earpollution album reviews [page 1] - issue 2.Ų6, june 2ŲŲŲ

Alpha and Omega - Mystical Things
Altar - In the Name of the Father
Anima Sound System - Hungarian Astronaut
Clare Quilty - Strong
The Damage Manual - 1
Darkseed - Diving into Darkness
Darrell Grant - Smokin' Java
Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Holger Czukay - La Luna
Kataklysm - The Prophecy (Stigmata of the Immaculate)
Macha/Bedhead - Macha Loves Bedhead, Bedhead Loves Macha
Malevolent Creation - Manifestation

The Murder City Devils - In Name and Blood
Pitchshifter - Deviant
Raise Hell - Not Dead Yet
Recoil - Liquid
Sinner - The End of Sanctuary
Sister Machine Gun - Transient 5.2
Smashing Pumpkins - Machina/The Machines of God
Steve Roach - Midnight Moon
Tarwater - Animals, Suns & Atoms
Various Artists - Exxxile on Main Street
Various Artists - A Fistful of Rock 'n' Roll: Volumes 1-4
Very Special Forces - Very Special Forces
Ween - White Pepper

Alpha and Omega Mystical Things BSI Records Links: Alpha and Omega		BSI Records in Portland, Oregon, is rapidly becoming the definitive source of excellent and experimental dub for the United States. Reaching across the ocean, they've tapped Alpha and Omega for a sonically effusive album of dub masterpieces. Making dub for a decade, Alpha and Omega bring a trip-hop and English dub influence to their music, resulting in a fresh perspective to the frayed and delayed sounds. Frankly, you can never have too much dub music in your collection. There is a certain playfulness--a lightness--in the reverb and echo that pushes back the darkness and bleakness of certain other labels and genres, as well as that same D & B that can creep into your life with six months of grey skies (got to perpetuate that myth about Seattle!). Alpha and Omega easily supply us with the open tones of the traditional reggae-influenced dub as well as exploring much spacier "chilled" dub environments. Relying on the haunting distortion of their vocals, they serve up twelve smooth dub plate delights. Their dub infection is bottled sunlight uncapped in a darkened room. *-Mark Teppo* [ top of page ]
Altar In the Name of the Father Pavement Records		Oh wow, this is close to being the best thrash disc this year...close but No. 1 is still Sodom's Code Red. In the Name of the Father is absolutely essential Euro-thrash that will exhaust chiropractors worldwide. Remember how hard Slayer and Metallica and Kreator used to be? Remember when thrash meant speed was first and melody second and it had to have rumbling, bumbling basslines that build up the speed? Thrash had muscular, exceptional drummers that learned endurance from playing soccer and going down on babes. Oh yeah, and thrash always had the threat of violence and evil. Welcome back thrash! And we have Pavement Records to thank for it. This is a most welcome find. Pavement is setting a strong front line for the rejuvenated thrash war against boring garbage metal with outstanding, vital releases from Sodom and Altar. Edwin Kelder's understandable yet growling and semi-deathish vocals set the tone for this evil, rocking, speedthrash extravaganza. Kelder has the perfect vocals and sound--you know from his tone that he's not to be trusted, yet the sick side of you wants him to know that the little kids that ride bikes all over your sidewalk, irritate the chihuahua and can't learn to ollie their skateboards properly are home alone for the fun of it. Sjoerd Visch's drumming is insane. Sjoerd may be possessed by demons which might explain a lot. Also included is a good cover of Iron Maiden's "The Trooper." The album art is of a bimbo feeling up a decapitated priest possessed by demons; nothing could define this album more appropriately. She probably got jilted for a Troma Queen for the thrill of it all. God how this sort of irony makes me love thrash. This is it! Totally derogatory and base lyrics surrounded by guitars, bass and drums that will rock your tiny ass so hard that you will obey its twisted and demented will...'cause it rocks. *-Sabrina Haines* [ top of page ]
Anima Sound System Hungarian Astronaut Tone Casualties		There is a man standing in the shadows at the corner of the street. It is night and the architecture is European and old with geometric patterns and conical towers. The man finishes his cigarette and his eyes are watering from the strong Turkish tobacco. He crosses the street and enters an old wooden phone booth. He dials and, glancing furtively at the street, speaks in a hushed tone. "The Communists have nothing to offer but fat cheeks, eyeglasses and lying policemen." This is the strange world of Hungarian Astronaut, a goulash of styles that sounds and reads almost like a coded spy message in itself as it skips and brushes across as many genres as you've got fingers. In fact, it is probably running as the soundtrack to a weekly Eastern European spy show, filling that unresolved niche of Cold War kitsch and decadent Western sonic flippancy. "Isten dob basszus" begins with the glissando stretch of violins and shivering synthesizers before kicking in with a drum beat that begs a chase scene through an outdoor marketplace. "Hungarian Astronaut" enters a late night jazz club where the drummer is out on a "mysterious assignment" and the singer has replaced him with a drum machine that was programmed by a 12-year old raised on Goldie and Photek 12-inches. "Csángo" is a melange of Bulgarian vocal stylings and downtempo chill beats. "Peace, Love, & Politics" is a summer love song straight out of the late '60s complete with obscure sampled admonition and cooing vocalist. You see what I mean about coded messages? I don't seem to have the proper decoder ring so I can't break down Hungarian Astronaut and discern the transmission hidden within. I can enjoy it. That much is easy to do. And easy to recommend as optional soundtrack for those days when the fedora and the trench coat seem perfect attire and your dialect is obscured with acronyms and coded messages. *-Mark Teppo* [ top of page ]
Clare Quilty Strong DCide Links: Clare Quilty		Those of you who catch the Nabokov reference the band takes its name from will also probably be those who best appreciate the college indie-sound of Claire Quilty. The band's sonic scruff is kept in check by a keen pop sense, with the ragged trip-hop guitar sounds of Mike Rodi providing the canvas for the sultry and slinky vocals of Jenn Rhubright to cast her voice upon. Stuart Gunter and Chris Ruotolo bring up the heavy presence of the rhythm section, and where Clare Quilty comes across best is on songs like "Anger is Beautiful," where Rodi's expansive guitar textures are kept in place by Rhubright's sexy-cool vocal delivery. Realizing that Rodi pens the lyrics Rhubright sings adds an extra twist to songs like the "come on fuck me" swagger of "Sleep With You." Strong oozes sex and intellect; the perfect album to stoke your post-finals burning libido with. *-Craig Young* [ top of page ]
The Damage Manual 1 Invisible Records Links: The Damage Manual		This album couldn't have arrived any sooner. What with all the sissynecks posing on the rough side of the fence, offering nothing more than regurgitated metal riffs and hip-hop beats, our only saving grace could have been the four unlikely veterans of the punk and industrial arena. Chris Connelly/vocals (Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface, Murder, Inc.), Geordie Walker/guitar (Killing Joke), Jah Wobble/bass (PIL, Invaders of the Heart) and the venerable Martin Atkins/drums and programmming (PIL, Killing Joke, Ministry, NIN, Pigface and Invisible Records head honcho). How's that for a line up? Are you thinking Murder, Inc.? Well, think again: The Damage Manual explodes like a car bomb. There is no question as to the intention here. With raw, huge energy the album's opener and first single "Sunset Gun" sets the pace for the rest of the show, which has the cast in seriously rare form. It's a brilliant set of post-industrial fuzzed-out rock 'n' roll stripped down to the bare essentials. There is just enough programming to keep this Juggernaut future-sighted, enough left out to make it as refreshing as cool water in Death Valley, and just enough pop to have you humming along and singing at the office, driving your co-workers nuts! This truly is the first really great album of 2000. Get this in the kiddies' hands and they're not going to know wheather to shit or wind their wristwatches. Punk angst hasn't been this authentic in years. You're gonna have smoke coming out of your ears. Put on a seat belt and cinch it down extra tight; you're going for a ride. *-Jeff Ashley* [ top of page ]
Darkseed Diving into Darkness Nuclear Blast America Links: Darkseed		Well, I was pleasantly surprised by this release. My colleague Sabrina gave me this to review and I have been hooked on Diving into Darkness since! If you read the bandmember bios you can tell how this layered brooding blackness escaped their souls: influences such as Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, The Cure, Samael, Dream Theater and others. You can see how these influences have seeped through their minds to create Diving into Darkness and thrust you into the abyss. Just close your eyes and feel the black nothingness swallow you whole. Darkseed have come out with a darkly atmospheric and catchy powerful release. Stefan Hertich's vocals combined with the backing harmonies just pull you in and won't let you go, smothering you in their gothic depth. The mix of crunchy guitars weaving along with the layered electronics never seems to get you lost; they just keep the music rolling along smoothly. No instrument is dominant, just well-mixed with great songwriting and structure. Darkseed have something going here if they can just sustain the emotions and drive. Diving into Darkness has several excellent songs and some good ones. I have not run across many bands lately that can boast to having any more than maybe three great songs on one release, which should give praise to Darkseed! *-Steve Weatherholt* [ top of page ]
Darrell Grant Smokin' Java Lair Hill Records Links: Darrell Grant		Smokin' Java, the fourth release from jazz pianist Darrell Grant, is a wonderful collection of modern jazz. I found his energy and pacing as pleasing as it was delightfully unpredictable. The guy can swing and does so impressively on the title track, cutting loose on a seven-minute jam that had my head a-boppin' and my feet a-tappin'. "Little Jimmy Fiddler," another smokin' groove, featured standout performances from Bob Stata on bass and Donald Harrison on sax. The rainy day, bluesy slow tune "Quiet Times" left me wanting more. Darrell's ability to tell a story was impressive and showed throughout the eight songs found here. The Special Edition CD also comes with a 24-page color photo booklet that includes an original short story about a jazz pianist named Langston and his efforts to find the perfect cup of java. Smokin' Java is an impressive piece of modern jazz that hits a variety of emotional chords. Darrell's unique style and sense of harmony make this another brilliant production from the man whose 1994 release The Black Art was named one of the ten best jazz albums of the year by the New York Times. *-Cecil Beatty-Yasutake* [ top of page ]
Elliott Smith Figure 8 Dreamworks Links: Elliott Smith		You always have to wonder when one repeatedly reads that a certain artist just keeps "getting better with each release." Immediately klaxons sound and suspicion starts to creep in. They can't just keep getting better. But that's exactly what Elliott Smith keeps doing, and in this instance all the suspect press is right on. Figure 8 finds him further channeling the somber and quiet introspections of Nick Drake ("Everything Reminds Me of Her") alongside the sweet melodies and sumptuous orchestrations of Beatles-era Paul McCartney ("Everything Means Nothing to Me"). Not as pop-happy as XO, more along the dark lines of Either/Or, it still glows with a style and complexity that finds Smith worthy of all the praise given him since "Miss Misery" first introduced his music to the rest of an adoring world. It's amazing when you think that both Smith's and his former Heatmeiser bandmates' subsequent musical endeavors (Sam Coomes' Quasi, Neil Gust's No. 2) have all earned deserving critical praise. Makes you want to go back and pull out those old Heatmeiser albums. You do have Heatmeiser in your collection, don't you? *-Craig Young* [ top of page ]
Holger Czukay La Luna Tone Casualties Links: Holgar Czukay		I'm writing this on May 17, 2000, two years to the day after Holger recorded this 47-minute oration to the effects of the moon. It is a full moon tomorrow night and my guess is that it was a full moon that night when Holger turned on the tapes and fired up the racks and banks of machines in his studio. An equal mix of Coil's seasonal soundtracks and the minimalist manifesto of Cologne and Köln, La Luna gradually drifts into your consciousness, wiring and rewiring your synapses to its own lunar control. This electrified ceremony is an ancient Druid ritual transmogrified for the 21st century, captured and reconfigured for propagation through the alpha and theta waves of the unwary listener. The repetitive drones make you susceptible to suggestion and the clicks and snaps and whirls rapidly become a comprehensive language that feels almost certainly normal flitting in the back of your throat. The windows are open. The breeze is gently blowing the curtains back. The moon is full. Worship. Life and death beneath this moon. This is your monthly ritual music, cycles turned and returned in a seemingly chaotic state. Listen to it often. You'll master the ritual quickly and soon we'll all be home on nights of the full moon with the lights off and the stereos on. Or we'll congregate out in empty fields, park our cars in off-centered circles, synchronize our stereos, and open our moon roofs to the spread light of our deity. "It is a different moon than I've ever seen before / A different moon / la luna goddess of the moon." Holger has always been a master of manipulated soundscapes and La Luna is a master's declaration of admiration and affection for his lunar muse. This music is rapturous interchange between light and dark, a summoning of the nocturnal vapors and a clarion cry to the effective power of the lunar orb. This is the drone of permanent cycles and the powerful effect of magnetic pulses on our imaginations. *-Mark Teppo* [ top of page ]
Kataklysm The Prophecy (Stigmata of the Immaculate) Nuclear Blast America Links: Kataklysm		Death metal legends Kataklysm release another brutal slab of laced with occasional melodic flashes of genius. Maurizio Iacono's vocals are brutal when in death mode and near brutal when not in death mode so you know that I admire his capabilities. Kataklysm are getting old enough that they could have sold out and did the generic death metal album or just growl into a niche of comfortable melodic death, but to continue to walk the razor-fine line of musically superior, brutally heavy, no-bullshit-about-mellowing-with-age, furious speed and demonic deathwish vocals isn't easy. No one ever said Kataklym was easy. This is brutal and very intense death metal done with the wisdom of age and the intensity of youth, and a really, really intense hate of Catholicism and organized religions. Right now, you already know if it is for you. *-Sabrina Haines* [ top of page ]
Macha/Bedhead Macha Loves Bedhead, Bedhead Loves Macha Jet Set Records Links: Macha		The Kadane brothers from Bedhead share credits with Macha for a five-song EP that is ostensibly the product of their mutual love. (Incidentally, Macha features Joshua and Mischo McKay.) The romance allegedly dates back to high school, when the two sets of brothers played in a band together. That early incarnation of Macha/Bedhead went nowhere, but the McKays kept a generous ear for the Kadanes' sullen strumming, while the latter were much impressed with Macha's post-rock acrobatics. But this album seems more like a game of Japanese whispers than the gentle songs of a reciprocal relationship. The opening bass line for "Hey Goodbye" is signature Bedhead, unassuming and sweetly melodic, but what about the swagger of the drums? Perhaps their neurotic indie rock was but a foil to their true musical passion: funk. What about the punchy chorus: a throwback to Bedhead's WhatFunLifeWas, or is Macha up to its usual antics? Thankfully, things are not always this complicated. "Only the Bodies Survive" features Matt Kadane on vocals and is seeped in Bedhead's trademark languid aesthetic, while the pep of "You and New Plastic" is no one but Macha's. Be that as it may, the credits show both a McKay and a Kadane listed among the authors. So, who told what to whom and how? The only track with clear authorship is the cover of Cher's "I Believe," though even here purists will object. The dance hall tune is turned into a plaintive ballad, quite possibly at the Kadanes' request, while Macha seems squarely behind the idea of playing the melody with a touch-tone telephone. Who would have thought that Cher's dreadful heartbreak song could be an apt kicker for a felicitous musical marriage? *-Edgar Ortega* [ top of page ]
Malevolent Creation Manifestation Pavement Music Links: Malevolent Creation		Malevolent Creation have over the past ten years never strayed from their chaotic goal of bringing you death metal as it is supposed to be: a violent and in your face assault to your biochemistry. Manifestation is a "Best Of" 20-song enhanced double disc, including four live tracks and 15 minutes of live video footage. This is a fan's wet dream and more, which should have you pounding your fists in the air, long sweaty hair flying back and forth. With Manifestation, Malevolent Creation cover their entire history starting out from the beginnings in the Buffalo death-metal scene to the world renowned status they have achieved. For the uninformed: Malevolent Creation are brutal in your face masterpiece of no holds barred throat-slashing riffs, grunting gruff vocals and wideass double bass drumming all running on high octane rocket fuel. With two discs and 20 songs, you can't go wrong with this manifestation of extreme madness. This is highly recommended for all who enjoy the sheer brutality of life! *-Steve Weatherholt* [ top of page ]

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