Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Slug Guts - Howlin' Gang


As it opens, stuff like this is always going to remind me of Jon Spencer. And that's not a bad thing. Dark garage echo, Hollow-body electric twangy Link Wray guitar. These guys difinitely have "mood" down. But, in all honesty, I defy you to distinguish one track from another. In contrast to the exhuberent Jon, the vocalist here has zero presence and is virtually behind the bass in the mix. His low talking style makes Julian Casablancas sound like Celine Dion. (1.5 of 5 stars)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps

Greg Dulli has never been a garage-type riffer. His brand of alternative always leaned more toward the "chugga-chugga" and not so much the "chuck-chuck-chuck". (What? That makes complete sense to me...) And when the Twilight Singers was formed, he didn't change much. He just added some layers to stylize the sound and make it more uptown.

This album is the same TS vain. A collection of sonic landscapes that would rock out the martini crowd at your favorite corporate hotel bar.

A killer opening track starts, by way of "Last Night in Town" which builds from a piano ballad to a "Crime Scene"-like frenetic ride. His declaration of "being there" feels less romantic and more like an urban Tom Joad promising to be the inspiration in your fight.
"Waves" is the heaviest track on the record. A person better than me could remix this track to loop just the bass groans at the beginning of the song and make it the grooviest sex grind of the decade. As it stands though, the guitar drives the song into some kind of Smashing Pumpkins distortion piece. Awesome, if less fuckable.



In the middle comes a pair of clunkers, the first single "On The Corner" and "Gunshots" display a similar "Use Somebody" feel while still staying trapped in Dulli's low range disembodied voice. The "woah-oa" background's are there, but every lead syllable is drawn out until the words become boring.
Some famous pairings are listed in the notes but neither Joseph Arthur nor Ani DiFranco makes any attempt at adding anything unique to the recording. Each background vocal could have been anyone. I mean, I'm glad they got a paycheck and all...

More good than bad, here. Maybe not a dynamite step- but bigger than baby. (3.5 of 5 stars)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Tao Of The Dead

Big ol' self-indulgent experiment here by the Trail. It's being released in really three different forms. Once, with the songs all tuned in D. Another with the same songs tuned in F. And then a collection of the songs is presented as one continuous track. All in a Dr. Parnassus sized booklet. How does it fly, then?

Not unlike the previous Trail record, "Century Of Self". In other words, a
wall of sound. A wall of garage sound. The opener, "Pure Radio Cosplay" is a great methed-up "Jumpin' Jack Flash". But there's more than that...



Can't think of a proper band, but "The Wasteland" sounds like a post-grunge modern rock radio band. 70s big pop
Wings/10cc harmonies with Nirvana crunch verses. Complete with a throwback ELP Moog solo. You're seeing the self-indulgence, right? They're either reeling themselves in from experimenting too far, or they're "staying true" to their roots. Regardless, mixing old school Trail with a Decemberists-style written song like "Weight of the Sun" is a difficult listen. And we get that a few times in this record. "Ebb Away", on the other hand, is a straight aheader that this writer would have like more of.

This is all capped by a 16-minute groove epic mini opera called "Strange News from Another Planet" which is actually good stoner progressive space rock. It'll be hard to give many listens to, due to its length and drone. But if you like the weedpot, I'd highly recommend. (2.5 of 5 stars)

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts

I have a feeling in my head that I'm going to hate the shit out of this record. But it's almost the only thing that was released today that's actually available to me to hear. And it's called "Rolling Blackouts", which I expect to see here in my midwestern-Planet Hoth tonight. So, by all means, Go! Team... Go.

Kicking off- all right, I'll admit my surprise. "T.O.R.N.A.D.O." has an insane break beat. Disjointed and cacophonous. Which was cool. What's it about, I have no idea- but on the drive to work, it would keep me awake.




Another highlight is the instrumental "Bust-Out Brigade". It's a university pep squad marching band funk jam! To an album I'm still not considering higher than a two-starrer, I can see this hanging on to be a best of 2011. Another brief instrumental "Super Triangle" is a mellow synthesized piece that would not be out of place on a Wings record.

Having said all this praise-y stuff; it should be noted with a big exclamation point that the engineer on this record is a deaf person. Every bit is blasted over the top with all the noise a studio can provide plus the kitchen sink. Nothing is distinguishable and the vocals/lyrics are ridiculously undermixed and unintelligible. I'm sure that the performances are not as sloppy as the sound, but all the sounds bleed together in the worst way. (2 of 5 stars)