Monday, 6/30/97 Soundbites MUSIC:
Oscar Lopez "Heat" (Narada) "Heat" lives up to its title as an
ideal album for those hot summer nights, though it’s so good you’ll
want to play it all year long,. Lopez weds flamenco’s hypnotic
Latin rhythms, staccato guitar plucks and romantic warmth to one
gorgeous melody after another for a practically flawless
collection. Hand-beaten drums and castanets join the rich harmony
of acoustic and electric guitars, bass and the occasional piano or
keyboard, providing a backbone for Lopez’s weightless playing. He
tickles the nylon strings with delicate trills, cascading scales
and swooping arpeggios that seem effortless. Many melodies are also
layered by being played in thirds. Lopez never shows off, though;
he only adds flourishes that benefit the song’s mood. Some tunes,
like the beautiful standout "Distancia," are melancholy and
haunting, with minor chords and deep bass lines. Others, like "The
Way I Am (Asi Soy)," are light-hearted and have sparse
accompaniment. "Milonguita" features Lopez’s dazzling technique and
ability to create complex melodies and harmonies with only one
accompanying guitar. Other indispensable songs include the driving
"Forgive Me (Perdoname)," which opens the album, and the
appropriately titled "Fire and Fury (Fuego y Furia)," a
three-fourth-time whirlwind which could be the soundtrack to a
bullfight. Between these relentless gems that fly by at light speed
are slower, more romantic tunes. With the variety of tempos and
arrangements, the 15-track album, while musically consistent, never
becomes monotonous. Lopez uses his guitar as an instrument and a
voice; it is both melody and accompaniment. He creates an intimate
setting around which to weave tales suggested by such evocative
titles as "The Flight of the Flamingo (El Vuelo del Flamingo)."
With this record, Lopez puts himself among the top flamenco
artists. Kristin Fiore A Kenickie "At The Club" (Emidisc) Named
after a character in Grease, the Newcastle quartet Kenickie is the
band with the biggest buzz in the U.K. Even with fellow 18- to
21-year-old bands such as Bis, Ash, Symposium and Urusei Yatsura
enjoying a growth in popularity overseas, Kenickie’s debut album,
"At The Club," demonstrates that they are the best of this current
crop of young bands. Highly influenced by ’70s glam, the band
consists of an all-female line-up with the exception of drummer
Johnny X. Kenickie is most notable because of the flashy confidence
that lead singer Lauren Laverne exudes in her extraordinarily
resonant vocals. With her voice sounding a lot like a British
version of Courtney Love (who incidentally is a big fan), Laverne
and company sing about a wide variety of topics, ranging from the
loneliness of sudden monetary success to the utter boredom of
living in middle-class British suburbia. Kenickie’s sad lyrics are
contrasted with a nice blend of punk and pop that will delight
instead of depress. Kenickie is at its best when singing about
dreary social life, hence the name of their album. Melodic
power-pop songs like "Come Out 2 Nite" and "Nightlife" owe a great
deal to the sheer amount of camp that emanates from a cheesy
backing chorus and simple hand-claps. Many songs in the album are
filled with catchy hooks like those in the guitar-driven "In Your
Car." Fans listening to this will have a hard time getting the
"Yeah, yeah, yeah …" chant out of their heads. With their debut
album "At The Club," Kenickie proves that all the media attention
they’re receiving is not just an aberration, but something well
deserved. The song "Classy" best describes Kenickie themselves;
"We’ve got class/ we’ve got style." Tristan Thai A Lightning Seeds
"Dizzy Heights" (Epic) Before the whole electronic pop craze, there
was a little band from the U.K. called the Lightning Seeds, who
scored a hit in America with "The Life of Riley" in 1992. They are
back with "Dizzy Heights," an unambitious yet enjoyable collection
of pop songs that combine synthesized subtleties and head-swaying
guitars. Think Erasure meets Britpop. The New Order-ish "Imaginary
Friends" is near infectious and has some interesting things to say
about "loserdom" and fantasy ("He met a girl who liked a bit of a
laugh/ He gained the youth he’d forgotten to have/ So now they mess
about with things that are highly illegal/ Often get mistaken for
interesting people"). Cool gems include the happy "What If …" and
the rave-beat-driven "Sugar Coated Iceberg." A couple tracks are on
the dull side, like the almost anti-climactic "Fingers and Thumbs"
and the uninspiring "Wishaway." The typical "Like You Do"
represents the ’80s and the construction and style of "Touch and
Go" sounds a little bit like Led Zeppelin’s "Thank You." The
Lightning Seeds have a knack for the simple pop song and really
nothing more. It makes no difference that they aren’t in the front
lines of the electronic movement, but as they sit on the same
shelves as their revolutionary peers, they are likely to be passed
up for something better. However, if the mood catches you right,
and you’re looking for a carefree and pleasant summer soundtrack,
you could do a lot worse. Mike Prevatt B Kara’s Flowers "The Fourth
World" (Reprise) Purporting themselves as the anti-gloom-and-doom
band, L.A. locals Kara’s Flowers’ philosophy can best be summed up
by the chorus of "Myself": "I can’t find anything to be sad about.
They say I’m doomed, but I feel fine." Musically, this makes sense,
as the album is an upbeat collection of guitar pop whose chord
progressions, vocal harmonies and straightforward guitar playing
has a hint of ’50s nostalgia (that Saddle-shoed, zit-free decade
when America resembled Disneyland, according to your parents). The
lyrics are also unusually light-hearted and somewhat superficial.
If Weezer could be warped back in time to play one of the early Ed
Sullivan shows, they might sound something like this. Though the
band adds little to the most successful elements of catchy
power-pop, they fuse them so irresistibly that the music’s lack of
originality doesn’t matter much – you’re having too much fun. Case
in point – the opening track, "Soap Disco," which has single
stamped all over it. Part Fonzie and part flannel, the
two-and-a-half minute romp combines thick guitars with saccharine
harmonies that sucker you in faster than puppies in a pet store
window. The next song is notable only for the zinger line (and
possibly the only morsel of negativity on the record), "Teddy
Ruxpin is a whore," but it is followed by a string of melodic pop
gems like "Myself." The album doesn’t take a breath until the
seventh song, "To Her, With Love," an acoustic and string lullaby
that sounds more like a woozy Beatles cover than Lulu’s classic,
"To Sir, With Love." The only other slow song is the almost-pretty
closing track, "Captain Splendid," which attempts to pull at your
heartstrings like Radiohead, but ultimately fails. The rest of the
album is happier than a Prozac test group, and the mood is
contagious. Many of the songs sound suspiciously similar, but
unlike Green Day’s "Dookie," which suffered from the same ailment,
this album contains more than four chords (and there’s no dog poop
on the cover). Fire your therapist and pop this album in your CD
player – it’s cheaper and much more fun to listen to. Kristin Fiore
B+