Two Ton Boa
Parasiticide
Kill Rock Stars
originally published October 18, 2006
Two Ton Boa is a quartet, but it comes across as a one-woman show masterminded by songwriter, bassist and classically-trained vocalist Sherry Fraser. She's backed by Scott Seckington (keys, synth), Brian Sparhawk (bass, baritone guitar) and Dan Rieser (drums). The band delivers heavily melodic bass-driven rock that's cathartic, although at times overly so.
At this point, comparisons to PJ Harvey have become de rigeur and near toothless, but Parasiticide's grungy slinkiness does owe a debt to early-'90s Polly Jean, particularly the polemic Rid of Me and Dry. The clanking percussion of tracks like "Cash Machine," though, suggest vague notions of creaking industry, but Fraser's vocals - swinging from defiant to leering to provocative to sinister - combat any plodding and repetitive music, and it's at this point that Two Ton Boa invites parallels to Goth-tinged, dramatic and over-enunciated acts like Dresden Dolls.
Though only nine songs long, Parasiticide overstays its welcome; so much time spent in a stereo's low end can be exhausting. A quick slither through this grime, though, holds promise for the live show; it's the sort of sound that's always more engaging in a dark and claustrophobic club.
Nutria
Cheef
Fundamental
originally published October 18, 2006
It’s quite a gross name for such a business-like, unassuming band. Whose idea was it to name the combo after America’s most disgusting rodent? Still, like many another band with a negatively connotative moniker, Nutria manages to overcome the word’s impressions of wet fur and Dave Attell crouching in a boat with a rifle. More than a year after its first album, Metronome, dropped to acclaim from the band’s fans but failed to win the group wider stardom, Nutria is giving it another shot with Cheef, which has a slightly bigger sound and perhaps a little more emphasis on rock.
Cheef is being released by Fundamental Records as a double-album paired with last year's independently released Metronome, and what it all sounds a bit like is the sound at the Caledonia (a favorite venue for the band) when it's working at its best, i.e., slightly echoey, big but not too big, hemmed in by some solid walls. Though the guitars are plenty large and the cymbal crashes regularly, there’s a sweet, tasty pop center on almost every tune. “Under the Clay” is packed with harmonies of cascading “ah AH”s on the chorus; “Heard It from a Friend” twangs it up in a mildly melancholy country way and “Wrinkle in Your Frown” mixes Beach Boys with Big Star in a song entirely suited to a road trip sing-along that’s both aggressive and full of falsetto in the background. “Tied and Bound,” like many another tune on the album, builds off an ever-so Pete Townshend guitar riff - that is, bringing the rock does not preclude a deep love and incorporation of melody.
It’s music to get perfectly drunk to, happy but not embarrassed, cheerfully raising a High Life to a certain degree of professionalism that may preclude having the coolest rep in town but means a solid show every time and, hopefully, a string of albums as finely done as this one.
Kip Jones
Downright
Lost Cat
originally published October 18, 2006
If listeners need to be briefed on local troubadour Kip Jones’ influences, they need not look much further than track two on his debut release Downright for a telling hint of evidence. On “Crazy Horse Girl,” Jones pays homage to a lady who doesn’t care much for the twangy rebel stance of Steve Earle, rather appreciating the storied back catalog of Neil Young. Many of Jones’ own songs sound split between the reflective acoustic territory of Harvest-era Young and the country-infused rock of ‘80s-era Earle.
Jones’ rhythm guitar picking and warm vocals are accompanied by a few intermittent harmonica runs that, at least on “And So We Go,” hint at “Heart of Gold” microwaved and re-served. Throughout, Jones, who plays nearly every instrument himself, strikes an ultimately positive, introspective vibe that makes this the kind of stuff that some will embrace and some will avoid. However, Jones’ regular-guy songwriting really shines on originals like “Turn Back the Handle” and “Drinking Song,” making Downright a pretty substantial listen. At one point, he bemoans that his stuff “ain’t got no catchy chorus.” On Downright, Jones has actually crafted more than a few catchy refrains; more often than not, his verses don’t sound too bad either.
Take note that Lost Cat is a digital download-only label; as such, Downright can only be purchased at www.lostcatrecords.com.
The Hidden Cameras
AWOO
Arts and Crafts
originally published October 18, 2006
AWOO, the fourth full-length from celebrated Toronto art-pop ensemble The Hidden Cameras is less a politicized yawp than either the album title or the band's previous recordings to this point suggest that it should be. Though stylistic development from 2004’s Mississauga Goddamn is all but imperceptible here, the band's latest opus shows frontman and creative force Joel Gibbs steering the content of the typical Cameras gay-church-folk-rock record in new thematic directions, meaning essentially that the lyrical explicitness with respect to love, sex and queer politics characterizing its predecessors is notably absent here.
Yet as my feet bounce frenetically under my desk midway through the first half of AWOO, I recognize Gibbs has merely altered the design of his subversion, now to that of pied piping. In this way, comparisons to the Polyphonic Spree are not altogether without merit, although musically the Cameras are most comparable to an indistinct era of R.E.M.
This joyous pop begins with an energetic four-song rush, culminating in the dizzy, ecstatic “Lollipop,” but highlighted by the tidiness of “She’s Gone.” As previously, there are several minor-key productions that follow, namely “Follow These Eyes” and “Heji,” which may get boring but features some of the album’s most interesting orchestrations. Even so, the dreariness departs immediately thereafter, yielding to the prettiest flourishes of sentiment on the album - “Heaven Turns To” and “Wandering” - before “For Fun” heralds the overall return of the nursery-rhyme cuteness that hangs for the remainder of AWOO amidst the jubilant noise of glockenspiels chirping.
Beck
The Information
Interscope
originally published October 18, 2006
Beck's new album was produced by Nigel Godrich (who also did Mutations and Sea Change), which means it's going to be pretty, and the cover art includes a sticker of a keytar, which means he raps, and if this sounds worrisome, you're right. Sea Change worked because it was an utterly unsubtle acoustic album, dealing exclusively with sadness. No matter how much he wishes otherwise, Beck does not do ambiguity well, but that cake + eating it too is exactly what he's tried to do on his last two albums, marrying straightforward party jams to soaring backup vocals and dark lyrics.
People praised the best song off Guero, a fantastically poppy beach number called "Summer Girl," for setting its happy lilt against lines about murder, but that was exactly why the song fell flat. Instead of realistically channeling romantic giddiness, it lazily appropriated menace, and this is The Information's modus operandi. Lyrically, it evokes a 15-year-old who read a description of OK Computer and decided to copy its themes; musically, it relies far too heavily on a live band sound, even beginning the album with a drummer's countoff. And then there are those soaring background vocals that Beck has become so fond of, but in these ostensibly more uptempo contexts, they interrupt the sparseness and contradict any quirks of emotion or arrangement with a bland prettiness that washes over everything.
Who would have thought, back with Mellow Gold, that Beck would ever get too slick and too stuck in his own head? On The Information, it's finally happened.
Jonezetta
Popularity
Tooth and Nail
originally published October 18, 2006
Listening to Jonezetta’s Popularity, you'd never guess that British-sounding frontman Robert Chisolm actually has a very heavy Southern drawl, a product of growing up in small-town Mississippi. Instead of resembling the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, he conjures a cross between Peter Gabriel and Sting, all backed by a refreshing style of music that combines dance pop, the '80s, The Killers and driving, edgy rock and roll. It’s catchy as hell, and no wonder Tooth and Nail is touting Jonezetta as a strong contender to produce a single that could go to radio.
Dubbing the album Popularity is Jonezetta’s tongue-in-cheek way of addressing current trends and at the same time not caring to be a part of them. Ironically enough, Jonezetta’s sound achieves the opposite result. And it’s also pretty good. Popularity intersperses electronic rock numbers - the opener “Welcome Home,” the Franz Ferdinand-ish “Backstabber” and the title track - with laid-back songs like “Communicate” and Brit-rock tunes like “The Love That Carries Me.” The synth-rock of “Hot Machete” sounds like it was ripped straight out of 20 years ago.
Given the young age of the members of Jonezetta and the fact that this is the band's debut album, Popularity is damn impressive. It certainly may not be anything groundbreaking or terribly original, but the way that these guys combine their influences will do more than just raise a few eyebrows. It just might make them (gasp!) popular.
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