Wednesday, 3/5/97
SoundbitesVarious Artists "Lost Highway" Soundtrack (Nothing)
Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor has lent his soundtrack producing
(see the "Natural Born Killers" soundtrack) talents once again,
this time for the new David Lynch film, "Lost Highway." And Lynch
couldn’t have picked anyone with creepier musical taste than our
man Trent. This film noir soundtrack is fantastically haunting and
consistent, never losing its groove or gloom for one second.
The highlights of this soundtrack are the superstar offerings.
The most brilliant contribution is the Smashing Pumpkins’ radio hit
"Eye," an pulsating, electronic piece that represents both their
new synth-sound and the current musical style crowding the radio
waves. Also stunning is Nine Inch Nails’ "The Perfect Drug," a
soft-core industrial piece that is also hot on modern rock radio.
Surprisingly, Marilyn Manson’s couplet of horror, "Apple of Sodom"
and remake "I Put a Spell on You," are more infectiously sinister
than bombastically thrashing. David Bowie’s techno-influenced "I’m
Deranged" begins and ends the CD nicely, and Lou Reed’s remake of
"This Magic Moment" transforms it from prom night’s last-dance song
to prom night’s sex theme.
With Angelo Badalamenti’s jazz-goth score interweaving through
the entire album, the creep factor never loses its step. "Lost
Highway" is one hip film noir score, something you can sleep, drive
or chill to.
Mike Prevatt A-
Less Than Jake "Losing Streak" (Capitol) Take the number of
pop-ska-punk bands you can name (Mighty Mighty Bosstones,
Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, etc.), add an exponent and you might be
somewhere close to the actual number of ska-core bands popping up
around the States today. For those who have just awakened from a
catatonic sleep, here’s the basic ska-punk equation: three chord
melodic punk plus or minus happy upstroke beats (depending on
song), multiplied by vibrant horn section and mundane, everyday
lyrics. Variables include tone of singer and physical energy during
live show. The final product is a high-strung, danceable theme that
is hard to hate, unless heard in extremely high doses.
On their 13th (?!) release in four years and major label debut,
the Florida-based Less Than Jake supply just enough of the formula
without beating a dead horse. Case in point: the opening track,
"Automatic," starts with hard-core guitars and drum roll to a
brassy, harmonic intro. Then Rancid-esque vocals ride along with a
speedy ska beat, all tied together by a lyrically meaningless
chorus ("Things are automatic when you see them everyday"). Hence,
the entire album proceeds at party-jumping pace with a whimsical
focus. Hell, the band said themselves that the song order was
decided according to their Magic Eight Ball.
Songs like "Jonny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts" and "Happyman"
suggest you get up and dance like an amphetamine-dosed Roaring
’20er at a "Great Gatsby" party. But then again, so does the whole
album, which, paradoxically, is Less Than Jake’s weakness as
well.
"Losing Streak" flows like a good dance party album; there’s
never a disappointing song that will clear the floor or cause you
to douse in your drink. Less Than Jake offer honed tunes and
sing-along choruses better than most of their popular colleagues,
but what does that mean? Sticking to the aforementioned formula
will equate good, fun music, lively performances and possibly
retail success. But, you could bet that any listener couldn’t tell
one song from another, excluding the lyrics that give away the
titles. In short, the lack of diversity means the same songs, again
and again.
Less Than Jake might hit ska’s glass ceiling that appears to
encase all ska-core bands in a world of usual mediocrity.
Brendon Vandergast B-
Various Artists "Covered In Black – An Industrial Tribute to the
Kings of High Voltage AC/DC" (Cleopatra) Replace the raw, shrieking
voices of Bon Scott and Brian Johnson and gritty guitar chords of
naughty school boy Angus Young with synthesized beats and low,
gurgling goth vocals and what remains? A dry, impersonal take on
some of the most heart-pounding rhythms the music the world has
ever known. Though mostly an ungratifying display of the industrial
scene’s lust for dispassionate growlings, some tracks provide an
interesting twist on the old rocker standards.
For example, Genitorturers’ rendition of "Squealer," with a
breathy, seductive female voice singing the lines "She said she’d
never been touched before / She said she’d never been this far
before / She said she’d never liked / to be excited / She said
she’d always had / had to fight it / and she never won," completely
change the original chauvinistic tone into a psychoanalyzation of
sexual awakening.
Also, when Klute covers "The Furor" with a driving techno beat,
’80s keyboard beeps and half-mocking, half-sinister voice, one
wonders if AC/DC could ever have done their own song justice. Yet,
Die Krupps steps over the line of decency when attempting to
replicate "It’s a Long Way to the Top" with their comical, death
metal-driven guitar spewings and raspy, monotone vocals which
remind one of Freddy Krueger trying to be scary in his fifth
"Nightmare on Elm Street" sequel. Likewise, all power-chord induced
headbanging joy is stripped from the motivational battle cry "For
Those About to Rock" by Godflesh’s lackluster performance.
Mostly, "Covered In Black" just instills in one the need to pop
in a half- warped tape of "High Voltage" or "Highway to Hell" to
recall the days of true rock glory with which the new industrial
tribute album has been merely taunting deprived listeners.
Vanessa VanderZanden B-
Jane Jensen "Comic Book Whore" (Interscope) Yes, she’s a
charming little comic book whore, but do you really want Jane
Jensen to serenade you with her trashy guitar work and stagnant
digital programming? Do you really desire her self-serving, breathy
little-girl vocals and whiny chatter to fill your bedroom with a
sense of annoyance for mankind, and, inevitably, Jane Jensen
herself?
My, she does have so many problems with finding a boyfriend that
make for such interesting lyrics, especially when she draws out
each shamefully strident word in the hopes of sounding like a
strung-out junky. Why can’t she just accept the fact that she
probably grew up with loving, upper middle class suburban parents,
smoked pot all of once, and subscribes to Cosmo? So she doesn’t
shop at the Gap. That doesn’t make her Courtney Love.
Instead of pretending to be a hard-core underground sex cadet,
why doesn’t she just sing about being a dork and buying nylons at
Woolworth? Fuck image. What "dirty little secrets" does she have
that she so elusively alludes to in between spinning techno samples
in the track, "Listen"? Get past the facade, babe, and you might
start creating music someone would play as more than a background
to watching Scoobie Doo while sorting socks.
The cliched synthesizer action makes you zone, while the
ever-predictable rhythm switches barely keep you conscious. "Comic
Book Whore" feels like an album you already have but can’t remember
where you put it, because you never really play it.
Jane Jensen probably owns that album too, but plays it every day
in the hopes that one day she’ll make it big and find a boyfriend
who will take her out of her house so she can stop playing that
boring album.
Vanessa VanderZanden C
Soundbites runs Mondays and Wednesdays.SOUNDTRACK
"Lost Highway"