Monday, January 25, 1999
Soundbites
Ani DiFranco, "Up Up Up Up Up Up"
The current queen of the indie sound, Ani DiFranco, just
released yet another album of folk-inspired slow tunes that are
sure to please the truly devoted. Even if you are not a loyal
follower, however, the album provides more than just mellow tunes.
"Up" times six offers heartfelt melodies with an undertone of
political commentary suitable to a socially conscious worker who
also appreciates moving tunes.
Born in Buffalo, New York, DiFranco has found a deep following
ever since she first produced her own self-titled CD in 1990. Now,
many CDs and soundtracks later, she has added greatly to the
reputation of indie music and scored immense popularity, as evident
in the tons of internet sites devoted to her worship.
Some of the more deeply profound songs ("Tis of Thee" and "Come
Away From It") explore subjects such as drugs from both a personal
angle and a political one. The result remains a truly inspirational
insight into art with real content.
Besides that, it seems that DiFranco has graduated from solo
guitar ventures to more-complete band projects. The music has more
than than just acoustic background. Added are keyboards and drums
that make even the soothing songs like "Everest" a little fuller
than they would have been without them.
"Up Up Up Up Up Up" represents an Ani DiFranco capable of
drawing in more fans with her talent and ever-growing spirit.
Michelle Zubiate
Rating: 8
Original Soundtrack, "Another Day In Paradise"
If you’ve already dug through the Tarantino soundtracks in
search of classic funk and soul, and are still hungry for more,
look no further. "Another Day In Paradise," has a bunch of ’em, and
you won’t be disappointed.
Fat horn lines, jangling guitars and honey-sweet vocals are in
full effect on this 12 song collection, which makes for perfect
cruisin’ tunes. Snap your fingers, strap on those alligator skin
platform boots, strut around ridiculously – it’s fun stuff.
"Another Day" employs lesser known numbers, so don’t expect a
string of James Brown and the Isley Brothers. At the same time, it
highlights these less famous gems, not forgetting masters like Otis
Redding. His punchy reading of "Hard to Handle," and languid "I’ll
Let Nothing Separate Us" are highlights to an already impressive
package.
If you’re looking for new pick-up lines, Allen Toussaint’s "Soul
Sister" can offer a wealth of quality love advice. "Hey you, with
the curly bush on your head, baby," he croons. It might not exactly
reel in the women by the boatload, but the thump of the bass and
the insistent drums will make you forget any lyrical slip-ups.
As the album draws to a close, you might find yourself tiring of
the funk-a-thon, so it abruptly shifts gears to Bob Dylan’s "Every
Grain of Sand." With its mournful harmonica and steady guitar, you
can’t help but feel satisfied.
"Another Day In Paradise" isn’t going to change your life, but
it’ll sure make you feel good.
Brent Hopkins
Rating: 8
Metallica, "Garage Inc."
For those of you who might have forgotten whether or not
Metallica is truly evil, well, yes, they are. "Garage Inc.," the
ever-raunchy quartet’s latest release, is a collection of covers,
spanning over two 70 minute-plus discs in which they pay homage to
great influences and musical demigods.
The first contains solely new material and incorporates sounds
that have more recently influenced the group, ranging from the
obscure depths of early ’80s speed-metal no-names to prototypical,
hard-rock icons.
Aside from a remake of Bob Seeger’s "Turn the Page" and an
interesting rendition of Black Sabbath’s Sabbra Cadabra, the
coolest (and most intelligent) track has to be "Tuesday’s Gone,"
originally a Lynyrd Skynyrd song.
For this one, the crew invited a host of outside musicians,
featuring Les Claypool of Primus on banjo, Jerry Cantrell and Sean
Kinney of Alice in Chains, founding Skynyrd guitarist Gary
Rossington, and John Popper for a long-winded harmonica solo.
Some other notably interesting covers include songs by Blue
Oyster Cult, Danzig and – surprisingly – Nick Cave.
The second disc is bound to please those who know the darker
side of the band, before anything else mattered to them.
Warning: If you think Metallica is all about being Unforgiven,
you might not like what you’re delving into when purchasing this
disc, as it will leave all your neuronal synapses burnt out from
having processed so much sound at so fast a speed.
The track list contains a set of Motorhead covers from 1995 and
the two early ep’s: "Garage Days Revisited" from 1984, and "Garage
Days Re-Revisited" originally released in 1987. It’s also rounded
out with some B-sides and singles – most noticeably the grandiose
pisser-off of parents and dirty apathizer anthem, "So What."
"Garage Inc." is a reminder of Metallica’s dark, greasy roots in
speed metal and hard rock, and is essential for anyone who
considers themselves a true fan.
Cyrus McNally
Rating: 8
Squarepusher, "Music is Rotted One Note"
It begins with Tom Jenkinson (a.k.a. Squarepusher), mumbling
incoherently into a microphone somewhere, the tinny bump and grind
of live acid-jazz in the background. He begins to giggle
uncontrollably, as though this were a preface he is too drunk to
make. Oddball bleeps pop in and out, suggesting slippery fingers
fumbling over a workbench of electronic artifices. The drums build,
Jenkinson apparently gives up trying to tell us anything, and the
funky ambience envelopes the full body of the recording. This is
Jenkinson’s music (which would be very surprising if you knew a
damned thing about Tom Jenkinson)! All at once we are launched into
a flange-wet feedback solo that seems to imitate a scratching
turntable, giving way to a layered lexicon of
effects-and-filters-on-basslines (really funky basslines), tempered
with lazy chords on an electric piano and the light break of a
single drum kit.
This isn’t the Squarepusher that I, or anyone else consuming his
chronically indulgent drum ‘n’ bass overture releases up to Big
Loada in 1997, used to know. It seems the bass virtuoso and
obsessive drum programmer took a turn for the jazz. Fans liken it
to when Aphex Twin put out the ambient album after all that
stampeding trance music he was making. Critics liken it to Miles
Davis’s fusion experiments. I liken it to walking through a dark
room, knowing the cat threw up somewhere on the carpet earlier.
This thing is what the Brits would call dodgy. There’s usually
no clear break between songs – in fact, tracks 3-8 could be
listened to as one long, spooky development. Keyboard lines wander
between moody, resonant sweeps, refracted echoes, edgy staccato
lines and violent banging. The drums (all acoustic, Squarepusher
fans, so be proud) tend toward jumpy breakbeats and straight up
jazz runs, but never predictably. The acoustic gimmick doesn’t
prevent Jenkinson from employing a lot of filters, reverse playback
and whatever else such a man would keep lying around the studio to
make the kits more trippy. But the bass is still the centerpiece:
in turns snappy, twisted and shockingly beautiful, tweaked and
distorted into a whole cast of characters for Jenkinson’s noirish
back alley puppetry.
Jazz isn’t all this album’s got. Jenkinson shows off an
impressive array of purely ambient sonic experiments, treated with
healthy doses of analogue synth, phasing, delay and the type of
engineering theatrics I used to buy Pink Floyd albums for. Your
speaker will use muscles it forgot it had. Not for the faint of
heart. Put it on at a party and see who notices.
Wes Medina
Rating: 10Ani DiFranco, "Up Up Up Up Up Up"
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