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Issue 2.2 ALBUM REVIEWS Crap Engine - Self Titled (Fresh Produce Records) Reviewed by Theresa Killebrew Right now in Chicago, we are all about shaking our booties. There’s a very strong contingent of bands most willing to help us out with that. A better portion of them are coming straight out of the Ice Factory collective. With Velvetron leading the way, the boys of the Ice Factory are exploring the more danceable aspects of almost every genre. With Crap Engine, Seth Vanek and Justin Petertil are revisiting the golden era of Glam tinged garage rock ala David Bowie partying with Iggy Pop. On the stronger tracks, like Break the Silence, Petertil captures perfectly the rock and roll affectation of glam anthems like Fashion. His chiding, rock talk vocals slide easily into a slick croon on the bridge. The occasional falsetto and sharp barky shout moderate his almost grating vocal style. On the twelfth track, Write my Songs, they take shots at the american corporate system in an interesting take on the traditional punk format. The fifteen song album clocks in at just under 40 minutes, the perfect length for a dance party. Guitar, Bass, drums, some interesting keyboards and other instrumental oddities unlisted in their scant liner notes, lyrics about the rock and roll lifestyle and a new dance craze just waiting to happen guarentee that you will listen to this record like an aural drug. Though tough at first, it stays with you. It’s true though, I am one of the haters, my boss walked past my desk the other day and asked what I was listening to, and all I could do was hand her the CD case. Maybe that accomplishes just what they want it to, but their name makes me blush. Far Rad - This Candy's Gross (Johann's Face Records) Reviews by Mark Oster Great band name, great album title. Let's get that out of the way out front. Now to the matter of reviewing the actual material, not quite as easy, to my less electronically trained ear. I would agree with a Fischerspooner comparison, only with more human personality, both to the music itself and the lyrical content. It's a fascinating listen, alot of it sounds like they took samples from old video games, a fact they seem acutely aware of on "8 Bit World" which actually contains a Justin Bailey reference, and seems to be about Mike Tyson's PunchOut! (On a side note, I think it's about time for a new Mike Tyson video game...I'll let your imagination run from there.) The music is comprised of the aforementioned electronic video gamey sounds layered 2-4 deep behind a mechanical dancey drum beat with spoken, shouted and sometimes sung (mostly on a Queers cover contained within) humorous and repetitive rhythmic vocal patterns, which remind me of older Dead Milkmen. Definitely unique and addicting, I would say an item of great interest to the more adventurous listener or fan of punk electronic. Hollow Ground - Cold Reality (Organized Crime Records) Reviewed by Mark Oster A twelve and a half minute morsel of metalcore from Winnipeg, Yeah, they have metalcore in Winnipeg, and they're actually pretty damn good at it. This is a flat out assault. Rhythmically precise, big guitar sound, and a roaring front man. The treat lies in the melodic guitar lines that they slide in beneath the fury. They're brief, but they compliment and cut through the aggression simultaneously. There's some very cool call and response in some of the choruses between the frontman and a chorus of background bellows. The performance on this is really quite stunning, these guys will get a lot of respect from the metal audience stateside, tight rhythmic breakdowns, great tone, and great balance. Organized Crime consistently makes me feel like a chump for not being more into the hardcore/metal scene with the quality of the albums they send me, and this is no exception. As always, if this type of thing is what you like, you will most certainly be into this. Light Fm- This is the Beginning of My Golden Age Reviewed by Theresa Killebrew Once there was this band called the Rentals. They featured Matt Sharp from Weezer. They sang a song about a guy named “P” who was apparently kinda cool, and they used a Moog. Or they abused a Moog. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Rentals, but for the last nine years, at the sound of a moog, the Rentals are the first thing that comes to mind. Then along came Light FM. They are a bunch of purposely geeky looking guys who write upbeat fun songs about suicide, loss, grief, heartbreak and death. They use a Moog, and several other synthesizers and keyboards. They also use regular old acoustic and electric guitars, a Texas instruments and a speak and spell, horns on a couple songs and a Theremin (ok, I admit it, I have a crush on any guy that uses his hands well enough to make a Theremin work). This might make it seem like it should descend straight from eighties pop bliss, but it doesn’t. They employ all of these instruments without allowing any particular one of them to define the music, and although the melodies remain up tempo and danceable, it never sounds silly. The lyrics tend toward the lighthearted, one of my favorite lines being “When I die I’ll find a place in heaven where the amps all go up to eleven”. Even so, they always stay just outside the box, and just inside the lines of classy and thoughtful, giving up the facts in a straightforward manner and skipping much of the judgmental aftershock. Catchy melodies paired with very serious, sometimes difficult lyrics about the things people deal with while coming of age is what made bands like Weezer so great to begin with. Light FM write songs about the trials of actually being a *gasp* grown up after all that, and how some of us inevitably end up heartbroken, screwing over our friends, barely making it, or not making it at all. The record still manages to find a comfortable place for all of this. Sometimes Josiah Mazzaschi’s vocals sound a bit like Jimmy Eat World singer Jim Adkins, and occasionally he takes on the rasp of a Billy Corgan fan. Overall though, he can sing, with a pretty wide range for a guy. Light FM are compared to the Cars frequently, but I think it’s more because you would expect to open the liner notes and find that Ric Ocasek produced the album. Keep that in mind, guys, when all that “One Tree Hill” exposure starts to payoff. Never Enough - Dead Set on Destruction (Organized Crime Records) Reviewed by Mark Oster "Dead Set" is a compilation of singles and live tracks from this Baltimore hardcore act's first two years, along with a half dozen new songs. For relatively short songs (the 27 song disc weighs in at a shade under 49 minutes), the writing is fairly complex, changing tone at a surprisingly torrent pace, though never straying away from a very well defined hardcore sound. The vocals are a fairly high pitched, fast paced shout, with dark lyrics loaded with metaphors. The tone of the vocal content is accented by grinding crunchy guitars and offbeat snare shots. The changes are marked with half time beats and more pulsated rhythms. Worth checking out for any fan of traditional hardcore. |