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WIRE
Object 47
Pink Flag
I know there are Wire fans that'll
skin me alive for saying this, but I have
to do it. Object 47isn't good. I thought
about not putting it bluntly or even
lying and saying that listeners "need to
hear the album for themselves to make
their own judgment.” My conscience
lust wouldn’t let me do it.
Being honest isn’t always easy,
especially when you're criticizing a
band that has managed to remain pop
ular for over three decades like Wire
has. The album Pink Flag was released
in 1977 and still beats out most (if
not all) punk albums released today.
R.E.M.. Henry Rollins and Robert
Pollard all love Wire, or at least the
band's earlier work. Even so. I would be
quite surprised to find out that anyone
loves Object 47
What does the album sound like 9
Weil, it sounds old. That's the only
way to describe it. I suppose it should
sound old. given the ages of Wire's
members, but it should also sound
entertaining and. unfortunately, it does
not. The only song on Object 47that
inspires ev^n a second listen is the first
track. “One of Us." It's got the same
heavy-handed lyrics as the rest of the
album, but at least it's a fun listen. No,
punk music (or post-punk, as better
describes Wire) shouldn't care about
being “fun,” but it's a hell ot a lot more
enjoyable to be shouted at by kids than
it is to be lectured by adults.
Noel Wurst
LADYTRON
Velocifero
Nettwerk
Even at birth, Liverpool electronic
pop act Ladytron was long on style and
mood. The key to its sustained success,
despite the sputtering ol its contempo
raries. is that there's always been atten
dant substance. From the sound of this
fourth album, Ladytron's constitution
continues to deepen and demonstrate
an expanding sonic ambition. While
the previous album Witching Hour
showed indie-rock leanings, Velocifero
packs serious dance-floor motive.
Amid the usual devices, like ethereal
dream-pop washes and towering synth
swells, are sleek mechanized spines
and a big-club thump. It's a manifesta
tion of Ladytron's singularly European
mystique that's blessed with greater heft
and more dramatic proportions.
Though generally consistent
throughout, Velocifero corns out of
the gates with big guns firing in an
outstanding trifecta. Pairing urgent,
sinister keyboards with a menacing,
high-tension breakbeat, “Black Cat”
bears down with ill intent. “Ghosts”
oscillates between a fat industrial
stomp and a celestial, panoramic cho
rus. The massive and propulsive I'm
Not Scared’ rolls in like a thunderstorm
and comes down like gray rain.
The impeccable embodiment of
definition. Ladytron has always been
gifted with clarity of vision. The band's
keen instinct for texture, ambience and
construction has ensured its proper
execution. The thick dance-floor charge
of Velocifero manages to stay true to
the group's sui generis brand while
stroking it in a manner more assertive
and penetrating than the aloof mono
chrome of before. It's an outstanding
album that shows that the band's
identity is capable of dynamism and is
a forceful crystallization of the Ladytron
aesthetic.
Bao Le-Huu
PRIDE PARADE
Descendants
Independent Release
As opposed to the Clinton days,
when we all lit cigars with hundred
dollar bills and wore kitten moccasins,
it's safe to say that most everyone's
pockets are a little tight right now. If
you're one of the people who still buys
music (hello to both of you!), you
really need to carefully consider your
purchases. My attitude when sifting
through the ever-deepening sea of new
(and old) music that I’ve never heard is
always hopeful, but guided by a pretty
simple principle: You should either go
for something that's never been done,
or you should go for something that’s
been done exceptionally well.
Pride Parade represents the latter
category and represents it to the fullest.
Andrew Prater and company are two-
for-two in gob-smackingly amazing
band names, following the notorious
Brown Frown. Descendants finds
Athens' own bad news bears picking up
where their old act left off. with marked
improvements made to just about every
aspect of the music.
The music? Gimmick-free rock.
You can more or less trace the roots
back to the Pacific Northwest circa the
early '90s. But instead of coming off
as the umpteenth band mining a long-
stripped set of influences, Pride Parade
sounds more like a missing link from
the era, a lost chapter in the Sub Pop
catalog. Sad, slow and steady is the
order of the day here, and the consis
tency of this record—in both senses
of the word—is thick and solid. When
white folks pick up electric guitars and
evoke the blues, it's always a tricky line
to walk, but this stuff hits the mark in a
way that is almost graceful.
Moments of deviation from the
formula bubble to the surface of the
muck. “All of This Was Pinetrees”
wouldn’t have been out of place on the
Dead Man soundtrack, but generally
it's a good ol’ bummed-out rock trip.
It’d be a great party record if the overall
mood wasn't drunken defeat. When
Prater evokes Journey on the album's
longest and best song, “USA Up All
Night,” people might pump their fists,
but it'd be less in celebration of vic
tory than in solidarity of being among
those who have been beaten, and those
who anticipate more of the same in the
future. It's a recession, folks... we need
records like this. It's definitely worth
spending your hard-earned cash on.
Jeff Tobias
RODIES OF WATER
A Certain Feeling
Secretly Canadian
This is the dawning of the Age of
Aquarius. Again. Astrology is as cycli
cally predictable as fashion or music.
Perhaps that last sentence should be
struck and reversed, but such is the
nature of cycles; they're made more
interesting by inevitable wrinkles.
Maybe Los Angeles-based Bodies of
Water sound as though it should have
a Humboldt County address, but that
unusual geographic-slash-artistic
peculiarity shouldn't interfere with the
truth: A Certain Feeling is essential
hippy listening,.and there's no reason
it shouldn't be blasted from the speak
ers in every ashram and Volkswagen
bus throughout California and points
beyond.
The bohemian orchestra, with a
husband-and-wife duo at the core,
immediately shares its proclivity for the
epic on opener “Gold, Tan, Peach, and
Grey” and separates itself from con
temporaries capable of writing nothing
more than boisterous would-be-outros
unleashed from the get-go. I'm looking
at you, Polyphonic Spree. These songs
have beginnings and middles, too.
Discover superlative synergy on
“Water Here," as a reggae vibe gives
way to horns from Latin corners of the
Caribbean over a Jamband 101 guitar
riff as a soaring choir declares. “There
is water here/ and a dark in the deep/
There is shapeless mass/ that the hot
air will heave.” Absolutely. Whatever.
I love it.
David Eduardo
THE COOL KIDS
The Bake Sale
Chocolate Industries
I've spent more time trying to lit
into 250 words how amazing the The
Bake Sale is than I spent on 10-page
essays in college. The newest EP from
The Cool Kids is going to come across
to some as corny or too kitschy, but
forget about all that. This album is
great. It's “Thank God rap hasn't com
pletely sold out yet' great.
Antoine “Mikey Rocks" Reed and
Evan “Chuck Inglish” Ingersoll make
up the The 3ool Kids, and the duo fits
30 minutes of fantastic hip-hop into
a 32-minute EP. Thinking back to the
last 10 hip-hop albums I’ve purchased,
I might be able to get 30 minutes of
solid material out of five of them.
It makes me think back to the days
when De La Soul and A Tribe Called
Quest ruled the rap world, and I imag
ine this is the love-child that they cre
ated together. Tribe was the cool one,
whose albums are still the epitome of
cool today—and De La was as nerdy
as you, and made you feel okay with
yourself for the first time.'The Cool
Kids come across as the kings of the
street, rapping on “Black Mags" about
cruising down the block on Dyno BMX
bikes. And right when you think they
couldn't be any cooler, they're rapping
about eating Fruity Pebbles and staying
home to play Street Fighter—on Sega,
no less!
Screw it, this is the fifth draft
I've written, and I still don't feel like I
adequately described how cool The
Cool Kids really are and how badly you.
need this album.
Noel Wurst
7i;
Red Album
DGC/Interscope
Take a seat, and come to terms with
th > fact that Weezer will never again
tap into the raw energy that produced
its first two albums. That being said,
the Red Album boasts some of the
most convincing work the band has
recorded since Pinkerton, except this
time. Rivers Cuomo doesn't give a
hoot about what you think. Tma' do
the things that I wanna do/1 ain't gotta
thing to prove to you,” Rivers sneers in •
‘Pork and Beans," easily the next best
thing to Blue Album nostalgia the band
has released to date.
What was once self-loathing humor
has now blossomed into full-blown
megalomania. “The Greatest Man
That Ever Lived" is an epic rock-opera
which features Rivers gloating over his
own fame for six minutes: it's like Jay-Z
for emo kids.
It's no wonder that following
Weezer’s career has felt like a voyeuris
tic glimpse into a dysfunctional family,
as every hardcore Weezer fan seems to
know the bizarre back-stories behind
every song. After reading about Rivers'
spiritual retreats, it's shocking to hear
something as extroverted as the Red
Album.
In addition to surging feedback
and chest-pounding power chords,
Rivers gives his bandmates the chance
to spread their songwriting wings, with
Brian Bell writing and singing “Thought
I Knew" and Pat Wilson contributing
on 'Automatic' after Rivers finishes
rapping like Eminem on “Cold Dark
World.'
The Red Album is not a work of art,
nor does it pretend to be. Now we can
move on and recognize it as a catchy
pop-pupk album with airtight produc
tion and, at the very least, the perfect
companion for summer driving.
Ryan Monahan
THE NOTWIST
The Devil, You & Me
Domino
Six years since the release of
studio masterpiece Neon Golden, The
Notwist returns with The Devil. You
& Me only to defy expectations of
anything less than electro-acoustic
perfection. On the band's latest effort,
minimalist dub-grooves are augmented
by a labyrinth of texture, and an end
less patchwork of micro-sounds.
Obvious comparisons might be drawn
to Postal Service, though The Notwist's
combination of German classicism and
organic precision is far more esoteric.
Amid nano-beats and glitches
to rival Aphex Twin, Markus Acher's
viorato-less vocals remain aloof
regardless of the chaos that ensues, as
he resigns himself to reconcile forces
beyond his control wrestling against
the devil, gravity and the “gloomy
planets" in a world where the sun stays
up all night.
Yet, it's Acher’s expressionless
delivery that allows the music to inform
its meaning. “There's no escape from
this circling place,' he accepts with
stoic apprehension on “Where in
This World.' The track's neoclassical
influence is easily The Notwist’s most
avant-garde to date, and it might share
more in common with Anton Webern
or Milton Babbit than with Radiohead.
The ghoulish' "Hands on Us" ends with
Ligeti-esque orchestral clusters, add
ing to the album's sense of unresolved
anxiousness.
Yet, it's the album's first track that
lays the groundwork for the group's
artistic intention: "Let’s just imitate the
real until we find a better one.” By cre
ating a sonic representation of reality,
The Notwist is able to present the world
in all its splendor and squalor. The
Devil, You & Me is a dense album, and
it requires several listens to unravel its
cryptic yet rewarding complexity.
Ryan Monahan
FACTS AROUT
FUNERALS
Love Songs and Funeral Homes
Evangeline
The band has a clever name and
the album an interesting title. Prior
to adopting the moniker Facts About
Funerals, Seattle-based songwriter Rob
Sharp's creative vehicle was called New
West Motels and, before that, Wussy
Beat Up the Jock.
This recent assemblage of songs,
presumably inspired by the sudden
passing of both Sharp's sister (cancer)
and parents (auto.accident) within
two months of each other, and Sharp's
subsequent social hibernation, is emo
tionally supercharged rock and roll, yet
seemingly scrubbed sterile and lacking.
And it's more difficult than it should be
to understand how the aforementioned
unfortunate tragedies inspired most of
these songs.
Tempted to apply the rest of the
words in an effort to espouse largesse
with regard to the album's limitations,
we'll instead examine the positives and
its potential... Cue the crickets.
On second thought, let's stick with
the original plan and pan.
Inauspicious album-opener,
“Runaway with Me,' features generic
acoustic guitar strumming and those
three words, repeated in a contrived
emotional hush, over and again. The
next break-up scene on a super popu
lar adolescent primetime drama should
feature “Lousy Kisser.” and a portion of
'the royalties should be earmarked for
The Goo Goo Dolls. The good news?
Sharp is just another original band
name away from a fresh start, distanc
ing himself from this “meh" endeavor.
David Eduardo
RLANK DOGS
On Two Sides
Troubleman Unlimited
I was going to write a 30.000-word
essay about how Radiohead single-
handedly destroyed the record industry
and delivered the future today by put
ting its last batch of 'whatever up for
free download, but then I remembered
that I like respecting myself. And also
I've already been beaten to it by every
other person that's ever learned how to
write ever. I’d much rather write about
the vastly superior Blank Dogs, who've
made not just their latest record, but
everything they've ever released, freely
available at their website. They prove
you don’t have to be world-beating
rock stars to embrace this new post
economy.
Blank Dogs have been releasing
amazing lo-fi pop-rock records for
months now, but here they’ve gone
and made one of the best albums of
this young year. On Two Sides is an
impregnable fortress of fuzzy hooks
that ranks along the best of Guided by
Voices' '90s heyday. Drum machines,
synths and processed guitar lend a
new wave feel, much of it sounding
like early Cure rerecorded on a four-
track. They keep the clamor down
compared to fellow travelers like Times
New Viking, but the fuzz and lack ol
production values foster an urgency
rarely found in slicker productions.
Yeah, it's as calculated and fabricated
as anything you hear on the radio, but
so what? Virtue doesn't come from pro
duction techniques, but awesomeness
most certainly can as On Two Sides
proves. Plus, it's free! Or it's cheap, if
you'd prefer the limited edition vinyl LP
from Troubleman Unlimited.
Garrett Martin
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