 |
 |
|
 |
December 2002
| ||||
|
Cooper Temple Clause "See This Through and Leave"
(Morning Glory Records) The Clause make a ton of noise. They use guitars and screeching keyboards to create a massive wall of fuzzy sound. Yet in all of the noise, they seem to find a sense of melody. Plus you gotta love a band that has their first single about destroying the music industry ("Let’s Kill Music"). |
|
Over and over their lyrics will
find a way of sticking in your head and send you bouncing around. The
track "Panzer Attack" is the perfect song on the album to sum up the
band as a whole. It bridges the gap between a massive wall of white
noise and melody in a way that will continually get you to scream
the title over and over again. website: CooperTempleClause.com
~Lio | |
 |
Noonday Underground "Surface Noise" (Setanta) According to the press release, Simon Dine of Noonday Underground doesn't spend his days "watching classic Avengers re-runs while stacking obscure Tamla 45's on a paisley-patterned Dansette". However, you wouldn't know it by listening to his band's sophmore release. |
|
Following up on the
60's dancefloor pop of 2001's "Self Assembly", "Surface Noise" moves forward
a year or two, recalling the lush orchestrations of early Pink Floyd.
Daisy Martey's maturing vocals on "Go it Alone" and "When I Fall" are sexy and
seductive and have a surprising Carol King quality to them. These tracks
are juxtaposed with "Nobody But You" (which samples the Turtles "Happy Together")
and "Hitch Your Wagon to the Stars", a surreal country & western-flavored
ditty that borrows from Duane Eddy's "Rebel Rouser".
Fortunately, it's this diverse mix of jazzy modern dreamscapes and space-out R&B that helps to keep "Surface Noise" from sounding like just another homage to kitschy 60's-style psychedelia. website: Noonday-Underground.com ~S. Appel
| |
|
November 2002
Live: Badly Drawn Boy The TLA gave way to an early Friday night show on South Street starring Badly Drawn Boy. The crowd, anxious to hear the new material on BDB's latest album, left completely satisfied after an exhilarating performance. | |
| What seemed to be an eternity of listening to opener Adam Green, the stage was set for the Boy and his band, which included former Smiths bassist, Andy Rourke. A huge side-show inspired banner hung behind the stage listing songs on the just released Have You Fed the Fish?. With "40 Days, 40 Fights" Badly Drawn Damon Gough began the two-hour-plus set that included "What Is It Now?", "Pissin' in the Wind" and various tracks from the "About a Boy" soundtrack, which Gough referred to as the "Hugh Grant" songs. As numbers were sped up and slowed down depending on the mood that Gough was in, the band had to keep up and stay on top of the impromptu changes, and did so flawlessly. |  |
|
Gough's boyish antics also pleased the capacity crowd and kept them in
good spirits throughout the night. During "Once Around the Block," he
declared his candidacy for President of the United States. And later,
while singing "I Was Wrong", he instructed the audience to split down
the center so he could invite a girl from the back to come to center
stage so he could serenade her.
~Amy A. | |
|
September/ October 2002
Badly Drawn Boy, The Music, & OK Go | |
|
|
Badly Drawn Boy “Have You Fed the Fish?” (Twisted Nerve)
Upon listening to "Have You Fed the Fish?", it's apparent that Badly Drawn Boy was in a pretty good mood when creating this music. It's a completely honest recording of true feelings felt by the "Boy", Damon Gough, that are familiar to everyone. Full of apologies, reasoning, questions of integrity and proclamations of love, "Fish" explores feelings that are so common to all but are rarely written in such simple terms. |
|
BDB's inspirations are all over the map: from remembering the deaths of Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, Jeff Buckly and Kurt Cobain ("I Was Wrong") to referencing the birth of his second child, ("You Were Right") it's hard to
determine the mind set that Gough had going into the creation of these 16 tracks. Did he want an optimistic record? Did he purposely want to take us on a roller coaster of emotions, first building us up with positivity only to tear us down? Or was it meant to be the other way around?
The opening instrumental begins with ground control announcing the arrival of Badly Drawn Boy and continuing with a tune comparable to the score to "2001: A Space Odyssey". The record changes pace on "Using Your Feet," a fun funk-inspired track that is easily dancable and begs for audience participation upon listening. "Tickets to What you Need" finds BDB continually posing the simple question "'What's wrong with me?". But rather than asking in a ‘feeling-sorry-for-myself' tone, it's set against a poppy charleston-tempo that puts a sarcastic spin on the over-analytical question. With samples of "Sexual Healing" here and carnival-like overtones there, "Have You Fed the Fish?" is an example of a smart yet sincere collection of tunes that makes you realize that life isn't all that bad. wedsite: badlydrawnboy.co.uk ~Amy A. | |
 |
The Music “The Music” (Virgin)
Best British rock/pop/indie/dance record that I’ve heard since 1995. Yes boys and girls, this is dance music with a real intense groove here. (Don’t be scared indie kids, it is not house music.) Think of Perry Farrell’s voice (Jane’s Addiction) with a speeded up Stone Roses groove. I saw them play at the Reading Festival in England, and their live performance blew me away. I was suffering from food poisoning, damn festival food, and I even got out of my chair to dance. |
|
So, small hint, don’t miss them on their upcoming US tour (November 2 at Bowery Ballroom in NYC). The Music has an amazing rhythm that is proven to make you dance, like it or not. The only downfall is that songs tend to be long jam sessions. Either way, this is an amazing debut from a group of boys that are barely legal. No fashion-fuckers here, just plain amazing music.
website: themusic.uk.com
~Lio | |
 |
OK Go "OK Go" (Capitol)
OK Go is our new favorite band. They were the perfectly sweet antidote to labelmates The Vines on their joint summer tour. While the Aussie bunch thrashed and screamed and regularly trashed their equipment, OK Go charmed their way through their sets with considerably less drama. And now, with nifty intelligent lyrics and buoyant energy, this Chicago four-piece releases their smashing self-titled debut album. |
|
Opening with the "We Will Rock You" clapping of "Get Over It" and moving swiftly into the bouncy "Don't Ask Me", frontman Damian Kurlash sings about pretentious self-absorbtion and two-faced ex-girlfriends. Both of these, along with "You're So Damn Hot" show off the band's affection for early Elvis Costello and Cars-style pop, with fuzzy guitars and New Wave keyboard action. Slower tracks like "1000 Miles Per Hour" and "Hello My Treacherous Friend" showcase OK Go's diversity as well as Kurlash's song-writing, which is smart without being self-conscious, fun without being kitschy. Kurlash told CMJ, "We try to have fun without being silly or pandering". And with their new album, OK Go proves that to be true. website: OKgo.net
~S. Appel | |
| August 2002
Interpol, Jimmy Fallon, & Caesars Palace | |
 |
Interpol “Turn On The Bright Lights” (Matador)
There is something romantic about walking the NYC streets alone at night. You get disillusioned looking at bums and all the garbage, but then look up and see that one beautifully lit building. Jolting passed cafes, pizzerias, and bars, a sense of excitement fills your body. You just know there is something amazing out there for you. That’s why you suffer so, that’s why you came here. This seems to be a central theme to the Interpol boys. They tinge on a darker side of life with a strong hope for greatness at the end of it all. |
|
Their first full-length album is finally here and well worth the wait, becoming favorites of many critics and music lovers all around. Yes, it is as great as promised. Still borrowing from England’s best (The Chameleons, Joy Division) the sound is as pristine as we could all hope for. They pulled in some of the big boys to record/mix this album: Peter Katis (Mercury Rev) and Peter Katis and Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Clinic). With post punk making a huge comeback within NYC clubs and bars, it is no surprise that the bands have responded in the same way. Yet Interpol has been doing it for a while and finally has gotten some well-deserved recognition. website: www.InterpolNY.com
~Lio Cerezo
| |
 |
Jimmy Fallon “The Bathroom Wall” (Dreamworks)
Yeah, yeah...Jimmy Fallon is irresistable. He's charming and adorable and ever so impish. But is that reason enough to buy his new CD? No. Buy his new CD for one reason: Troll Dolls.
|
|
Sure, the "SNL"-comedian's songs "Idiot Boyfriend" and "(I Can't Play) Basketball" are cute and will make you grin. However, the real gems on this album are his stand-up routines. In "Troll Doll Celebrities", a very British Fallon is auditioning everyone from Jerry Seinfeld to John Travolta to be the new spokesperson for those annoying trolls. The impersonations are absolutely spot-on brilliant (particularly Robin Williams where Fallon not only does Robin Williams but Robin doing Arnold Schwarzenegger).
Later in "Troll Doll Jingles", Fallon shows his love of rock music whilst having bands like U2 and Dave Matthews Band singing the praises of the dolls. In "Hammertime", Fallon proves that every 80's song ever written can be sung over "U Can't Touch This".
Those three tracks alone are worth the price of the CD. Be prepared to laugh your ass off. website: JimmyFallon.net ~S. Appel | |
 |
Caesar’s Palace: “Love For The Streets” (Virgin)
Sweden isn’t all about The Hives. Bands like Caesar’s Palace are ready to break new ground across Europe and America. One of their biggest hits, “Punkrocker” has already been covered by many and now they have released their third album on Virgin Sweden (coming out in the US soon). Think Oasis with a more punky/quarky intake. |
|
Head bopping melodies start you off on “Over ‘fore it Started”. This guy misses his girl then falls in love with her again on “Candy Kane”. Or maybe he has a new one already. Then he lost her again by the third song, “Mine All of the Time”. Either he keeps going back and forth with his girl or has a lot of girlfriends. Whatever the case, they define their instability with “Let My Freak Flag Fly”. Girl problems continue to define the album in a crazy silly way. But don’t be persuaded otherwise; these boys do take their relationships seriously. They just refuse not to have fun. But all is ok because now we get into the really fun stuff with songs like “Cheap Glue” and “Black Heart”. “Jerk It Out" will make you dance while laughing along to the lyrics. website: www.CaesarsPalaceWeb.com ~Lio Cerezo | |
