==== ISSUE 63 ==== CONSUMABLE ======== [December 4, 1995] Editor: Bob Gajarsky Internet: gajarsky@pilot.njin.net Sr. Correspondents: Jeremy Ashcroft, Martin Bate, Al Crawford, Dan Enright, Reto Koradi, David Landgren, Tim Mohr, Jamie Roberts, Joe Silva, John Walker Correspondents: Dan Birchall, Lee Graham Bridges, Scott Byron, Jason Cahill, Eric Hsu, Tim Hulsizer, Daniel Kane, Mario Lia, Sean Eric McGill, P. Nina Ramos, Linda Scott, Ali Sinclair, Jon Steltenpohl, Courtney Muir Wallner, 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 | `------------' INTERVIEW: John Shiruba of Eskimo - Dan Enright REVIEW: Cypress Hill, _III: Temples of Boom_ - Martin Bate REVIEW: Green Day, _Insomniac_ - Eric Hsu REVIEW: Various Artists, _Saturday Morning_ - Bob Gajarsky REVIEW: The Jesus And Mary Chain, _The Jesus And Mary Chain Hate Rock 'n' Roll_ - Scott Byron REVIEW: AC/DC, _Ballbreaker_ - Linda Scott BRIEF MENTION: Ash - Tim Mohr REVIEW: Ruth Ruth, _Laughing Gallery_ - Mario J. Lia REVIEW: Randy Newman, _Faust_ - Reto Koradi REVIEW: The Residents, _Gingerbread Man_ - Joe Silva NEWS: Dave Matthews, Drivin n Cryin, Our Lady Peace, Sonicnet, Ultra Magazine TOUR DATES: Anthrax, Better Than Ezra, Neal Casal, Donovan, Mary Ann Farley, Natalie Merchant, Phish Silverchair Back Issues of Consumable --- INTERVIEW: John Shiruba of Eskimo - Dan Enright It was late last summer when San Francisco's Eskimo slipped around the country "under radar," playing small clubs on the east coast. Touring to help Mammoth (who'd picked up distribution from the band's label Prawn Song) promote their 1993 recording _Der Shrimpkin_, I was fortunate enough to see them perform at NYC's Knitting Factory. I also had an opportunity to talk to one of the members, John Shiurba. Time constraints kept me from transcribing the conversation until recently, but I think it was worth the wait. So, without further ado, here's a bit of our conversation. Consumable: Your press kit claimed you started out busking [street performing]. How much of your style was evident then? John: When we played on the streets, we were really horrible. It was just a way to be able to play, because we didn't have anywhere else to. It was out of frustration, almost. We took our instruments, sat out on the street, and made complete fools of ourselves. And passerbys would see us. Then eventually, just because we were so wacked out, people started asking us to play in clubs. We tried translating that to clubs and it was kind of difficult at first. We were a three piece group, we didn't have a bass player or the trombone. It was just marimba, guitar, and drums. It wasn't very good, really. We didn't write many of our own songs, it's hard to describe how bad it was. But eventually we started writing songs and becoming a real band. I think the wackiness was always there, the more serious side of the dichotomy wasn't there until the late '80s. And we started in '86." C: So it took you about three years. J: Yeah, it took us that long to get a sense of direction that actually made any sense to anyone, even though it wasn't quite where we're at now. We had a group sound that was reasonably coherent. C: Then another three years until you recorded _Der Shrimpkin_. J: This actually our second album. Our first album we made ourselves and if you're one of about 500 people that are lucky enough - or unlucky enough - to have it, or to have seen us during that time and bought it from us. It's not easily attainable. But we made a record in about 1990, or '89 I think was our first record. Then we played for a couple years and made the other record in about '93, I think. Then there was a period of inactivity where the record was sort of finished, then Prawn Song came along and offered to put it out. C: How has the band changed during the two years since the release? J: Well, the personnel has changed a bit. But I think we've sort of been waiting for this tour. We haven't done a whole lot as a band. We've all pursued other musical projects and tried different avenues a little bit. As a band, we've been on hold, a little bit. So, it's kind of fun, because you can come back to something you really love and be able to do it again. C: Did the solo projects change your approach to the material? J: I think so. Personally, I try to bring something a little more direct and not so totally left field to it now. My perspective is always walking a fine line between being, on the one hand, really intelligent or intellectual and on the one hand, being totally retarded. And on the one hand, being really accessible and on the one hand, being for the music connoisseur. I think it's important to keep both sides of that... tightrope [laugh] happening, so any person who happens to be in the club can really enjoy it. Even though it might have some elements of advanced music that's not something people are used to, it does have elements of stuff that they can grasp on to and have fun with. C: How much of the band's sound is due to the "environment" of San Francisco? J: This is an interesting question. We sort of existed outside and inside the mainstream club circuit. Because we were a rock band, we did play rock clubs, but we were always the sort of jazzy, weird, rock band. So we didn't get the shows opening up for the more straight forward rock bands. Then the whole jazz scene comes along... in the past couple of years in San Francisco, it's really hit big time. And it's like, "ESKIMO!? Those guys aren't jazz..." [laugh] and now we're outcasts of that scene, too. So, there's a lot of really nice musicians we hang out with, but I don't know if we're really affected by the sound of the groups around us. I was lucky enough to see Snakefinger three or four times in the '80s in clubs, just because he was in San Francisco and he played clubs. He wasn't a big deal when he played. He played the same clubs we played [chuckle]. C: The bands you're compared to - Beefheart, Zappa, the Residents, Fishbone, Snakefinger - all have cult followings that seem to result from having a vision and staying true to it. Is that desire to challenge yourself and your audiences as opposed to being popular, true for you also? J: I think those are important questions. I think, sometimes for me, the question becomes not, should I challenge the audience, but how much [laugh]. And how much is too much. I think we do have a vision. Whether or not we would all agree on what it was is probably another question. I think the band does have a sort of group consciousness that they're not really aware of, that kind of defines our sound. And I think we would take it to most anything we did. Even when we play cover songs, we try to play them, what we see as, "the right way." What we hear [laugh] as the elements of the song, that make it important. You can listen to a song, hear your own version of it in your head, and hear certain elements that define the song for you. So, when we cover a song, we try to play it right. C: Not necessarily the way it was originally performed... J: Right. So people think we're deconstructing it [laugh] or something, but in reality we're just trying to play it right. It's just that different people hear different elements. I think the fact that when we do covers, it still sort of sounds like Eskimo, is evident of the fact that we do have a group consciousness. Whoever knows what it is, I'm not sure. C: What are you covering this tour? J: On this tour, we're doing the theme from "You Only Live Twice" - a John Barry composition that Nancy Sinatra sang - and we're doing the covers that are on the record, which are the Snakefinger -"Kill the Great Raven" - and the Duke Ellington [Blue Pepper (Far East of the Blues)] we're throwing out there every now and then. Once in a while we do "Happiness is a Warm Gun" - the Beatles song. That's an example of a song we tried to play as right as we could and people thought we were deconstructing it [laugh]... but I don't know. I guess that's what happens when you put a vibraphone and a trombone in an arrangement of a typical rock song. If you're really doing a cover, you should be doing something different I think. But, then you get into the dangerous territory of ruining the song. I think somebody said, "In order to do a cover, you have to totally ruin it." [chuckle] I don't know if that's true or not. --- REVIEW: Cypress Hill, _III: Temples of Boom_ (Columbia/Sony) - Martin Bate Fucking incredible! _Black Sunday_ turned Cypress Hill into a Premier Division hip-hop act although the band are now quick to criticise the album they saw as being written and recorded too quickly under record company pressure. Unfair - it was a fine album, if not the ground breaker the warped funk of the self-titled debut was. But this....this is jaw-dropping - a *huge* leap forward. Anyone who can write this off as being "more of the same" patently got the wrong CD in the sleeve! DJ Muggs has obviously been taking in the dark, creeping, bass-led paranoia of the east coast scene led by DJ Premier and the Wu-Tang clique. But also, more surprisingly, he seems to have been paying attention to the Mo'Wax label's dope-laden instrumental jazz/hip- hop grooves. Combine the two with the on-form, wired-to-explode nasal whine and jitter of B-Real and watch things get scary. From the low-key throb of opener "Spark Another Owl" to the tingling piano and ghostly orchestral wails of "Stoned Raiders", B-Real stalks the soundscape. More sneering than ever, syllables clipped till the words are spat out like maching-gun bullets, Sen-Dog is reduced to little more than a ghostly presence for most of the album. But it doesn't matter. Cypress Hill have found a new level of scariness (only "Cock the Hammer" comes remotely close to the atmosphere here) and produced possibly raps first real 'headphones' album, with an immaculate, *spacey* production with a 101 things going on deep in the mix that takes listen upon listen to unravel. An obvious stand-out is the collaboration with the Wu-Tang Clan's Rza, "Killa Hill Niggas", in which B-Real's squealing judder (this is *NOT* the cuddly cartoon gangsta of "Insane in the Brain") meets the Rza's calmly malevolent flow squeezed between gruff psycho-Latino threats. But it's just the tip of the iceberg. Check out the Eastern flavoured "Illusions" where sitar meets xylophone behind a first-person detailing of a downward spiral more real than anything Trent Reznor could dream up. No money, dead girlfriend, family have turned their back on their 'hoodlum' son : "I'm trying to find ways to cope/But I ain't fucking around with the gauge or a rope" and "I'm having illusions/All this confusions fucking me up in my mind" sung in a chilling sing-song tone. There's the *huge* Ice Cube diss of "No Rest for the Wicked" which takes all his rhymes and poses, spits on them and throws them back in his face, the argument being that Muggs has never been paid for his production work for Cube a few years back, and worse, has been biting their stuff behind their back; listen to his "Friday" track back to back with the first single from _Temples of Boom_, "Throw Your Set in the Air" for evidence. If I was Cube, I'd be scared. And so it goes on, almost every track a highlight. The chillingly laid-back elevator-jazz-with-breakbeat that is "Boom Biddy Bye Bye". The moment that Samuel L. Jackson's biblical Pulp Fiction rant ends in gun- fire and the *hugest* beat kicks in behind *that* voice again on "Make a Move". The creeping piano and looped string section of "Killafornia". The Woah! of "Locotes", with the story built around some cinematic sound- effects pieces. The hammer-horror drone of "Let It Rain". Cypress Hill - Yes good ol' Lollapalooza-alternative-rock-friendly Cypress Hill - have just gone and turned in probably the best and scariest (no mean feat considering the stuff that's oozing out of the east coast just now) hip-hop album of 1995. It's the biggest fuck-you to the mainstream since Nirvana's _In Utero_, and wipes out the majority of the underground and overground hangers-on in one fell swoop. Phenomenal. --- REVIEW: Green Day, _Insomniac_ (Warner) - Eric Hsu "There's no return from 86", goes one of the new Green Day songs, and it's true. Once you are "86'ed" from the Gilman music collective you are banned from the club for life. And when Green Day signed with Warner, they knew that they were basically 86'ing themselves from the community they loved and helped build. Even when Green Day started, many dismissed them as girl-song pop, but their energetic music was a refreshing break from the ultra-heavy dirge Neurosis punk dominant then. And as they passed into more and more mainstream surroundings, their music has become less pop, faster and more stripped down, almost as if they tried to be contrary to whatever the prevailing musical current was. _Insomniac_ doesn't change the pattern: the songs still have a strong pop sensibility but they don't seem to go for the pop-hook jugular the way "Longview" and "Basket Case" do, or even the way older songs like "Welcome to Paradise" and "2000 Light Years Away" do. This is not to say there aren't wonderful moments on the record. On the contrary, the playing is tight, the double-tracked Marshall-distorted guitars are full and fat (Maybe a little too fat? Some nice bass lines are nearly inaudible.) and there are a number of memorable songs. The opener "Armatage Shanks" stuck in my head for days, "Stuart and the Ave." is a pretty, irresistible song and "Bab's Uvula Who?" is a full-speed rave that will (unfortunately) trigger mosh pits in stadiums across the country. The hooks are familiar (after all, how many three or four chord hooks exist?), but pleasant and well-done. For instance, "Stuck With Me" opens with the "Tattooed Love Boys" hook, but does it proud, especially the way the hook sneaks back into the song at the end. Unlike _Kerplunk_ and _Dookie_, the title of _Insomniac_ is not a toilet joke, which is a tiny but real symbol of maturing. Their explosive rise to the top ranks of music acts has brought a new sense of responsibility that comes with power. Their first post-megasuccess concert in Oakland was a benefit for a number of worthy Berkeley activist groups like the Berkeley Free Clinic and the unfairly-persecuted group Food Not Bombs. They asked the proudly gay Pansy Division to open for them, thumbing their nose at the new mainstream audience they'd won. With each album, Billie Joe's lyrics seem to gain new confidence. He's always had a knack for finding very singable phrases and _Insomniac_ is full of them. "I'm a loner in a catastrophic mind" and "I get myself all wound up" just roll off the tongue, and when "Panic Song" hits the end with the ringing "I wanna drop out", it's nearly breath-taking. I say "nearly" because the half the album is in the "Basket Case" school of first-person confessions of defectiveness. The attitude towards the targets of these songs ranges from total scorn to a trace of amused sympathy, and if some of the songs weren't so catchy, the album would just be a parade of contempt. As it is, the songs are similar enough that the recurring testimonials of self-lameness become wearying. Only the "he" of "Stuart and the Ave." and "she" of "Westbound Sign" have the least bit of hope of action and change. It's almost as if Billie Joe feels a responsibility to be more "relevant", whatever that means, by changing topics from young angst and love to more "serious" and general topics, which means in this case a number of darts at self-destructive youth. And while he can't be totally blamed for the inevitable dimwits who take "Geek Stink Breath" as a glorification of speed, there is a significant lack of affirmation on this record. Green Day covers the Operation Ivy song "Knowledge" in concert, and there's a telling contrast between the Op Ivy song "Jaded" ("I won't burn my bridges and become just another jaded fool") and the Green Day song of the same name ("I found my place in nowhere... Hooray! we're gonna die") and it is the difference between hope and sarcasm. There are also an unusually large number of Berkeley references (Tightwad Hill, Stuart, 86, and more) and in-jokes in the lyrics, as if they were trying to maintain a personal connection to the serious songs by putting in near-nostalgic references to the past that they are now cut off from. The denouncing of Green Day as "false punks" seems ironic, especially since now-iconic bands like Op Ivy and the Gilman scene as a whole were similarly denounced by older (and more violent and alcoholic) punks. Unlike minority groups in the US trying to avoid assimilation, music collectives have no genetic bond, rather a bond of ideals, and a built-in promise of musical and social freedom. The natural enemy of this spirit is elitism, clique-forming and musical orthodoxy, and these enemies usually win, unfortunately, with local music scenes stagnating. Most of the anti-Green Day-ers are either consciously or unconsciously encouraging the destruction of good punk values. This elitism is often cloaked in anti-major label arguments, and there are a definitely a lot of problems with the existing monopoly major-label system. But these arguments seem less truthful when the same self-righteous elitist vitriol is directed at Rancid (indie label) and AFI (super-indie), the latter simply because they got played on the local alternative station. Punk is not a Casio synthesizer beat setting. If it's true that the spirit of punk is that music is a vital part of life and community that everyone should have access to, as performer or audience, and if it's true that the other promise of punk is the freedom to make exactly the kind of music you love and that's important to you, and if it's true that the artifacts of punk should be available to everyone and not an elite few, then the punkest thing Green Day can do at this point is kick back, take their time after their current tour to write songs, and turn out an unbelievable straightahead and heartfelt pop record. Because listening to this record, I can't help but feel that they are suppressing their pop side to defend a preconception of the sound of punk, especially when you compare the Warner records with the earlier giddy and energetic Lookout! pop records. And there's some hope that they're about to make a breakthrough. Songs like "Brain Stew" and "Panic Song" point towards some new musical territory for them, and the band members are entering fatherhood and familyhood. There's no question that they have a spark and charisma and are important to a lot of Americans. The question is whether they are going to become the next Ramones, becoming irrelevant and embarrassing after a few promising albums, or whether they will continue to grow and make better and better music. There are a lot of catchy songs on _Insomniac_, but I have hope that it's a transitional stepping stone towards a full hearted and honest Green Day music. --- REVIEW: Various Artists, _Saturday Morning_ (MCA) - Bob Gajarsky To anyone over the age of 25, Saturday mornings used to be the time to stumble out of bed and, in a slightly comatose state, watch the lunacy of Josie and the Pussycats, the Banana Splits, and that trans-galactic family, the Jetsons. The compact disc series of _Television's Greatest Hits_ brought the these theme songs to our stereo players - and now, the _Saturday Morning_ compilation has introduced the best of these songs to a whole new audience through some of today's top modern rockers. The collection leads off with the Chicago pairing of Liz Phair and Material Issue covering the Banana Splits theme, "The Tra La La Song". Because it hit the charts in its original form (back in 1969), and became one of the Dickies biggest hits in 1979, it remains one of the most popular and well-known morning theme songs. Material Issue's music has always offered a tip of the hat to the music of the 60's, and they perform this track as if they were a garage band auditioning while playing at a fraternity party. They pass the audition, by the way. Matthew Sweet doesn't bring anything new to his rendition of the Scooby Doo theme, but his sugar coating of the song does stick in the mind. Sponge gives an almost grunge feel to "Go Speed Racer", leaving the 1994's techno dancers, who forgot / never knew the theme song, left in the dust. Juliana Hatfield and Belly's Tanya Donnelly, and this is said in only the most positive of comparisons, sound exactly like studio singers on "Josie and the Pussycats" - it can only be assumed this is deliberate, but in contrast to their normal styles, both singers alternate *their* musical voices to fit this song. Meanwhile, the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano does alternarock justice to the Judy Jetson intergalactic alien love song "Eep Op Ork A A (Means I Love You)". As with most compilations, a few of the tracks miss their mark. Most of these songs are from shows which were on television in the 60's and 70's; why ruin it with bringing in Wax's version of "Happy Happy Joy Joy", from The Ren and Stimpy Show? It's one of the songs that really can't be done differently, and Wax should stick to their originals. Likewise, "Sugar Sugar", first recorded by studio musicians calling themselves the Archies, has been covered to death, and Mary Lou Lord doesn't do anything to distinguish this version from the others which are out there. All in all, however, it's fun to have these artists romp through the morning theme songs from our childhood. This makes _Saturday Morning_ entertaining listening, no matter what day or time it is. TRACK LISTING: Liz Phair with Material Issue - The Tra La La Song, Sponge - Go Speed Racer Go, Mary Lou Lord with Semisonic - Sugar Sugar, Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donnelly - Josie and the Pussycats, Matthew Sweet - Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, Collective Soul - The Bugaloos, Butthole Surfers - Underdog, Helmet - Gigantor, Ramones - Spiderman, Reverend Horton Heat - Jonny Quest / Stop That Pigeon, Frente! - Open Up Your Heart and Let The Sun Shine In (From the Flintstones), Violent Femmes - Eep Op Ork A A (Means I Love You); Dig - Fat Albert Theme; Face to Face - I'm Popeye The Sailor Man; Tripping Daisy - Friends/ Sigmund and the Sea Monsters; Toadies - Goolie Get Together; Sublime - Hong Kong Phooey; Murmurs - H.R. Pufnstuf; Wax - Happy Happy Joy Joy --- REVIEW: The Jesus And Mary Chain, _The Jesus And Mary Chain Hate Rock 'n' Roll_ (Blanco y Negro/American) - Scott Byron There's little in modern rock with the visceral, gut-level appeal of The Jesus And Mary Chain's trademark fuzz-drenched pop. At its best, it transports the listener to a parallel plane, where melodies and words and noise and fuzz weave in and out of each other and ones ears. But while the group's trance-like psychedelic rock has led to much of its attention, what elevates The Jesus And Mary Chain's music are the melodies. Sometimes you have to dig deep to find it -- and too many listeners unfortunately don't make the effort -- but each track has a catchy tune at its base. As the band has developed over the last eleven years (yes, it's been that long since the brilliant -- and utterly perfectly titled -- _Psychocandy_ was released), on occasion they've departed from their trademark sound. Often this was done on B-sides, soundtracks and such, but the band's previous album, _Stoned & Dethroned_, was toned down quite a bit, and helped them to a major alternative hit, "Sometimes Always," a duet with Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval. _The Jesus And Mary Chain Hate Rock 'n' Roll_ is a collection of tracks from various sources that could have been overlooked, but which genuinely deserve attention. (The band's done this before, with the _Barbed Wire Kisses_ album in 1988.) Four of them are relatively new, having been released on an EP in the U.K. in 1995. These tracks represent something of a return to their fuzzier roots, especially on the wigged-out "33 1/3" and the pummeling title track, which rips at MTV and the BBC as representatives of the horrid side of the music biz. While the four new tracks act as the focal point of this collection, there's lots more worth your trouble. "Snakedriver," the band's contribution to _The Crow_ soundtrack is here, and it's got a truly seductive groove. One of the cooler, more interesting cuts is the dance mix (by Grand Exalted Poobah) of "Teenage Lust -- Desdemoana Mix." There's even an acoustic track. Part of the fun of this collection is its eclectic nature, so it wouldn't be fair to spoil the fun of discovering it for yourself. Lose yourself in it. --- REVIEW: AC/DC, _Ballbreaker_ (EastWest) - Linda Scott AC/DC's legions of fans have waited five long years for _Ballbreaker_. Was it worth it? You bet! AC/DC is a hard rock mainstay loved by everyone from author Stephen King to Beavis and Butt-Head. Suggestive lyrics and titles in an all rock, no ballads portfolio are an AC/DC signature with _Ballbreaker_ keeping close to that path. Rather than offend, the lyrics seem a natural part of the rock tradition. _Ballbreaker_ is just the latest in the AC/DC series where it's difficult to tell one album from the next. Brian Johnson is back singing in his high, straining register with brothers Malcolm and Angus Young setting the power and precision of the music. Original drummer Phil Rudd returns and hasn't forgotten how to hammer out the AC/DC sound. "Hard As A Rock", the first single from _Ballbreaker_, is the best track on the album with other good rockers being "Cover You In Oil", "Burnin' Alive" and the title track. With this in mind, AC/DC fans and hard rock followers can confidently add _Ballbreaker_ to their collections. _Ballbreaker_'s release comes at the start of AC/DC's third decade. Formed in Australia in 1974, the band's debut album was released in 1976 in the U.S. The next decade saw the release of twelve albums from _Let There Be Rock_ in 1977 to _Blow Up Your Video_ in 1987. AC/DC barely paused when lead singer Bon Scott choked to death following a drinking binge. Brian Johnson was recruited and the band released _Back In Black_, their biggest selling album to date. "Highway To Hell" and "Back In Black" were selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum as two of the greatest rock songs of all times. _Back In Black_ pushed AC/DC sales hard with the band selling 80 million albums worldwide prior to the release of _Ballbreaker_. Trademark driving rock beats and riffs, sexual lyrics, and Johnson's distinctive vocals made them millions and the band is unlikely to tinker with this successful formula. Frontman Angus Young has been known to say that if people want meaningful lyrics, they should go listen to R.E.M. AC/DC is about, well, fucking. First purchase to make is that single "Hard As A Rock". Like that one and you'll want to rock all night with _Ballbreaker_. AC/DC begins a world tour in January 1996 and tickets are on sale now at many US venues. AC/DC puts on a great show. Even though he's 35, Angus Young will be wearing his standard schoolboy suit. Phil Rudd will be making the tour along with other band regulars, Cliff Williams on bass and Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar with Brian Johnson nearly stripping his vocal cords. Get out and see them, rock fans, for AC/DC's _Ballbreaker_ is a sure cure for the winter blues. --- BRIEF MENTION: Ash - Tim Mohr Ash hail from Northern Ireland and are unabashed fans of punk gods like the Undertones and the Ramones. In many ways Ash functions as a Green Day for Europe, tossing out a steady supply of catchy singles combining the best of punk energy with spritely Britpop structures. Ash's album _Trailer_ yielded a catch of sloppy punk-pop songs, loud, fast, and fun. The band is proud of their lack of polish, certifying that the album was made by real teenagers and that certain songs were written in 5 minutes. Since the album, Ash have released two successful singles. The first, "Kung Fu," is a tribute to the Ramones written the day after Christmas. Lyrics include obvious references to the Ramones warped humor, and the gutteral chorus is better than most actual Ramones songs. The b-side continues the laugh with a song called "Day of the Triffids." The latest is by far their best work, with Ash's "Girl from Mars" sitting alongside Pulp's "Common People" as among the best singles produced this year by the much-hyped British pop renaissance. Ash are on their way up, and their material will appeal to fans of Elastica, Green Day, and a host of other comers in the punk-pop categorie, bands that eschew the metal element built into punk-grunge acts like Therapy? or Offspring. --- REVIEW: Ruth Ruth, _Laughing Gallery_ (American) - Mario J. Lia "We're not trying to change anybody...we're just showing people who we are." says Ruth Ruth's Chris Kennedy. The band's album _Laughing Gallery_ not only shows people who they are, but knocks them out in the process. At time when mindless punk is in its abundence Ruth Ruth comes along to break the cycle. The music of Ruth Ruth is a Ramones type punk with more musical diversity and better lyrics. Lyrics like "Bleeding in the dirt, I hear them laughing at me." from the song "I Grew Up", a song about the life of lower education. Making things harder are the parents saying things like "I've reared a faggot and I'm afraid he'll look like me". Another great song is "I Killed Meg The Prom Queen". Why would you want to kill a lovable cheerleader prom queen? The answer is "...she blew me off cause I couldn't get it up. She'll tell the whole town...I had to shut her up." Going from playing in front of no one to having the hit single and video for "Uninvited", Ruth Ruth is well on their way to be a huge success. All this and more from a band named after a movie character in "The Incredible Shrinking Woman", you gotta love them! --- REVIEW: Randy Newman, _Faust_ (Reprise/Warner) - Reto Koradi It sounds like a great idea: Randy Newman, master of cynicism, makes a rock musical, based on one of the masterpieces of world literature, Goethe's "Faust". The cast couldn't be better: James Taylor (Lord), Don Henley (Faust), Linda Ronstadt (Gretchen), Bonnie Raitt (Martha), Elton John plays an angel, and last but not least there is of course Randy Newman as Mephisto. There's something for everybody: gospel sung by James Taylor ("Glory Train"), almost classical tracks ("Gainesville" by Linda Ronstadt), orchestral rock ("Bless The Children Of The World", Don Henley), Bonnie Raitt gives a wonderful ballad ("Feels Like Home"), Elton John gets to sing a track in his own style ("Little Island"), and there are some typical Randy Newman songs ("Can't Keep A Good Man Down", or the rocky "Happy Ending"). While variety is a good thing, Newman has gone one step too far, trying to pack everything into 60 minutes. A short version of Newman's adaptation of the story is in the booklet of the CD, and this is probably how the stage production looks. He made some interesting changes to make it fit into our time, e. g. Faust is not a scientist striving for the ultimate wisdom, but a student keen on money, power and control. But the songs on the album seem to be just singular pieces of the whole thing. Besides the recurring big topic, the fight between the Lord and the devil, it's difficult to find a connection and make much sense out of them. It's hard to imagine that a large audience will jump for _Faust_. The music is just too diverse for most tastes, and Newman fails to make his version of the story understandable on the album. As Elvis Costello sang: "It was a fine idea at its time, now it's a brilliant mistake". But since brilliant mistakes are still much more interesting than boring imitations, it's a good thing that Newman tried this ambitious project. Despite the problems, it has good moments, and deserves to find listeners. --- REVIEW: The Residents, _Gingerbread Man_ (ESD) - Joe Silva With the Beatles now having committed their "virtual" reunion, it seems that we might truly have reached a glut in terms of the number and scope of performers caught up in self regurgitation. Every decade gone by seems to a handful of its musical icons trying to have the listening public buy into the notion that their current incarnation mirrors a fair amount of the validity of their heydays. So it's a peculiar thing in such a climate to contemplate the two decades plus of the Residents steady existence. The perpetually anonymous San Francisco quartet have been ever-present on rock's true periphery, looking on literally/symbolically with huge eyeballs without anything approaching wide recognition to fuel their modus operandi. Recently extolled for their pioneering feats in the world of CD- ROM based entertainment, the Residents have gone from being the sponsors of those queer little mail order blurbs in the slush advert sections of mainstream rock mags to the gentile halls of modern day Prague where as of this writing the Czech orchestra is currently involved in an operatic staging of their 1993 "Freak Show" project. And if you bothered to sit through the whole of Starship's pukey "We Built This City" video figuring that MTV would eventually follow up with something palatable, the Residents are the eyeballs in tuxedo figures that do a cameo in the clip's closing moments. The Residents often tend to interfuse with the mainstream in this manner. Musically, they could bear resemblance to scores of other avant- garde work that also remains largely unknown, but not having much footing in that realm, the only vague comparison I can draw to the likes of _Gingerbread Man_ is a similarity it bears to the broadcasts of the Church of the SubGenius that I've heard at profane hours of the night when the truly odd and decadent rule the earth. Done up in near-symphonic synth tapestries, a dash or two of marimba flourishes, and based on a collection of tortured narratives, _Gingerbread Man_ is like a walk through David Lynch's neighborhood (or at least the one we imagine he'd like to live in) - a spookhouse soundtrack for the unhinged and the fringe walkers. The music is almost formally a sub-text to what the characters portrayed are trying to convey. All caught in varying states of bitter social decay, the Residents take you to the parlours of the weird and the dispossessed and swear they'll be back to pick you up after they run down to the corner for some smokes. The voices, abstract and sometimes unearthly, mumble and groan and bitch about failed experiences as the listener also negotiates a brief tune that's the melodic glue of the whole enterprise. The Gingerbread Man warbles in on occasion with the "Can't catch me" refrain and as the only unifying element to the piece, it's probably the Residents honest attempt at offering to bridge the gap between their world and ours. According to the credits, Todd Rundgren is somewhere inside all this, but in what capacity is anyone's guess. But that's the nature of the Residents beast. The seemingly principal intent is to envelope and to cloak experience in enough anonymity that purpose or the mode of construction is somewhat obscured and only the vibe is left standing. The sounds serve as an extended incantation, that once drawn to, leaves the listener in a realm where the gratification does not come at Wal-Mart level of immeadiacy. Nothing cheap or easy or fashioned to a greater state of disposability. Perhaps that's why for the moment they view the CD-ROM as the higher medium, because until we can all afford VR helmets, it's one of the more accessible technological expressways to the viscera. And while they continue to hover unabated by an excess of fame, they can continue to advance masked and gender free, unencumbered by a concern for who and how many are watching. Like the anonymous voice says on the 1-800 info line as it speaks out to touch tone users everywhere, "Press firmly and with great deliberation." Or was it "Press onward...?" --- NEWS: > Dave Matthews fans will have some good news soon. Although the band's proposed live EP has been scrapped, they have just finished up the recording for their next record, which will be released in May. > Drivin n Cryin fans now have two more sources of news on the Internet. The group's unofficial mailing list can be joined by sending a subscribe message to dderrick@hiwaay.net and, there is a newly formed Usenet newsgroup called - what else? - alt.music.drivin-n-cryin > To join the Our Lady Peace mailing list, send a message with a subject header of subscribe to: olp-request@tfm.com > Upcoming Sonicnet online chats: Dec. 5, Coolio (5 pm); Dec. 6, Moby (6 pm); Dec. 7 Producer Christine Vachon and production Kevin Thompson, both with the movie KIDS (5 pm); Sonicnet is at http://www.sonicnet.com > Ultra Magazine, the first Belgian web music magazine, has recently released its first issue. WWW surfers can find Ultra at its home page of: http://www.provinet.be/ultra --- TOUR DATES Anthrax Dec. 12 Denver, CO Ogden Dec. 14 Dallas, TX Deep Ellum Live Dec. 15 Houston, TX Millenium Dec. 16 San Antonio, TX Sneakers Dec. 18 Phoenix, AZ Electric Ballroom Dec. 19 San Diego, CA SOMA Dec. 20 Los Angeles, CA Palace Better Than Ezra Dec. 11 New Britain, CT Sting Dec. 13 Winston Salem, NC Millenium Dec. 14 Charleston, SC Music Farm Dec. 16 New Orleans, LA Saerger Theatre Neal Casal Dec. 12 Atlanta, GA Chameleon Dec. 13 Columbia, SC Elbow Room (with Rearwindow) Dec. 14 Atlanta, GA Smith's Olde Bar Dec. 15 Asheville, NC Gatsby's Dec. 16 Wilmington, NC Skylight Dec. 19 Nashville, TN 12th and Porter Donovan Dec. 13 Redondo Beach, CA The Strand Dec. 14 Santa Cruz, CA Catalyst Dec. 15 San Francisco, CA Fillmore Mary Ann Farley Dec. 5 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's Dec. 7 Stanhope, NJ Stanhope House Natalie Merchant Dec. 11 Buffalo, NY Shea's Center Dec. 13 Pittsburgh, PA Palumbo Center Dec. 16 Hartford, CT Meadows Dec. 17 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid Hudson Civic Center Phish Dec. 11 Portland, ME Cumberland County Civic Center Dec. 12 Providence, RI Civic Center Dec. 14 Binghamton, NY Broome County Forum Dec. 15 Philadelphia, PA Spectrum Dec. 16-17 Lake Placid, NY Olympic Center Silverchair Dec. 12 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero Dec. 13 Washington, DC TBA Dec. 15 Dallas, TX Bomb Factory Dec. 17 Phoenix, AZ Party Gardens Dec. 18 Los Angeles, CA TBA --- 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) on Compuserve Notes: GO FORUM (Delphi) Music Fandom forum; GO ENT MUSIC Web access contributed by WestNet Internet Services (westnet.com), serving Westchester County, NY. 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