About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 2000)
OREVIEWf SIEKTIFfC AMERICAN Saints of Infinity/Simulated D.t. Y. Sfabco These two discs pull oil a nice trick. The music does not distract one from doing other things, and yet. ills slill interesting. Instrumental electronics are rarely that successful. You can simply pay attention if and when you want to. This is a compilation ol the first four 12’ EPs from Sienlific American. AKA Andy Rohrman, the former drummer of Hush Harbor and currently ol Seattle-based Focus North. The lirsldisc. Saints Of Infinity, contains the B-sides of the 12' singles mixed together into a son of ambient symphony in nine parts. The subtitle “Deep Space Analog" is perfectly accu rate. Drum machines fade in and out, but for the most part, the music simply hums and throbs, with long drones of processed keyboards and who knows what else sliding from left lo right with the occasional soundbite or spacecraft radio, tt can slide right past you, almost unconsciously relaxing, but it becomes hypnohzing if you tune in. Think ol it as an alternative soundtrack for 2001: A Space Odyssey, long and abstract but quite affecting. The packaging and titles conjure up images of space exploration, and it ‘sounds' 1ike space. You might not want lo operate heavy machinery white listening, because with this one. the mind lends to wander. Things get livelier with Simulated D.t. t, the A-sides. While still subtle and repetitive, it doesn’t grate or sound ter ribly cliched. Some of it is just the same old drum tracks, but Mrman keeps things moving and charging, pulling sounds in and out, changing up the beats, 'Boost The Mid-range" rides on a sampled srtar, white 'The Rower Sermon' has a warmly funky guitar pat tern, along with piano, that make it sound more like jazz than techno. Another standout is "Urban Insurgency.., Look Out!" with its standup bass lines that recall Roni Size’s organic feel. The whole of the album is a melfower counterpart to his HewForms collection from a few years back, You can take it in small doses or just put il on and walk away, and while you may feet drowsy, it^ not from boredom. (P. 0. Box 292239, LA. CA 90029) Jay Nagy MORPHINE The Night Dieatn works By now, the story of Morphine bassist-vocalist Mark Sandman’s demise is well Known. While on-stage in Europe, doing what those close to him agree was what he loved most, the -16-year-old musician suffered a fatal heart attack. The shock and sense of loss in the Boston music scene was immediate and extreme. A benefit was organized, a charitable fund established. Rock fans have lamented the toss of the unique beat noir sound ever since, yet they may soon have reason to smile. Ihe Night—wcorded in Cambridge’s Hi-N-Dry Studio {in actu ality, the loft used by Sandman for both Morphine and his myriad side pro jects)—was an effort that the band had labored over for nearly two years and was handed in lo its label just prior lo the ill-taled jaunt overseas. The album starts out with the bite track, known to many longtime fans as *Lilah,‘ and fmmedlaiely the band’s sig nature ‘low rock' sound is evident. But impressively so are a variety of new sounds. From female backing singers to the inclusion of such non-traditional Morphine elemenlsas violin, grand piano and acoustic guitar to the wide range ot tasteful guesl appearances, The Night is truly the sound of a band evolving. Perhaps nowhere is this belter illus trated than on the standout, “Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer,’ This swinging descrip tion ol a roomlul of hipsters blowing off steam combines an impressive percus sive coupling of original Morphine drummer Jerome Deupree and Conway learning with guest keyboardist John Modeski lo lay down the stinkiest of grooves. While saxophonist Dana Colley lays his customarily tasteful touches over I he fop. Sandman illus trates Ihe scene perfectly with such gems as “Priscilla's in the kitchen, shes mixing drinks/ She’s mixing one (or me, ! think/ And one for Mary Ellen and one for Jane/ She knows how lo use the shaker.” Female background singers apply the final touch to Ihe mix, backing Sandman as Ihe chorus lets arriving guests know their whereabouts: “Top floor, Bottom Buzzer." While the song is undeniably Morphine, il is not the Morphine of Cure For Pain or even Like Smrrmmg Sandman’s gilt for verbiage was long an underrated tool, outshined by his proficiency with instruments ol his own creation The Night#tittered with lines thal only as literate a mind as his could conjure. But, those with a propen sity lo look fora sense ol foreboding will fmd plenty to play wish here (“When you called out lo ihe angels;' ‘The number tour means nothing to me but the number four means death in Chinese*}. Morphine’s lyrics have always held a certain dark irony that seemed, il any thing. tongue-in-cheek. The Irue lyrical gems are those that curl the comefs ol your mouth upward such as “A Good Woman Is Hard To Find'S recollection, 'Site was heavy on ihe backbeat/ She played me jusl like a tambourine," aug mented by the rarest ol sounds in Ihe Morphine galaxy, a ringing electric guitar. In "The Way We Met.' Ihe band’s and the singer’s dark humor is at its finest: There’s no cute $f oiy that we tet 1 together/ Laughing and finishing each other's sentences so charmingly." As lire percussion builds, thelovers are left lo accept that 'Truth is, it was ail an acci dent, just like it is with everybody else." Not exactly the stuff ol fairy lales, but then life rarely is. When asked his influences, Sandman once remarked that he often found himself listening lo cassettes he’d purchased at ethnic grocery stores. This taste for world music shines throughout Ihe album, working nowhere as perfectly with Morphine’s signature sound as on 'Rope On Fire." Colley’s sax seems a natural amidst the Eastern soundings of guest Brahim Frigbane’s oud (a Middle Eastern stringed instrument) and Sandman's gentle renderings on grand piano. The album concludes wilh the moody, siring driven, Take Me With You," a meditation on leaving [own in which the singer admonishes, ‘I don't care about Ihe things 1 leave at home/ 'Cause things can’t really keep you com pany when you're alone.’ While it's understood, and even per missible, forthe listener to be a bit sad when hearing this seemingly last Morphine cflort, 11 would also be down right rude not to be happy that the band continued to create its own unique sound for so long without ever growing stagnant. The Night is a lilting end lo a> story of musical collaboration, curiosity and camaraderie and in some sense, that's a happy ending. (575 Broadway. 6lh Floor, NY. NY 10012) Tom Kieity BE11E AND SEBASTIAN Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant Matador A music reviewer from Polling Slone once called Belle And Sebastian's music the soundtrack to 'becoming one of those types who hold down library jobs ’ And when I listen to “Nice Day for A Sulk” from this new album, I canl help but visualize the trailer of a ficti tious sitcom about an angry young man who moves lo the big city to make it big, but eventually ends up wtlh this baleful day job at a medical library. Very much in a Mary Tyler Moore fashion, I picture him trudging around downtown Cologne in the pouring rain, feeding sorry littledueks in Ihe park, and ban tering with the other characters working in his office. Every day there is a nice day for a sulk, believe me. And it’s no surprise that he needs an Arab strap at home when he is constantly belittled at work. And il is also no surprise that he will sing only very quietly and a little off-key under the shower, pretty much ihe way Stuart Murdoch does on Ihe track “Woman's Realm." Later, lying on his bed, he will fan tasize about the young girl working at Ihe desk in ihe (oyer, until ihe digital clock on his bedside table says 11 p.m. and il is lime lo go to sleep. Feeling somewhat sinister, he reaches over to Ihe stereo and I urns oil Ihe new Belle And Sebastian album lhal failed lo tut! him lo sleep once again, stirring up untimely desires instead with its lyrical perversities and Ihe almost incredible abundance of great melodies. The lush arrangements of Belle And Sebastian’s timeless pop gems shower Ihe lislener with a biller sweetness that is almost too much to bear and make you wish lor a slow, cuddly death. Fold your hands ovcf the blanket, young man... (625 Broadway, NY, NY 10012) Volker Freilag EELS Daisies Of The Galaxy Dreamworks SMOG Dongs Of Sevotion O/ag City Solipsistic times arelhese, what with technology reaching the stage wherein bedrooms function as recording studios and Ihe social disconnection is engendered by such independence. It's a wonder we all a real some kind of Prince or an other, obsessively crafting A-track pop songs instead ol emails or sample- suites tor greeting cards. Of course, Ihe irony is that loner types EQ-ing the nights away—from Aphex Twin lo Trent Reznor—desperately need to communi cate something to somebody, in their own passive-aggressive ways. EELS X: '"Z ‘ .Vv -fF v > Eels mastermind Mark Oliver Everett (dial's ’E" lo you and me) and Smog (nom de rock of Sill Callahan) fit the pro (tie. E began the “905 wilh a solo deal lhat fizzled, until he found a drummer named Butch and various bass players in and around LA to flesh out tunes that were realized on the Eels' '95 debut, Beautiful Freak. On it, and the singles “Novocain For The Soul' and “Susan’s House," E entered the ‘sensi tive guy" sweepstakes by revealing a heart as big as Ihe Pacific and an approachable social consciousness, but more West Coast “Charlie Brown’ than, say, Morrissey's Wi(dean (lights of affec tion. The music itself comprised a lunefui pastiche of samples, like They Might Be Giants hanging with Beck during a confessional poetry binge. Recently, after E's mother died after a protracted battle with cancer and his sister committed suicide, he suddenly found himself living the wry pop tragedies in his songs. Electro-Shock Blues resulted, an album so filled with death and Ihe inability lo deal wilh it lhat no amount of scngcraft could elevale it above profoundly depressing. Daisies Cl The Galaxy is the “comeback* fleshed out with help from Peter Buck and Grant Lee Phillips, but £ slill has death on the brain, even as he’s finding ways to cope. Sad songs say so much, but when they're this visceral, it’s not dancing you observe in the audience; it’s squirming. On the first track, 'Grace Kelly Blues," E sings, 1 think, you know, HI be okay.' Bui by “Selective Memory'— the Iasi, and a song transparently for his mother—he reminisces on childhood memories, then admits, “I wish f could remember/ But my selective memory/ elmerdle music directory ' 7 *. • Flagpole Magazine's HD. Olreflojy p W4 dc s ,rf!edive, affordable ad,^Meg t. studios, labels, bands. kM. and e»e„.hi„g else mnsleall W 6T> d £ 5 1 9TV £ h * pft y 1 9 f ii p | i i p i d ^ s 19 n * vv\vy, ; old rLU c K'r tf q w cYirn. •; 1 0 6 - $ The Most Affordable CP Duplication In The World l$ In Athens; MEALTIME BROWN (706) 369-9034 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 cost $11 per column Inch, per week. 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