| Bombs By Night, Balloons By Morning | 2001 |
| The Airbag's Lipstick Kiss | 2003 |
If you're familiar with the Web Reviewing Community sites out there (many of them linked from this particular site), you'll probably recognize the Disclaimer Music Review Archive run by Chris Willie Williams. Probably not so coincidentally, Disclaimer is also the name of his own more or less solo band, where Willie (as he likes to refer to himself as) records really neat indie rock songs with cool effects, high quality vocal melodies, and clever lyrics mostly by arranging the songs through his computer. Also of note is that he's currently forming his own brilliantly-titled record label Dessicant Records: Do Not Eat! to actually release this stuff, and if you want to hear either of these two albums (and they are well worth hearing), just contact him at [email protected]. And now on to my own boring reviews!
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Ultra XX Living Solely On XY, Your Bird Is Going To Fly Away, Unopposed. LOW POINTS: The Decipherment Of Linear B.
Willie himself describes Disclaimer's debut as 'clumsy and slight to a fault', and while that might be true to a small extent, this is still a very accomplished, interesting, and well-produced album for a home-recorded outfit (not that I know very much home recorded music outside my own and Casey Brennan's, but I can probably wager it still is, anyway). It's basically a mix of really likeable guitar-driven indie pop and slower, more atmospheric numbers, with a few cover versions thrown in for diversity, and what's apparent immediately within them is a strong sense of catchy and non-generic vocal melody. The lyrics are also worth mentioning, as they're often very sophisticated and clever (though maybe occasionally too much so for their own good - witness the last two songs for that) with a lot of well-placed imagery and wordplay that add to the overall experience.
The songs are for the most part refreshingly concise in arrangement (15 tracks in just over 43 minutes), which is the way to go about material like this. In the case of the opening 15 second instrumental "Disclaimer Guy Theme", maybe a bit too much so (I realize it was written to accompany a short animation, but it's a really great upbeat keyboard melody that should have been developed more!), but that's just a very minor complaint. After all, it is followed by a simply fantastic rocker in "Your Bird Is Going To Fly Away", whose irresistible bouncy bassline is complemented nicely by a vocal melody worthy of most pop bands I've heard, plus it's got really cool keyboard/vocal effects and a passionate scream of 'you don't even caaaaaaaaare' over distorted guitar later on in the track. Then we've got the fast-paced and dorky in a good way - concerning the lyrics and vocals, mostly - punk raveup of "The Imaginary Thing" (very nice ascending riffs in the chorus on there)
By the time the fourth song "Clockwork Drudgery" hits, Disclaimer's trademark styles have been well established. This particular song seems more electronic influenced, with its' clattering ending and spare beat during the 'I should never hope for anything...' refrain, and it works out well. Also working out well is "Five Mile Hill", which manages to use a more thin production sound to its' advantage in a gloriously fun singalong pop number, and later on there's the extremely infectious "Unopposed", one of my favorites on here. It hits upon this simple, but incredibly cool groove where a cranking rhythm and acoustic guitar interplay with each other - it becomes even cooler when the electric guitar joins in - and the 'outsider' lyrics are really effective (plus that 'thanks Mom I will, I lie' hook is one of those I find really difficult to get out of my head).
Like I mentioned before, there are also a few cover versions thrown into the mix, and while they're hardly great highlights, they're still nice diversions anyway. This take on Robert Palmer's "Life In Detail" adds a heavier edge to the proceedings (and a lower register vocal approach), techno rhythms and keyboard embellishments are neatly added to the The Men They Couldn't Hang's folk ballad "Billy Morgan", and on the Pet Shop Boys' "Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend", we're plunged into synth pop territory. Granted, the dorky quality of the vocals which is also shown on a few other tracks gets particularly distracting here, but that's no huge problem. I guess that pointless minute long untitled extract of music from the video game Mike Tyson's Punch Out! counts as a 'cover' as well, though it is the very definition of obvious filler.
However, what is not the definition of obvious filler is in my opinion the classic of the album, "Ultra XX Living Solely On XY" (What a great title - and it actually works as a chorus hook! Imagine that!). It might take a couple listens for it to really become memorable, but once it does... wow. The guitar tone on here has a simply haunting, watery quality on it, and together with the vocal melody, it builds dramatically over well-written, smart and surprisingly mature breakup lyrics (the kind of which would be an even more common occurence on the next album). Despite being less than 3 minutes long, it actually has somewhat of an epic feel to it, as does the lengthy slow-paced moody piece "Why Are They Laughing?" near the end of the album. Quite unlike the album's short songs here, it's a little overlong at nearly 6 minutes, but it's got some cool guitar effects, and the melody and atmosphere reminds me of really late period R.E.M., which I actually consider a good thing.
Finally, rounding out the album is another routine but catchy punkster "Maybe Today He'll Explode", a lightweight as hell but also entertaining piano pop gem in the closing "Similar To Sugar Pill" that sounds like Ben Folds Five with actual guitars or something like that (dig those hilariously stupid 'wooEEEooo' backing vocals, and even the distortion later on is a cool touch), and an incredibly annoying transition effect that I'm sure Willie realizes now was a bad idea. Coming out of "Life In Detail", the sound of the CD skipping for several seconds is recreated, and it's simply awful. Plus, the actual song that comes out of it ("The Decipherment Of Linear B") is a mostly dull piano ballad that I consider the only real blah failure on an album that fortunately has a number of really good, smart ideas. And those ideas only kept coming from here.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Fixing A Hole, Hell, Please Pardon Our Progress!!, Like The Backside Of A Bullimic's Teeth (#1: Bats = Bugs), You Ruined Everything. LOW POINTS: De Sitter Horizons.
At the time of this writing, this album is actually in the process of being released on that aforementioned record label Dessicant Records: Do Not Eat!, and like a few other web reviewers, I've got myself an advance copy of it. Let me be the first to say that I really hope it actually becomes successful, since The Airbag's Lipstick Kiss maintains a great balance between creative experimentation and pop melody that's really hard to find in modern music now. And although the overall charm of Bombs By Night isn't as apparent here and the sound you could probably call 'uglier' (though the lyrics still very much have that clever twist to them that was really enjoyable before), it's made up for in several other areas - better production, arrangements and even more interesting effects, more variety in singing approaches, and several other improvements that you wouldn't exactly associate any kind of sophomore slump with.
The main thing here, though, is that the material is of even more consistently higher quality, with fewer decent but nothing special throwaways and more absolute classics of home recorded music. The opening "Fixing A Hole" fits into the latter category, and also has nothing at all in common with the Sgt. Pepper tune of the same name. It's very much in the vein of Disclaimer's moodier stuff, pulling off the incredible feat of having the lyrics being a laundry list of what Willie wants to change about himself ('I've got to be less weepy', 'I've got to stop quoting from Simpsons', etc.) sung through a vocoder, and not sounding at all cheesy doing it. The vocal melody is brilliant on here, and there's such neat additions such as a change to a reggae tempo in the chorus and a haunting spoken word break. Even the really short song on here ("Vending Machine") manages to work just as well on its' own as it does in the context of the album, with incredibly distorted vocals and instruments to create a fascinatingly chaotic atmosphere.
Also, "You Ruined Everything" and "Wrong For The Right Reasons Is Still Wrong" are actually improvements over the decent, but less spectacular, fast rockers on Bombs By Night. The former is a great example of Willie using his voice more effectively than before over a catchy distorted indie rock background (so much for the dorky singing on "Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend"!), and you can add his yells of 'I got screwwwwed...' to the list of great hooks he's managed to come up with. The latter is a really jangly tune apparently in the same breakup vein that's actually really catchy despite its' awkwardly paced melody, and where else but on the curiously titled "God Said, 'Plastics!'" could you find such a seamless transition between two guitars battling each other between speakers, kazoo-like guitar soloing and quieter, hypnotizing sections featuring great lines like 'prayer has been reduced to a cheat code'?
The interesting variety in approaches here doesn't exactly stop with those tracks, either. "Like The Backside Of A Bullimic's Teeth (#1: Bats = Bugs)" has a really creepy goth ballad atmosphere within its' guitar line and lyrics ('like the spiders we swallow in our sleep'), and is that a Calvin And Hobbes reference I spot in the subtitle there? Awesome! "Generic Shoulder Blade Tattoo" is a quiet guitar ballad that attempts to befuddle the listener by adding absolutely messed up lyrics to its' pretty atmosphere ('you suck the goo from your fingers, as you discredit my memoirs'), and the best description I can come up with for "Mufasa Kisses"? Middle Eastern-flavored electronica sort of in the vein of Mr. Bungle's "Desert Search For Techno Allah", with unsettling techno beats, keyboard and guitar lines helping to create that atmosphere. Also, that dissonant computer-generated voice ('I don't want to know what you do for him that you never did for me...') is a chilling perspective on the breakup theme covered in a few of these other songs.
And to think, I haven't even mentioned the song that got me interested in Disclaimer, the one I consider a 'lead single' of sorts due to its' inclusion on the Web Reviewing Community compilation I've reviewed. Needless to say, "Hell" is still as classic on Airbag as it was on there - go here to read my thoughts on it if you haven't already. And speaking of the WRC comp, Joe Hinchcliffe (the author of its' brilliant closing track "Mercury's Star") actually contributes vocals and synth bass on the closer here, "Please Pardon Our Progress!!", a really shattering tune His vocal spots, surprisingly enough, have a haunting, angelic quality that contrasts really well with the abrasive guitar noise of the rest (a combination Willie himself, to paraphrase, describes as the Beach Boys meet the Butthole Surfers), and that incredibly well constructed opening riff (not to mention the dense production) has a huge epic quality that just adds to the drama. And the intense chants of 'HAPPINESS IS NO LONGER AN OPTION!!!' bring the experience to a gripping ending.
The Airbag's Lipstick Kiss isn't completely flawless, though, as excellent as it is. The vocal melody to "De Sitter Horizons" is rather non-descript and rambling, and the slower, mostly boring and repetitive arrangement it has doesn't exactly allow the song to overcome that. Plus, it's unfortunately one of the longest songs on here at over 4 minutes. But apart from that song, I really don't have any specific complaints about this mostly excellent effort - maybe it's a bit too short for me at 37 minutes (discounting the effects-laden hidden bonus track "I Couldn't End It There", which has multiple relaxing melodies to hold my attention), but that's OK, as a concise album will always be more preferrable to a lengthy one with an overly excessive amount of filler. Here's hoping that Disclaimer's really promising career will positively take off, and maybe Willie can bring even more accomplished songwriters and musicians into the mix.
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