==== ISSUE 52 ==== CONSUMABLE ======== [September 5, 1995] Editor: Bob Gajarsky Internet: gajarsky@pilot.njin.net Sr. Contributors: Jeremy Ashcroft, Martin Bate, Al Crawford, Dan Enright, Tim Kennedy, Reto Koradi, David Landgren, Tim Mohr, Joe Silva, John Walker Other Contributors: Dan Birchall, Lee Graham Bridges, Scott Byron, Tim Hulsizer, Daniel Kane, Stephen Lin, Sean Eric McGill, P. Nina Ramos, Jamie Roberts, Linda Scott, Ali Sinclair, Jon Steltenpohl, Courtney Muir Wallner, Scott Williams, Britain Woodman Technical Staff: Chris Candreva, Dave Pirmann, Damir Tiljak, Jason Williams Address all comments, subscriptions, etc. to gajarsky@pilot.njin.net ================================================================== All articles in Consumable remain (C) copyright their author(s). Permission for re-publication in any form other than within this document must be obtained from the editor. ================================================================== .------------. | Contents | `------------' SNEAK PEEK REVIEW: Dream Theater, _A Change Of Seasons_ - Dan Birchall INTERVIEW: Kate Jacobs - Courtney Muir Wallner REVIEW: Joy Division, _Permanent_ - Lee Graham Bridges REVIEW: Pretty & Twisted, _Pretty & Twisted_ - Reto Koradi REVIEW: Medicine, _Her Highness_ - Jiji Johnson REVIEW: Beggars, _Beggars_ - Reto Koradi REVIEW: Jane Siberry, _Maria_ - Jamie Roberts REVIEW: Minus 5 _Old Liquidator_ - Scott Byron REVIEW: Popol Vuh, _City Raga_ - Sean Eric McGill REVIEW: Banco de Gaia, _Last Train to Lhasa_ - David Landgren REVIEW: Milf, _antidope_ -Tim Mohr REVIEW: David Yazbek - _The Laughing Man_ - Joe Silva REVIEW: Richard H. Kirk - The Number of Magic - Jamie Roberts REVIEW: Liquorice, _Listening Cap_ - Lee Graham Bridges NEWS: Elvis Presley, More on Skinny Puppy, Victoria Williams TOUR DATES: Better Than Ezra, Buckwheat Zydeco, Cravin' Melon, Down, Juliana Hatfield, Hum, Medicine, Megadog Tour (incl. Banco de Gaia, Eat Static), Pram, Rev. Horton Heat / Hagfish, Noah Stone, Tricky/Laika THE READERS WRITE BACK! (Pet Shop Boys) Back Issues of Consumable --- SNEAK PEEK REVIEW: Dream Theater, _A Change Of Seasons_ (East West) - Dan Birchall Most bands write, record and release songs in short order. Even groups prone to taking lengthy breaks between albums work quickly once the creative juices start flowing. Dream Theater didn't intend to buck the trend when they wrote their epic suite "A Change Of Seasons" in 1989, but the track was left off their 1992 album _Images and Words_, which bore its sister song, "Metropolis - Pt. 1." Since then, the suite has been performed live only twice, and fans have patiently made do with bootlegs. On September 19th, the waiting will be over. A massive fan campaign organized through the Internet flooded the band's record label with requests for a studio recording of "A Change Of Seasons." The band has responded with a compilation EP containing a reworked version, along with a set of cover songs performed at Dream Theater's "Uncovered" concert in London this January. Like its title track, the EP is unusually long, with nearly an hour of music. The band reunited with David Prater, Doug Oberkirchner, and Bear Tracks Studio, the production team behind _Images and Words_, with clean, precise results. The musical similarity between "A Change Of Seasons" and "Metropolis - Pt. 1" is evident, but for all its length, the suite has few slow spots, and is more diverse and moving than "Metropolis." The EP's second side is also diverse, full of covers and medleys of songs by several bands which influenced Dream Theater. The selection ranges from Elton John's 1973 "Funeral for a Friend" and "Love Lies Bleeding" to Deep Purple's 1984 "Perfect Strangers." Between these chronological extremes fall the "Led Zeppelin Medley" and "The Big Medley," featuring songs by Pink Floyd, Kansas, Queen, Journey, Dixie Dreggs, and Genesis. The unusual track list will make _A Change Of Seasons_ a must-have for Dream Theater fans interested in the first official release of previously unavailable songs. The title track will also appeal strongly to fans of progressive rock and metal, and the covers offer a fresh treatment of seventies songs many fans grew up with. Those who buy this EP only for the title track, or only for the covers, should be pleasantly surprised by what they find on the flip side. --- INTERVIEW: Kate Jacobs - Courtney Muir Wallner I had the opportunity of meeting with Kate Jacobs. Kate had just returned to Hoboken, New Jersey after a brief tour of the west coast in support of her latest release on Bar/None Records, _(What About Regret)_. She is a muti-talented singer, songwriter, musician and dancer who studied fine arts at Oberlin College (Ohio), where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts. She is currently embarking on a European tour and is working on several fiction projects, as well as her songwriting. And without further ado, here's a few words with an absolutely engaging performer, Kate Jacobs. Consumable: What drew you to music? How did you get started? Kate Jacobs: I was originally a dancer and I was into ballet when I was growing up. I was a ballerina student, and then I came to New York and I was doing a lot of modern dance and choreography performance-work kind of stuff. Then in about 1987, I finally decided to...I'd been sort of making songs up in my head more than actually writing songs. I had melodies and words and I just sang them in my head as I walked around, especially in New York. And then I decided, well, maybe I could actually learn how to play an instrument, play guitar, and tape these songs and put them down so I found someone to help me and he just taught me the three chords that you need to know, because I was writing in a really country vein in the beginning, and started there. C: What were your influences as a child? KJ: I had grown up in a family that sang. My Dad knew millions of songs, and I have two sisters and we sang all the time - a lot of old, American folk songs, which was basically what we grew up with and also a lot of music that was part of the civil-rights movement of the sixties. We were living in Washington and we were involved in all the marches in Washington and various movements. And there was great music, a lot of it was gospel, country, you know... Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, and those people. Much later, in college, I started listening to country music for a friend of mine. She just played me a Loretta Lynn record one day and I was just so thrilled that it, this stuff was so wonderfully simple and great. C: How did you meet the people that you worked with on _(What About Regret_)? KJ: Well, I've had the same band for about three and a half years now who perform on both my albums; my first one was _The Calm Comes After_ It's really through being in Hoboken; it's funny, because I was living here all the years that there was the big hoopla about 'Hoboken sound'. I think it was sort of the early eighties new wave kind-of pop movement that was associated with Hoboken, but I was not (involved with it), I didn't have a clue. I was just dancing and living here. But later, I really benefitted from the type of resources that was available here, Hoboken has these little essential things that are very helpful. So James Macmillan, my bass player was working at Water Music, a studio where I did some recording and I knew him and Dave Schramm also lives down the street, so we were sort of neighbors, and knowing people in common and Charlie Shaw, our drummer, is our Brooklynite. He just wandered into a bar I was playing one night and asked if he could sit in, with his tambourine. I have been incredibly lucky and it has been very easy with the band aspect. C: Did you write all the music yourself or were there collaborations? KJ: Well, I write the songs using a melody and I come up with the basic chord structure and then bring it into the band; they go far from there. There is a lot of collaborative work that is done in the arrangement. C: Do you have a particular 'ritual' when writing a song that you go through? KJ: It really depends. Some songs come out all of a piece, and some of them, they'll be a chorus or just a line that seems like it's a hook-line or something. Most often it comes from a story as they are very narrative songs. So usually it comes out of just finding a story that seems interesting and if I have a (musical) hook, then I have the makings of a song. And then from there, you go through such changes, just in telling the story, finding the details that tell the story and finding the sparse, concise thing that just really tell what it is. Sometimes I'm telling all these concise stories but then you figure maybe you're neglecting something else. The other day I was on the radio and a guy said to me,"So Kate, I really like your ideas but your songs are too short!" "Oh come on! That's all there is, you know!" I think one of the reasons song writing has been so appealing to me is that I can say things very quickly, I don't have anything to say after I have written three verses, you know. There is not a lot more to it. I like three minute pop songs I am still telling stories in my new songs! C: The thing that I found really intriguing about your lyrics was that they were so complete. There was a start, a finish and something actually happened in the middle. You didn't have to spell everything out, the lyrics give something to think about. In "George Says" I wrote "Jacobs' speaks of spiritual growth, death and morning..." Was I close? Were you writing about something totally different? KJ: No, No, certainly spiritual growth and it's a more mundane level of suffering. It's funny how those things sort of criss- cross. There are two songs on this record where I sing about love and death that get mixed up a little bit. One that is actually about getting over a heartache, it's a real traditional beginning which is just some words of solace from a friend who seems to have some other point of view or some spiritual dimension that I don't have and so it's just taking that...something that they have learned. C: I read in one of the (press) clips that you should go on Letterman and perform the song "Indiana"? KJ: (laughing) Yeah...that I feel is my only really straight forward love song. I feel like it was the only time I was able to just sit down and write. It is an old song; something that is really sincere about being in love, and so I am fond of it for that reason. Everything seems to get lost in other stories. C: Did you choose Bar/None because you knew people there? Or because they were in Hoboken? KJ: Well, my first CD I released by myself, I just put it out and invented my own label. And they were here and I sort of knew them, and they knew me and offered to help me distribute it. That went pretty well and they decided to re-press it and add three tracks and they re- released it as a Bar/None Record and so then it became an official record deal but it started out that they would just help me. C: Were you nervous when you started performing? KJ: No - I have always done a lot of performing, ever since I was little. They say that as an artist you want to communicate something and the most obvious, strongest way to do that is through language. When I was downtown, dancing, I was becoming more and more theatrical. Much more speech and song was involved in it because the idea of communicating through something abstract was not for me; my ideas are too specific. Now, of course, I am writing these incredibly literal songs. When I started getting up and singing what I had written and also just talking or just standing up in front of a microphone addressing people, I found it in a way relaxing. It just seemed like there were no barriers; very direct. C: That's an interesting way of looking at it. KJ: There is a tension with dancing, that is set up between you and the audience because dances require a particular audience member; someone who loves it, someone who gets it, someone who looks for certain things in it and so there is always that feeling that you are connected to the audience. I just thought, "Why am I doing hand signals to communicate here when I could just speak?" So, it was a huge relief to me. C: Where have you enjoyed playing? KJ: We went to Italy when this band first came together about three years ago. We went and played in Venice for two weeks at the Carnival, and it was really fun. That had nothing to do with having a record - we didn't have one. This is the first time I have had a record released in Europe; it came out in Germany at the end of July. Supposedly, you can make money over there and I am hoping that happens. At least you get to go over there and tour. Everyone comes back from there and says the people treat you really well, and you go to clubs and they are glad to see you, they don't pretend, you don't have to feel guilty for being the band, which can really happen here. C: Do you have any other interests or hobbies that you spend your time doing? KJ: I still do ballet. I took class today before I met you, (laughing) so I am kind-of raggedy looking. Yeah, and I take tap, I love dancing. As you get older your hobbies change, I recently planted a garden for the first time, a sure sign your getting old! I have been finding music to be a full-time occupation, especially at this independent level. I have to do almost everything myself so it's a lot of work making phone calls, making sure everything is OK. Bar/None is really good; they are wonderful people! I should spend all day, on the phone trying to promote my record but it gets a little tiresome! (laughing) C: Are you planning on making a video? KJ: Well, I am very interested in promoting my record, I'd love to get it out to people who will like it. The problem with videos is that I don't like them. I find them almost always boring and basically distracting and detracting from the song. You don't hear it in the same way. You don't listen. And also I'm just not willing to spend the money on a video. I think when you have limited funds, you think about what you actually want to spend your money on and you want to spend it on making music, not on making videos. But I do have a friend who is working on, possibly, a video of "Indiana." We shot a lot of great black and white (film) and she shot some really beautiful stuff so if she can edit it together in some nice way...it's just very pastural and calm and pretty and nice and if we could put something together that we could use, promotionally, it might be worth it. I said i'm not willing to make a video if it cost more than a few hundred bucks, because they are just outrageous. People can spend on one video more than what I spent on my whole record, recording it, so there is something out of whack. --- REVIEW: Joy Division, _Permanent_ (Qwest/Warner Bros.) - Lee Graham Bridges Although the band broke up in 1980, there is something about Joy Division that will not allow it to die. Whether it is the suicide of front-man Ian Curtis, the gruesome lyrics in JD songs, or the band's reincarnation, New Order, Joy Division is still very much alive today. Their story begins in the fall of 1976, when Bernard Sumner (aka Bernard Albrecht, guitar), Peter Hook (bass), and Terry Mason (drums) would form Stiff Kittens in Manchester, England. In early December, Ian Curtis joined up with the band as lead vocalist. The band never recorded or played live with this name--it was changed to "Warsaw" in May 1977, after Terry Mason opted to be the band's manager. Warsaw did some shows and recorded a demo, but had problems with holding onto drummers, going through two others before settling on Stephen Morris. With this line-up, the band changed its name again in January 1978--this time to "Joy Division". The name was inspired by the book "The House of Dolls" by Karol Cetinsky, which details how young female prisoners were forced into "joy divisions", lines of small huts where the girls were made to prostitute themselves to Nazi officers. With this explanation, the name "Joy Division" almost seems to shroud the band and much of its music with feelings of great disturbance, suffering, pain, and misery--feelings which are conveyed by Joy Division's lyrics with agonizing precision. _Permanent_ is part of a sudden outburst of interest in the band, including an upcoming tribute album (_Means To An End_) and a book (_Touching From A Distance_) written about Ian by his widow, Deborah, which has just been released in the UK. _Permanent_ is a decent cross-section of Joy Division's work. Unfortunately, it is little more than a compilation of previously released tracks. The only new track is the Permanent Mix of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (done by Don Gehman), which isn't too far removed from the _Substance_ version of this classic. Some tracks on _Permanent_ are also on the first Joy Division "greatest hits" and rarities album, _Substance_. Yet unlike _Substance_, it contains no rare tracks. Yet, this was not a thoughtless compilation; the songs presented are fantastic. "Shadow Play" is a splendid example of the lyrical surrealism and hopelessness in many of JD's songs. "She's Lost Control" is a song about epilepsy, which afflicted Ian. "Twenty Four Hours", one of the best tracks, details one man's lost but sorrowfully unforgotten love. "Atmosphere" is a musical sliver of beauty within chaos present on the album, bringing about sensations of desolation and longing for home through its words. "Love Will Tear Us Apart", once called "the greatest song ever written" by Kurt Cobain and, of course, many fans, is included as well. Although the best way to sample Joy Division's great lyrical talent is by listening to the four essential JD albums, _Unknown Pleasures_, _Closer_, _Still_, and _Substance_, newcomers will find _Permanent_ a good place to start, even if _Substance_ is a much better one. TRACK LISTING: Love Will Tear Us Apart, Transmission, She's Lost Control, Shadow Play, Day of the Lords, Isolation, Passover, Heart and Soul, Twenty Four Hours, These Days, Novelty, Dead Souls, The Only Mistake, Something Must Break, Atmosphere, Love Will Tear Us Apart (Permanent Mix). --- REVIEW: Pretty & Twisted, _Pretty & Twisted_ (Warner) - Reto Koradi Pretty & Twisted is a new name on the music scene, but they are not at all newcomers. On the cover, there's Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde fame. And under the cover we find Marc Moreland, founding member and long time guitarist of Wall Of Voodoo. Drummer Danny Montgomery completes this interesting combination. Besides the vocals, Johnette also plays bass, percussions, keyboards and occasionally guitar. To add even more, she also wrote most of the songs, and did the (very fine) production. After Concrete Blonde split up, Johnette took some time (wandering around and drinking wine in Paris) to think about her life and her music. And she really found inspiration. Granted, there are a few tracks like "Ride!" or "Dear Marlon Brando" that could just as well be by Concrete Blonde, and with the catchy melodies they might well be the singles. But at the soul of the album, there's something quite different. Slow, intense songs, Johnette's non-melodic vocals are underlaid mainly by drums and percussions, Marc's guitars are soaring in the background. The flair for this sparse, but all the more effective, sound might well be something that Marc brought over from his new wave days. The opening track "The Highs Are Too High", "Train Song" or "Don't Take Me Down" are great examples for this unique, atmospheric sound. The strongest track on the album is "Souvenir". The first part is characterized by a slow bass groove and percussions, leading to a melodic chorus; then drums and distored guitars pick up, the song gains energy, and Johnette's vocals emerge to nearly screaming intensity. On most of the other tracks, like the wonderful version of the Bryan Ferry song "Mother Of Pearls", both music and vocals are much more laid back. But it never gets the least bit boring, the song writing is excellent; the percussive feel and the beautiful vocals give it an almost hypnotic effect. _Pretty & Twisted_ is an impressive album, and very different from most things we get to hear. --- REVIEW: Medicine, _Her Highness_ (American Recordings) - Jiji Johnson Medicine creates its own imaginary geography of sound in your central nervous system, and leaves you the better for it. For the uninitiated, in previous LPs _The Buried Life_ and _Shot Forth Self Living_, Medicine has gradually progressed from pure noise blur-a-delia layered over confectionery pop songs to, well, vice-versa. Medicine's poignant babble/free verse lyrics, however, haven't changed, though they've gone progressively more and more introspective, a practice at which Brad Laner, Medicine's It Boy (noisebliss guitarist/vocalist/songwriter/producer/arranger/God) used to guffaw. This has both delighted and frustrated Medicine's diehards, to which Laner emotes--more to himself and bandmates Beth Thompson/Jim Goodall than others--"The band is not about our gear." This, from an L.A.-based band whose 1991 debut, ironically borne at stalwart U.K. shoegazer label Creation Records, was so noisy yet sweet, Laner branded the stuff "sonic terrorism," which fits right in to his current side project, the avant garde, knitting factory-esque The Electric Company, and his early noise rock roots. Still, the band resents being pinned down, and _Her Highness'_ paring down's definitely unexpected. Its title boasts an unwitting double entendre. This enveloping, royal endorphin rush induces 'highs' in the worst (best?) way. "Give it to me/I want it bittersweet," goes the indelible "Candy Candy", the first single from the album (and rightly so). Here, vocalist Beth Thompson walks us through the glorious shards of temptation and exploration on which we'll gladly, willingly, and repeatedly cut ourselves, and within the span of the 4 or 5 main mezzo soprano notes she warbles, Thompson charms us into wanting whatever she wants, bitter, sweet, or otherwise, as does the tome "All Good Things," "Candy Candy"'s sonic cousin. Ever-mentioned Medicine admirees include the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie and Billy Corgan, both of whom remixed tracks on the band's 1994 EP _Sounds of Medicine: Stripped and Reformed Sounds_, which included an unexpected surprise gift for the band, the Cocteaus' Liz Frazer's vocals overlain in unison with Beth on one track. Snippets of comparisons to the Cocteau Twins are inevitable when Thompson hits a high note or two, or a certain oceanic keyboard chord warms the soul just right, yet Medicine very much captures and maintains its own vibe. When Beth and Brad sing "I Feel Nothing At All," bright, jangly major chords and all, we still believe it, and the eponymous song's a college radio hit, hands down. Lyrically, Medicine's comparable and hauntingly wondrous side effects hit home more like those of the Cocteau Twins. Though Medicine never makes up their own "language" as does Liz Frazer, at times, their lyrics are near nonsensical unless given a second or third look. Also, each song's mix is so blissfully busy, it's easy to dream up they're singing any word or series of words you'd like, and they'll slip inside each song perfectly, even if they turn out to be the wrong one(s). "Farther Dub," the band's most experimental effort here, is what it sounds like: a one-minute dub version of their song "Farther Down," an ultra-hip tune with a 60s flavor, also on _Her Highness_, in which Brad's hiccup, trip-up vocals and underwater rumblings stumble and slide into the next track with a strange grace. Moody, pensive, discordant, ugly, noisy, this album and this band are all this and more. _Her Highness_ seems to have been created by otherworldly creatures while the band wasn't looking. Medicine, along with a revolving door ensemble (this time out: clarinetist, violinist/viola player, and cellist) only complement the slew of toys and household appliances undoubtedly enmeshed underneath the layers of the mix, which in the past have included the amplified sounds of Bic lighters and shortwave radios, for starters. Surface noise has just taken a back seat this time 'round and let the pretty stuff in between breathe, that's all. These songs of ambivalence, going through the motions, loves, friends and selves lost, truthtelling and confusion (see the sparse, sad "Wash Me Out," or "Seen The Light Alone") most definitely beg repeat encounters, during some of which you're bound to fall asleep and dream stellar dreams. Medicine can be reached at: milkalive@aol.com --- REVIEW: Beggars, _Beggars_ (Island) - Reto Koradi It's interesting how easy it often is to guess music style from song titles. This young (average 21) band sings songs like "Silver And Gold", "Dance With Someone", "Coming Back" and "I Want You". Right, this can't be death metal, not even punk. It's just plain pop music. The Beggars seem to gather influences from everywhere. Harmonies that sometimes remind of a much more famous B band almost 30 years back. Some folk here, some psychedelic sounds there. The weak side of the band is that they don't seem to have a clear identity. The songs flow along almost too smoothly, and tend to sound a bit alike. The strong side is that they're simply good. They're well written and never miss a catchy chorus. Eli Braden has a nice voice, and the playing is solid all through, with a good mixture of acoustic and electric guitars. As a reviewer and music freak you're always looking out to find novel, exciting bands. Beggars don't fill this bill. But we shouldn't forget that most people prefer beautiful, entertaining music, and all those will be very happy with the Beggars. And in the end we all have a weakness for pure, good pop music occasionally, don't we? Here's a chance to live it out, and it's better than most. --- REVIEW: Jane Siberry, _Maria_ (Reprise Records) - Jamie Roberts Not some of the more inventive lyrics I have ever heard (when I could understand them) on this CD. Jane Siberry has a lovely voice, though. She has this kind of Torchy Cabaret Singer thing going on. _Maria_ is kind of reminescent of a Cabaret act, as a matter of fact. Siberry's smoky vocals, and the keyboard-laden instrumental conjure up a show at a hotel in Manhattan on a rainy night. She vamps her way through most of the tracks. All the while one can imagine her pouting her lips and emoting on a track like "Honey Bee". Forget the K-Tel Romantic Moments CDs they have on Cable TV at 3am! Get this one for those candle lit dinners. It might prove amusing. After that date, your parents might like it! --- REVIEW: Minus 5 _Old Liquidator_ (East Side Digital) - Scott Byron The Minus 5 is one of those groups that's not really a group, and not really a vanity or solo project. It's a loose collective of friends who (for the most part) are based in Seattle, centering around Scott McCaughey, best known as the leader of the unjustifiably relatively unknown indie-pop group The Young Fresh Fellows. McCaughey is also one of the extra musicians that R.E.M. has taken out on the road this year. Not so coincidentally, R.E.M.'s Peter Buck is one of the principal musicians here, along with Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of the Posies. Think of a well-blended combination of those three groups represented, and you'll have some idea what you'll find on _Old Liquidator_, the band's first full album. The musicians' collective influences hover over much of the album, too; don't be surprised if a guitar strum makes you think of the Byrds, a harmony recalls the Beatles, a texture evokes the Velvet Underground, or an organ line brings the Beach Boys to mind. It's all very loose and natural and even fun. That said, don't expect all pop smarts and sweetness. McCaughey's songs are an odd little bunch, indeed full of hooks by the dozen, but also laced with strange undercurrents and outright unpleasantries running through the lyrics. Possibly what's most refreshing about this album is that it seems so uncalculated. In a time when the marketing and imaging of "alternative" has become a science, being this real and loose has an extra appeal. It's definitely worth checking out. --- REVIEW: Popol Vuh, _City Raga_ (Milan) - Sean Eric McGill Popol Vuh are pioneers of "new age" music. Not that John Tesh kind of "new age," but music that moves the soul...instead of making you want to move out of earshot. Lead by Floorian Fricke, Popol Vuh's new release, _City Raga_, is an eclectic mix of styles and instrumentation, once again seperating it from most of the "new age" pack, who tend to rely totally on synthesizers for their music. Fricke, along with Maya Rose (voice), Daniel Fichelscher (acoustic guitar), and Guido Hieronymus (keyboards, engineering & electric guitar) are certainly originals in a genre that falls into one of two categories: too simplistic (some - but certainly not all - Phillip Glass) or too gaudy (Tesh, Yanni). In all honesty, though, I must admit that before this album arrived on my doorstep, I had never even heard of Popol Vuh. I had heard their work before, in the 1978 Walter Herzog adaptation of _Nosferatu_. And after hearing _City Raga_, I was a bit ashamed of the fact that while I didn't know who they were, I liked their work, and never bothered to find out more. The Denver Post said that Popol Vuh "combine European classicism and Gregorian chants with acoustic-oriented sounds inspired by indigenous peoples' music." And although you can certainly hear the "indigenous peoples' music" part, this album has more in common with Deep Forest than it does with Enigma or a group of monks. The vocals of Rose, which seem to rise from your speakers effortlessly, are some of the most compelling in some time. In many ways, she's the "anti-diva." Her vocals don't make you stand back and say "Damn! That girl can sing!" as much as they bring you further into the music itself. And like the work of Tangerine Dream, who come from the same German avant-garde scene as Popol Vuh, the tracks on this album can be best described as "cinematic." Tracks like "Last Village" and "Running Deep" seem perfect for film, and it's a wonder that someone outside of Germany hasn't picked up on Popol Vuh to do more film work. If there is any other album I can compare this work to, it would have to be Tangerine Dream's _Canyon Dreams_ album from a few years back. The album was a soundtrack for a video they scored which feature the beauty of The Grand Canyon. Likewise, _City Raga_ could be a soundtrack for a video on...say, a rain forest or something of that nature. The music expresses an understanding for the majesty of nature that Tesh (and I know I'm guilty of Tesh-bashing, but so what) and others can't convey...no matter if they played at Red Rocks or not. --- REVIEW: Banco de Gaia, _Last Train to Lhasa_ (Planet Dog/Mammoth) - David Landgren I had high hopes for this album. Judge the idealogically sound manifesto inside the cover for yourself. And I quote: "In 1950 China invaded Tibet, a country the size of Western Europe. The Tibetans have calculated that 1.2 million died as a result of the Chinese take-over. In 1959 the Dalai Lama was forced to flee his home and now travels the world gathering support for his people. The biggest threat to Tibet today is the hundreds of thousands of Chinese moving in and squeezing the Tibetans out. In 1994 the Chinese government announced that it intends to build a railway across Tibet to ease the way for even more settlers. The Tibetans believe in a non-violent struggle for freedom; they deserve all the help they can get. Contact Tibet Support for details of how you can help. email: tibetsupport@gn.apc.org, post: 9 Islington Green, London, N1 2XH, United Kingdom." And then I wondered if the album (held on 2 CDs) wasn't going to be a flagrant example of one more Westerner armed with a DAT, ready to pilfer neat tunes from other cultures. Sanitize it and stitch it together with a groovy disco beat and watch the royalties flow in, Deep Forest being one of the worst offenders in this regard. Well, that's not what Toby Marks and Andy Guthrie are about. There's precious little `true Tibetan sound' here. To paraphrase the liner notes on fellow travellers' FSOL _ISDN_, "people who are looking for a political message are missing the point". If anything, the samples on "Eagle", pinched from the Apollo missions, remind me more of The Orb's _Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld_. The techno pulse running through _Maya_, their previous album, is still present, and underscores the all of the tracks on the first CD, however, it's not as intrusive, and the second CD it bows out to a more ambient sound. "Amber", a slowish piece, is probably the track with the most pronounced Mayan heritage, so to speak. The title track opens up the first CD. A rollicking dance track built up on top of a puffing steam locomotive, and samples of a man and a woman singing in a haunting duo. Is it Tibetan? As a melody, it's effective: it lodged in my head and I found myself humming the tune for a long time afterwards. Following that, "Kuos" is slightly disappointing; the track comes close to crossing the dreaded ethnic-samples-on-a-disco-beat line. It's not that bad, but when the rest of the material is so good, it jars a bit. Interestly enough, the "gnomes" remix that opens up the second CD is much better, due to the different percussion track employed. Best bet, if you have multi-CD playing capacity, is to drop the original, and program the remix in its place. "China (clouds not mountains)" is a dreamy piece, starting with a long rambling speech sample, and chiming semi-harp/semi-sitar patches, carried along with a perrcussion track. Bubbling along nicely. "Kincajou" is another track that while the original is interesting, the remix on CD 2 is far better. Underneath the original is the hint of an slower theme, almost entirely eclisped by a fast dance beat. On the "duck! asteroid" remix on the second CD, this dance layer is stripped off, leaving a slow-paced, mesmerizing synth-loop, overlaid with long aural and vocal washes. At over half an hour's duration, it's literally a different song. For comparison, one might look at Morris (Irresistible Force) Mixmaster's _Global Chillage_ or Solar Quest's _Orgship_. The only real dud on the album is "White Paint", which is a bit too dull. Slow, choral and attempting to be grandiose, it's more boring than anything else. Its one grace is that it provides a counterpoint the most excellent tracks on either side. The second CD ends with the subdued "Eagle (small steppa mix)". As in Eagle to Tranquility, and the Apollo missions. Sampling mission control dialogues is fast becoming an ambient cliche, however, the use here is subtle enough to slip past without annoyance. The end of the first CD culminates in the breath-taking "887 (structure)", a quiet piece that builds into a pulsing electronic loop, upon which different aural pulses and patches blossom and fade. Despite the upbeat rhythm, it is a profoundly melancholic track which seemingly loses color and turns to black and white. Recommended for amplifiers that go up to 11, this is the track that multi-CDers will want to program to close the album. --- REVIEW: Milf, _antidope_ (Big Deal) -Tim Mohr Milf hail from Buffalo, NY, and seem to combine the impenetrable melody of English shoe-gazing acts, most notably My Bloody Valentine, with the off-kilter guitars of the Dischord catalogue. Eschewing the tight song- writing of English bands like Ride or the Jesus & Mary Chain, Milf is rather more obtuse, free-form, sprawling. As a result, what you think of _antidope_ will probably depend on your patience. If you can wait through several minutes of droning for the Fugazi-esque nugget at the end of "georgia tucker," you'll have found a good addition to your collection. The Fugazi reference is not gratuitous, as _antidope_ is certainly harder and more grating than aforementioned shoe- gazing acts. The vocal harmonies, too, sound much closer to Ian MacKaye and company than to the Boo Radleys. --- REVIEW: David Yazbek - _The Laughing Man_ (Humbug -UK) - Joe Silva Currently an import only release from NYC musician David Yazbek, this album caught some interest on the XTC list (largely because of the appearance of pop genius/principal XTC tune weaver Andy Partridge on the album) and warrants up a look see for those who not cast too far down into the greasy hair gloom pits that Seattle spawned. Yazbek can bang on a clavinette and recite stream of conciousness sound bites or piece together gentle little vingettes over the soft gushings of a mellotron and ahve you not notice either because of all the charm and honest melody in his voice. Yazbek, who's nabbed an Emmy penning jokes for Lettermen fresh out of college, is principally a keyboard player who grew up listening to Monk and at one time had a deal with Capitol until it was abruptly scotched by the mega-label. Humbug, also home to British popster Martin Newell) adopted him and have put out _The Laughing Man_ earlier this year. While a US label search continues, Yazbek is also the guiding light behind an XTC tribute disc that will house such opposing musical entities as the Crash Test Dummies and salsa lord Ruben Blades. Bearing a resemblence to a less fussy Howard Jones, Yazbek's tunes, from the ones on which he's the sole resident to the tracks where he fitted into an ensemble, range from ditties that heavy layers of pop sugary synth work upon them to straightfoward rock bits like _Pinnochio's Nose_. While Yazbek is able to sway betwixt the two forums assuredly, it's the unabashed and uptempo sentiments that grasp the attention. Harmonies drive and uphold the positive vibe throughout and there are some nuances that glow across the track listing musically as well. Little bits like the faux-horn solo on _Tommorow_ or the pleasant, rubbery bass line that's wrapped around _The Wind_. Worth tracking down in case the conglomerates are still only seeking out things steeped in angst and distortion. Humbug Records can be reached at PO Box 2903 London N13 NE England. --- REVIEW: Richard H. Kirk - The Number of Magic (TVT Records) - Jamie Roberts Who is Richard H. Kirk, you might ask? This Cabaret Voltaire veteran is the not-to-be-disputed master who is creating the trance that defines Trance and the trippiness that defines Trip Hop. _The Number of Magic_, is his solo foray into the darkest recesses of our minds, hearts and souls. The ambience on this 9-track CD is almost mind-numbing at times. From the aural sway of "Indole Ring", to the tribal feel of "Atomic", Richard H. Kirk runs the gamut of electronic-based textured sound. This is no theme album, not by a longshot! "Poets Saints Revolutionaries" almost kicks you out of your daze, then "Monochrome Dream" reveals Kirk's jazz muse. Every song on this CD is a keeper. The twists and turns the music takes within the 'confines' of this non-restrictive CD make for the most thorough listening experience one can have with an instrumental work. --- REVIEW: Liquorice, _Listening Cap_ (4AD/Simple Machines) - Lee Graham Bridges Liquorice, fronted by Jenny Toomey (Tsunami) and Dan Littleton (Hated, Ida), borrowed heavily from the resources of fellow 4AD artists His Name Is Alive to record _Listening Cap_. Jenny and Dan got HNIA drummer Trey Many to do percussion, HNIA guitarist and producer Warren Defever to produce the album, and used Warren's basement as a studio in which to record the new album. However, for all the (much needed) help they got in finishing _Listening Cap_, none of it seems to detract from the overall boring, tedious nature of the album. Only four of the ten tracks on the album are worth a listen, two of which are covers. Liquorice's cover of Franklin Bruno's "Keeping the Weekend Free" is a rare jewel, and also the song where Toomey's vocals shine brightest (there is something infinitely heartbreaking in the way she sings "keeping myself locked up/lettin' the weekend go/waitin' for my parole"). The other cover is of the Roche's "Jill Of All Trades"--a pleasant piano tune conveying hardship and woe. "Breaking the Ice" is the best Liquorice original, featuring Littleton on lead vocals. "Blew It", with its cute synth buzz and unpretentiousness, succeeds in being an upbeat, fun song as much as the other original tracks fail at being witty or meaningful. The rest of the album comes up short in the vocal department (Toomey too often sounds like a sour, whiny Edie Brickell), in lyrics that either resemble 14-year-old overkill poetry ("yeah your talk is so terribly tired that it's verbal chloroform/in this casual police state in this public forum/where the meat of our desire is the milquetoast of decorum") or drag along and wander around slowly ("my trouble with you/yeah honey I got a trouble with you/and it isn't what you are it's what you do"), and in music that is simply annoying. It's no wonder Liquorice was previously known as Slack. --- NEWS: > Elvis Presley will have probably the most complete box set of his 1970's works issued on September 26. _Walk A Mile In My Shoes - The Essential 70's Masters_ contains 120 tracks including every A and B side he released during the 1970's. Famed rock critic Dave Marsh has contributed liner notes for this collection. > A continuation of last week's news of Skinny Puppy... Dwayne Goettel of Skinny Puppy was found dead Aug. 23 at the home of his parents in Edmonton of an apparent heroin overdose. Dwayne and bandmate cEvin Key had been working on the upcoming Skinny Puppy record as well as other side projects. Skinny Puppy vocalist, Ogre, who had surreptitiously left the band several months ago due to extreme internal band problems, had this statement: "I am completely devestated by the loss of Dwayne. The loneliness and separation that comes when faced with the unbearable realization of addiction can sometimes prove too much. I am truly sorry for Dwayne's family, and hope he is remembered as being extremely sensitive and a beautiful, gifted person/artist whose talent and offerings were cut short by drugs. He was the little-known genius behind the curtain of Skinny Puppy." > The upcoming Victoria Williams album due out in October, _Live In Toronto_, tentatively is scheduled to include 15 songs. --- TOUR DATES Better Than Ezra Sept. 16 Charlotte, NC Backfield (UNC) Sept. 18 Athens, GA 40 Watt Buckwheat Zydeco Sept. 16 New York, NY Tramps Sept. 17 Newport, PA Little Buffalo State Park Sept. 23 Huntsville, AL Big Spring Jam Cravin' Melon Sept. 16 Raleigh, NC Delta Sig Lawn Party Sept. 21 Spartanburg, SC Magnolias Sept. 22 Charleston, SC Music Farm Sept. 23 Raleigh, NC Lake Boone Down Sept. 20 New Orleans, LA Rendon Inn Sept. 21 Dallas, TX Deep Ellum Sept. 24 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre Juliana Hatfield Sept. 16 Buffalo, NY SUNY-Buffalo Sept. 19 Burlington, VT Club Toast Sept. 23 Winsor, ONT Univ. of Winsor Hum Sept. 17-19 Los Angeles, CA Mayan Theatre Sept. 23 Dallas, TX Bomb Factory Sept. 24 Austin, TX Music Hall Medicine Sept. 11 Tempe, AZ Electric Ballroom Sept. 12 Albuquerque, NM Golden West Saloon Sept. 15 Dallas, TX Galaxy Club Sept. 16 Austin, TX Electric Lounge Sept. 17 Houston, TX Urban Art Bar Sept. 19 Birmingham, AL The Nick Sept. 20 Atlanta, GA Cotton Club Sept. 21 Raleigh, NC Players Nightclub Sept. 23 Philadelphia, PA Khyber Pass Megadog Tour (Includes Banco de Gaia, Eat Static, and other techno/trance artists for a "techorganic" experience. All dates are *very* tentative) Oct. 13 Orlando, FL TBA Oct. 14 Atlanta, GA Masquerade Oct. 16 Washington, DC Capital Ballroom Oct. 17 New York, NY Limelight Oct. 18 Toronto, ON TBA Oct. 19 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Oct. 21 Chicago, IL Metro Oct. 23 Dallas, TX Bomb Factory Oct. 25 Phoenix, AZ TBA Oct. 27 Los Angeles, CA Palladium Oct. 28 San Francisco, CA Warfield Oct. 30 Seattle, WA DV8 Oct. 31 Vancouver, BC Graceland Pram Sept. 5 Washington, DC 930 Club Sept. 6 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's Sept. 7 New York, NY Wetlands (also Laika, Long Fin Killir) Sept. 8 Cambridge, MA Middle East Sept. 9 Philadelphia, PA Upstairs At Nick's Sept. 11 Chicago, IL Lounge Ax Sept. 13 Hollywood, CA Luna Park Rev. Horton Heat / Hagfish Sept. 2 Portland, OR La Luna Sept. 6 Palo Alto, CA The Edge Sept. 7 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst Sept. 9 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern Sept. 14 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue Sept. 15 Chicago, IL Double Door Noah Stone Sept. 16 Eugene, OR John Henry's Sept. 19 Chico, CA Juanita's Sept. 20 San Francisco, CA Paradise Lounge Sept. 21 San Jose, CA FX Sept. 22 San Francisco, CA Brainwash (Acoustic Show) Tricky/Laika Sept. 9 New York, NY Irving Plaza Sept. 15 Montreal, QC Metropolis Sept. 16 Toronto, ON Opera House Sept. 18 Detroit, MI St. Andrew's Sept. 19 Chicago, IL Double Door Sept. 20 Minneapolis, MN Entry Sept. 23 Vancouver, BC Starfish --- THE READERS WRITE BACK! Lazlo N. writes in to note that the "official" release of the Pet Shop Boys _Alternative_ lacks six tracks which were included on our advance: "Can You Forgive Her? (Swing Version)", "Decadence (Unplugged Mix)", "Don Juan (Demo)", "Domino Dancing" "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? (Classical)" and "Overture to 'Performance'". However, the Japanese version of this double CD contains a live version of Blur's "Boys and Girls", which is also available as a B-side to the "Paninaro '95" single. --- To get back issues of Consumable, check out: FTP: eetsg22.bd.psu.edu in the directory /pub/Consumable ftp.etext.org in the directory /pub/Zines/Consumable Gopher: diana.zems.etf.hr Engleski Jezik/Music/Consumable or Hrvastki Jezik/Glazbena Rubrika/Consumable (URL) gopher://diana.zems.etf.hr:70/11/eng/Music/Consumable http://www.westnet.com/consumable/Consumable.html (WWW) http://www.westnet.com (CIS) Compuserve, Lotus Notes users only: GO FORUM (Delphi) Music Fandom forum; GO ENT MUSIC Web access contributed by WestNet Internet Services (westnet.com), serving Westchester County, NY. Address any written correspondence to Bob Gajarsky, Consumable Online, 409 Washington St. #294, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030 ===