Record Reviews
The Streets
originally published May 3, 2006
Just reading the sticker on the cover of the new Streets album, which says something like "the amazingly true story of a now very famous boy called Mike and sex, booze, drugs, etc...." my heart sank a bit. When Mike Skinner's debut Original Pirate Material dropped, I was captivated by a wide-eyed young British man who blended hip hop with the burgeoning UK garage sound. He stood out from countless others by gazing at the complex, heartbreaking world around him and spewing earnest, poignant and amusing raps about his environment. Then came A Grand Don't Come for Free, which, simply put, was an instant classic. One of the best movies I've ever seen, and not a frame of film. A week or so in the life of a naďve, bumbling young man who's got girl trouble and a missing 1,000 pounds, the resolution of the "film" was that rare moment when a shiver runs up your back and life is affirmed. And all with fantastic beats.
So by album number three, Skinner's gotten quite famous, and The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living is almost entirely about his experience dealing with that change. The sticker forewarns you, but it's still sad to hear Skinner's breadth diminish. He even admits to this on "Memento Mori." "Yes, I am shallow and loving every wrong way / if love is blind then why do we all buy lingerie?" Nearly every track involves drug binges, too much sex, attention and money.
But Skinner pulls it off. The music's just as effective, and by the third spin, the self-mockery becomes evident, and the spirit of the first two records asserts itself. A measure of selfishness remains, culminating when lead single "When You Wasn't Famous" ends up being about how easy it is to get girls now. But "Never Went to Church" helps on that end. A soulful rumination about life without God and now without his father, the song resurrects that glowing feeling full-force for a few brief moments.
Although Certainly a step down from the previous album, The Hardest Way still resonates with a kind of beauty I've never heard anywhere else. It still puzzles me, but I'll keep on bobbing my head and feeling wistful along with Skinner.
Michael WehuntRecord Reviews
Jon Black
originally published May 3, 2006
I don’t know if you remember the movie October Sky that came out about seven years ago, starring Jake Gyllenhaal before he was a celebrity. Anyway, it was a sweet little thing about the life, or rather boyhood, of Homer Hickam, the son of a coal miner who ended up working for the space program. One of the things I always liked about it was learning that the original title for the movie was Rocket Boys, which also happens to be an anagram of “October Sky.” It was kind of a neat nugget.
This is all relevant to South Carolina singer-songwriter Jon Black’s album The October Sky, which is a sweet little thing with some neat nuggets buried in it. It’s a bit more soft and Wilco-esque than I usually tend toward, with pretty guitars and what sound like brushes on the drums, but Black’s voice manages to be captivating, even though it almost tips into an excess of normality. He’s not afraid to go up kind of high, and his vocal chords can handle the demands without coming off "Idol" at all.
The passages on “My Days Are Numbered” and “The Wastelands” when he gets to do just that are the best on the album. Mostly, The October Sky, released on local label Rebuilt Records, is strummy and flavored with a bit of steel guitar and some plucked fiddle. It's not bad, if not something to do backflips over.
Hillary BrownRecord Reviews
The Melted Men
originally published May 3, 2006
It’s difficult to listen to the Melted Men without imagining one of their splendidly surreal live performances. Such as, say, the time a giant papier-mâché snake wearing lederhosen danced around a burning pile of chicken bones. This is not exactly the kind of thing you see at most local shows, nor is it the kind of performance that most bands could even imagine.
The latest release from this Athens-based experimental-music/performance-art combo is a double album on clear vinyl. The cryptic cover folds open to reveal a montage of images taken from a German television performance. Yes, like many others bits of pop culture weirdness, Europeans have shown a greater appreciation for the Melted Men than audiences on this side of the Atlantic.
To rate this album as “good” or “bad” is entirely beside the point, as the band operates under its own aesthetic vision. Rather than anything approaching the traditional “verse-chorus-hook” formula, the Melted Men combine off-kilter electronic rhythms, unpredictable beats, distorted vocals, tape loops and the occasional gamelan to construct a memorable listening experience. The music displays just enough structure to prevent everything from degenerating into pure noise, and several of the tracks occasionally resemble normal songs.
That illusion, however, is quickly shattered by an exploding drum kit, a swirl of synthesizer feedback, a redneck rambling about “rattlesnake weed.” The titles of the tracks are equally odd; is there any other album in your collection with songs called “Liver Knevil” or “Swamp Monkey Lungs?” Rotten Hut Florist is far from easy listening, but it’s never dull.
Noah Arceneaux The X-Ray Café hosts a record release party, which may include performances, for Rotten Hut Florist on Saturday, May 6.Record Reviews
Venice Is Sinking
originally published May 3, 2006
For a band with a name evoking the inevitable overtaking of civilization by nature, Venice Is Sinking isn’t really all that doom and gloom in sound, and even less so live than recorded. Sorry About the Flowers both begins and ends with the sound of cars whooshing by, a soft reminder of our age’s mobility and the desire to stay in motion. There is melancholy in Daniel Lawson's songs, but those who’ve called the music a return to shoegazing overrate the level of mopeyness.
Mostly, the echoey sound of the recording and the gentle way the instruments work together remind one of the early 1980s Athens sound: a little jangle, a little unusual instrumentation (in this case, Karolyn Troupe's viola which drives everything), a lot of vocal harmonies. Venice Is Sinking is less dance party than some of those bands were, but that’s partially because Lucas Jensen's drums are a bit restrained on the album, as opposed to the huge wash of percussive sound you get live. The 19-minute track “Blue By Late,” which closes out the album by taking pieces and elements of the preceding nine songs, may try your patience (it did mine), but the rest of Sorry About the Flowers - especially “Tours” and “Arkansas” - is lovely and atmospheric without being too self-absorbed or sentimental.
Athens is a town where people are constantly coming and going, as the bandmembers know well, and recognition of that fact can lead to a certain fatalism, a “this too shall pass” fueled through a haze of PBR. The trick is how to reconcile acceptance of reality without going so far as depression, and that’s the sound Venice Is Sinking manages to capture.
Hillary Brown Venice is Sinking is playing at Tasty World on Friday, May 12.Record Reviews
Anti-Social Music + The Gena Rowlands Band
originally published May 3, 2006
There are fewer and fewer means by which to tell what is and what ain’t “rock.” Perhaps there’s less and less reason to care. As long as rebellion remains, it matters little, if at all.
In 2005, Anti Social Music distinguished itself, via the wild, often discordant thrill ride Sings The Great American Songbook, as the name to know in post-classical orchestral rebellion. In a triumph of reverse slumming, a bunch of punks took up the implements of high culture and created a fresh sort of comic angst.
On The Nitrate Hymnal, Anti Social Music returns with less to prove, backing the cinema-obsessed, operatic Scott Walker-isms of the Gena Rowlands Band. The LP tells the story of a family through the spaces between its home movies. The definitive lyric “that’s why I love the movies / In the end it’s okay to stop caring” may define GRB singer Bob Massey’s half-satirical enterprise as well as anything else, but he’s saved his most genuinely affecting material to date for this outing.
ASM maintains more reverence than it’s usually wont, but behind a lyricist as witty and subtle as Massey, no other approach would’ve served. The Nitrate Hymnal is that rare record that’s pretty right away and gets creepier with each spin. Sometimes rebellion means screwing with conventions and heads before they really know what’s happening.
Emerson DameronRecord Reviews
Queensr˙che
originally published May 3, 2006
This should be a complete and utter failure. To my surprise, it’s actually a strong sequel. The original is one of the few albums from its genre and era that can stand on its own without hairspray and Spandex. Since its release in 1988, Operation: Mindcrime has garnered a cult following as the heavy metal equivalent of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Of course, the chances of Queensr˙che successfully returning to complete the story 18 years later seems just slightly more likely than Pink Floyd reforming to do The Wall 2: Reconstruction.
Still, here it is, and while Queensr˙che’s fangs don’t tear into the flesh as consistently as the first time around, I’m shocked to see the band still capable of pushing buttons and rocking like it’s 1989. Even more shocking in ’06 is the fact that the lyrics aren’t watered down. On “I’m American,” operatic vocalist Geoff Tate sneers, “The news can’t wait to promote all the bullshit this government is selling. I’ve got this plan in motion. Countdown, assassinate, terminate, smack down. Do you want what they’re selling you? Another television war?”
It’s a bold statement in this Patriot Act-era. The first album questions the government with the inquisitiveness and rebellion of youth. This one is far more frustrated and bitter, a feeling which many of us share wholeheartedly. Perhaps those few lines mentioned above make this more daring than the original (which came out during a time when free speech could be taken for granted). On the other hand, what makes this less successful than the original is the relative lack of hooks and choruses that make you want to play the album over and over. The lyrics occasionally get so bogged down in resolving plot lines that they don’t transcend the story line as they do on “I’m American” (or anything on the original album).
With Operation: Mindcrime II, Queensr˙che has achieved something that seemed impossible - a return to form from a band that cashed out a long time ago. And even if this is just a cash back in, it ain’t a bad idea. Americans can use all the contrarians we can flush out these days.
Chris McKayRecord Reviews
The Angelic Process
originally published May 3, 2006
The Angelic Process is the definition of heaviness. And, no, I don’t mean "heavy" as in some loud, dumb, hard-rock band way. I mean heavy as in back-bending, eyelid-closing, will-I-wake-up-from-this? heavy. Wave upon wave of crushingly beautiful noise constructed with melody and thoughtfulness. Admittedly, that sounds impossible, but it should only seem that way to those utterly unfamiliar with this genre built with sea-walls of sound.
The opening track “Sigh” begins very slowly with cymbal splashes and keyboard swells. But, by a minute into the track, the band has built a densely layered blanket of sound that has a slight respite at around 2:30 seconds before shredding itself as if it were a bird in front of a jet engine. If I weren’t actually hearing it, this sound would be almost unimaginable to me. But only just almost.
“Trance To The Sun” features a killer melody that recalls a spaghetti western theme. Further into the track the rhythm picks up into a heartbeat throb with guitar flourishes and heavy tom drum pounding. The final track, "The Black Arc,” benefits from having been introduced by the minute-long third track (“Mouvement With Mouthfulls of Blood”) as it comes in very soft and quiet. As the track progresses, it becomes the most upfront, tune-oriented track on the whole EP. Ringing, high-end guitar notes, seamless bass lines and propulsive drums, all layered into what sounds like a thousand tracks, take the listener back to track one. A very brief break in the track sets the listener up for another dizzy dive into The Angelic Process’s world. This is what Swans would have sounded like if they had formed 20 years later. It makes Sunn 0))) sound like poseurs in robes.
Significantly, The Angelic Process sounds more as if it wants to envelope the listener than to distance itself from the listener. This is incredibly intimate music whose beauty is seven miles thick. This EP is absolutely stunning.
Gordon LambRecord Reviews
The Oracle
originally published May 3, 2006
I’m always suspicious of any band that tags itself as “post-hardcore,” but it’s a pretty good description of local band The Oracle. The influences on here spread from Sunny Day Real Estate to Killswitch Engage. And, man, some of this comes so close to great, but fails to really have the final amount of oomph to really sell me. A perfect example is the decent opening track “Proclaim,” which starts with a great early-emo melody and progresses into a rocking song. It’s not bad, but never really gets out of the starting gate. It’s also, at nearly five minutes, far too long.
The backward tape loop at the beginning of “Entranced” serves as a decent intro to the song, but that’s about the only good thing about it. “Of All The Streets (I Died In This One),” though, is a great song with a fully-on melody, great backing vocals and all-around catchiness. It could benefit from punchier guitars, less prominent bass and the elimination of the hardcore breakdown at the end, but this is the best song so far.
Ultimately, it’s hard to decide if the record is enhanced or hindered by the radical mix of styles it contains. For example, the jaw-dropping and gorgeous piano interlude “Prelude In A Minor” is incongruous, but I’m glad I got hear it. Similarly, The pretty first half of “Edithlarus” is wonderfully played but seems somehow cheapened by the its own degeneration into a standard rock number.
It would be unfair to both the band and readers to not mention the fact that The Oracle is an unabashed Christian band. Lyrically, it avoids preaching and sticks mainly to praise. Its sincerity is readily apparent even if the lyrics are somewhat clumsy.
To be honest, I really enjoyed about half of The Roar Of Beckoning. But in the end, there’s too much going on and even a well-meaning, sincere band can’t make up for an unfocused record that is musically unsure of itself.
Gordon Lamb The Oracle is playing at Tasty World on Thursday, June 29.If you are having problems with the site, or have questions or suggestions, please contact us here. Thanks!
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