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Album Reviews
Soylent Gringo 2003 Rumblefish Inc/Alcala Entertainment In the mid seventies through the early eighties, many a band made a career out of a burgeoning technology that involved, among other electronic noises, syncopated, synthesized drum sounds. From speakers everywhere came the buzz of overdriven square waves and the symphonic ahhhs of simulated choir voices. The noises are sonically distinct and, generally, most people find them difficult to listen to without the coinciding act of watching a little wizard or whatever racing across a computer generated battlefield on the CRT display of a monitor or television set. Soylent Gringo rely heavily on these sounds. Using the blips and bleeps of yesteryear, they have crafted, quite interestingly, an album full of songs about a final war, television, fame and robots: Abbey Castle's antifuture. It's a 1984 blueprint of a 2003 prediction for the 21st century. Separated into two different messages, antifuture gives us spooky glimpses into the mechanized, Philip Dickesque century to come as well as insights into the present we have found ourselves in since the computer age got it's bionic legs. In Bride of Pinbot he laments his relationship with his manufactured robot wife: Bride of pinbot, what have you done to me?/this arrangement robs all my dignity/ And then, in qopyqat qrime, he sings: I'm going to commit a qopyqat crime/I'd like to see my face on prime time... It can be argued that the sequencer programmer is the modern equivalence to the old-school composer, building up melodies written with ones and zeroes at the click of the mouse rather than on score sheets written in ink from a quill. As such, Castle's electronic compositions are well arranged and if you like the opening credits to Final Fantasy VII then I opine you will find antifuture endlessly entertaining. As a whole, his conspiracy-tinged cynicism, mixed with the mental images of Mario jumping over giant turtles, leaves me with hysterical thoughts of ultra-dread for our progress-minded species but with the naive hope that, if his antifuture is actually to unfold, I can just sigh and press the restart button. In that respect this album is brilliant. A reminder that today's world is very real and there are no extra lives to look forward to and no power ups to save us from disaster. In Castle's own words from g is for gihad: it's over, it's over, the war's begun, our only defense is our innocence... I'll see you in heaven or I'll see you in hell if I see you again.
CIRE Self Released, 2003 On the upside, Cire, or Eric Moe, as noted in the liner, has a great voice, good phrasing, and proficient composition skills. It's like if Prince were born in the 80's and, later in life, spent a lot of time in his basement, figuring out sequencing software. On the downside, Cire's lyrics don't really match the music. He/She (Cire is Eric's drag personality) sings about power, insecurity, temptation, and, basically, being a young fag in the neurotically homophobic US of A. As I listen to the album I keep waiting for the drums to really kick in, or a nasty guitar lick to accentuate a chorus. But it never happens. It remains stuck in a virtual world of sampled beats and crisp melodies. Not that I can't get into electronic music. The problem is that Eric's topics are too soul searching to be soothing. His timbre remains calm, though you can sense the anger underneath. Due to the style of production, or just the quality of Eric's voice, it's impossible to not hear what he's saying. It's almost as if you're standing next to him when he is a she. She is unavoidable. She is a force. For those who know her, and those who don't, there's no missing Cire. Same goes for her voice on this record. So, personally, I'm waiting until the subtler Eric catches up with his female self and slows her down, or until Cire kicks Eric's ass and makes him buy some Pearls. Drums, that is. -da
theCOWtrippers 2000/2003 Oh, those Cowtrippers, what a bunch of rock-n-rollers. They kind of sneak it in on you though, with a name like "cow trippers", one might imagine some new alt/country/hippy jam band, but oh no... I would even go so far as saying HELL NO! Dude!! These guys soo rock! As I popped in thier CD Homoginized, I was taken back to a place in my angst ridden youth that I try to keep buried. Ahh those golden olden days where I nervously jumped around shit faced with a bunch of random sweaty guys. May sound a little sordid and perversely entertaining, but generally was pretty pointless and left me with a nasty headache. This old release of theirs has a definite in your face quirkiness Mike Patton himself would be proud of. The driving guitar riffs and mostly synchopated drumming harken back to the "old school" days. At this point, some might consider verging on classic rock. Hey, if Ozzy can still function (barely) as a rock icon of the day, then these guys are in for a long haul. The first track, Self Help, and the music video bearing the same title proclaims without a doubt that they are in need of a little help. At least they have the courage and tenacity to face the truth and exclaim to the world in a multi-media blitz that they may have been the undeserving results of eugenics experiments which were implemented quietly into our society by members of the AXIS OF EVIL parading around as politicians and lobbyists. Knowing is half the battle and I don't blame them one bit for being pissed off. Good luck gentlemen and rock on! -tb
Shelley Short Self Released, 2003 Its summertime, lest you forget. The baking heat has slowed life in North Portland to a near-geological pace. It is only as the sun goes down that we peek trepidaciously from the sanctuary of our basements and slowly emerge like nocturnal desert creatures. Smoke from barbecues punctuates the twilight sky, and on my block a lazily-strummed Hohner guitar and sweet, playful singing wafts by with the now-temperate breeze from the porch across the street.Shelley Short's new 5 song EP, Sugar Falls, is what I've been hearing through that breeze. The most striking thing about this disc is how spare the arrangements are. Banjo, electric piano, regular old piano forte, bass, and drums drift in and lazily out of the mix, always giving the vocals and the guitar plenty of room. The playing, too, is sparse and simple. Drums lollygag, shuffling out a pace from the rear. There is a sense of space. And of timelessness. I love that this EP sounds like it could have been recorded any time between the 1930s to the present. Shelley's voice is sort of thin and very sweet. And quaint… And it sounds like she's sitting right next to you. Her vocals are usually double tracked, sometimes harmonizing and sometimes not. This works really well and really adds something special to the record. Except for one part. It is the first part you hear-of the first song-in which this harmony does not work. The low part goes down to the low note nicely but the high part… doesn't. Another voice comes in quickly, though, to rescue her. It's Adam Selzer of Norfolk and Western (see Spiderman #158 for more info). Sugar Falls was recorded in his studio and under his guidance, and his voice reinforces Shelley's on a couple tracks. Lets say, hypothetically, someone were to film a movie in which you, o reader, and your summertime activities were the subject. Whether you're fishin' in the crick, picking berries in dusty alleys, or drinking iced tea on your porch, Sugar Falls is what the director would choose as the audio track of your summertime montage. "Sugar falls down on the salt and they both look the same. Sweetie sweetie salty salty day." -cd contact her at shelleyshort@hotmail.com
Viva Voce Amore!Phonics and Asthmatic Kitty, 2003 Writing this review is a treat. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this album. Unless, of course, you don't like perfectly timed, lilting vocals; intelligent, hip lyrics; brilliant, layered arrangements and creative instrumentation. In which case, go back to your Misfits collection. The album is a collection of sweet, poppy love songs that lead from one into the next like a winding path, completely free of debris. Cynics beware: Lovers Lead the Way is not terribly creative or groundbreaking. The time signatures are traditional. You won't have to think too much to get it. But if your Spartan diet of math rock and free jazz has left you yearning for a treat, here it is. But I'd say that this treat is good for you, because unlike a lot of refined pop, Viva Voce has a wholesome feel to it. It reminds me of when love seemed magical… Not arduous work. Wife and husband (of course!), Anita and Kevin Robinson seem to have the arduous work thing down. LLTW was recorded in their home studio, but on some fine equipment. It might as well have been Abby Road, the way it sounds. It's like Anita's cute (but mature) voice is whispering to you in a quiet room. The layers are all separated like an aural Star of David, and you'll be surprised where some of the pieces sit. For example, at one point in the opening track, Fashionably Lonely, the drums appear, full force, just for one fill-and they sit at a quiet volume, deep in the right speaker. None of the layers seem particularly weird, though. They're brilliance is the subtlety. To be clear though, this is not a quiet or sleepy band. They make you want to rock around like you're on a hobby-horse you've just grown too big for. The effect is achieved through precise timing and solid orchestration. Blah blah blah. I love this freaking record. Pick it up and enjoy. -ib www.vivavoce.com
Rachel Taylor Brown Self-Released, 2003 I'm supposed to write a review of Rachel Taylor Brown's album Do Not Stare. And it's difficult. I was just on her website and Rachel's credentials are really impressive. Rachel is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter. She started playing piano when she was two, and was playing weddings when she was 13! She has a BA in music as a soprano soloist. She has sung in ensemble after ensemble. It's quite a resume. I'm intimidated. This disc sees Rachel as a singer-songwriter. She is accompanied by a combo of sorts, but looking at the liner notes, it seems that she has played most of the instruments herself; vocals, guitar, egg, accordion, piano, Hammond, horns, calliope (!), tambourine, and "extraneous noises." The music straddles genre definitions. It's jazzy, but not enough to be jazz. It's poppy, but not quite pop. If cornered into naming a genre I'd say 'adult contemporary', but what is that anyway? Everything on Do Not Stare is crisp and deliberate. Guitars and drums are snappy, accentuated by the trebly mix. Production is clear and professional. Most of the instruments, including the vocals, seem to have either heavy reverb, or that chorus effect that was so popular with fusion artists in the early 80s. And Rachel's voice; it's excellent. It's rich and heavy, but agile and smooth. This is why it's so difficult for me to say that I do not enjoy this album. Rachel is technically a better musician than the vast majority of artists we review at MLP. The album lacks something though. Passion, or energy, or some grit, or maybe a hook. With a few exceptions, most of the album has the same tempo; slow. Some songs try to get funky but they hold back. The songs don't seem to lead anywhere. The lyrics, while perfectly fine lyrics, don't light any fires of wonder or excitement within me. That sentiment sums up my feelings on the whole thing. It's perfectly fine. Yeah, its fine I guess. -cd |
