3/Leslie 122,
Wurlitzer, & Moog Keyboards.
Vintage Guitars & Amps
DOGWOOD
MASTERING
Acoustically Designed
Mastering Studio, CD prep
Digital Editing, Audio
Sweetening. Manley Van.
Mu Tube Comp , Orban EQ.
Source can be OAT, CD-R
or 1.T Tape
(7701929-0102
M FLAGPOLE MARCH 3, 1999