Saturday, January 28, 2012

The Thomas Function- In The Valley of Sickness



There’s an undeniable infectious upbeat pop sensibility pouring through Thomas Function’s sophomore outing.   Over the course of the album garage rock, punk, 60’s pop and new wave melt together often in a single song with an ease that can only be done with strong song writing.  Helium fueled vocals, backed with an arsenal of jangly guitars, a synthesizer and simple drumming, propel the band further into a world of chirpiness.  “Picking Scabs” bounces around more than Mexican jumping beans on a trampoline due to both the synth rythms and drumbeats and occassional all in choruses.

Although the keyboards are manic in “Ew Way Ew”, the song’s catchy hooks ensure that they never totally dominate and the track is just one example of a brain eating amoeba that digs into your head to stay.   “Belly of The Beast” travels to the sixties and the melodies make it difficult not to compare this track with The Beatles. A sickly sugary soulful chorus surprises and betrays the slow building synthesizer ticking new wave intro to  “When I Was King”.   While a few of the songs could be considered a little too long, this is one heavy weight power-pop album. So keep your fingers crossed that Thomas Function can keep the momentum and quality up.



4/5

Friday, January 27, 2012

Skate Rock Vol 1



  (DC Jam)

"Skate Rock" suggests punk/hardcore that was featured in the music pages of skateboarding bible Thrasher magazine. Sure enough on this double CD there's a fair representation of the old guard from the days when the sensible refused to pay import price for a magazine full of ads. Expectations of early eighties-style American punk are fulfilled in tracks listed from Government Issue, The Big Boys, Painted Willie, JFA and Trusty.

Frontside Five's tight, fast and snotty "Killing Time" recalls Angry Samoans. The Copyrights play some of the weakest pop-punk ever made and putting them between Frontside Five and The Dwarves highlights what truly terrible listening material they make. PEZZ also fall into the lame pop-punk category. Their singer is more in time with a broken grandfather clock in another country than any of his fellow band members.

A number of bands on this compilation don't really fall into the loose pigeonhole of punk at all. For example, the hip-hop style with shared male and female vocals of The Heard is a very puzzling non-rock inclusion. Minus One sound like one of the millions of 80's hair metal bands who couldn't pull off being Van Halen despite their best efforts. 3000 Pounds sound like Sublime. Disastroid try to lay down the funk, but people shutting their eyes to their music aren't doing it because they're thinking of Stevie Wonder. Why in the world would any band want to sound like Smashmouth? In comparison, FISHBONE do an admirable job of funking up the punk. One-man-band The Rudy Shwartz Project with cartoon voices features a little headspinning arm popping twisted scratching on "Jimmy Swaggart" McRad (who definitely fit into the skate rock category) are oddly represented in two dub reggae tracks. As much as they want to be, BAD BRAINS, they are simply not and never going to be, no matter how long they hold their breath after smoking ganja.

Naked Lady Wrestlers defy the lameness of their chosen moniker and banter rip with some fast tunes. Their singer has tune-carrying capabilities and the guitarist knows his way. Off with their heads play boring faux-Irish punk. Neutral Boy is a confusing band as one track is Leatherface-worship with the required bourbon and nicotine-soaked vocals while their other track is bland radio rock. Other obvious clone bands are Plan 9 - are there any Misfits wannabes that are capable of not outstaying their welcome? But to be fair, it is possible that they just sound weak sandwiched between the hardcore of JFA and the punk bounciness of The Big Boys. Narcoleptic Youth ape Pennywise and actually do a good job of it unless of course they too were aiming to sound exactly like Bad Religion. Venomous are by far the most musically interesting band here as they have a heavy UK indie beat not unlike Suede and Gordon Gano sound-alike vocals. American Werewolves feature the howling of a human crossed with a canine beast and the band are definitely more than one dimensional as they kick ass in both their slow and fast tracks.

The problem with double albums is, if they're done well, it can be difficult to get around to listening to both discs as the first one keeps going back in the player. This one's no exception to the rule, because of the amount of dead weight on the second disc. All in all, the compilation's purpose is served in reminding of old bands associated with skateboarding and thrusting forth newer bands.

3/5

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Fugazi - Steady Diet of Nothing


Steady Diet of Nothing


THE HISTORY: At the very start of the Eighties in Washington D.C. Minor Threat rejected the drugs and alcohol sector of the punk scene and pummeling their personal values in their lyricist through fast intense hardcore founded the straight edge sub-genre.  However despite their length of influencing hardcore bands Minor Threat only lasted four years (1980 –83).  Ian McKaye was later in short lived bands Embrace and Egg Hunt before forming Fugazi in 1987.

Rites of Spring were another punk band that were knocking around the Washington DC area around the same time and are often cited as being the originators of the emo sub-genre whether they like it or not. They, of course, don’t like it.  Frontman Guy Picciottio stated that using the term, emo to describe a genre of music is retarded.  When Rites of Spring disbanded in 1986 three members formed a band called One Last Wish with the bassist from Embrace.  These roads led to Fugazi forming as a trio comprised of Ian McKaye, bassist Joe Lally, who was from Rites of Spring and drummer Colin Sears from melodic hardcore band Dag Nasty.   Colin Sears returned to Dag Nasty and apart from their “Field Day” album has stayed with that band.  Rites of Spring drummer, Brendan Canty, replaced Sears.  After playing as a trio, Guy Picciotto also from Rites of Spring found a place that he longed for in Fugazi, since seeing their early practices, as both a guitarist and vocalist despite the band all ready having both although on the band’s first EP he only plays guitar.

  The band released two EP’s  “Fugazi” and “Margin Walker” and then conveniently and keeping prices to a minimum re-released them in album format as “13 Songs”. Then came the first full proper album release of “Repeater” in 1990.  Their second full album “Steady Diet of Nothing” dropped the next year.   FUGAZI took the term independent music so seriously that all their releases are still only on Ian McKaye’s Dischord Records label.  Fugazi refused to sell band-related merchandise like T-shirts.  The best known clothing representation of the band is a T-shirt with the slogan “This is not a Fugazi T-shirt” which was made and sold by an enterprising fan and advertised in a number of magazines during the early nineties.




THE MEMBERS: Joe Lally - Bass Ian McKaye - Guitar, Vocals Guy Picciotto - Guitar, Vocals Brendan Canty - Drums


THE PRODUCTION: Fugazi weren’t able to get their usual producer, Ted Nicely, as he was starting a career as a chef so the band furthered their DIY ideals and produced “Steady Diet of Nothing” themselves so this is much more of an independent album than its predecessors.  The producton itself is sparse but efficient.  Ian McKaye cut his teeth co-producing Rites of Spring’s album in 1987 so at least one member of Fugazi about production techniques, results and the expectations of other band members.  The rhythm section is often the most noticeable feature. The drum sounds are clear and Joe Lally’s bass is high in the mix.  On a song like “Stacks” the vocals are buried in places but that may well have been intentional as on songs like “Long Division”, the vocals are clear, as are all the other instruments.  A remastered version was released in 2004.

THE GUITARS: The guitar sound is thick and full of chunky goodness due to the way guitarists Guy Picciotto and Ian McKaye complement each other.   The riffs recall Gang of Four, dub reggae and jazz while alternating between a tranquil quiet and a distorted wall of noise.

THE RHYTHM SECTION: The combination of Joe Lally’s bass and Brendan Canty’s bass comes off like a high precision tempo keeping roller coaster with starts and stops that can take the listener on an exhilarating surprise ride at any given moment.

THE VOCALS: An admirable tradeoff between Ian Mckaye and Guy Piciotto There is a large shadow of Minor Threat in Ian McKaye’s however there is much more of a laidback approach taken at times as his vocals alternate between talking and gruff shouting.  Guy Piccioti’s vocals are more understated and abstract but the two weave and trade off their vocals together like their guitars.  The use of dual vocals and abstract subtle lyrics come off as another musical instrument adding a further dimension to the band’s sound.


HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO JELLO BIAFRA?   There’s a short route and a longer route.  First, let’s take the scenic drive.  “Steady Diet of Nothing” is a quote taken from deceased stand-up comedian, Bill Hicks.  Hicks’ stand up was often anti-establishment and he described his comedic routine as being like Noam Chomsky with dick jokes.  Jello Biafra has often been described as the Naom Chomsky of punk and there is also a Naom Chomsky spoken word album on Jello’s Alternative Tentacles record label.  The short route is simple and can be summed up in a sentence.  Both Ian McKaye and Jello Biafra are punk icons who emerged in the eighties.

SOME KEY TRACKS:

“Exit Only” This song reveals that there has been quite some thought into song order as it is an opener that gets your attention the way the first song on an album should.  A somewhat quiet intro with some great guitar interplay.  The drum sound always causes head bobbing although the bass sound is the highlight and the dynamics between the bass and drums set the tone for the rest of the album.  The song picks up in speed, distorted noise and ferocity when the vocals kick in.  The lyrics are more than somewhat baffling.  Not that it really matters but I’ve listened to this song more times than I’ve had roast dinners and still have no idea what the song is about.

“Reclamation” Somehow this track manages to open quietly with an intro based on distortion and then nears being a pro-choice anthem and the quiet/loud dynamics in the shared vocals and guitar sound are great.  The vocals start off quiet but finish with an effective short burst of repetive shouting of “Carry My Body”.

“Nice new outfit” There’s great guitar riffing at the start of this song but it’s really all about the chugging rhythm section.   The bouncing tempo is expertly kept and changed a few times but it’s so subtle you don’t really notice until it speeds up a lot at the end of the song.  There are some understated dual vocals on this song that work really well.  Due to this the line “Sorry about the mess” convinces and sticks in the head for days after listening.

“Stacks”   “Language keeps me locked and repeating.” There’s a feeling that imitates a factory conveyer belt in this song.  Hypnotic and always working.  It’s the feel that many industrial bands go for but often can’t attain.  The worker rushes off at the end of the shift and the tempo change at the end of the song reflects this.

“Long Division” Check out that huge bass line at the start of this track!  It carries on all the way through the song and it’s reminiscent of “Oil and Gold” period Shriekback, which had a huge funk element in the bass sound.  The vocals are somewhere between spoken and sung over some great drum and bass work.

“Polish” This one plays out the quiet/loud dynamics in the vocals.  Ian McKaye shouts, then quietens down, shouts again and quietens until the end of the song.

“KYEO” The album closer is easily the catchiest track and most accessible.  There is a steady simplistic rock beat kept throughout the song.  The lyrics are still somewhat vague and open to interpretation but they’re the easiest to make sense of.  Due to the time of the release the song could be interpreted as a statement on the Gulf war but it could also be about more personal battles.

IN CLOSING: Fugazi has always been a band that has been a band that has been about the music more than anything else.  “Steady Diet of Nothing” with its strong rhythm sound differs greatly from their first album, “Repeater” and is the successful experimentation and progression of a band.  Fugazi have since released four albums.  Well, five if you count soundtracks.  The CD doesn’t do Lucy Capehearts photos of deckchairs and a teepee justice.  They look a lot more appealing on the LP insert.  Dischord fairly recently made all of their releases available for download or a free album download with the purchase of a 12 inch record so getting hold of a copy of this album should be easy.

Beastwars - IV

After over a year off for various reasons, we have returned solely because we wanted to review the new Beastwars album. I really w...