==== ISSUE 99 ==== CONSUMABLE ======== [February 3, 1997] Editor: Bob Gajarsky Internet: gajarsky@email.njin.net Sr. Correspondents: Jeremy Ashcroft, Dan Enright, Reto Koradi, David Landgren, Sean Eric McGill, Tim Mohr, Al Muzer, Jamie Roberts, Joe Silva, John Walker Correspondents: Daniel Aloi, Lee Graham Bridges, Scott Byron, Paul Grzelak, Janet Herman, Bill Holmes, Eric Hsu, Tim Hulsizer, Stephen Lin, Scott Miller, P. Nina Ramos, Linda Scott, Simon Speichert, Jon Steltenpohl, Courtney Muir Wallner, Simon West Technical Staff: Chris Candreva, Dave Pirmann Address all comments, subscriptions, etc. to gajarsky@email.njin.net ================================================================== All articles in Consumable remain (C) copyright their author(s). Permission for re-publication in any form must be obtained from the editor. ================================================================== .------------. | Contents | `------------' INTERVIEW: Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) - Joe Silva REVIEW: Jake, _Hooked_ - Scott A. Miller REVIEW: Bill Janowitz, _Lonesome Billy_ - Jon Steltenpohl REVIEW: Stereo Total, _Monokini_ - Tim Mohr REVIEW: Martin Luther Lennon, _Music For A World Without Limitations_ - Bill Holmes REVIEW: Bloodhound Gang, _One Fierce Beer Coaster_ - Scott Slonaker REVIEW: Various Artists, _Source Lab 2_ - Tim Hulsizer REVIEW: Audioweb, _Audioweb_ - Tim Mohr REVIEW: The Jam, _The Jam: Collection_ - Al Muzer REVIEW: The Subsonics - _Everything's Falling Apart_ - Joe Silva REVIEW: Spiderbait _The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake_ - Linda Scott REVIEW: Pulley, _Esteem Driven Engine_ - Simon Speichert NEWS: American Songwriters Network, Blind Melon, Duran Duran, Shonen Knife/Poptopia, Pulp, Sonicnet Chats, Verve Pipe, Mike Watt TOUR DATES: Backsliders, Benna, Lisa Cerbone, Chalk Farm / Wild Colonials, Connells, Cordelia's Dad, Cravin' Melon, Goldfinger / Reel Big Fish, Humble Gods / Human Waste Product / Dial 7, Kula Shaker / Rasputina, Nil Lara, Mother Hips, Porno For Pyros, Professor & Maryann, Pure, Royal Fingerbowl, Sebadoh, Slush, Type O Negative / Sister Machine Gun / Drain S.T.H., Vallejo, Warm Wires THE READERS WRITE BACK! Back Issues of Consumable --- INTERVIEW: Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) - Joe Silva On no noticeable cue or without the standard dimming of lights, Richard James walks casually to center stage at a mid-sized rock venue in Atlanta. Both his arrival and his demeanor are so subdued that when he bends over to poke at certain pieces of equipment, the audience assumes he's just another disheveled member of the road crew preparing for another rendition of the acapella standard "Check, one two." But in a moment, the club's soundsystem perks up and something that sounds like an assembly of toads rhythmically bleating is laid atop the audience. A massive drum beat ensues and a thin blonde kid done up in baggy skate gear next to me stops the conversation he's having and says "Look, that's him. That's the f*cking Twin!" The sound of the toads erupts further. Yes, it was him - the Twin. The infamous tank wielding, sleep shunning asthmatic who figures high up in the fellowship of electronic music's knob twiddlers. The Aphex Twin - spinning vinyl more than a year or so ago so as to warm up the masses who came out to see Bjork tour behind her mega _Post_ lp. When she appears later, she will make the crowd surge and holler, but while James shuffles booming slices of jungle and techno between turntables, the capacity gathering hardly responds. A few bob emphatically, trying hard to rave proper but most just shift restlessly while they await her elfin-ship. "Yeah, I remember that." James says a release or two and some many months later over a lo-fi transatlantic phone line. But with some more urging, he'll add that the reaction was more the exception than the norm as far as the rest of the tour went. While he makes that point when pressed a bit, you can tell that Richard probably only cares so much about incidents like an off night in Georgia. For a while he abandoned appearances in general for a while, even though he gigs were fairly well received ("Yeah, they were great," he now admits). Instead he did some woodsheding and took on the mammoth task of filling his laptop with the sum total of all his repertoire. "It took about a year...." So the Twin can now basically recreate his psyche-shredding beats and soundscapes anywhere and all out of something smaller than a suitcase. To him, this seems massively liberating. Which is part of the Aphex Twin work ethic. He insists on being at all times, totally capable and self-sufficient. He works at such a breakneck pace that while we're all set to muse over his new recording (_Richard D. James_), he's already hundreds of hours and probably one or two projects ahead of us. Since one record company can't sanely keep up with his output, James' has gone the way of releasing material under multiple psuedonyms (Polygon Window, Analogue Bubblebath, etc.). But what he's sent over Stateside, for the moment, is a fairly compelling group of selections from the backlog. _Richard D. James_, with it's blurred drum beats and winsome synth tones, is not jungle (in a sense), but not purely ambient either. It strikes me at the moment that I found it most engaging during an evening's drive home through the country with daylight fleeing fast over a horizon dotted with frost covered trees and a few roaming bovine characters settling in for the evening - the soundtrack coloring in a landscape during a moment of drastic shift in character or mood. Dance floor material this is not. Richard, for his part, has not too much to add by way of explanation. He has no reason, for instance, why two key tracks on the new album which share an almost orchestral fraternity with one another differ in that one in solemn and simply beautiful ("Goongumpas") and the other ("Girl/Boy Song") is sprayed with frantic jungle rhythms and haywire percussion. Richard "reckons" it's completely arbitrary - two pieces of modern electronic music whose presentation is perfect as is but possibly completely whimsical. Then there's also the appearance of the Twin's vocal debut. "I've used my voice a lot before on other tracks, but this time it was untreated," James recounts. Indeed, a shy, almost reticent Richard appears sonically naked on "Milkman." It's not really singing as such, but more like the Twin endlessly chanting a little two line bit of fancy that a child might more aptly recite in his head en route to school. "I wish the milkman would deliver my milk in the morning/I would like some milk from the milkman's wife's tits." But Richard is not particularly preoccupied with this bit of evolution either. Instead, he says he's more interested in a type of programming that he's recently taken to: "It's more like putting together pieces of sound than actual code." When he's mastered this, we shall see some dramatic things appear in his music apparently. He's almost ready to have a few classical musicians in to play a few parts and let him sample the complete range of their instruments for an idea that, while he doesn't discuss in much detail, should be quite revolutionary. Pictures will also be figured into the process eventually, but his compulsion to have a command over that aspect of his work before he unveils it to the planet, will keep this under wraps for a time as well. Right now, however, I leave Richard with the minor dilemna of trying to return to composing without the hinderance of headphones. Since he left his native Cornwall for London, any of his efforts that involve volume have been put down by his neighbors. And what with Richard's near-legendary habit of avoiding sleep, this is fairly understandable local concern. "Well, I sleep a lot more than I used to, but if I have ideas I want to get up right then and get them into my computer," James confesses. Further transmissions are apparently imminent. --- REVIEW: Jake, _Hooked_ (Blackbird) - Scott A. Miller Into the rapidly expanding universe of female-fronted bands steps Jake with lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Jessie Lee Montague. But what sets Jake's debut _Hooked_ apart from the others are emotionally raw lyrics and a gift for using funk as a weapon. _Hooked_ gets right down to business with "Anything But Love." Four bars into a swaggering Melissa Etheridge-like guitar riff, Montague's voice quietly addresses a (soon-to-be-ex) lover. Eight bars later the song busts wide open as she wails away at the chorus: "But I don't really think I am the one to keep you up at night or make you lose your appetite for anything but love." This kind of angry funk surfaces again in _Hooked_'s fifth song, "NewFunk," which finds Montague singing "you've got a lot to learn about loving me." "Time" also gets the funk out as Montague implores "what have I got to do for you to look at me skin and all?" It's really not until the album's 11th song, "Monster," that Montague finally gets down and dirty, using funk in the sexy way radio is accustomed to with the line "I burn in all the places your fires start." But by that time, you've already realized this is a songwriter who may a little world weary. And Montague has seen her share of the world, from busking for money in London's Underground to living as a squatter with no heat or running water in a Brooklyn tenement. She's turned those experiences into lines like "If you believe there's a heaven somewhere between you and me, I will try to believe there's a heaven. But the angel's gone blind in the sweet summer snow, I hardly remember what I used to know..." from "Heaven." And she doesn't make apologies for it. "Songwriting is a very intuitive process for me," she says. "It's a release. I go for the emotion, or the images that recreate my emotions." When you hear funk, you automatically think rhythm section, because what's funk without bass and drums? To their credit, bassist Johnny Raggs and percussionist Jagoda hold up their end of the bargain without ever getting in the way of Montague's expressive voice and impressive guitar work, which owes more than a nod to both Etheridge and Hendrix. Jagoda is particularly good at using bongos and tom-toms to keep even quiet songs percolating. Calling him a drummer seems like an understatement. Producer Kevin Bents steps from behind the board from time to time to add spare background vocals, guitars, and piano. Though it's the funk that stars here, _Hooked_ has its quiet moments. Except for Jagoda's soft percussion, you can almost imagine Montague standing alone with her guitar singing "Heaven" or "Monkey" or the title track. Other bands - the late, great San Francisco band Wire Train, for instance - have tried to mine the depths of funk for a breakthrough and for the most part failed, not because the music wasn't worthy, but because the general population just isn't ready for groove-based guitar rock from the dark side. That's too bad for the general population, because with Jake it could be missing a lot more than just a bunch of great riffs. --- REVIEW: Bill Janowitz, _Lonesome Billy_ (Beggar's Banquet) - Jon Steltenpohl Everyone needs some variety from their day job. Buffalo Tom's Bill Janowitz takes a short breather from his normal gig with this set of country flavored tunes aptly titled _Lonesome Billy_. The album was recorded on 16 track in a railroad freight yard in Arizona with friends from Giant Sand/Friends of Dean Martinez. With only 3 days of recording, 2 days of mixing, and no soundproofing, _Lonesome Billy_ represents Bill Janowitz in its rawest form. Raw is Janowitz's specialty. The best Buffalo Tom tracks have always been gritty, in your face nuggets of pop and angst. This time out the theme is "Backwoods Bill," and the bulk of the songs are slow and sad. Production values are set aside for spontaneity, and, depending on your taste, the album comes off as either a loose invigorating jam session or an uneven collection of hastily recorded songs. A silly country song "Girl's Club", gets you in the mood. It's a meandering 3/4 time waltz about the trials and tribulations of a guy with a week spot for feminists, but it suffers from some annoying distortion in the guitar. Later, "Strangers" offers a send-up of the sad country guy song that adds a little bit of harmless 4 A.M. stalking to the "crying in your beer" theme. Janowitz strays from the country theme for a few tracks. "Gaslight" is closest to the Buffalo Tom sound, but it is too distorted for its own good. "Ghost in My Piano" is a circus drunk instrumental pilfered from Tom Waits, and there is a semi-serious cover of "My Funny Valentine" thrown in for luck. These songs are fun, but they probably will only appeal to Buffalo Tom fanatics for novelty appeal. Fortunately, Janowitz redeems _Lonesome Billy_ with some truly powerful songs that are reminiscent of Elvis Costello's acoustic tinged _King of America_ album. Fans who are familiar with the solo tracks on the Buffalo Tom singles know exactly what to expect. "Shoulder" and "Peninsula" deliver distraught lyrics, acoustic guitar, and passionate vocals. The melancholy organ and minimal back-up vocals in the background up the ante. Add the "warts and all" production values, and you feel as if you're sitting in with the band. A duet, "Red Balloon", with Chris Toppin of Fuzzy closes the album. It is a nice guy/girl ballad that, unlike most country duets, is actually heartfelt and honest. The song's metaphor of love drifting away like a balloon slipping through ones fingers avoids seeming hackneyed or cliche'd. The song and the album drift away with the musicians tinkering quietly on their instruments and the sounds of railway trains fading away outside of the studio. By design, Bill Janowitz offers an album that is loose and relaxed. Thereis a certain artistic indulgence in recording songs for the sheer pleasure of it, and it's refreshing that Beggar's Banquet is releasing an album like _Lonesome Billy_. Clearly, this is a "fan's" album. It's not quite on par with acts like Wilco or The Jayhawks who are exclusively "alternative country", but it's still a decent album that's a lot of fun. --- REVIEW: Stereo Total, _Monokini_ (Bungalow/Rough Trade) - Tim Mohr A trashy mixture of easy sensibilities, French, German, and English lyrics (all with a heavy French accent), punky guitars, and odd Stereolab-ish electronics and keyboards, _Monokini_ shows Stereo Total as capable of entering the pantheon of weird pop alongside the likes of Pizzicato Five, Combustible Edison, Cibo Matto, perhaps even Pussy Galore. On their sophomore effort Berlin's Stereo Total take control of their own destiny, writing all but four of the 15 titles on the album. Despite the absence of the crutches that propped their debut - covers of hits by Brigitte Bardot and KC and the Sunshine Band, among others - _Monokini_ easily outclasses their debut, _Oh Ah Ah_. From the primal, cave-girl rock of "Lunatique" and "LA,CA, USA" to the croony new wave of "Supergirl," the sampled Hawaiian zaniness of "Shoen Von Hinten" to the spaghetti western feel of "Furore," _Monokini_ stays interesting and varied. Francoise Cactus handles most of the vocal chores, with a voice that has the same qualities as Bardot: not exactly full, or even in tune, but fun and animated and well-suited to the music. The easy listening background of the band is on display on a few tracks, particularly "Dilindam" and "Cosmonaute," though they have skewed _Monokini_ more toward their punky new wave side, perhaps taking inspiration from another rising Berlin band, the Poptarts, whose no-chord girlie punk anthems are frequently tipped to join Stereo Total at Bungalow Records. Stereo Total's "Tu M'as Voulue," for instance, brings to mind Platic Bertrand's Franco-punk classic, "Ca Plane Pour Moi." The lead single, "Schoen Von Hinten" (i.e. pretty from behind), samples or imitates the big drum run at the beginning of the "Hawaii Five-O" theme song, then adds one of those slack island guitar tones to a spritely, Pizzicato Five-esque pop romp. --- REVIEW: Martin Luther Lennon, _Music For A World Without Limitations_ (Not Lame) - Bill Holmes With a name like that it had better be good, eh? Martin Luther Lennon (a.k.a. MLL) is actually the pseudonym of Tony Perkins, bassist, songwriter and vocalist for the band that also bears his nom de plume. You may have been teased by the wonderful cuts "I Rule The World" and "No Love Lost" from the _Sympophony_ sampler out last year, and if so, you've been looking forward to more. So don't be thrown by song titles like "Kill Kill Kill", or that "evil eye" pose on CD sleeve (memories of that "other" Tony Perkins might come to mind) - your pop prayers have been answered. Starting with a bang and ending with an anthem, _Limitations_ features enthusiastic, powerful playing from this quartet. MLL plays a rhythmic, thumping bass in the style of Graham Maby and Nick Lowe, and drummer Robbie Rist's powerful bottom gives Lennon the freedom to race along with the guitarists when he feels like it. And those guitars...wow! Big, FAT chunky pop guitar chords that will bring out the air-guitar player in any popster. Major league kudos to Steve Refling (who co-produced with Lennon) and Adam Marsland for the axe work. Lennon's vocals are abrupt and a touch affected, not unlike Paul Collins or Joe Jackson - slightly imperfect, but then again they somehow are perfect. When the harmonies check in, as they do so well in "Brenda Revisited", they're glorious. And yet beneath the surface, Lennon is singing about some disturbed topics - gun control, mass murderers, Los Angeles riots and unsympathetic doctors - you know, the standard pop subjects. Or maybe not. A lot of comparisons could be made to the early Elvis Costello albums with the Attractions. Lennon writes clever, sometimes twisted lyrics and the band takes those simple rock and roll tools - guitar, bass and drums - and kick it good. Had this album come out twenty years ago, it would not have seemed out of place, yet it is current and robust, just like those classic Elvis records would be if they were 1997 releases. At the heart of the record are hooks, hooks, and more hooks. I feel silly walking down the street singing the refrain "No junkies in West Hills", but I don't care. And I just can't get "Happygirl" and "Wonderful Us" out of my head, let alone the CD player. Pure Pop for Now People? Why not? MLL and crew can also fire the melodies up to a pop pogo frenzy; like the Ramones-ish "Gun Heaven" or the giddy "Dr. Nu" ("Dr. Nu \ I hate you \ I do I do I do I do"). And "Hologram Sam" is classic invasion Britpop more than a Marc Bolan nod. Breaking up this frantic pace are two slower, acoustic songs that suggest that MLL is Jonathan Richman's evil twin. Consider the chorus of "I'm Just An Elephant" - "I'm just an elephant \ you can bet it \ I may not know that much \ but I won't forget it". The disc's closer, "Wonderful Us", is a simple, rhythmic song that's not saying much more than "It's a wonderful world \ nobody knows but us", yet it's framed in a bonafide set-closer of a pop song, complete with false ending and refrain. I want to see this band live, now! NotLame Recordings, a mail order service handling pop music, also has a few artists signed to its record label. With Martin Luther Lennon, they have a potential monster on their hands. The title of the CD says it all. In a "world without limitations", this music would be jumping out of your speakers right now. --- REVIEW: Bloodhound Gang, _One Fierce Beer Coaster_ (Republic/Geffen) - Scott Slonaker Feeling stuck in an adolescent male rut? Have a serious fixation with body orifices? Bad skin? Do you enjoy ridiculing others, especially through the use of stereotypes? Then, dear reader, meet your spiritual kin, the Bloodhound Gang. Formed in 1994 in Philadelphia, the Bloodhound Gang spent their 1995 major-label debut, _Use Your Fingers_, attempting to do the white-boy rap thing, with apparently little success. Original founding members Jimmy Pop Ali (vocals, samples) and Lupus (guitar) assembled a new band with real instruments, found a new label, and had at it. Somewhat of a They Might Be Giants for the Beavis and Butt-head set (or maybe an R-rated Presidents of the U.S.A.), the band's style veers wildly, and surprisingly seamlessly, from distant Type O Negative-crunch to punk-pop to, yes, white-boy rap. It might be best at this point to lay the truth out on the table. The Bloodhound Gang want to offend you. They want badly to offend you. Sure, they want you laughing at the utterly uproarious lyrics (which you will), but there is a conscious effort here to make parents and politicians mad. Almost no social archetype escapes, least of all the band itself. Jimmy Pop has just as much contempt for himself and his own abilities as he does anyone else. This makes it easy to realize that the band is just kidding. The whole affair is obviously tongue-in-cheek. See, for all their would-be honkiness, the Bloodhound Gang are much smarter than they act (separating them from Ween). Now, disclaimers aside, _One Fierce Beer Coaster_ is no musical work of art. To be musically intricate would be missing the whole point. So, while hearing the virtual plagiarism of Cypress Hill on "Why's Everybody Always Pickin' On Me?" would normally raise a major red flag, it passes by effortlessly. Other songs borrow heavily from NOFX ("I Wish I Was Queer so I Could Get Chicks"), House of Pain ("Lift Your Head Up High (And Blow Your Brains Out)"), Onyx ("Asleep at the Wheel"), and early Beastie Boys (most of the rest). But, the band sounds *good* stealing from other people, in the same way that all the best "Weird Al" Yankovic songs are the parodies of popular songs. Ironically, the one major misstep on the entire record is a thrashy, distorted cover of Run DMC's classic "It's Tricky". And lest we forget, the country twang, chunky thrash, and unprintable chorus of the hit single "Fire Water Burn" is truly memorable ("I'm not black like Barry White/No, I am white like Frank Black is.") Boatloads of hilarious samples, snippets, and other touches kept me in stitches, from a cameo by Vanilla Ice on "Boom" to the Homer Simpson soundalike on the final track, "Reflections of Remoh" (good thing the lyrics are printed on the inlay card). For those iron minds not easily cowed by vicious (if ultimately innocuous) stereotypes, toilet humor and George Carlin's seven famous Bad Words, _One Fierce Beer Coaster provides a truckload of good, old-fashioned political incorrectness and hilarity. And amazingly enough, the record is somehow able to keep up the pace for the whole distance without (overly) repeating itself. Howard Stern and the Beastie Boys would be proud. Always thought that Webster looked a little devilish. --- REVIEW: Various Artists, _Source Lab 2_ (Source/Gyroscope) - Tim Hulsizer Another cool partnership has formed in the electronic world this past year. Gyroscope Records, the American dubsidiary of Caroline Records, joined forces with the French experimental/cutting-edge dance label Source. In Europe, Source is widely known as one of France's coolest sonic exports and is uttered in the same breath as labels like Metalheadz, Mo'Wax, and Science. Enter the Source Lab series of compilations, which present a great overview of the artists and styles that Source has to offer. Source Lab 2 was released domestically at the end of 1996 and is absolutely essential if you like trip-hop, jungle, or jazzy techno stuff. It doesn't stick with one particular theme, criscrossing genres and blowing the mind on several levels at once. There are only 3 true jungle/drum'n'bass tracks on the compilation but they are all terrific, essential cuts. First off is the Metalheadz/Bukem-inspired "Free Jah" by Zend Avesta. It uses the Goldie kind of sound, with a sample of a guy shouting "Free Jah" over a fairly repetitive set of jungle rhythms. The second jungle track is now among my favorites: "Planete Interdite" by Krell. It begins with the LTJ Bukem type of spacy noise, building into an explosion of freestyle beats and staccatos. Then it pops in a female/alien whisper, crescendos, and samples that keep your interest for the full 7:50 running time. Lastly there's "Technical Jed" by Extra Lucid. Backwards loops, a sample that says "you can't go on the way you are, you know", and a throbbing bassline. Not a groundbreaker, but satisfying indeed. Other tracks take a mellower approach . The thing I really like about the colllection is that so many tunes sound organic because of the real instruments sampled. The closing track by Air, "Casanova 70", lulls the listener with echoing whistles, guitar and some great horn sounds before bringing a beat and organ in, 4 minutes into the song - laidback, sort of a cooldown track after the rest. There are some excellent jazzy, hiphop kinds of tracks as well, like Alex Gopher's "Gordini Mix" and Doctor L's terrific "Ghost Town", a slow, menacing jam with sampled/distorted raps. As for the rest, it hits all the bases. Presented here is the full version of Daft Punk's "Musique", which appeared on the _Wipeout XL_ video game soundtrack. Main Basse has a cool techno song "Hunt One Connection" with some great wah-wah effects. And I really dig a track called "Bomb De Bretagne" by Le Tone. The entire thing consists of real sounds they sampled. There's an upright bass, ice cubes falling into a glass, a drink being stirred, an aerosol can being sprayed, and more. All in all, a worthy collection of artistic, funky electronica. It makes a nice addition to any fan's collection, spices up any DJ set, and gives a great overview of a very exciting label, Source Records. Rumor has it that the next edition _Source Lab 3_ will have a simultaneous release (US/Europe) in the first quarter of this year. Be on the lookout. --- REVIEW: Audioweb, _Audioweb_ (Mother - Import) - Tim Mohr As the commercial re-birth of British indie enters its fifth year, there must be some worries about the long-term viability of the movement - can Britpop sustain itself indefinitely? Of course the top bands will do fine, just as the cream of earlier musical trend waves is still visible: the Charlatans from the Madchester era, the Boo Radleys from shoe gazing, Dinosaur Jr and Buffalo Tom from the Boston-area boom, the Cure from the, um, middle ages. But if Britpop is capable of maintaining interest and sales levels, the music must begin to transform so that another ice age doesn't take hold as happened at the close of the shoe-gazing period. The vast difference between Audioweb and Suede, the band usually credited with inaugurating the current Britpop era, shows that the idea of Britpop remains flexible enough to carry on for at least a while longer. Audioweb's combination of bursts of guitar and other trappings of indie with a loping dub beat is good news for listeners now, and should demonstrate to cynincs that the future of Britpop need not entail infinite permutations of Oasis, Ash, Pulp, and Elastica. Anyone who finds Britpop's re-hash bands boring can find solace - and a rollicking good time - in Audioweb's self-titled debut, an album that showcases a band not satisfied to latch onto an existing sound. Audioweb hail from Manchester and, like fellow Mancunians Black Grape, meld dance and traditional indie styles. Unlike the sound on Black Grape records, the mixture on _Audioweb_ is very balanced, rather than tipped towards dance. The male vocalist combines Ian Brown of the Stone Roses, Bernard Butler's partner McAlmont, and HR of Bad Brains: gentle melodic lines, silky vibratto and soaring falsetto, jumpy ragga growls. The music is almost all played live, from break beats to bass to electric and acoustic guitars, engaging in a way that sampled music sometimes fails to be. Standout tracks such as "Time" or the lead single "Sleeper" transpose flashing guitar lines onto rumbling bass while retaining a lightness of touch that keeps them clearly out of the camp that combines metal and hip-hop: an artful jab to counter the knock-out punch of a Dub War or Sensor. --- REVIEW: The Jam, _The Jam: Collection_ (Polydor) - Al Muzer Not quite as well-annotated as one would hope, this is, nonetheless, a perfect companion for the 1983 _Snap!_ collection (although it does duplicate a few tracks) - and yet another reminder that there's absolutely no explaining the musical taste of most Americans. Huge in Britain during their 1977-1982 run, why, exactly, this melodic, sharp-suited, musically-gifted, mod-pop band never took off on these shores while artists such as Devo, The Knack, Blondie and, briefly, Nick Lowe, Squeeze and Ian Gomm cleaned up is anybody's wild guess. A collection of album tracks and B-sides such as "Away From The Numbers," "Carnation," "Wasteland," "I Need You," "Saturday's Kids" and "Man In The Corner Shop"; the latest reissue of this powerful three-piece's work showcases a cocky cockney group of Small Faces, Beatles and Who fanatics who could've given the likes of Christopher Cross and Dan Hill a real fight on the charts - had radio programmers been a bit more adventurous back in the dark days of Styx, Air Supply, The Captain and Tennille, Lionel Richie and the Bee Gees. --- REVIEW: The Subsonics - _Everything's Falling Apart_ (Get Hip) - Joe Silva Having come by this record as I have, you too could claim that your long withered faith in college radio had finally been revived. Only commuters (and people who populate the Great Plains) probably know the sheer desperation that eventually forces one to stray from hitsville stations with their booming signals to obscure places on the dial seeking stimulation and relief. Well, the goosestepping commercial radio programmers can have their "Sin Blossoms" and "Mounting Crows" (sic) because there's new hope off the beaten path. And that's precisely where the Subsonics live...for the moment. Sired in clubland Atlanta, where on any given night there remains a healthy and weird mix of genres on display, the Subsonics revel in the all-tarted-up, looking-for-some-place-seedy side of town. With wound up and distortion-free guitar lines and a drum kit that's forever pounding out clean, understated 4/4-isms, the Subsonics could make Lou Reed smile if that were ever possible. Because since the Dream Syndicate went away and R.E.M. got serious, the progeny and champions of the Velvet Underground are not quite as readily apparent as they used to be. Singer Clay Sterling Reed's (hmmm) vocal posture is half leopard skin rant and half insectiod drone. But even during the finest moments of his distinct warbling, he has to compete with the vintage twang of his guitar. Once fused though, the two elements brilliantly carry these songs through their all-too-brief paces. Unlike the low-fi prattle of current indie heroes (with the noted exception of Guided By Voices), the Subsonics know how to shift between riff and melody like seasoned pros - knowing a nice slice of verve when they concoct one, and knowing when to leave it behind them, pristine and memorable, and move on. For a text, it seems like they're more apt to lift chatter and observations from the local diner than bother the pensive nothings of a Dolores O'Riordan diary. Blatant snipes like "I Made You A Clown" and "I Didn't Think You Could Take It" make Clay seem to enjoy dishing dirt as much as fingering his...er, six string. Perfect for parties or the pause between Bush replays, the Subsonics are far deft at giving listeners such a cool sendup such at this and remain forever an unknown quantity. Get yours now. For further information on Get Hip, contact 412-231-4766 or check out the web page at http://www.gethip.com --- REVIEW: Spiderbait _The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake_ (Polydor Australia) - Linda Scott AC/DC is without question one of the best known of the Australian bands. Their worldwide success is an inspiration to their countrymen. Spiderbait is another band from Down Under ready to make the leap to a larger audience. This trio from the title Finley consist of Kram (drums, lead vocals), cousin Whitt (guitar and vocals) and Janet (bass/vocals). Long on vocalists and talent but short on names, the band's stated goal is to make every album track sound as if it were by a different group. Primarily using a punk rock sound, Spiderbait throws reggae, funk, country, Spanish guitar and a horn section into the mix. These styles find their way into different tracks, and Spiderbait does have different musical styles on the album tracks. _The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake_ is a title and a half. It refers to a galleon restoration project in the trio's home town. This album is the band's first release on a major label, and the one that has gotten them tours of Canada and the U.S. The band's strong lyrics and vocals are sometimes buried in the high speed punk rush to the finish lines. Songs like "I Gotta Know", "Sam Gribbles" and "Jesus" need several listens to retrieve lyrics behind the energy and venom of drums and guitar. Spiderbait is said to be a showstopper in concert where they attract wild moshers and stage divers. The band's concern for safety and the feeling their audience isn't really listening helped lead them from being a club band to the more traditional album/touring arrangement. Spiderbait built their strong fan base in Australia. If you like punk with some eccentric grooves, pick up _The Unfinished Galleon_. --- REVIEW: Pulley, _Esteem Driven Engine_ (Epitaph) - Simon Speichert Pulley is a fun band. What started as jamming and playing around has turned into a great album for the band, which contains members and ex-members of Ten Foot Pole, Strund Out, Face To Face, and Scared Straight. Produced by Ryan Greene, Pulley's debut album, _Esteem Driven Engine_ (if you'll pardon the pun) hits you like a freight train, with 14 astounding tracks including "Cashed In", "No Defense", "She", and "All We Have". The band's music is fast and melodic, upfront, no frills, no B.S., and it grows on you. Pulley will never go the way of the "side project band" (you know, release one album, fade off into nowhere), simply because it's a fun thing. These guys are so energetic, I can feel their energy radiating from my CD player. The band started in 1995, but the band truly had its beginning in 1984 with just a couple of guys jamming together. But, in late '95, when vocalist Scott parted with Ten Foot Pole, he decided to start a new band. Enlisting his old friends Mike, Jim, ex-Ten Foot Pole drummer Jordan, and bassist Matt, Pulley was then born. They may not seem to have much experience to an outsider, who may think they've just started, but these five guys have many years of experience. The bottom line on Pulley's _Esteem Driven Engine_ is that if you were a fan of any of these guys in their previous bands, or if you're into the hardcore/punk scene, you will be amazed at what they can do. If you're a newcomer to punk, you'll like the melodies. --- NEWS: > The 1997 USA Songwriting Competition, sponsored by the American Songwriters Network, comes to a close on March 1, 1997. Judges include industry members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. For more information, competition rules, regulations and entry forms call (617)536-6630 10 am to 5 pm (EST) or e-mail USA Songwriting Competition at asn@tiac.net > The remaining members of Blind Melon will be appearing in an online chat at MTV Online's AOL (America On-Line) site (keyword: MTV or MTVArena) February 6 at 8:00 p.m. EST. > Co-founding member of Duran Duran, John Taylor, recently announced his amicable departure from the band after more than 18 years. > Japan's Shonen Knife will be headlining Los Angeles' Poptopia Festival at the Troubadour on February 8. Other bands on the bill for the evening include the Muffs, Cockeyed Ghost, Wondermints and Splitsville. > Pulp's guitarist Russell Senior has quit the band to pursue the ever-vague "new projects". > Sonicnet will be having online chats at http://www.sonicnet.com/sonicore/chat/ with Space Needle (February 4, 7:00 pm) and INXS (February 7, 7:30 pm). All times are EST. > Some lucky college student will have the chance to win a free concert with the Verve Pipe. Coinciding with the single release of "The Freshmen", the contest (sponsored by U. Magazine) invites college students to tell about a memorable freshman experience. The members of the Verve Pipe will pick the entry they like the best, and that entrant's school will get a free on-campus concert from the band. > Mike Watt's new album, _Contemplating The Engine Room_, is tentatively due to be released in September. The concept for the album is a "punk rock opera" revolving around a metaphor of three guys in a Navy boat's engine room. Bobby Seifert will be the engineer for the album, whose recording will commence in April. --- TOUR DATES: Backsliders Feb. 6 Nashville, TN 12th & Porter Feb. 7 Asheville, NC Gatsby's Feb. 8 Raleigh, NC The Brewery Benna Feb. 6 Chestertown, MD Andy's Coffee House Feb. 8 Richmond, VA Trademarks Lisa Cerbone Feb. 8 Richmond, VA Trademark's Chalk Farm / Wild Colonials Feb. 4 Colorado Springs, CO Manhattan's Connells Feb. 4 Tuscaloosa, AL Ivory Tusk Feb. 5 Baton Rouge, LA Varsity Feb. 6 Oxford, MS Lyric Hall Feb. 7 Birmingham, AL Five Points South Music Hall Feb. 8 Nashville, TN 328 Performance Hall Cordelia's Dad Feb. 8 Farmington, CT Arts Center Feb. 13 Toronto, ON Horseshoe Tavern Cravin' Melon Feb. 6 Clemson, SC Tiger Town Feb. 7 Greenwood, SC Griffin's Pub Goldfinger / Reel Big Fish Feb. 3 Atlanta, GA Masquerade Feb. 4 Jacksonville, FL Milk Bar Feb. 5 Stillwater, OK Wormy Dog Feb. 6 Ft. Lauderdale, FL The Dge Feb. 7 St. Petersburg, FL State Theatre Feb. 10 Little Rock, AR Juanita's Feb. 12 Portales, NM The Ballroom Humble Gods / Human Waste Product / Dial 7 Feb. 11 Huntington Beach, CA Rhino Room Kula Shaker / Rasputina Feb. 5 New Orleans, LA House Of Blues Feb. 6 Houston, TX Numbers Feb. 7 Austin, TX Liberty Lunch Feb. 8 Dallas, TX Deep Ellum Feb. 10 Lawrence, KS Granada Theatre Feb. 11 St. Louis, MO Mississippi Nights Nil Lara Feb. 7 Columbia, SC Elbow Room Feb. 8 Greenville, NC Attic Feb. 10 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club Feb. 11 Atlanta, GA Point Mother Hips Feb. 7 Santa Barbara, CA Toe's Tavern Feb. 8 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues Porno For Pyros Feb. 3 Chicago, IL Riviera Feb. 4 Louisville, KY Brewery Feb. 6 Atlanta, GA Roxy Feb. 7 Memphis, TN New Daisy Theater Feb. 8 Birmingham, AL Five Points Music Hall Feb. 10 Austin, TX Liberty Lunch Feb. 11 New Orleans, LA House of Blues Professor & Maryann Feb. 8 New York, NY West Bank Cafe Pure Feb. 8 Seattle, WA Moe Feb. 9 Portland, OR La Luna Royal Fingerbowl Feb. 4 Red Bank, NJ Downtown Cafe Feb. 9 New Orleans, LA Contemporary Arts Theater Sebadoh Feb. 6 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre Slush Feb. 6 Sacramento, CA Old Ironside Type O Negative / Sister Machine Gun / Drain S.T.H. Feb. 3 Columbia, MO Blue Note Feb. 4 Des Moines, IA Supertoad Feb. 5 Fargo, ND Player's Pavillion Feb. 6 Chicago, IL Loyola University Feb. 7 St. Cloud, MN Delwin Ballroom Feb. 8 Clinton, IA Pig Pen Feb. 11 Albuquerque, NM The Zone Vallejo Feb. 3 Columbia, SC Rockafella's Feb. 4 Atlanta, GA Smith's Olde Bar Feb. 5 Jacksonville, AL Brothers Bar Feb. 6 Montevallo, AL The Underground Feb. 7 Huntsville, AL Crossroads Cafe Feb. 8 Hatiesberg, MS Tal's Warm Wires Feb. 5 Bend, OR Pasha's Feb. 6 Portland, OR La Luna Feb. 7 Seattle, WA Moe's --- THE READERS WRITE BACK! Just because he's associated with a 60s band and isn't trendy, that's not a good enough reason to neglect the untimely passing of one of the finest guitarists of all time, from a sadly overlooked and disgracefully underappreciated band - Randy California, of the original L.A.-based group, Spirit. He apparently drowned a few days after New Year's Day in an ocean accident in Hawaii (after saving his 12-yr.-old son's life, no less). This is an especially tragic loss, given the longtime general undeserved neglect of Spirit in the warped annals of "rock history", and the fact that there finally has been some serious energy directed toward enlightening the world to Spirit's great music (old and new, see http://kspace.com/spirit). California was as good a rock guitarist as any more vaunted name you can think of (yes, ANY of them), and he never lived to see his place in history properly acknowledged (not that that seemed to bother him very much, as he remained more active than ever after the demise of the original Spirit quintet). One of the wisest things any Consumable reader can do for him/herself is to go out and buy all four of the recently reissued original Spirit albums (all now including some superb bonus tracks): _Spirit_ (1968), _The Family That Plays Together_ (1969), _Clear_ (1970), and _The 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1971), all on Sony/CBS's Legacy series label. Additional enlightenment can be found on the "Time Circle" 2-cd Spirit anthology box set. This band made some astonishing original music, integrating rock, jazz, blues, country, folk, and label-less styles better than just about any band you'll ever hear - none of this ersatz "jazz-rock fusion" froth. And California was as expressive and as colorful on his guitar as any master musician on any instrument. (Don't buy my "hype"? Just listen to those albums above.) For those of us who were lucky enough to discover Spirit while Randy California was still alive, we know. And we'll miss him painfully. - Stuart T. (stuart@apollo.hp.com) P.S. If anyone has the list of BBC Radio 1 John Peel's '96 "Festive 50", please contact me. Thanks. --- Founded in August, 1993, Consumable Online is the oldest continuous collaborative music publication on the Internet. To get back issues of Consumable, check out: WWW: http://www.westnet.com/consumable FTP: ftp.quuxuum.org in the directory /pub/consumable ftp.prouser.org (URL) http://www.westnet.com/consumable/Consumable.html (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. Address any written correspondence to Bob Gajarsky, Consumable Online, 409 Washington St. #294, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030 ===