 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 ROTATION Ice Cube Rachel's Death Cab For Cutie Lyrics Born Andrew Bird Mars Volta Space Team Electra Rob Swift Apples in Stereo Jurassic 5 Sleater-Kinney Nirvana Sonic Youth Amon Tobin Dirty Three Cat Power Pixies Fugazi Frank Black Breeders Three Mile Pilot Mogwai DJ Shadow Chuck D Shipping News Black Heart Procession White Stripes Built To Spill Los Straitjackets Jon Spencer Blues Explosion AND MUCH MORE! 
 "If
you don't think of Cubans or Iraqis as actual human beings with jobs
and day-to-day lives, if you don't see them or hear their voices,
then it's easier to be against them. They're faceless. It's a tried-and-true
way of dealing with people or nations that the ruling elite finds
troublesome or inconvenient, whether it's Native Americans, Germans,
Russians, Iraqis, Cubans, even the French -- whoever gets in our way.
They're simply lumped into the enemy pile. "  "Unless
his friends and neigh-bors turn bitch and completely bail on him, the hyperskilled Lyrics Born will be here later this day, that day or whatever day."  "There
was some-thing truly visceral about Cube's voice that made his ever-present snarl that much more serious. As he barked on Death Certificate and Amerikkka's, he was the nigga you love to hate as well as the wrong one to fuck with."  "People
are more aware of the world that they want to live in, and now they have
to realize that they can actually create that world and fight for the
things that are worth fighting for and not feel apathetic."
 "There's
a scene in Waking Life where the Wiley crouches down to read
a note in the street that says, 'Look to your right,' which he does,
only to come face to face with a speeding car aiming right for his head.
That's what it's like to listen to Mars Volta's De-loused in the
Comatorium for the first time." |
Morphizm Mash-Up: June 2004 Pedro the Lion,
Achilles Heel (Jade Tree) It's not quite a conceptual piece like earlier albums, but there is still a connectedness to the tracks that leaves one with the impression that Bazan is painting a picture of his disillusion of suburban life and one's role within it. "It's time to bury dreams and raise a son to live vicariously through," he sighs on "I Do," a track highlighting the middle-class man's purgatory, a thread running through the songs. The two tracks following "I Do" almost get Bazan's old concept plan back on track: "A Simple Solution" and "Start Without Me" both seem to address the way out of a mid- life crisis via suicide or abandonment.
But Bazan's well documented spirituality lends itself interestingly to such topics, as he is able to routinely throw a wrench into spiritual confessions by openly admitting to the struggles of faith. "It's such a simple plan to take it like a man, but I'm not sure I can," he sings on "A Simple Solution". Musically, the album is a pretty melodic affair, a little quieter than past efforts. He bounces it up a bit more with a country-ish "Foregone Conclusions" and "Keep Swinging." Bazan's voice is one of those that is not beautiful but emotive and endearing, making the lyrical delivery sound all the more honest. All of which makes Achilles Heel another sad, sensitive offering from Pedro the Lion, once again intelligently rendered and emotionally perceptive. -- Mo Herms But not all concept albums are bad; some are good, even great. Pink Floyd, the masters of the genre, proved that with The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon, and Animals. And a few fearless indie bands have tried their hand at it as well, and succeeded: The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and The Mars Volta's Deloused in the Crematorium. The latest noteworthy achievement comes from Sleep Station's concept album, After the War.
Sleep Station's fifth album takes the listener through the days, nights, hopes, dreams and fears of a soldier fighting in World War II. Yet where Roger Waters might've felt "Comfortably Numb" under such a scenario, Sleep Station feels anything but. Their album is packed with enough melancholia and longing to make your heart swell and bring a tear to your eye. For example, in "A Final Prayer 2," a homesick fighter-pilot wishes for nothing but to be able to say to his son: "Just know that I love you/You have made my heart fill with joy/And I'm just a father who loves his boy/I'll fall from the sky/And you won't see me fall/There's no telling what becomes of us all." There are many such songs on After the War. "Burden to You" is an achingly somber tune about a soldier imagining his true love at home, uncomfortable in her lonely bed. "Caroline, London 1940" sounds not too coincidentally a lot like "Holland, 1945" from Neutral Milk Hotel's own concept album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Although Sleep Station's work doesn't sound like anything you might have heard in the '40s, much of After the War was recorded with World War II-era equipment, a technique that becomes most apparent in the vocals. But no matter the device or goals, Sleep Station has nevertheless captured and concentrated a nostalgic sadness. More importantly, they've chalked up another win for the concept album. -- Jeff Pearce !!!, Louden
Up Now (Touch and Go) !!! -- which can be pronounced "Chk chk chk" or "Tsk tsk tsk" or, basically, any percussive sound repeated three times -- soldier on with ferocious dance jams filled with horns and handclaps and driving bass. But this time they use vocals as more than just another instrument. On their debut album and follow up EP, the vocals were just as skittery as the guitar, adding to the jumpy whiteboy funk rather than pushing out any sort of tangible message. But politics is now front and foremost; the band actually shouts, "Like I give a fuck!" on "Pardon My Freedom." Rebelling against censorship, conservatives and very pointedly, former NYC mayor Rudy Guiliani, !!! have successfully crafted a dance rant against the establishment -- and just in time for elections! "What did George Bush say when he met Tony Blair? Shit, scheisse, merde" is just one of many charged lines in the groovalicious opus "Shit Scheisse Merde - Pt. 1." Oh yes, there's a part two, and for those who don't want to get busted by the FCC, an instrumental version of "Part 1" for radio play.
Another version of the CD comes with a bonus disc (perhaps you can find it at one of your local Christian retailers) of the "clean" versions of all these songs, but you still get the dirty one too. !!! is often lumped into the recent New York dance craze with acts like Hot Hot Heat and The Rapture, but they may have more in common with post-punk types like Gang of Four or the post-Clash outfit, Big Audio Dynamite. They are their own unique beast, however, a group of nerdy white kids with the ability to create music for the dirty dancing college crowd, respected by funksters and stoners alike. There is very much a kitchen-sink element to them; they throw in new wave tinkling with heavy percussion and intense vocals with infectious results. In "Hello, Is This Thing On?" vocalist John Pugh screams, "Everybody's acting like I'm fucking crazy or something!" while bongos clatter in the background with spacey disco guitar. You aren't crazy, John, because the world would be a better place if everyone got their !!! on. -- Mo Herms Mellowdrone,
Go Get 'em Tiger EP (Artist Direct)
Initially a one-man show by Jonathan Bates, Mellowdrone released a couple melodic EPs before Bates picked up some bandmates to fully round out the sound he was going for all along -- a dreamy yet thoroughly engaging kind of rock, not out of place with the likes of Ride, Swervedriver, and Beck in his Sea Changes phase. Majestic at times, full of swooning orchestration and hypnotic rhythms, Mellowdrone's work wears its love of Radiohead proudly on its sleeve on tracks like "Bonemarrow" and "Pretty Boy." Occasionally, the slightly off-kilter yet soothing vocals lend a Go Get em Tiger a sense of drowsy melodrama, but it's just part of the musical textures that Bates has concocted to draw the listener in. Mellowdrone's latest is a beautiful EP that holds much promise for the full-length to come, hopefully, towards the end of 2004. -- Mo Herms 25 June 04 
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright 2001-2003, Morphizm.com. All Rights Reserved. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Sleep
Station, After the War (Bardic Records)
