More Albums

Rip It Up, Issue 241, 1 September 1997, Page 30

More Albums

VARIOUS ARTISTS Punked If I Know: A Kiwi Punk Compilation (Onefoot) This album is the result of Onefoot’s appeal to NZ punk bands.to send their stuff for a compilation of local music. With bands from as far afield as Invercargill and Whangarei, it’s a varied' beast, but one that’s ultimately encouraging. : . ' . Punked kicks off with the Kapiti Coast’s Monkey Puzzle and their noisy ‘No More Talk’. Wellington’s other offering, Brubeck, are one of the albums' highlights, with. ‘Letterbomb’' and ‘Specimen’. Other good points include Hasting’s Big Blue . Blanket with ‘Barkhead’, Invercargill’s Hounds Of Zaroff with ‘Victim’, and from Nelson, Blair Jones, whose ‘Bollocks’-sums up that towns often boring, middle class attitudes.- Often the recording quality is not the best, but that’s a minor quibble, as Punked If I Know is a fine sampler of the many punkish offerings from across this land. As the cover says: ‘Start a zine. Play in a band. Put on a show. Do something.’ . GAVIN BERTRAM JORDAN REYNE Birds Of Prey (Lost) Birds Of Prey opens with ‘Sister Falling’, desolate and sparse, sending a chill of unspecified sadness through the listener. More than almost any other singer/songwriter I’ve heard recently, Jordan Reyne has taken back the art in its most evocative form; that is taking private thought, feelings and journeys and while keeping them comfortably obscure, manages to create something out of them which has the potential ‘ touch anyone. It’s the ultimate aim of any songwriter, unfortunately few have the ability to capture it. : Birds of Prey is a wonderful album without being one that’s easily listened to. ‘Tortured’ was the word that ran. through my notes as I listened, and with lines such as, ‘we always wonder why good things die/we cry them our poison and drink ourselves dry/and cut flowers always die’ — see what I mean. But since when did everything have to be , light ‘n’ fluffy an’ a box of teenage sweethearts? Life ain’t like that. . This album will tear you apart and it may be the best thing you buy all year. '■ ■■ JESSE GARON '? ■ SEPULTURA Blood-Rooted (Roadrunner) Covering the Chaos AD and Roots periods, this compilation includes bsides; cover versions; and live performances; and it’s not a motley collection • of out-takes and substandard rejections either ' •. The seven ; 1994 . live. tracks are worthwhile enough, but the real paydirt is elsewhere. Demo versions of ’Dusted’ and ‘Roots Bloody Roots', show the sparks of the barely-contained fire that

swept through their masterpiece, Roots.; and Mike Patton takes lead vocals on the haunted and psychotic ‘Mine’, then steps up again with Cavalera and Korn’s Jonathan Davis on a remixed ‘Lookaway’. The covers are redefined, Sepulture style — not a real stretch in the case of the Dead Kennedys or Celtic Frost, but the magnificent version of the Bob Marley-pop-ularised anthem.‘War’, is invested with such emotional power that it speaks across musical barriers in precisely the way that Marley’s version did. Blood-Rooted is a good companion piece to Sepulture’s last two albums, and a fine epitaph for a great band.. .. ' . ; TROY FERGUSON FAITHLESS Reverence(Cheeky) In days gone by this record may have been labelled a concept album. But before you think, ‘gawd, it’s Pink Floyd revisited’, and skip to the next review, hear this. Faithless have come up with a record so ambitious in its genre-span-ning cockiness, that if they didn’t pull it off you’d be laughing out loud at how dodgy it all is. But yes, they do pull it off, and in the process have created one of the most interesting records of the year. . - The Faithless trump card is their ability to continually surprise. As each of the album’s 10 songs arrive, build and finally, explode, you’re left'wondering what the hell is going on. Is Bobby Gillespie in there somewhere? ‘Don’t Leave’ is so like Primal Scream in bal-lad-mode it’s spooky. As for ‘Angeline’, has someone invited Tom Waites to the party. Then there’s the opera. Opera? What on earth is opera doing on an electronic album? Dunno, but that’s what you get with the album’s final track, ‘Drifting Away’. Even the first single, ■ the verging-on-cheesy .. synth anthem, ‘lnsomnia’, seems to make sense within the confines of Reverence. . More surprises are contained , within the remix disc which accompanies ‘bonus editions’ of the album. All but one of the album tracks are given the treatment by various DJ types, with the best of the bunch being the mixes of ‘Reverence’ and ‘Salva Mea’. ; DOMINIC WAGHORN FIGURE 60 Land Sharks (Earwig) ALPHA PLAN City Of Bastards (Earwig) Two releases from the confines of a new studio/label located on Auckland’s North Shore, but sounding very Grey Lynn. '. From bedroom beginnings, Figure 60 went on to become one of the most chameleonic acts to crawl from (and go back to) the Auckland underbelly. Their first cassette only release Bludger emphasised the songwriting ability of the band — as ‘Rain is Poison’ demonstrated fully — then Fig. 60 delved more into free form arrangements, culminat-

ing in dropping the bass player, playing the 1996 Big Day Out, and dissolving. Prolific, Figure 60 left a legacy behind on vinyl, cassette and now this ‘retrospective’ album. Land Sharks contains the full spectrum of random and song periods. This is worth investigating. Alpha Plan by comparison have a distinct manifesto of being visible, and have called their album City Of Bastards. Saying something about Auckland? Apparently. It could however also be a metaphor for the corporate nature of a city prostituting itself for

worldly fortune with a few illegitimate sons and daughters the inevitable outcome. Whatever, it references the dark and muscular nature of the noise on the recordings, sprinkled with a healthy dose of. angst and rage. Student radio fodder ‘Revolution’ comes on abrasively, with it’s anthemic ‘move forward!’ chorus and chugging Bailter-ish noise. Other references that come to mind, often within the same song, are JPSE, This Kind Of Punishment, and on the title track, ‘Soul Catcher’-era Chooks and . Husker- Du!?! From . the schizophrenic stuttering pop and rolling noise of ‘The Modern Dance’,, to the breakneck instrumental ‘Personality & Earning Potential’, Alpha Plan prove that musically they have a Beta to fall back on. Plan on visiting their city soon to admire the sonic architecture. . MAC HODGE FLOODGATE Penalty (Roadrunner) Kyle Thomas, vocalist and guitarist for Floodgate, was once a member of Roadrunner thrash act Exhorder, an experience that limited his songwriting. Floodgate is the result of his dissatisfaction, and it’s definitely not limited to balls-to-the-wall riffing and schlock tactics. With canyon-deep grooves and Thomas’ James. Hetfield-like vocals, Penalty exhibits strong, 90s metal songwriting, with a pleasant lack of pretension. This represents the changing face of a somewhat stale genre, losing the bullshit that saw ‘heavy metal’ effectively shoot itself in the head. On songs like ‘Before the Line Divides’ and ‘Till My Soil’, Floodgate show both a maturity and power that moronic metal heads could, and should, learn a lesson from. GAVIN BERTRAM VARIOUS ARTISTS The Inner Flame (Atlantic) , ' The only name you’re likely to be unfamiliar with on this album is that of the man who wrote or co-wrote all its music and most of its lyrics, and will benefit from its sales, Rainer Ptacek. He’s described as a ‘cult’ blues guitarist, which was enough to bring some fans from very high places, but didn’t pay the bills when a tumour, “the size of a fist”, was discovered in his brain last year. What better time, then, for a tribute album which delivers a portion of its proceeds to he who inspired it. . ? . The mood is uniformly laidback,

cooked up by a diverse range of contributors. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page lend a dubby edge to ‘Rude World’; former Sweet Relief beneficiaries Victoria Williams (with Mark Olson) and Vic Chestnutt (with Tina Chestnutt) are meditative and feisty by turns, with the former’s ‘Something’s Gotta Be Done’, and the latter’s ‘Where’s The At?’. The pots and pans come out for PJ Harvey, John Parish and Eric Drew Feldman’s losin’ Ground’, making them, the main contenders for disturbers of the peace; but they’re beaten in the sinister stakes

by LK’s, Tm a Sinner’... I get the feeling none of . the above will mean much to many of you, so my recommendation for a track to try has gonna be predictable and point towards Evan Dando’s lovely, 'Rudy With a Flashlight’. That should put your foot in the circle, and is as good an invitation as any to the campfire sounds that surround it. - . BRONWYNTRUDGEON JOHN P STROHM AND THE HELLO STRANGERS Caledonia (Cortex) Alternative’s fascination with ‘roots’ music is a fascinating and overlooked area of study — everyone from Nirvana to Primal Scream have done their spot of apologia/tribute. Even the Eagles nowadays can be seen as genuine antecedents. Of course the spectre ,of Gram Parsons hangs over this like designer fog and John P Strohm and company’s brand of country-tinged pop is as pleasant and inconsequential as any. If the last Lemonheads record (Strohm remains an on and off member).was under-rated, Caledonia is sure to be overpraised, (a) because it does everything with taste and decorum, and (b) it possesses a knowing and exactitude which suggests the writing of the press release pre album, and (c) it sug-

gests more J.P. Stohm’s fine album collection and hard work, rather than any real inspiration. With songs as good as ‘Slipaway’, ‘Jennifer. and Jean’, and ‘Love . Theme’, that’s . sometimes enough, but too often on Caledonia, said songs remain just ciphers — pointers in a private and dubious mythology — and that’s not even mentioning Strohm's role askid cowboy cover star! I guess that’s what happens when you raid your folks stuff. Too cute by half. GREG FLEMING

CANIS A Good Solid Flesh Crime (Ass) . Auckland five piece Canis spew forth a vicious noise that has it’s roots both in bands like Spud and the more suburban strains of metal and hardcore. With dual guitars that rock hard or simply make noise, an adaptable rhythm section, and Paul Blanchard’s cathartic wail, it’s mostly dark and scary. ’ Recorded between York Street and the Lab with Chris Van der Geer, the sound brings out every nuance of what is essentially a captivatingly ugly sound. ‘Blackslider' is a dirge-like affair,' not unlike Solid Gold Hell, grinding and subduing, whereas ‘Cold Hard Sell’ (also on the 21st Century Animal compilation) is more straightforward and rock-like. Lyrically, Canis achieve a lot more than many bands in terms of intelligence and insight, with plenty of black humour (at least I hope it’s humour).. Even the cover deserves praise. Overall, A Good Solid Flesh Crime is one of the best albums of dark, greasy rock from New Zealand, in recent memory. GAVIN BERTRAM SMOG Red Apple Falls (Drag City) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL .< On Avery Island (Merge) A long time on the scene, Bill ‘Smog’

Callahan is back again with a new album. and an acoustically beautiful number it is, coming over in most places in a Palace/Will Oldham Vs. Sebadoh kinda way. ‘Blood Red Bird’, for instance gets the acoustic spacious treatment that' plays on the heartstrings, and juxtaposes that with an optimistic view of solitude, while the chorus is so lush it’s downright delicious. Each song is a lyrical story in itself, accompanied by an ambient (non digital) soundtrack,, each song linked to the others by the raw-, ness of the sentiments expressed. Whether you’re being instructed to get a life of your own in ‘lnspiration’, or having made the break from a smothering past in ‘Finer Days’, Smog create fables for a modern age. ; When is a Tall Dwarfs album not a Tall Dwarfs album? When its Neutral Milk Hotel’s On A very Island. Not exactly, but there is more than a passing nod to Messrs CK and AB — ‘Someone Is Waiting’ gives the drowning-man-wav-ing signal to the Dwarfs big time. On its own merits, On Avery Island is a 90% winner, with trombones, other non-rock instrumentation, distortion-as-a-life-force, and a permeating weirdness throughout. I say a 90% winner because there’s some stuff in here that sounds like that doofus from Radiohead whining ail over it, but any album that can manage better than 75% is still well ahead of the pack. And I’ll lay odds on Neutral Milk Hotel retaining at least their current form. . .. MAC HODGE NAPALM DEATH Inside The Torn Apart (Earache) ■' A decade ago, Napalm Death operated on the outer reaches of extreme. Some songs lasted two seconds in their entirety, others were so slow that they seemed to last a painful eternity. The band’s revolving door policy ensured a flow of ideas and perspectives; but instead of being applauded for extraordinary vision and innovation within a narrowly-confined genre, they were, treated as a joke by everyone who was not either John Peel or a card-carrying metalhead.

Times have changed. Napalm Death these days sound rather ordinary — playing it straighter, more competently, and, ultimately, less challengingly. Ignoring all that, Inside The Torn Apart is good listening, and better than 99% ot any other metal bands you care to mention. There’s a particular stoic maturity evident now — rhythmic grooves hinted at on 1995’s Diatribes are more pronounced, anger has given way to pragmatism, and the album’s listenable production avoids cliche wherever possible. Napalm Death have drifted centrewards from their previous boundarybending position, yet still manage to maintain a safe distance from heavy rock convention and corporate trends. TROY FERGUSON

KENICKIE At The Club (EMI) ‘Yeah. Yeah, yeah,, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.’ So goes the chorus to the first song on Kenickie’s debut album, At The Club. Like one or two (thousand) other bunches of Brit musicians, the threegirl, . one-boy , Kenickie ■, are young 978), free, and ready to rock. They may not have the cleverest choruses in the world but, hey, they’ve got the attitude, the looks, and a reasonable ability to put together a noisy melody or two. Kenickie have been causing quite a stir in the UK with their raucous concerts and a string of EPs, and this album brings together a lot of that material. There are plenty of hooks and I don’t doubt that Kenickie can put on a great live show but (and here’s the bad news) there’s something rather disposable about this record. . They’ve got a sound which seems to have been covered a few billion times before, and bands like Sleeper, Elastica, and more recently Linoleum, do it a lot better. Still, there are some good moments when Kenickie choose to mix things up a little, especially on the very robot-like ‘Robot Song’. DOMINIC WAGHORN SMOKE CITY Flying Away (Zomba) . This is the band who recorded ‘Underwater Love'; ya know, the Levis ad where 14 year old mermaids try to rob Johnny Fisher of his new strides. Normally I would have been a wanker about the whole thing, and said something like, ‘Blah. What sort of sell-out tie-in are you trying to pull on innocent kids?’ I guess it still is — but it’s actually a pretty good record. Heavy with Latin rhythms, with lead singer Nina Miranda being more of.the Astrud Gilberto school, than that of namesake Carman. : While not being an album to hang on its every lyric for hidden depth and meaning, it does hold the attention, with songs placed just. so, to catch you before you drift away’ Like the strident yet easy ballad ‘Mr Gorgeous (and Miss Curvaceous)’, that bounces around on an ocean of rocking acoustic guitars. Likewise, the Joni Mitchell-ish 'Jamie Pan’ which proves a welcome relief from the, not unpleasant but relentless, backing rhythm , JESSE GARON

MISSION OF BURMA signals, callsand marches (Rykodisc) MISSION OF BURMA Vs. (Rykodisc) MISSION OF BURMA The Horrible Truth About Burma (Rykodisc) These three albums are the complete recorded history of Mission Of Burma, whose early 80s post-no wave art-rock marked the transitional period of ‘Underground Rock’ (meaning Germs etc), to ‘Underground Rock’ (meaning REM etc). Their approach also bridged the gap between experimental and straight rock ‘n’ roll, in the same way the Stooges and the Velvets had a decade earlier. signals, calls and marches, from 1981, containing the classics, ‘That’s When I Reach For My Revolver’, and ‘This Is Not A Photograph’, is nervy, naked and urgent. Originally released as an EP, it’s joined here by the equally stark, ‘Academy Fight Song’ single. With IZs., Burma really tapped the creative vein. Along with many evocative instrumentals and strangely percussive tapescapes, the songs here are more deeply textured, yet retain a dangerous edginess. The live album, The Horrible Truth..., recorded on their final USA tour testifies to the furious maturity of the band. With all new songs, and a great cover of the Stooges ‘1970’, it was a phenomenal farewell. Hopefully, the re-release of these seminal albums will propel Mission Of Burma out of obscurity and into their rightful place in rock history. TROY FERGUSON VARIOUS ARTISTS Dollar Mixture (Wrong) The year of the compilation, as a friend recently stated, continues. New label Wrong Records go some way to fill the void in pop records that used to typify the early Nun and late Failsafe releases, with the emphasis on songs, not on market share or product. There’s an obvious affinity and sense of community on Dollar Mixture, although it spans the nation geographically. From the rocking feedback of Auckland’s Lozenge, to the swirling organ driven sounds of Christchurch’s Hawaii Five-O, the taut 12th/16th century architectural stylings of Alpha Plan (originally) of Dunedin, or the wistfully rolling jangle of Wellington’s Sugarbug,

the geography analogy parallels the domains of the pop realm — there’s a lot of horizons to explore. Other goodies for your aural consumption include the hummable Bird Nest Roy vocal nuances of Cabbage Bomber’s ‘I Done Stuff, the sub-Crazy Horse era Neil Young-driving pop that is Caneslide, and long time local mantle dweller Richard James and his Letter 5 outfit, who offer ‘Spaghetti Scar’. ; Like every dollar mixture pre-bagged by.your friendly dairy owner,' this one includes the odd aniseed ball that may not be to your liking, but they number only a few out of an otherwise large tasty bag. Take a dip. MAC HODGE VARIOUS ARTISTS Big Night Soundtrack (Take One) It’s the perfect equation: a film about food and family with a soundtrack tai-lor-made for cooking, dining, and making babies to. It’s the kind of music you hear when there isn’t any playing, and a liberal smattering of Louis Priman says all the things you should be hearing or saying, if dinner is to last all night. Claudio Villa’s contributions should have a rush on Italian linguaphone sets at your local library, and it’s enough to make you wonder if Madonna really was wearing the gospel on her breast with that, 'ltalians Do It Better’ t-shirt she made famous all those years ago. If this album doesn’t w’ork wonders on your sauce and sassy, you probably care less than you should to. deserve it in the first place. BRONWYN TRUDGEON CANDIRIA Beyond Reasonable Doubt (Too Damn Hype) New Yorkers Candida impressed immensely with their last album, Surrealistic Madness, a melange of crazy syncopation and the juxtaposition of such divergent elements as hardcore, avant garde jazz, hip hop, and free noise. What you might imagine from that, and what you get, are quite different. It all melds together almost flawlessly; at one moment a full-on riff fest, the next a flavoursome jazz progression. It’s not really jazz-metal, so maybe it’s progressive-hardcore? Who cares, as it’s bound to be one of the wickedest genre-crossing experiences you’ll ever hear. Listen with an open mind, listen good, and listen now.

GAVIN BERTRAM