[Part of this review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] Catania, Sicily’s Uzeda (named for an ancient entrance into the city) plays angular start/stop aggression with uncommon time signatures. At least, that’s what the Italian quintet (more recently a quartet) eventually did. Out of Colors is a soft-edged approach towards…
[This review was originally published in Badaboom Gramaphone #3 and appears here with permission.] Arkansas native Jason Morphew makes brooding country ballads with a deep voice and a bleeding heart. His music displays a simultaneous hat tip to tradition and a willingness to try new forms, contradictory impulses which are exemplified on Transparent, a diverse collection of…
[This review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] As much a multi-media collective as a band, Uz Jsme Doma (pronounced ooze smeh DOUGH-ma, and translatable either as “Now We’re at Home,” or “Now I Get It”) has encountered much tribulation at home in the Czech Republic (where rock music was not…
[This review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] Great bands inevitably get lost in the maelstrom of releases that are coming out all the time, and every music fan has their shortlist of those who deserved more acknowledgment than they went on to receive. The Fifty Foot Hose is such a…
[This review was originally published in Badaboom Gramaphone #3 and appears here with permission.] Hailing from the much-bandied-about city of Chapel Hill, NC, Spatula released a wonderful “Radio Helmet,” a wonderful 7-inch in 1994. Recorded by the duo of guitarist-singer Chuck Johnson and drummer Matt Gocke, it’s a great song with the loud-soft aesthetic of Codeine and…
[This review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] Attempting to establish some form of linearity with New Zealand musicians is always a task since most of them are known more for their collaborations rather than for a specific group. That is certainly true of two central figures in the country’s free…
Live and Live [tape] (Can. Baby Universe) 1991 [This review was originally published in Badaboom Gramaphone #3 and appears here with permission.] A Spiny Anteaters album is a whole and complete entity. Parts can be extrapolated, even be held up independently, but to hear a release piecemeal is to not fully understand it. What’s missed is the…
[This review was originally published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here by permission.] Drawing on a diverse pool of influences ranging from the pastoral folk of Pentangle and Incredible String Band to the odd rantings of Fall and Godz, Tower Recordings create a timeless music that borrows from numerous eras without really belonging to…
[This review was originally published in Badaboom Gramaphone #3 and appears here with permission.] Where most space rock outfits aim for the heavens, Magnog takes you by the hand and lead you into a netherworld of dark, atmospheric psych jams. Heavily reverbed guitar explorations fill the void with uneasiness and dread. Magnog is an absolute left-field shocker…
With one of the greatest names for a band (why did no one think of using it before?), Alger Hiss is loud, brutal and nasty, thereby exemplifying all the elements bandleader (and music journalist) Jordan Mamone was attempting to strive towards when he formed the group in 1995. Along with Hajji Mayer on drums and…
[This review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] For some groups, a description like “too cutesy” is the greatest of compliments. As members in good standing of the British twee scene in the early ’90s, Strawberry Story were immersed in its sweet’n’infantile rules — fast tempos, upbeat songs and coy, high-pitched…
[This review was originally published in Badaboom Gramaphone #3 and appears here with permission.] Known only as Jenny [Gabel] and Jim [Miller] on their CD, Biscuit combines lofty female vocals with guitar and assorted noises. Biscuit takes what at the base is a sweet song, and turns it creepy, making adjustments until what once could…
[This review was originally published in Badaboom Gramaphone #3 and appears here with permission.] Formed as Breast Secreting Cake, this young New Zealand trio quickly found themselves signed and releasing a records on their home-country flagship label, Flying Nun. Bressa Creeting Cake suffuses a flaky whimsy into the usually self-impressed sound of ornate pop music. Starting with…
[This review was originally published in Badaboom Gramaphone #3 and appears here with permission.] Boston and Brooklyn’s Bright broke a barrier between the inaccessibility of drawn-out krautrock improvs and the rigidity of pop songwriting, coloring in small points on the musical spectrum — sticking on one chord, or chord-progression — but completely coloring it, exploring nuances of…
[This review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] One of the better answers to the perceived emptiness left by the ongoing next-My-Bloody-Valentine-album debacle, Research’s music sounds like the result of years spent recording things into a computer terminal without any of the flashiness or self-aggrandizement that has become the norm for…
[This review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] While quirky sound stylists like Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields and Momus reach far and wide to create their odd electronics, Swedish popster Doktor Kosmos (Uje Brandelius, who is/was also a touring member of Komeda) is content with the limitations of a Casio…
[This review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] Not many can pull off what Shadow Ring accomplishes. By setting detuned stringed instruments against kitchen utensil percussion and patching thick Brit spoken-word poetry overhead, the group manages to maintain a sparse calamity beyond any one-trick experimental novelty play. Regardless of an open…
[This review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] If one were to go with the idea that garage rock bands distinguish themselves not through original songwriting but through a clever combination of existing elements, then Subsonics are glowing examples. Made up of Rockin’ Clay Reed (guitar and vocals), Scott Weatherwax (bass)…
[Parts of this review were first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to set West Coast indie kids’ hearts aflutter, the ingredients include equal parts emo(tive) singing/shouting and a Built to Spill sense for congenial musical atmosphere over pop succinctness. Washington state’s Modest Mouse takes…
[This review was first published in Badaboom Gramophone #3 and appears here with permission.] Bedroom rock can only thrive by being charismatic and intriguing, which is just what Trevor Kampmann of Arlington, VA achieves with his name-shifting project. Aided by various producers, Turner has made some music which goes beyond acne-angst and wanders into a pop realm…
