Issue #11 – July 2003
Album
of the month:
BraveSaintSaturn; The Light Of Things Hoped For…
Tooth and Nail Records
Five Iron
Frenzy were without a doubt the funniest and best ska band in the mid-nineties.
Well, they are no more, but what once started as a side-project lives on in
BraveSaintSaturn. BraveSaintSaturn doesn’t contain any of the humor Five Iron
Frenzy were know for, but instead BraveSaintSaturn deals with the darker issues
of life. In “Enamel” it doesn’t sound like they think too much of themselves as
they start the song like this:
“Here’s
another song with the four oldest chords in history”.
But, really,
it’s the best song on the album. Further on the song gets really touchy and
emotional as they go:
“I guess I
lost all ambition turning left on Missouri, I could have made it better, but
the feelings just not there. My heart is cold and black, but I just don’t think
I care. So here’s to me saying “Fare-thee-well”, and when you hear this song I
hope it hurts (they want to say “like, Hell”, but they don’t)…”
Then the most
amazing and emotional chorus heard in a very long time kicks in, still touchy
and emotional and obviously heart-broken by betrayal:
“Enamel it
stretched too thin, you’re beautiful, but not beneath your skin. Enamel, like
insect shells, so hollow, like your wedding-bells”.
“The phone
lines down in Mexico are slow and maybe tired, I think all your devotion got
lost inside the wires. Well, I hope you cannot sleep, and I hope you cannot
smile, and I hope that you are burdened with your guilt for quite a while. I
hope you fall in love, but I hope your plans are thwarted and I hope that now
you’re back, it’s because you were deported.”
I think I’ve
listened to this song a 100 times already. It’s just so full of emotions. It’s
dark, sad, heart breaking, but still it has the catchiest chorus imaginable.
The rest of the album doesn’t come close to this song, although this album is
clock-full of great songs, “Anastacia” being one of them. (JJJJJJ)
The
Rest of this month’s albums
Bernie Bernie Headflap; Blood & Salt
Self-released
Bernie Bernie
Headflap started as a quartet in 1992, 11 years ago, but today there’s just one
remaining member. Alan McCabe, the founding and remaining member of the band,
claims that Bernie Bernie Headflap, this classic rock, hip-hop and electronica
project, is influenced by the likes of The Who, Wings, The Police, ELO, Talking
Heads, REM, Pixies, Camper Van Beethoven and They Might be Giants. Listeners
agree on the They Might Be Giants and Pixies references, but add B52’s, Ween,
Tom Tom Club, Built To Spil, Modest Mouse, Kinks, Neptunes and Gorillaz to the
mix. And sure, I hear a little off a lot of those bands in Bernie Bernie
Headflap. And sure, there are the classic rock riffs, the hip-hop beats and the
electronica grooves, but at the end of the day, to me at least, Bernie Bernie
Headflap sounds like a project covering more ground that being capable off,
while lacking the bigger picture. (JJJJJJ)
The Briggs; Numbers
Disaster Records
Even though The
Briggs is a band from Los Angeles, they sound more like a British band to me.
Actually they sound like a raging bunch of British soccer fans at a match at
Wembley Stadium, shouting and cheering for their team. Well, the only
difference is that there are insanely fast and catchy guitars, drums and basses
to back all the shouting up. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Well, I guess what
I am saying is that if you like hard-hitting punk rock with tons of shouting
gang-vocals in the background, then it wouldn’t be wise to ignore The Briggs. (JJJJJJ)
Cal Bennett; Blue Note – Live At The Las Vegas
Big Earthbeat Records
Ok, here we
have another live-album, but unlike most of the metal and punk live-albums we’ve
reviewed lately, this is cool, cozy and laid-back jazz-music. Cal Bennett,
saxophonist, keyboarder and digital-horn-player, backed by a group of gifted,
technical musicians prove through these seven quite lengthy tracks that jazz
doesn’t have to be boring. This is not really that progressive, while still a
little fusion-filled at times. This is jazz music designed for the saxophone to
be the leading instrument, at times going along in a traditional jazz manner,
at times with a little fusion in the mix, at times just plain funky and at
times with hints of R&B, especially in the vocal apartment. (JJJJJJ)
Christin Cook; For The Love
Self-released
Even though
this album far from made it to the point where it was even considered to be the
“album of the month”, Christin Cook most definitely gets to be our “babe” of
the month. I am telling you she is good looking. Anyway, on to the music.
Christin Cook is only 20 year old and this is already her sophomore release.
One must say that she’s at it at a young age, but growing up with this kind of
stuff she’s been around the music-scene since she was little. On “For The Love”
Christin Cook sounds a lot like most of the female singer/songwriters that have
come out of the American scene since the mid 90’s. I am thinking Sheryl Crow,
Alanis Morrisette and artists like that. Christin hasn’t reached the level the
aforementioned artists have yet, but judging from her age and this only being
her second release, she’s probably going there. (JJJJJJ)
Closterkeller; Graphite
Metal Mind Productions
(Provided by Pitchfork Promotion)
Here’s another
great atmospheric rock band to put on your goth-metal wall. Closterkeller are
from Poland, and opposed to some of their previous work, they’re now trying to
breakthrough to the international goth-scene with lyrics in English.
Closterkeller are just as good as many of the goth rock/metal bands making a
name for themselves right now, and with great female vocals delivered by Anja
Orthodox, crunching metal-riffs and progrock-settings they’re bound to lift a
few goth eyebrows here and there, even though they might not be all that
original in their compositions. Imagine the heaviness of Madder Morten, the
melody of Lanuna Coil, while adding a little progrock to the mix and you’re not
far from what in fact is Closterkeller. (JJJJJJ)
Evanescence; Fallen
Wind-Up/Epic
There has been
a buzz about this band in America for a while. I remember at one point when
these people still were unsigned that they talked to me about sending a CD for
review in Past and Present Music. It never reached us, but it would’ve been
nice to have been one of those who could say: “I told you so” today, huh?
Anyway, “Fallen” isn’t exactly the great album that I was expecting. People
have been describing the band as Linkin Park meeting Lacuna Coil, which sounds
as a pretty good description to me. There’s definitely some radio-friendly
nu-metal going on together with the quite melancholic Lacuna Coil-sounding
gothic vocals of Amy Lee. The first single, “Bring Me To Life”, is without a
doubt the best song on the album. It’s actually a great song. There are other
songs that are ok on there, but there’s nothing that convinces me that
Evanescence is the band that deserves to brake female fronted goth-rock to the
mainstream. I think Lacuna Coil should’ve done that ages ago, or The Gathering
even. And what’s up with “My Immortal”, it sounds like a ballad with Celine
Dion trying to be goth. Oh, please… (JJJJJJ)
Hugo; Feeding ahhs
Radius Records
When seeing
the cover on this album, I thought that I was about to hear another modern rock
singer/songwriter album, but I was way off. Instead, what came out of my
speakers throughout the CD was something sounding a lot more like a boyband
than an effort by a solo-artists. Actually, “Feeding Ahhs” almost sounds like
an attempt on sounding like N’Sync. I mean it, there are those really big
production pop-songs with lots of background vocals sounding not too far from,
eh, N*Sync at times. There’s also a little hip-hop in there somewhere and a little
electric rock-guitar, but not nearly enough to make this an interesting listen.
The boring ballads certainly don’t help much in that department either. (JJJJJJ)
Junkbunny; Bump
Pink Hedgehog Records
Here’s an a
bit lo-fi indie kind of pop-band that likes to combine their lo-fi-ness with
that 60’s kind of pop-choruses. It works out quite well at times, but there are
also times that the listener is just left out cold. Not bad, there’s just
nothing we haven’t heard before here. If that doesn’t bother you and you’re one
of those people that just can’t get enough of lo-fi indie pop, then you’ll have
about half an hour of ear-candy in this record. (JJJJJJ)
Kat Terran; Lion & Blue
Little Roar Records
Here’s a nice female
singer/songwriter type of album that finds a balance somewhere between the
acoustic sound of Ani DiFranco and the alternative-pop of Alanis Morisette,
without really sounding exactly like any of the two. Kat Terran is a good
musician and composer - mind you, she’s even a great singer, but there are
times when I feel like she’s overdoing it a bit. Overall, though, “Lion &
Blue” turns out to be a good record. (JJJJJJ)
Keydragon; Awakin The Lair
Self-released
According to
the papers I got with this CD, this is supposed to be a nu-metal project, but I
have a hard time seeing fans of Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit accepting this as
nu-metal, even though nu-metal obviously can be a lot of other things that the
aforementioned ones. I’d rather just call this a metal band taking in
influences from a lot of places. There are some Fear Factory-type industrial
beats going on, some modern metal riffs, death metal growls, psychedelic
saxophones and some other stuff. The sound quality on this record is not good
enough to do all the sounds performed full justice, but then again this is a
self-released album that probably had a very low budget. Anyway, someone should
definitely tell Ron Langford, the brain behind this project, that one of the
bands he claims to be inspired by, Lincoln Park, is actually called Linkin
Park. (JJJJJJ)
Lauren Braddock; Lauren Braddock
Last Dawg Records
Country-knowers
have stumbled across the name Braddock before. Lauren is the daughter of
country-songwriter Bobby Braddock, but instead of doing the typical traditional
country type of thing that I think her father is known for, on this album
Lauren is heading for a more modern country meets pop approach. Don’t
immediately put her up there with Shania Twain, though, as her music isn’t
nearly that poppy. Everything on here has been done before, but if you’re into
this kind of country-pop thing, then Lauren Braddock probably will work wonders
for you. Lyrically she’s all over the place, singing about such heavy subjects
like murder, childhood angst and world peace, and it sounds like she’s
something on her heart. However, in “Lost Dawg”, where she sings “Lost Dawg,
sniffin’ around my door, I ain’t takin’ you in no more. You’re barkin’ up the
wrong tree. You got a bad history, lost Dawg”, she seems to be an artist
without anything to say. Of course that song could be about her record label
and suddenly everything would make sense again. (JJJJJJ)
The Letterpress Opry; Americana Gothic
Feral Dachshund Records
Now, here’s another
American band that sounds a bit Irish or Scottish at times. Musically these
guys and girl blend folk, Americana and country into a quite enjoyable
cocktail, with fiddle, accordion, pedal steel, organ, banjo, straight up bass,
percussion and guitars filling up the soundpicture. A track like “Jerusalem” is
really good and should definitely speak in favor of this band if it was played
on the radio. My only complaint with this CD is that there perhaps are too many
tracks. It starts to sound a little repetitive towards the end. Perhaps this
would’ve been a stronger release if there were only, say, 10 - 12 songs. (JJJJJJ)
The Lovetones; Be What You Want
The Committee/BOMP
This
Sydney-based rock-outfit has traveled all the way to Europe to find inspiration
for their music, which is fine, because on “Be What You Want” they’ve come up
with quite a few good psychedelic pop-songs. For the most part, at least when
going about in a acoustic or semi-acoustic manner, The Lovetones have striking
similarities to The almighty Beatles, while also drawing influences from US
singer-songwriter Elliot Smith and the likes. When a little more electric in
their approach, The Lovetones sound more along the lines of old Oasis. Overall,
“Be What You Want” is a good album with the Beatlesque stuff easily being crème
de la crème. (JJJJJJ)
Lucerin Blue; Tales Of The Knife
Tooth and Nail Records
Lucerin Blue
is one of the newest signings to Tooth and Nail Records, but opposed to a lot
of other releases I’ve heard from this label lately, there really isn’t much to
get excited about on “Tales Of The Knife.” Sure, Lucerin Blue aren’t a bad band
by any means, and they play their pop, metal and hardcore combinations
convincingly, but when it all comes down to it, there are just too many bands
that sound exactly like this. If you just can’t get enough of nu-metal, though,
Lucerin Blue is your newest friend. (JJJJJJ)
Natural Toy; Are We Here Yet?
NT Records
Apparently
these guys are trying to be funny on this thing, which I didn’t even realize
when I first listened to it, and, well, I still don’t think they’re funny.
Judging from the cover, I was expecting some kind of 50/60 pop type of thing,
and while there are obviously 50’s influences to spot in the overall picture,
this is just plain and ordinary modern rock most of the time. Nothing new or
even slightly groundbreaking, but still quite alright. (JJJJJJ)
The Rasmus; Dead Letters
Playground Music Scandinavia
When I first saw
a glimpse of these guys on MTV’s “Up North” program a while back, I thought
they were just another retro-rock band, and the name certainly didn’t suggest
otherwise. But after later on hearing “In The Shadows” a lot of times on MTV I
knew that there was more to these Finns than just grease and balls. Well,
actually neither of those things are particularly apparent on “Dead Letters.”
But these guys certainly know how to write catchy pop-rock songs, if nothing
else “In The Shadows” should have proved that by now. I really thought that The
Rasmus was like all the other likeminded bands getting tons of air-play on MTV
right now, with one or two memorable songs on their new album, and those being
the ones being overplayed by the radio and TV-stations. Surprisingly, though,
“Dead Letters” is quite full of memorable songs. Not all songs are great, but
most of them are indeed well worthy of a few spins, in my honest opinion. Above
all, though, be sure to check out “Still Standing” if you want a truly great
pop-rock song. The funny thing about The Rasmus is that fans of 70’s inspired
rock probably will find something to adore on “Dead Letters”, but even more so,
the AOR-fans of the 80’s will do so together with the current modern rock fans
as well as those from the 90’s. (JJJJJJ)
Richard Trible; Love, Sex & Other Messy Things
Trailerlord Records
I don’t know
about the love, but there’s certainly a lot of sex and other messy things on
this record. Especially the sex. You see, Richard Trible knows that there’s no
way on earth that this low-budget album will get anywhere near being perfectly
produced or performed, so he goes for what he thinks he does best, namely being
funny. And sure, he’s funny, but over the course of 17 songs it can also become
a little too much. “Love, Sex & Other Messy Things” is made up by songs
that Richard himself wrote, as well as some covers, or should we say parodies,
of songs by the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Britney Spears among others. The
Britney Spears parody is a “spoken word” poem-like (without being poetic,
though) version of “Oops, I Did It Again.” I don’t know, I thought this was
funny for a while, but it just got to the point where it just became tiring,
but if you are the kind of person who watches Mel Brooks movies 20 times and laughs
just as much the 20th time as the first time, then you might just as
well try a Richard Trible record. (JJJJJJ)
Ron Langford; Solo Piano Pieces
Self-released
This guy, also
going under the name Keydragon, seems to be pretty interesting. He’s in a blues
band, leads a metal band, while also doing this classical project. Judging from
the album-title most of you should already know that this album is solely made
up by piano solos played by Ron Langford, but to give you a better idea of what
is in hold for you if you want to purchase this, I can tell you that these are
classical pieces, some of them made by Ron himself, while others are well-known
pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Handel. Personally, I had a hard time
getting into this record, even though I really enjoyed Ron playing Beethoven’s
“Fur Elise”, but mostly this just went straight into the background for me. (JJJJJJ)
Strung Out; Live In A Dive
Fat Wreck Chords
Here’s another
album in Fat Wreck Chords’ series Live In A Dive.” I am really not that
familiar with Strung Out, even though I’ve been listening a lot to Fat Wreck
Chords releases lately. I guess they’re just the band that I am always missing
out on. Anyway, they do a fine job on this live-album. They sound way more raw
than I’d ever imagined them to be. The album starts with an awful lot of
cheering from the crowd, but just when you think these guys will be kicking
into another pop-punk song, things are literally transformed into a major
hardcore-chaos. The intensity doesn’t stay intact throughout, though, and there
are a few semi-misses along the way, but mostly, though, this is a fine
live-album that definitely won’t make the punk-kids embarrassed. (JJJJJJ)
Various Artists; Liberation – Songs To Benefit Peta
Fat Wreck Chords
Peta is an
organization that believes that animals are not to be eaten, worn, experimented
on, used for the sake of entertainment, nor used in any other abusive
situation. So being the punk-label that Fat Wreck Chords are they wanted to
lend the organization a helping hand by releasing this compilation. So what
have we got? Well, a lot of the finest within punk-rock these days, and quite a
few Fat Wreck bands (Propagandi, Good Riddance, NOFX, Frenzal Rhomb and Aniti
Flag). There are also some bands that are really, really hot right now, like
Hot Water Music, The Used, Goldfinger and Good Charlotte. And did I mention
that some of this stuff is rare? Well, it is and it’s pretty good too. And may
I remind you once more (as I did in last months issue) that Frenzal Rhomb’s
“Russell Crowe’s Band” (is a fucking pile of shit) is da bomb? And hey, one
more thing, the Goldfinger song featured on this thing is called “Fuck Ted
Nugent” – that gotta be worth something too right? (JJJJJJ)
Various Artists; Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture – Matrix
Reloaded
Warner/Maverick
I am probably
the only person on the planet who actually fell a sleep for a few minutes
towards the end of the Matrix Reloaded movie when first seeing it at the
movies. Maybe I was just tired or maybe I got bored. Don’t remember, so I guess
it’s up to you to decide. Anyway, I could easily fall asleep while listening to
disc two on this double-soundtrack too. Actually I did once, but in all
fairness I also listened to it when going to bed, so I guess it was inevitable.
It is just boring and typical film-music: dramatic, big, orchestral, while also
coming with dance-like beats. Disc one on the other hand is easier to handle
for this reviewer. The lead off single from the soundtrack, P.O.D.’s “Sleeping Awake”,
is great. So are tracks by Marilyn Manson, Deftones, Rob Zombie and Rage
Against The Machine, but other than that this soundtrack isn’t anything to nuts
over. Some of it is really cool, some of it is just ok, and some of it is
extremely boring. (JJJJJJ)
Very Ape; Kosher Boogie
Alive Records
Just so we’re
on the same page here, this Very Ape outfit is not the one coming from Japan,
but a totally different one actually coming from Sweden. It doesn’t come as a
big surprise then that their debut-album “Kosher Boogie” is clock-full of 70’s
rock with screaming guitar-solos, loud bass-playing, thundering drums and,
fortunately enough, also with vocals to back it all up. From this description
you might’ve guessed that these are no The Hives copycatting losers, but proud
rock n’ rollers building further upon the recent tradition of The Hellacopters,
Gluecifer and the likes. (JJJJJJ)
The Whole Bolivian Army; War Stories
Gargantuan Records
First of all let
me say that I think The Whole Bolivian Army is a great name for a band. The
album-title, “War Stories”, doesn’t come across quite as catchy even though
that’s exactly what the ten songs featured on this disc are; war stories.
Anyway, I don’t know much about this band, as it didn’t come with a press
release (I am too lazy to check them up on the internet). I know that they’re
passionate about what they do, though, and I can hear that they’ve been at it
for a while, since they sound very comfortable around each other on this disc.
However, what lifts these ten dynamic rock songs slightly above your standard
pop-rock record, are the smooth and beautiful vocals of MB. (JJJJJJ)
Single/EP
of the month:
Appease; Act Five, Scene Three
Mighty Atom/Bravestar Records
We’re running
a little low on singles and EP’s in this issue, which means that Appease, even
though they’re really not that spectacular, quite easily earn the “Single/EP of
the month” title. There are a million bands sounding like this right now, and
Appease really haven’t done much to distance themselves from the crowd on this
four-tracker. I am not saying that they should, though, because there’s
certainly nothing wrong with the songs if you’re looking for another pop/punk
band with heavy emo-leanings delivering a few screamo moments along the way.
“Lack of Confidence” is a pretty catchy and memorable pop-tune that definitely
gets a few extra spins in the days to come in this reviewer’s CD-player.
Appease sound kind of like Funeral For A Friend, just with less power, less
emotion, less melody and less fury, while still being quite good. (JJJJJJ)
Other
singles & EP’s this month:
The Crayon Theatrical; The Crayon Theatrical
Scabby Brooks Records
The Crayon
Theatrical is the project of Michael Homyk, a songwriter and musician who since
1996 has been releasing homemade music under this name. His newest self-titled
EP is actually quite an enjoyable ride, even though it probably could’ve been
more polished in the production area, but still, as I said earlier, this is a
home recording, so we’ll be able to forgive that. Besides, there’s coming a new
album later on that should be more polished. Michael has obviously an ear for
catchy and psychedelic pop-rock, where acoustic guitars, nice choruses and an a
little sad overall tone gather in a higher existence. Even though not entirely
being in the same ballgame, I can’t stop thinking about REM while hearing these
fragile and yet heartfelt pop-songs. (JJJJJJ)
Fallon Francisco; Fallon Francisco
Microscopic Records
This is minimalist and lo-fi indie-pop
in its purest from, perhaps even too minimalist and lo-fi for this reviewer at
time. It starts rather interesting, though, with “Behind Her Blinds”, but after
that song this vinyl-EP quickly seems to pass you by. Due to the poor
sound-quality you’ll definitely have to be a fan of this kind of music to get
into Fallon Francisco. (JJJJJJ)
The Ivory Tower Project; Red Hot
Guerilla Records
Now, here’s a bunch of guys who didn’t
make it past the 80’s, which of course if fine with me, as the 80’s actually
brought us a lot of great music. The Ivory Tower Project leans really heavily
towards the melodic AOR-scene from that period, with songs featuring a lot of
synths, big vocal-arrangements and show-off guitar-solos. Bands that come to
mind most often during the four tracks on “Red Hot” are Toto and Foreigner, but
I take it that progrockers like Yes are also an influence. This is definitely
for people who were into melodic pop rock in the 80’s. (JJJJJJ)
The Residuals; The Residuals
Microscopic Records
I have kind of the same feelings about
this vinyl-EP from The Residuals that I have about the Fallon Francisco EP
reviewed above. It’s lo-fi indie-pop with a rather messy production behind it.
It’s not the worst thing I’ve heard, but still it doesn’t make a lasting
impression on me. I think their full-length is easily superior to this. (JJJJJJ)