Wednesday, 2/26/97
Soundbites
Live "Secret Samadhi" (Radioactive) With their third release,
this Pennsylvania foursome gives us their most challenging record
to date. "Secret Samadhi" is a consistent yet complex album in that
it keeps its flow but doesn’t spell out all its intentions. You
actually have to think about the music. The current hit, "Lakini’s
Juice," seems to take that Pearl Jam "our fame has come too fast"
position with aggressive guitars, coupled with an orchestration.
"Rattlesnake" has such awkward and enigmatic lyrics as "let’s go
hang out in a church, we’ll go find lurch, then we’ll haul ass down
through the abbey." And the absolutely beautiful "Turn My Head,"
very much the "Lightning Crashes" of this album, throws us odd
lyrics that could imply an assortment of things, like fallen
heroes, rock star worship, even rape. But where those comparisons
(once again) to U2 will come in is where singer/lyricist Ed
Kowalczyk critiques society’s emptiness and cruelty, where love
doesn’t make the world go ’round. "Graze" is a lyrically brilliant
piece about putting our spiritual needs behind the socially
constructed ones ("we came to the earth to graze/ everyone’s
diggin’/ now there’s no time to live"). "Ghost" is a sweet song,
reassuring the lonely that "everybody has a ghost who sings like
you do." And "Century" speaks to us about love’s trivial influence
in our falling-apart world as we head towards the year 2000, even
appropriately making references to philosopher Aldous Huxley.
Live’s music sometimes doesn’t parallel the themes Kowalczyk is
trying to display, and when those themes aren’t too blatant, often
"Secret Samadhi" leaves the listener confused as to what to feel.
But just like R.E.M., we don’t have to know what the song is trying
to convey to enjoy it. Mike Prevatt B+
The Longpigs "The Sun is Often Out" (Mother/Island) Like most
new British bands, the Longpigs aren’t trying to dazzle you with
new musical techniques or mind-blowing lyrics. They are just out to
make perfect pop that you can feel. But unlike most new pop bands,
the Longpigs sustain the emotion and the infectious pop throughout
the entire album. "The Sun is Often Out" is a confident and simple
album that proclaims its soul searching ambitions loud and clear.
Singer Crispin Hunt, borrowing vocal styles from Robert Smith and
Thom Yorke (Radiohead), sings with a desperation that often directs
the music with a sense of lost identity. More than that, it goes
beyond your standard moody-yet-perky British pop to dabble with
angst-rock elements that bands like the Manic Street Preachers and
Radiohead have mastered. The guitars soar right along Hunt’s
Who-like Teenage Wasteland lyrics. "On and On" is a ballad that
sucks you in from the start and makes you feel the singer’s pain
("and I wish you didn’t need me/ and I wish you didn’t know/ cos I
just can’t go on"). "She Said" is also a single-worthy ditty that
rocks proudly, as well as "Jesus Christ." The Longpigs combine ’90s
pain and ’80s crafted guitar-pop to create a solid debut album that
is perfect for the coffee house, the dorm room, or that road trip
to Vegas. They share their pain but somehow leave you feeling
pretty damn good. Mike Prevatt A-
Red Red Meat "There’s a Star Above the Manger Tonight" (Sub Pop)
This Chicago-based outfit’s fourth LP intends on pushing the
audible capacity of its listeners with amorphous arrangement and
subdued beauty. Gritty country-blues has never been so strangely
welcoming with the Meatmen’s hallucinogenic touch and avant garde
artiness. If four punks decided to dub a blues jam session with a
few unconventional instruments and eccentric, drug-inducing
innovation, this would be the final package. Fronted by singer and
songwriter Tim Rutili, Red Red Meat’s languid minimalist approach
makes every distorted note an important one. Without enough
memorable melodies and rousing vocals to carry the songs along, the
addition of a blues progression or echoi#ng synth or sliding lap
steel is imperative. Opening with "Sulfur," the vocals are smoky
and the rhythm is disjointed, but the bluesy guitar riff that makes
a repeated appearance saves the song from an untimely bad trip. The
lowly drone of Rutili means much more then what he is actually
saying on "Quarter Horses (B-Slow)." His vocals are incoherent, the
music is sullen and so becomes your mood. The times when Rutili
doesn’t open his mouth it sounds more and more like a possessed
music box playing expressionist jazz ("Just Like an Egg on
Stilts"). But after every repeated listen, especially of the
Christian folk title track, the Meatmen become as addicting as
muscle relaxants. This album dares to be good for many reasons
unexplainable, and serves up bloody rare. Brendon Vandergast A-
Blinker the Star "A Bourgeois Kitten" (A & M) Alternative
rock ‘n’ roll fans and musicians have reason to hang their heads as
record sales for the new year taper off, and a recent industry
interest in electronica music augments. Why? Because Blinker the
Star has released another Nirvana cover album to say the least. Of
course it is not fair to blame Blinker for the new techno wave;
music trends are as stable as Stock Market prices. But mainstream
alternative (excuse the oxymoron) is in need of a make over. This
album is far from innovating, but any band that sounds like the
noble Nirvana with the aftertaste of the popier Pixies deserves a
cursory listen. And surprisingly they’ve got the grunge, post punk
formula down cold. This Canadian trio bursts through "Jack’s Peak,"
"Soldier III" and "My Dog" with guitar chords and vox reincarnated
from "In Utero." Thanks to lead singer Jordan, who writes, produces
and plays most of the instruments including turns on keyboard and
percussion, the album is saved from droning guitars and daft
choruses that those Aussie teens so awfully subject us to. The best
track, "The Pick," moves alongside a drum kit and acoustics as well
as an animated synthesizer and sing along melody. This is a song
that, if the band learns anything from their past mistakes, could
give Blinker their own identity, let alone save them from being
tossed out the window among the other lost grungers.
But for now, Blinker seems content with ambiguity and
unoriginality. A great album for the frat guy, "lets get wasted"
preparty motivator. Nevertheless, bring on the techno. Brendon
Vandergast C
Soundbites runs Mondays and Wednesdays.
BAND
"Secret Samadhi"