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Review Update: 11/08/04
Fear Before The March Of Flames -- Art Damage
Mr.
Scrillion, aka. Adam Thick – The
Pale Hustlini
Quintron – The Frog Tape
Vaux – Plague
Music EP
Yowie -- Cryptooology
Fear
Before The March Of Flames – Art Damage
Equal Vision Records
According to reliable sources, Equal Vision Records once flirted
with signing West Virginia’s
The Minus Tide. According to the grapevine, the band tired of waiting
for EVR to make a decision on whether they’d invite TMT to
join their ranks. So the band found a much more accommodating home
in Action Driver and released the absolutely stunning, and sadly,
criminally unsung Anakuklosis. This background is extremely
relevant because when Fear Before The March of Flames aren’t
trying unsuccessfully to copy Converge or The Blood Brothers (“Should
Have Stayed In The Shallows”), the band sounds an awful lot
like a less compelling version of The Minus Tide (especially on “Hey
Kid I’m A Computer Stop All The Downloading” and “Consequences
David You’ll Meet Your Fate In The Styx”). It only
took me four tracks before I’d replaced Art Damage with
Anakuklosis. It’s just too bad the powers that be
at EVR weren’t
a little quicker on their toes; they could’ve had the real
thing.
-Tim Anderl
Mr. Scrillion, aka. Adam Thick – The
Pale Hustlini
Goldfinger Records
Our introduction to Mr. Scrillion a little over a year ago was
a first for Bettawreckonize. It isn’t every day that you
encounter an octopus wearing, extreme kidnapping M.C. from Detroit.
Crazy rapping clowns with an addiction to Faygo, and patriotic
redneck M.C.s who are fans of Lynnard Skynnard, yes. But octopus
wearing kidnappers are definitely a first. Well because dissing
Scrillion “is like dropping the soap,” we weren’t
surprised when he e-mailed us, and was none too happy with the
review of this, his fourth album, that appeared in the last issue
of Bettawreck. He made a good argument though, that his album
hadn’t been evaluated with the same criteria with which most
releases are evaluated here at BW. Fair enough. Because my only
alternative to giving Mr. Thick a fair shake is likely ending up
in a dirt-floored basement in Detroit with a gag in my mouth and
an octopus on my head, I find myself listening to Scrillion’s
The Pale Hustlini. If you’re looking for the smooth,
slickly produced rap of today’s MTV, you’re not going
to find it here. Scrillion favors sampling Twisted Sister (“I
Wanna Rock Too”), home studio beats, and taking cues from
heyday players like Tone Loc and Too Short (though his delivery
is a bit
nasal and seems far more free-style than calculated – imagine
Weird Al doing a parody of TL or TS) to the smooth seamless lip-play
of a Snoop or Dre. Scrillion does put his best foot forward while
translating his adventures into rap lyrics. Whether he’s
battling the Devil at the cusp of the 9th Gate (“9th Gate”),
kidnapping suckas, (“Rappin’ and Kidnapping”)
or preparing for a “roll in the hay” (“I Can’t
Dance”), Thick is able to deliver more than a few unforgettable
lines. What isn’t clear to me, is whether his persona and
the sentiment behind these raps is in earnest. Lines like, “She
said I looked bored, and she said, ‘What’s that?’/I
said my Thick is acting up and the proof’s in my pants/Plus
I wear an octopus on my fuckin’ mellon/She said ‘Why
do you wear it?’/Well I ain’t tellin’,” suggest
that Scrillion has a sense of humor, but “This Life” (where
Scrillion wonders why he hasn’t achieved the American dream
of “fly cars” and a faithful spouse) suggest he’s
also got a serious side. Unfortunately, I’d take a humorous
dis track like “Moochie Mack,” where Scrillion disses
a “straight whack” ex-friend named Mike Hot, over his
serious, ponderous M.C.ing any day. “Primal Instinct,” a
sex jam featuring Zhaoski, reminds me of old school Ice Cube and
is the hidden gem here (“Your booty’s glistenin’ while
we’re listin’ to R & B/ You’re in a porno
flick, and it’s staring me.”) Are we likely to see
Mr. Scrillion on Vibe’s cover any time in the near future?
Probably not, as his game isn’t what the mainstream is used
to hearing (or seeing for that matter. Remember the octopus?).
That’s probably not going to bother him, he seems to reject
the “bling” mentality (“Bling Killa”) anyway.
Then again, stranger things have happened in the world of rap music.
-Tim Anderl
Quintron – The Frog Tape
Skin Graft
Keyboard weirdo Quintron prepares for Halloween by delivering his
abridged arrangement of The Stray Cats’ “Stray Cat
Strut,” a song comprised of throat noises, and what I assume
is a nearly 15-minute-long amphibian noise jam to CD. This is easily
the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
-Tim Anderl
Vaux – Plague Music EP
Equal Vision Records
Stoner-metal and rock riffs chime like church bells on a Black
Sabbath. Pulling the rope is the ghost of Ink and Dagger’s
Sean McCabe, who haunts nearly every line (he was likely resurrected
during
a séance
attended by the members of Drive Like Jehu). In fact, he may just
be ringing that evil bell
in
double
time.
Plague
Music finds
itself in good company; in the same ranks of The Icarus Line’s
Penance Soiree and The Blood Brothers Crimes. Stop wasting time
reading this review and pick up this damn record. It is gonna bury
you alive and you aren’t even going to mind.
-Tim Anderl
Yowie -- Cryptooology
Skin Graft
Instrumental double guitar and drum trio Yowie have made an entire
album that sounds like that fateful moment in the Warner Brothers
cartoon when the dimwitted Coyote’s Acme manufactured technology
backfires and catapults him into a series of springs and gears.
He always comes out looking haggard or blown up, but that’s
what always endeared him to most cartoon faithfuls. I feel endeared,
in much the same way, to Yowie because that’s largely exactly
what they sound like – the audio soundtrack to those mishaps.
The comic-style prehistoric battles in the cover art are a real
bonus too.
-Tim Anderl
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