Review Update: 2/27/05

About The Fire -- Rites of Passage
Boyracer -- Happenstance
Capillary Action -- Fragments
The Channel -- Personalized
The Cinema Eye -- Some Nerve
Clouds Forming Crowns -- Self-Titled
Comeback Kid -- Wake The Dead
The Curtains -- Vehicles of Travel
Dough -- The So Long EP
Genghis Tron -- Cloak of Love
Kane Hooder -- The Pleasure To Remain So Heartless
Lock and Key -- Pull Up The Floorboards
The Merediths -- Self-Titled EP
The One Inch Punch -- Horsehead Nebula
Paradigm9 -- The Halo Effect
Parchman Farm -- Self-titled
The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower -- Love In The Fascist Brothel
Jenny Queen -- Girls Who Cry Need Cake
Rat Cat Hogan -- We’re Bicoastal
The Redlands Palomino Co. -- By The Time You Hear This…
River City Rebels -- Hate To Be Loved
Seemless -- Self-Titled
The Sharp Ease -- Going Modern

About The Fire -- Rites of Passage
Happy Couples Never Last
I have to admit that I didn’t really get About The Fire’s Rites of Passage the first couple times I listened to it. Upon giving it a another chance, I can’t believe that I’d overlooked so many of the band's most striking features. I’ve finally realized that these guys are churning out grunge-tinged punk that rivals some of Seaweed and Hot Water Music’s strongest material from the last decade. “Shadow Box” could practically double for a Foo Fighters song while more aggressive tracks like “Oil And Water” scream Forever and Counting. “Not To Be A Dick, But…” has slash and burn chording that could almost only have come from the sessions for Spanaway or Four. About The Fire harkens to those yesterdays with renewed force and vigor, and for that they deserve my highest endorsement.
-Tim Anderl

Boyracer -- Happenstance
Happy Birthday To Me Records
I haven’t heard the name of English indie pop band Boyracer in almost a decade. A college friend of mine, the devoted webmaster for Seam’s very first (a maybe only) fan page, and a faithful Keropi backpack owner and candy necklace wearer, introduced me to the lo-fi Guided By Voices by-way-of-the Smiths style basement band in an attempt to woo my screamo leaning ass away from Groundwork and Current, and more towards his power pop playing field. On Happenstance, Boyracer sound exactly how I remember them sounding; fuzzy and sometimes out of tune guitars, mumble mouth vocals, spazzy bursts of drums, but above all seamless and memorable memories worthy of their own chapter in indie rock’s history books. So if you like Push Stars, the Pastels, or own a Keropi backpack, I suspect this will be right up your alley.
-Tim Anderl

Capillary Action -- Fragments
Pangaea Recordings
Capillary Action, the brainchild of Oberlin college student and Philly native Jonathan Pfeffer, is an exercise in extreme genre bending where this guitarist flexes his prog-leaning tendencies and metal shredding side by side with his weaknesses for indie pop, progressive funk, and jazz. Pianist Sam Krulewitch and drummer Jeff Cristiani join him for a wild, ever-changing ride. Where does Capillary Action fit in to the current musical climate? Just about anywhere they fuggin’ want to. These dudes would be as comfortable sharing a bill with Don Caballero as they would with Pink Floyd, Upsillon Crux, Thelonious Monk, Wilco or Faith No More. It is too bad the aptly titled Fragments hasn’t yet been recognized for its unique genius (Pfeffer started Pangaea Recordings upon finding little interest from larger indies) by a label with broader distribution. Because if it had, Capillary Action would have the Pitchforks and Tiny Mix Tapes buzzing already.
-Tim Anderl

The Channel -- Personalized
C-side Records
The Channel began as a project of brothers Brent and Colby Pennington in the late 90s and after a brief run the brothers went separate ways, taking their talents to Driftin’ Luke and his many Personalities, and The Arthurs respectively. After two west coast tours a member of the Arthurs relocated to New York and the band became history. The Channel were resurrected with sister Heather Pennington, Andy McAllister and Jamie Reaves of The Arthurs joining their ranks and Personalized, a stunning collection of pop songs, is finally available for indie sensible listeners who appreciate the quirkiness of Polyphonic Spree or Ween and the pristine melodies and sunny expansiveness of The Beach Boys equally. Fans and critics alike are sure to go bonkers for The Channel’s banjo-driven treatment of Will Oldham’s “Black.”
-Tim Anderl

The Cinema Eye -- Some Nerve
Sound Virus
Finally, a proper full-length from Columbus, Ohio electro-punk quartet The Cinema Eye. It should be no surprise that TCE are Bettawreckonize favorites as the band has played a number of Wreck-sponsored events, and singer Mollie Wells has even penned a few features for our humble mag. Unbiased coverage isn’t likely here, but I’ll do my best to give you an accurate reading on their third release, Some Nerve. For those of you not in-the-know, the quick and dirty on TCE is this: female fronted quartet that borrows equally from post punk acts like Milemarker, and legacy new wave and alt rock acts like Blondie, Depeche Mode or Nine Inch Nails. Singer Mollie Wells’ unbelievably strong wail is something of a cross between those of a few goth godmothers who wailed before her. She is the perfect balance between the seductive spitfire of Siouxsie Sioux and of the enigmatic goth rock timbre of Rosie Garland (March Violets). The strength of guitarist Paul Rentler’s lead lines coupled with Wells’ strong voice carry Some Nerve and establish it as one of 2004’s strongest efforts. My only complaint here is that Mollie Wells doesn’t often deviate from one of two speeds: urgent and poison toungued; and urgent and sexy. I suspect that if Wells is willing to deviate from her comfort zone just a little (change up some of the vocal dynamics, syncopations, etc.), as Andrea Zollo did during Pretty Girls Make Graves sophomore full-length, it would provide the band with many more opportunities to experiment. But, to their credit, between Wells’ signature vocals, guitarist Rentler’s Iron Maiden by-way-off Party of Helicopters shredding, David Fowler’s caterwaul rhythms, and the depth and agility of Wells and Carlos Nunez’s keying, the band have developed a sound that is mostly their own. Now excuse me while I advance straight to the “Shut Down” to add some “air handclaps” to my favorite track here.
-Tim Anderl

Clouds Forming Crowns -- Self-Titled
Morphius Records
The names Tim and Todd Tobias should elicit quick recognition from indie kids who take the time to actually read the liner notes of their favorite records. Tim has spent the last five years touring with Guided By Voices while brother Todd produced their last three albums. The brothers Tobias have teamed up here, with Tim in the musical pole-position and with Todd adding the sheen and filling in the blanks, to tread the timeless waters between White album-era Beatles and Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie. This album quickly shapes up to be one of many reasons Dayton, Ohio natives can hold their heads high amidst the uber hip uppercrust of any L.A., Chicago or New York.
-Tim Anderl

Comeback Kid -- Wake The Dead
Victory Records
Canada natives Comeback Kid’s debut for Victory is an album that is bursting at the seams with strong anthemic old school style punk and hardcore that far exceeds any and all expectations I’ve come to have for most punk and hardcore these days. For their second album, Comeback Kid went into The Blasting Room to work with Bill Stevenson (of Descendents, ALL, and Black Flag fame) and Jason Livemore, and what they’ve emerged with is a flattering representation of both the band’s passion and energy. Those who are unfamiliar with the band will immediately recognize some subtle similarities between the band and Propagandhi, Lifetime, Stretch Armstrong, Bane and AFI. If “False Idols Fall,” title track “Wake The Dead” or any of the other standout tracks here don’t make you want to start a circle pit you better check your pulse. Look for these guys on tour in February. On a side note, our brothers and sisters in Canada can pick this up on Smallman Records.
-Tim Anderl

The Curtains -- Vehicles of Travel
Frentic Records
Members of Deerhoof and Natural Dreamers comprise this puzzling California pop trio, The Curtains. Vehicles of Travel shows the band hanging its musical sensibilities somewhere between the warm jazz tendencies Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown compositions and the pop pleasantries of twee hotshots Belle and Sebastian. I suppose indie pop academics will probably lose their shit over this – I think it is just alright.
-Tim Anderl

Dough -- The So Long EP
Self-released
Are you missing the sweet sounds of 90s Top 40 alternative rock? Wondering what happened to Everclear or The Presidents of the United States of America? Yeah, us either. Dough are the new millennium’s answer to those bands; tiresome radio ready alt. rock, but without the quirks, bald heads or past addiction problems (i.e. balls). These are the kind of dudes who thank their frat brothers (Sigma Pi) and each other for “pushing the envelope” in their liner notes. Perhaps The Too Long EP would’ve been a more appropriate title.
-Tim Anderl

Genghis Tron -- Cloak of Love EP
Crucial Blast
Genghis Tron are some sick, sick bastards; it has gotta take a demented soul to uncover a style that puts grindcore in electronica’s back pocket, or vice versa. During the course of this extended play’s five songs, these New Yorkers have delivered the missing link between The Pet Shop Boys and The Locust, Information Society and Converge, and Depeche Mode and Brutal Truth. The trio is comprised of Hamilton, who’s the primary guitarist and drum machine mastermind; Michael, on keyboards and providing a helping hand on drum machine programming, and Mookie, formerly of Bettawreckonize favorites The Fugue, on vocals, keys, theramin and lap steel. I figured these dudes deserved a proper introduction before they began fucking your shit way up!
-Tim Anderl

Kane Hooder -- The Pleasure To Remain So Heartless
Cowboy Versus Sailor/Suburban Home
Here’s a question for you: Kane Hooder are to my ear drums as oil is to what? If you said water you are correct. There is screaming, there is out of tune and falsetto singing, there are cock rock solos and there are arty dirges ala. At The Drive In. What there aren’t are strong hooks, melody, cohesive song structure, etc. To give you an idea, Gatsby’s American Dream or Brazil could get crunked out of their gourds and compose their own treatments of Darkness songs from memory and they’d still be about 50 times more coherent and listenable than Kane Hooder. It is my pleasure to refrain from listening to this.
-Tim Anderl

Lock and Key -- Pull Up The Floorboards
Deep Elm
Lock and Key are probably going to get a lot of reviews that say, “Lock and Key sound like Hot Water Music.” I’m guessing they’ll get so many of them that it’ll start to piss them off. In fact, when Bettawreckonize reviewed their last album, No Fate, BW scribe Jeff Locher said, these dudes sound a lot like Hot Water Music. Well, on their latest, Pull Up The Floorboards, guess what? Lock and Key sound like Hot Water Music. They’re good at it – so good in fact that I wonder if they wouldn’t do better as a Hot Water Music “tribute” band. Let me assure you that they could still play their original material. I suspect those HWM fans who quit paying really close attention to the band after No Division might just assume LAK’s originals were new Hot Water Music material. To their credit, I’ve heard HWM’s newest one and LAK is holding down the signature Gainesville sound a little better than the dudes from Gainesville are.
-Tim Anderl

The Merediths -- Self-Titled EP
Debauchery Records
If I ran a matchmaking service for indie rock bands I’d have a lot of options for who I’d set The Merediths up with. Would they mesh best with the Anniversary? After all both bands have Beatles-worshipping tendencies and a penchant for granola song titles (i.e. “Marmalade Maggie”). Perhaps an evening outing with Modest Mouse? Though this would be a long distance relationship (between The Merediths’ Kentucky home and Washington), their interest in meandering slide guitar leads and auxiliary cello (“Homo Erectus”) might prove a strong enough common denominator. As a matter of fact, I’d be comfortable sending The Merediths to dinner with Superdrag, The Shins, Weezer and even Bright Eyes. Hell, if I wasn’t married I’d probably take The Merediths home and make sweet love to them myself.
-Tim Anderl

The One Inch Punch -- Horsehead Nebula
Collective Records
The one inch punch (the actual punch, not the band) is an ancient punching technique that was made famous by Bruce Lee, and is designed to drop a man where he stands. Without going all apeshit describing the exact principles behind the specific martial arts techniques and their forms here, people who do understand that kind of shit have said that Bruce Lee never quite got it right. Turns out he hadn’t studied the Weng Shun Kuen technique properly, or mastered the essence of Fa Jing, an internal power or sudden “explosive force” that allows one to execute the blow. While The One Inch Punch (the band) have some definite chops, as did Bruce Lee, they have another common bond with the martial arts super star – they just don’t yet have the essence of Fa Jing. That isn’t to say that the music here is bad. In fact they’re quite good at their mostly instrumental version of post-punk, sludge metal; like a less academic (and stoned) version of Isis or Pelican with a few Four Hundred Years style screams tossed in for good measure. The Fa Jing the band is lacking here is two fold: the recording quality isn’t nearly as polished as it should be. It may just mean the band was on a limited schedule and limited budget, but this should really be better considering John Congleton (the pAperchAse) was behind the boards; and, their compositions don’t display the balls-to-the-wall technical prowess of their peers. To their credit, what the band lacks in technical proficiency them seem to make up for with heart though. So while this record may not deliver a killing blow, it’ll give you one heck of a sore gut.
-Tim Anderl

Paradigm9 --The Halo Effect
When I cued this up as a single track with a nearly 22 minute runtime, I almost debated pulling the plug on this review altogether. After a bit of hesitation, I pressed onward discovering a choir of crickets screaming over a deep toned drone. There are the slight whispers of harmonics from time to time, and a little trumpet leaking from an aged phonograph buried deep below the surface. The tonal shifts from one part of this composition to another are subtle and understated, but never tiresome, which is quite a feat for this kind of drone/noise stuff. This is the kind of quietly ominous composition that I’d normally expect to be more effective preceding the bombast of one of Mastodon or Isis’ most devastating numbers. As it is though, this is still pretty effecting – just ask the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.
-Tim Anderl

Parchman Farm -- Self-Titled EP
Jackpine
Had Parchman Farm’s venomous self-titled EP debuted before the Datsuns lackluster sophomore effort hammered the last coffin nail for the post millennium garage rock boom, critics wouldn’t be working so hard to push disco and new wave bands as the next big thing in 2005. This adventurous extended play harkens to the chemically induced rock freakouts of the late 60s, worshipping bands like Cream and Deep Purple (especially on “Mirror Spirit” and “Chosen Child”) at the psyche rock alter. The band takes detours into Zepplin and Blue Oyster Cult territory on “Too Many People,” my favorite cut of the five here. If the Black Keys and Parchman Farm can hold it down for just a while longer I think we’ll be seeing another wave of garage rock revivalists in late 2005 and 2006.
-Tim Anderl

The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower -- Love In The Fascist Brothel
Revelation
The sophomore effort from TPTBUTET, and the band’s first album for Revelation, shows both the band and the label doing 360s. First, Love In A Fascist Brothel, doesn’t even remotely resemble the band whose Happy Couples Never Last debut established the act as a powerhouse art/post rock collective of Refused stature. The quartet baring its teeth here is of a far noisier, far grittier ilk. They’ve got the off kilter dance rhythms of a Liars or Kill Me Tomorrow, the unfuckwithable ‘tude of a Arab on Radar, Harriet The Spy or Jehu, and the sass of Blood Brothers. While I loved TPTBUTET the freshman, I’m not hating the band as sophomores either. On a side note, I wish I could say with some certainty that I understand the literary and historic allusions in the art and lyrics here, but I’m probably wrong. They do seem to be swinging at the young, rich, hip, and fashionable – which seems a bit unusual considering the bands hip, counter-culture, middle class following. This record also seems to signal a turning of the tides at Revelation, a label long recognized for their allegiance to early hardcore and emo pioneers. I’d have expected a Plot from a GSL or a Sound Virus, but this is a definite first for Revelation (seems they’re trusting the instincts of brand new A and R James Allen). I’m predicting that this is the first in a series of comeback efforts we’ll be seeing from Revelation in the future. Plus, the cover art will really piss your parents off, which is always a good thing.
-Tim Anderl

Jenny Queen -- Girls Who Cry Need Cake
Laughing Outlaw Records
Judging by the cover of this record, Jenny Queen is a platinum blond of the Simpson and Speers variety, who is hoping to use her fortunate looks to sell trite and lackluster pop music. If she had the pipes of a Liz Phair or a Sarah McLachlan perhaps I’d steer her towards the Lilith Fair set (as her music suggests is appropriate), but she doesn’t. When Joanna Newsome, Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, and Bjork are redefining the way independent music is composed, played and performed, there’s simply no more room for another clichéd bottled blond pandering good looks and half-hearted pop throwaways.
-Tim Anderl

Rat Cat Hogan -- We’re Bicoastal
Skrocki Records
The principal songwriter from Rat Cat Hogan, Herbert Bergel, is little more than a poor man’s Ben Gibbard. But instead of tight narratives, which on occasion reveal some universal truth that we may glean some deeper meaning from, we’re treated to 13 entries from this boring ass dudes blog. For example, the title track of the album contains the following yawner, “On my way to midtown I imagine Robbie taking his mom to see the Mariners when she comes from Iowa, stopping by the studio to say hello to Walla, and picking up some Ivar’s take-out fish and chips.” Doesn’t that just make you wanna give Bergel a huge wedgie. The only saving graces here are the humorous take on an outing with a punk rock friend, “Doctor Explosion,” and the fact that Rat Cat Hogan has the real deal, Chris Walla, handling the majority of the drum work.
-Tim Anderl

The Redlands Palomino Co. -- By The Time You Hear This…
Laughing Outlaw Records
With female vocalist Hannah at the reigns, this is what the New Pornographers or Rilo Kiley might sound like if they spent a little time on the road with Sixpence None The Richer. Songs like opener “Music’s On” prove that the Redlands Palomino Co. may be the first ever Top 40 radio marketable Americana band. Unfortunately, Hannah shares the vocal duties with Alex, a small Bruce Springsteen/John Mellancamp aping fish in a sea of mediocre bar band frontmen who are doing the same thing, maybe better. Even with their phallic baggage, these guys (and gal) are still batting 500 hundred, so I guess that is worth a small endorsement.
-Tim Anderl

River City Rebels -- Hate To Be Loved
Victory Records
Is misogyny punk rock? Then why is one of the douche bags from The River City Rebels, a band that looks like your high school's AV club in Motley Crue Halloween costumes, posed on the front cover with three young women facing his crotch. Besides being creepy and sexist, it is also just a little presumptuous for a dude who plays in a ska band – a shitty ska band. My brother was in a ska band. He and his band practiced in the orchestra or show choir rooms when their extra circulars (show choir and orchestra!) weren’t occupying those spaces. I’m pretty sure at least eight out of those nine dudes are still virgins. In River City Rebel’s liner notes the entire band is posed with six topless women. I’m guess these six topless women have never heard their substandard, wannabe Rocket From The Crypt by-way-of Poison (what are these dudes thinking?) asses.
-Tim Anderl

Seemless -- Self-Titled
Equal Vision Records
I suspect the promise of ex-members of Overcast, Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage had a little something to do with Losing Face Records, who originally released this disc, selling out of this album. Luckily, Equal Vision Records have picked it up, re-mastered it and updated the artwork, and added a live track recorded at Sirius National Broadcast Studios in June of ’04. However, listeners who come here expecting Shadows Fall- or KSE-the-sequel are going to be in for a real rude awakening. Word to the wise; if you don’t get Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger or Superunknown, then don’t pick up this album. I happen to “get them” and know a few of my peers may dig this album. But I’m 28 and have a mortgage, car payment, etc. competing with my record buying habits, and so do most of my peers. I suspect the “weekly allowances” of the tween set may have catapulted a few of Seemless’ new label mates to popularity. But because I’m also assuming Seemless is targeting a more mature and monetarily strapped audience, and because Soundgarden already delivered this sound about a decade ago, I wouldn’t be surprised in Seemless fell on a few black days.
-Tim Anderl

The Sharp Ease -- Going Modern
OlFactory Records/Soft Spot
Female foursome The Sharp Ease, who’ve already completed high profile tours with the B-52s and Von Bondies, aren’t the first band to sound like a Kathleen Hanna fronted version of the Go Go’s, and they definitely won’t be the last. I don’t mind though because this only makes bands who’ve long since surpassed Riot Grrl 101 (ie. Lion Fever, Gossip, Pretty Girls Make Graves, etc.) sound even better to me. While the taste makers in L.A. bend over backwards to hype these guys I’ll be waiting in the wings for a real phenomenon (*cough* The Heartless Bastards) to drop their debut.
-Tim Anderl