== ISSUE 156 ==== CONSUMABLE ONLINE ======== [September 28, 1998] Editor: Bob Gajarsky E-mail: editor@consumableonline.com Sr. Correspondents: Daniel Aloi, Joann Ball, Bill Holmes, Tim Kennedy, Reto Koradi, David Landgren, Sean Eric McGill, Tim Mohr, Al Muzer, Joe Silva, Lang Whitaker Correspondents: Christina Apeles, Niles J. Baranowski, Tracey Bleile, Lee Graham Bridges, Jason Cahill, Patrick Carmosino, Krisjanis Gale, Emma Green, Paul Hanson, Chris Hill, Eric Hsu, Tim Hulsizer, Franklin Johnson, Robin Lapid, Linda Scott, Scott Slonaker, Chelsea Spear, Simon Speichert, Jon Steltenpohl, Simon West Technical Staff: Chris Candreva, Dave Pirmann Address all comments to staff@consumableonline.com ; subscription information is given at the end of this issue. ================================================================== All articles in Consumable remain (C) copyright their author(s). Permission for re-publication in any form must be obtained from the editor. ================================================================== .------------. | Contents | `------------' REVIEW: Sheryl Crow, _The Globe Sessions_ - Tracey Bleile REVIEW: UNKLE, _Psyence Fiction_ - Tim Hulsizer REVIEW: Kent, _Isola_ - Tim Mohr REVIEW: Embrace, Live at Liverpool Royal Court, Sept. 10 - Tim Kennedy REVIEW: The Notwist, _Shrink_ - Chris Hill REVIEW: Dance Hall Crashers, _Blue Plate Special_ - Jason Cahill REVIEW: Pansy Division, _Absurd Pop Song Romance_ - Paul Hanson REVIEW: Yatsura, _Slain By Urusei Yatsura_ - Tim Mohr REVIEW: Primus, _Rhinoplasty_ - Paul Hanson REVIEW: Sister Soleil, _Soularium_ - Sean Eric McGill REVIEW: Imogen Heap, _I Megaphone_ - Chelsea Spear REVIEW: 12Rods, _Split Personalities_ - Linda Scott REVIEW: B.T.K., _B.T.K._ - Franklin Johnson REVIEW: Money Mark, _Push The Button_ - Tim Mohr REVIEW: Baby Fox, _Dum Dum Baby_ - David Landgren REVIEW: Evinrudes, _Evinrudes_ - Tracey Bleile REVIEW: Superkreme, _Superkreme_ - Franklin Johnson REVIEW: The Great Western Squares, _Almost Sober_ - Jon Steltenpohl NEWS: Cheap Trick TOUR DATES: Archers of Loaf, Better Than Ezra / Possum Dixon / Athenaeum, Candlebox, The Church, Cravin' Melon, N'Dea Davenport, Irving Plaza, Jesus & Mary Chain / Mercury Rev, Korn, Lenny Kravitz, Liquid Soul, Reel Big Fish / Spring Heeled Jack, Samples, Sheila Divine, Dee Snider's StrangeLand Tour (Soulfly + more), Spacetime Continuum, Mike Watt ERRATA THE READERS WRITE BACK! --- REVIEW: Sheryl Crow, _The Globe Sessions_ (A&M) - Tracey Bleile When you take storytelling and turn the intensity on yourself, you get autobiography. Set it to music and you have a documentary, complete with a score that gives you the whole range of emotion. But how to keep an honest effort from slipping too far into one extreme - that is the challenge facing Sheryl Crow's newest effort _The Globe Sessions_ . Named for the home studio she created for herself, the songs and feelings on _Globe_ run the gamut, from pain to longing to defiance. But one seems to be conspicuously absent this time out - and it's a biggie - joy. And it's a narrow path to walk when you are trying to communicate your very private feelings to a very public world. When does examining your emotions stop being an important catharsis and turn into a good old-fashioned pity party? Her big singles of the past have focused on accepting where you are, looking ahead and hoping for the best. _Globe Sessions_ is instead, something of a cliché, the rollercoaster of relationships - as they take place inside of one head and one heart. The first single "My Favorite Mistake" is a slow blues burn (high degree of irony here; as more than a few sources have called this her take on the end of her relationship with Eric Clapton) and proceeds to set (or is it slow) the pace. And while here far more attention paid to creating an enveloping mood, as with the elegance and poetry of "Riverwide" and the defiance and falsely-bright chipperness of the breakup aftermath in "It Don't Hurt", replete with B-3 organ, there is definitely an air of sadness throughout. The inclusion of the Dylan song "Mississippi" (which he had written for his last Grammy-winning album, but decided to give to Crow to sing for this release instead) is a down-home rocker that comes in rather late in the release to redeem the overall maudlin feel. Her trademark snappy percussive backdrop gives songs like "Maybe That's Something" glimmers of her previously more aggressive style, and her expressive wide-ranging voice makes her one of the more engaging artists to listen to. But even when she pushes harder in her rock 'n roll mode, it is still toned-down and almost queen of country depressing - "Anything But Down", moaning lap-steel guitar solo and all. But for someone who has built a songwriting and performing persona based on a "wild women don't get the blues" philosophy, it is even more difficult to watch a strong person work through their pain, in such a public way. The arrangements and array of back up musicians are breathtaking (Benmont Tench playing keyboards, Wendy Melvoin on guitar, and Lisa Germano on violin and autoharp; each on several tracks, as well as a host of her faithful session players and long-time band members) and the production value is topknotch, which is her own, and mixed by Tchad Blake. However, if this is progress, I hope this is leading her to a place where she can take all this high-powered energy and direct it towards being happy again. She's got all the ingredients here, but the levitating agent is missing, and the result is somewhat flat. One step left out, and it doesn't matter how beautiful the surface is - it's what's inside that counts. --- REVIEW: UNKLE, _Psyence Fiction_ (Mo'Wax/London) - Tim Hulsizer The album isn't even out yet in the states and already some reviewers are calling this a "seminal" release. I'll spare you that brand of rhetoric (sorry guys, that's like the way Disney calls every new movie a "classic" before it even hits theaters) and get right to the meat of it: this is a great album. Producers DJ Shadow and James Lavelle (head of Mo'Wax) have put their skills to the ultimate test and the results are nothing short of dazzling. Rather than work within the confines of the traditional "turntablist" genre or even regular pop music, these guys have combined breakbeats with lyrics on many tracks to create a whole that is more than equal to the sum of its parts. Each track has a unique personality here, rather than most releases I've heard lately. Amazingly enough, that doesn't send the album off into a million pointless directions; rather, it is all held together by the canny over-seeing of the two gentlemen, who keep a thoughtful yet loose feeling going on throughout. Whether it's a rap cut or a verse-chorus-verse song, you can pick up on a rather unique atmosphere here. For reference, check out some of the remixes UNKLE has done in the past couple of years for other artists (not to mention the entire output of Mo'Wax Records, which includes DJ Shadow's stuff and a thousand other category-defying musical releases). Vocals and songwriting chores are picked up by a number of talented artists. Kool G Rap, one of New York's finest rappers is present here. He kicks off the whole affair with a track called "Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Pt.1)", and it hits like a bomb. Mike D of the Beastie Boys delivers in Pt.2, and we also have songs from Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Richard Ashcroft of The Verve (both of whom recorded their vocals before their bands' latest hit releases). Metallica's Jason Newstead helps out, as does Wil Malone, Massive Attack's string arranger. There are more, but I'll let you have fun finding them all for yourself. I'm not quite sure how to describe the aforementioned "feeling" of the album correctly. Does it have the proverbial "phat beats"? In spades. Does it "swirl"? Well, yes it does, but that's only half the story. It also whispers, shouts, and winks at you while it hits you in the face. Above all, this is a great album because it so aptly reflects the unique creative visions of Shadow and Lavelle, who borrowed money to start Mo'Wax in 1992 and has never looked back. Their music is indicative of forward-thinking individuals, but with their ability to play well with others they have perhaps created this year's finest album. --- REVIEW: Kent, _Isola_ (BMG) - Tim Mohr Swedish bands have animated the European music scene for several years now, with groups like the Cardigans, the Wannadies, and Whale making particularly big splashes and representing the apexes of three distinct styles. Kent represent yet another strain of Swedish rock, having established themselves at the pinnacle of the domestic indie scene with a musical sensibility closer to Radiohead, the Smashing Pumpkins, or the Manic Street Preachers and anguished lyrics to match. Kent have produced three albums in Sweden that make them as important to Swedish indie kids as the Smiths were to down-trodden popheads of the British isles in the 80s. But unlike most Swedish bands, Kent decided to sing in their native Swedish for those three records, leaving them all but unknown in other countries even as the Scandinavian Invasion sent other Swedish indie outfits around the world. With an English version of _Isola_ (Kent's third album) now available world-wide on BMG, Kent have finally drawn their linguistic curtain to reveal their dark, poetic words to listeners south of Malmo. While the intimacy that singing in Swedish allowed them to gain with their core audience at home may suffer, listeners elsewhere will be able to comfort Swedish fans by joining them in adoration of Kent. Anchored by a churning bass not dissimilar to that on Cure tracks such as "Fascination Street" or latter-day Smashing Pumpkins' records, Kent add a wash of fuzzed guitars to mid-tempo songs about longing. The atmosphere of _Isola_ is rather like Radiohead without the prog-rock trappings of _OK Computer_. The lyrics, obviously taken as seriously by the band in English as in Swedish, demonstrate an incredible grasp of the dynamics of sharing and loss involved in human ties. "Speak/I don't need to speak/You're satisfied with silence/Scream/I won't speak I'll scream/Sleep/And all my energy/I waste on dreams of silence," sings Joakim Berg in "If You Were Here." In "Elvis" his voice soars with the same sense of imminent crash that is so important to the catharctic energy of Radiohead, Geneva, the Manic Street Preachers: "So now you're stealing my time/All the hours that I once/stole from you/I never thought you would mind/But I can see you do." _Isola_ never explodes with the amplified cacauphony of louder portions of the Radiohead canon--Kent never indulge themselves with the white-noise-drenched release of a "My Iron Lung," for instance--but the evocation of wrenching emotional tension on _Isola_ is every bit as eloquent and powerful as that on display in _The Bends_. The emotional origins of Kent songs sound as immediate and tangible as those of the Manic Street Preachers or Stereophonics, though, again, Kent eschew the musical bombast and frenetic energy of the Welsh bands. Kent show a side of Swedish youth culture that the post-Cardigans groups and Beatlesque pop bands avoid: the depression that, among other things, mandates high alcohol taxes to keep the kids from drinking themselves to death. Most of their compatriots fend of the (literal) darkness with a light approach to music; in embracing the (metaphoric) darkness around them, Kent produce a sound that soothes the listener with implied empathy. --- REVIEW: Embrace, Live at Liverpool Royal Court, Sept. 10 - Tim Kennedy After an interval of relentless techno and the opening band (Delakota), Embrace took the stage and immediately found a highly receptive crowd. In fact, it soon turned into an evening of almost revivalist proportions. The band's well-known mix of anthemic emotive ballads mixed in with punk rock appeals strongly to an audience who sprang up overnight after the cataclysmic explosion of Oasis onto the music scene, and who clearly have an unsated appetite for the same now that their idols have departed the stage. The crowd were 100% teenagers, of equal parts both sexes and danced ecstatically or waved their arms frantically, with screaming erupting periodically. They bellowed along to the words as well. It detracts from the show when singer Danny Macnamara apes Verve's Richard Ashcroft with repeating "come on" arm-waving and shouting. The Verve were a singularly overrated band who frankly can't hold a candle to Embrace in terms of songwriting; Macnamara should try to work on a more original stage persona. The crowd hardly needed any such encouragement - they were already ga ga. Tracks such as "Now You're Nobody" are other indications that Danny is a fan of the now-departed whingers from Wigan, as does "Fireworks" which is like "The Drugs Don't Work" - but much better. However, the band put everything into their performance and actually add a little to the songs from the album, emphasising the fact that their debut album is probably the best this year. Danny overdoes it a bit with the Yorkshire bonhomie - they're definitely from the posher side of Huddersfield. His voice is in good form, though it has sometimes been pointed out as a weakness of the band. Brother Richard Macnamara's guitar work is also quite skillful, adding a distinctly more metallic dimension to their garage punk numbers. It has to be said that their many UK critics are right about the Oasis similarities. At times the faster tempo material is scarily Gallagher-esque. This is not to criticise it because it is streets ahead of Oasis' recent stuff. The mellowest of their ballads are almost in the manner adopted by ex-Take That members or even Elton John. They seem unconcerned at being the prospective acceptable face of UK alternative rock. Surely even the Salvation Army would laud their positive themes ("Say Yes") and their anti drink/drugs stances. However, the youthful Liverpool crowd had no qualms about the band at all. Embrace's weakness is none of their concern. Usually the support band are fairly average and deliberately chosen to be so - no-one likes to be blown offstage. So, it was a surprise that Delakota were quite such a blast of fresh air in the frankly dingy and motheaten Royal Court. The singer with his shaggy blond locks is relaxed, ambles around smiling, his voice is clear and in tune, a mix of Tim Charlatan and Liam Oasis. The band play a NICE mix of garage punk, hiphop rythms and all sorts of other little hints of styles, plus the occasional sample. Competent yet sparky, they got an appreciative ear from the assembling crowd. By the end, having played their current single "Hey Cincinnati" - a more rock'n'roll version than the Beck-esque studio version - they left to deserved acclaim. --- REVIEW: The Notwist, _Shrink_ (Zero Hour) - Chris Hill Close-ups of circuit boards in blue Joan Miro hues, resembling ancient Mayan temples, garnish The Notwist's newest release. The strange yet recognizable photos set the stage for an album of disparate sounds (electronica, sax, and jangly guitar) assembled into a harmonious package, new yet familiar. The Notwist members pull from a grab bag of experience, instruments, and influences, flowing like a lava lamp between this band and myriad side projects (Village of Savoonga, Console, Toxic, & Tied and Tickled Trio, to name a few). The versatility shows in the music: reed and brass instruments snuggle up comfortably next to pop guitar and drums. The songs possess an airy, gentle quality, due in large part to Markus Acher's vocals, sung endearingly with his wistful, elongated German accent. For fans of New Order, Pet Shop Boys, and Electronic, this album will connect in an immediate, visceral way. "Day 7" kicks off _Shrink_. Rhythmic scratches, clanks, and percussion segue into clean electric guitar, fuzzed bass, and pounding drums. It's a tune of bittersweet longing - "the shore/I see the shore from here/I see your town/I see your house/ and you/...I count the letters of your name/I count the days/'til you are here again/Day 7..." - sincere & appealing, establishing the mood of the album. Sampler Martin ("Sound-o-naut") Gretschmann has a deft touch with the decks, placing ursine notes and growls in "Electric Bear", handclaps in "No Encores", and bubbling lava sounds in "Another Planet". Remember Bobby Brady's volcano experiment? I swear it's in there. Best of all, it took a stroke of genius to mix the sound of a connecting modem into the winsome single, "Chemicals". An impersonal electronic device plays against the emotional disconnection between the singer and the subject - "You are no good/And I know that you can't sleep/Until you know your overbearance makes me creep." It's startling upon recognition, then stunning in appropriateness. If you liked Electronic's instrumental "Free Will" off the "Get the Message" single, the sax-soaked "N.L." will be manna from heaven. "Moron", another instrumental, is equally angelical, with its beat cafe bass clarinet/lounge drum opening, breaking to a sax caterwaul, beach-movie drums, and vibraphone. "Your Signs" relies on a strong bass clarinet again, with Marcus' vocals bringing welcome associations of Bernard Sumner. Fans of The Notwist (pronounced "no twist") will notice that _Shrink_ combines four new songs ("Moron", "N.L", "Shrink", and "0-4") with six others found on 12" singles released in Germany, the U.S., and elsewhere in the same (or alternate) mixes. Regardless of origin, the songs blend well together, which isn't surprising considering Markus Acher and Micha Acher wrote 9/10 of the songs. The Sound-o-naut takes credit for the tenth tune ("No Encores"), with all lyrics written by Markus. I was never satisfied with the transition between New Order's _Brotherhood_ and _Technique_ albums. "Bizarre Love Triangle" to "Mr. Disco" - much too jarring for a delicate constitution. Nature abhors a vacuum, and now, a decade later, a transitional album appears, released by another band. If only Mr. Peabody and Sherman could take it back to me. --- REVIEW: Dance Hall Crashers, _Blue Plate Special_ (MCA) - Jason Cahill When it comes to EP's, bands like Luscious Jackson and Alice In Chains set the standard with "In Search of Manny" and "Jar of Flies" respectively. These albums, albeit abbreviated, contained enough new and challenging material to equal, in content if not size, most full length major label releases. At some point, however, the EP changed from a format where new ideas were explored and risks were taken to one which became synonymous with terms like "throwaways" and "b-sides". Now when a band releases an EP it's usually to support one new single, with little concern for content. What was once an outlet for musical experimentation, the EP has fallen far down the music ladder, securing itself just one rung beneath the remix album. Sure, bands will tell you that it's a format which gives their audience an opportunity to hear previously unreleased songs (i.e. songs that weren't good enough to make the albums in the first place) and one or two new singles, but discerning fans should spot the obvious lack of effort a mile away. The latest band to opt for the EP format, while at the same time preparing their next full length release, is the San Francisco ska band Dance Hall Crashers. The album, _Blue Plate Special_, is the band's third for major label MCA and contains six songs, only one of which was never before available. In addition to the songs, the CD also acts as a CD-Rom, complete with four of the band's music videos, band photos and links to DHC related internet sites. Not bad considering a list price of just below six dollars, but the question which remained was whether such a DHC fan oriented release would appeal to the average listener simply looking for some adrenalized ska sounds. The answer, of course, lies in the music. The album opens with "She's Trying", a track originally released as a part of Taylor Steele's film soundtrack to "The Show". In typical DHC fashion, the song combines fast paced ska beats with the dueling voices of lead vocalists Elyse Rogers and Karina Denike. Another track, "Lady Luck", first appeared on the soundtrack to "Meet The Deedles" (try finding that in a record store). There isn't much to distinguish this song from anything DHC has recorded in the past, but it still serves as a perfect example of how DHC are able to perfectly mesh traditional ska sounds with their melodic pop sensibilities. The album's finest track, and perhaps reason enough for purchasing _Blue Plate Special_, is "All Mine", a song from DHC's 1997 release "Honey I'm Homely". The song, a remix by Sam Sever, who has worked with everyone from the Beastie Boys to 3rd Bass to Big Audio Dynamite, is given a completely new dimension as Sever skillfully adds textured piano loops and understated beats to an otherwise generic song, giving it much needed life. The remainder of _Blue Plate Special_, however, fails to distinguish itself from anything else in DHC's modest catalog, breaking no new ground, taking no new risks. An acoustic version of "Shelley", a song featured on 1995's "Lockjaw", is little more than filler and "I Did It For The Toys", DHC's contribution to the Christmas season, seems slightly out of place, an afterthought. As for the videos and Internet links, they are interesting to look at once, but any repeated viewing seems unlikely even for the band's biggest fans. In fact, with the exception of one or two standout tracks, _Blue Plate Special_ is an EP which, like so many others, represents a missed opportunity to bring creativity and distinctive flavor to an otherwise lifeless and hackneyed format. Recommended only for core fans. --- REVIEW: Pansy Division, _Absurd Pop Song Romance_ (Lookout) - Paul Hanson Forget the hype. Just put it in a chest and deep-six it in the local ocean. Pansy Division are playing a pop/rock blend that is both interesting and playful, yet not musically deficient. Yes, the melodies are easy to hum and, for a band surrounded by hype regarding their sexual orientation, that is good: let the music stand on its own and let the chips fall wherever they may. All that said, the latest PD release _Absurd Pop Song Romance_ does a good job of twisting its way through just under an hour of material, kicking off with "February 17," which seems to be about a birthday. Thankfully, there's no corny "I forgot my girlfriend's birthday/She's going to kill me" style lyrics ala Paul Gilbert. With pounding drums and an upbeat tempo, "February 17" grabs the attention you didn't think you had. The following song, "Sweet Insecurity," might leave you confused. "Sweet" is an airy pop song, complete with two and three part backing vocals and handclaps. "I'll never Be the Same" follows and is closer to the style of "February 17." So, is this an upbeat punk-pop band or sellout fodder for the local station that plays Backstreet Boys and awful Monica/Brandy songs? PD does not seem to know which way they should go, clearly alternating between pop and less-commercialized fluff. And, if you can't dismiss the hype, you can blame a track like "Better off Just Friends" where the vocalist sings, "It was in the spring/ When we first met/ The time of year when young men's thoughts/ turn to other men." Yet, there is a subtle generalness to other songs. My favorite track is "Luv Luv Luv" with its lyrics "We're animals at the core/Instincts we can't ignore." Overall, and finally, this is an enjoyable disc. I think they'd do themselves better to either be a pop band or the punk for which they're best known. This walking the tightrope sucks. --- REVIEW: Yatsura, _Slain By Urusei Yatsura_ (Warner) - Tim Mohr Doing for Scotland what Ash do for Northern Ireland, (Urusei) Yatsura play fast, fun, and loud, with attention to enjoyable hooks and melodies. Like Ash, the style and song titles seem to borrow from good-natured punkers such as the Undertones and Ramones. The riffs that anchor Yatsura songs are quite angular, as on the album opener, "Glo Starz," that skips along like an old Fugazi song--"Repeater" perhaps--while they shout nearly-phonetically identical phrases: "Atari! I'm Sorry!" The big single, "Hello Tiger," is more straight-forward. Chugging along atop a steady three-chord progression, the lyrics hit a series of images from contemporary club life. Sprinkled here and elsewhere are "La-la-la"s, "Na-na-na"s, and other vocal indications of a quality garage band. "No. 1 Cheesecake" brings a touch of romance to the party, albeit with odd lines about missing out on the century because of memories filled with images of your eyes like jellybeans. Or something like that. None of the syrupy stuff that Ash let (d)rip in "Goldfinger" or "Oh Yeah." Basically, if the members of Fugazi had never been "straight-edge" (and middle-class residents of Northwest DC), and instead had grown up in council flats in Glasgow, drinking, dreaming of making music for a laugh instead of scoring political victories, they would have formed Yatsura. --- REVIEW: Primus, _Rhinoplasty_ (Interscope) - Paul Hanson Primus is Primus. Either you are aurally aroused by Les Claypool's snap, crackle, pop bass technique, unique vocal style and storyteller-styled lyrics, exemplified on this E.P. by a live version of "Tommy the Cat," or you find him annoying. Following the _Sailing the Seas of Cheese_ disc, I was a devotee. After _Pork Soda_ , I lost interest in the direction of the band as they became too introverted for my casual listenings. Not that they suddenly were awful - - I was just moving on. This time around, on a nine song E.P., two-thirds of which are cover songs, I remember why I liked the band when I first heard them. The playfulness of these tracks is evident, even during the first listen. Kicking off with XTC's "Scissorman," continuing through Peter Gabriel's "The Family and the Fishing Net" and Stanley Clarke's instrumental, "Silly Putty," Primus epitomizes mastery of their guitar, bass and, begrudgingly, drums. Brain, Tim "Herb" Alexander's recent replacement improves his case during the first three tracks. Moving on, Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses" and Primus' own "Too Many Puppies" are two more standout tracks. Perhaps the most recognizable tracks, The Police's "Behind my Camel" and Metallica's "The Thing That Should Not Be" stick a bit too close to their original. The disc closes with the epics "Tommy the Cat," which clocks in at 8:57 and "Bob's Party Time Lounge" at 7:32. Both feature Claypool's bass magic and solid drums from Brain, who stretches out for a Neil Peart ripoff solo in "Tommy." However, by the time this disc ends, you are likely to remember why you liked Primus in the first place and, if you have yet to dive into the world of frizzle frys, seas of cheese or pork soda, _Rhinoplasty_ is your best place to start. --- REVIEW: Sister Soleil, _Soularium_ (Universal) - Sean Eric McGill For years, I have heard bands in local clubs that have made me think 'Damn, if nothing good happens to these guys, that would be a shame'. Now I can add Sister Soleil to that same list after hearing their new album _Soularium_ . Lead by vocalist Stella Katsoudas, the music itself is an odd mixture of Sugarcubes-era Bjork, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, and about any other female artist of the past twenty years. The songs themselves are the usual mixed-bag fare of tracks about a love long lost, youth, etc. - but each has its own twist. Tracks like "Torch", "AOL" (yes, *that* AOL) and "Liar" are among the best on the album, and each has its own style and flavor, due in large part to her four-piece backing band, who seem to compliment her every vocal move with their music. But what sets Sister Soleil and _Soularium_ apart is Katsoudas. She wrote the songs, she produced the album, she sings with such raw emotion that her talent is impossible to ignore. And part of the appeal of her talent is that you can feel the urgency behind the music. This is what she was meant to do on this planet - anything else just wouldnt seem right. My first paying job as a writer was as a sportswriter in the town I grew up in, a job I took after my own playing days had ended due to injury. For a mid-sized town, we had many players from different sports who you could describe using one word - phenom. That word kept occuring to me while listening to _Soularium_ - phenom. It is used to describe someone who plays with pure natural talent, doing their job with what seems like the same effort the rest of us use for tasks like breathing. Stella Katsoudas has that type of talent, but instead of being able to take a round bat and connect with a round ball, sending it five hundred feet, she is able to write and perform music as though its what she was born to do. Perhaps it is only appropriate that as I sit to write this review, I have just watched for what seems to be the one hundredth time the replay of Mark McGwire's sixty-second home run of the baseball season, making him the all-time single season home run champion. It's something I doubt that I will never tire of seeing, and I shall remember where I was when it happened until my final breath. And while _Soularium_ may not have the same kind of long-lasting impact on me as McGwire's accomplishment, I have heard it dozens of times and haven't become even remotely tired of hearing it. People who have no interest in baseball have become enraptured by McGwire's chase and conquest of what many thought to be an impossible feat to accompish, and people who have merely a passing fancy in music should pick up _Soularium_. True talent is true talent, regardless of the way it is used. --- REVIEW: Imogen Heap, _I Megaphone_ (Almo Sounds) - Chelsea Spear Almo Sounds' entrant into the Lilith-ready race for the most melodic, Tori Amos-influenced female vocalist race is a striking nineteen-year-old named Imogen Heap, already a star in her native Australia. Heap's debut platter, _I Megaphone_, suggests why she's held in such high regard Down Under. The album reveals a drive and intensity appealing in such a vocalist, combined with a booming vocal primed to give listeners the willies. Her music has a catchingly addictive, kalidescopic aspect to it, and her lyrics reveal a startling insight and wonderful sense of humor. Sure, all of this sounds good now. However, nothing can be this amazing all at once. As with many debut albums, _I Megaphone_ can be used as much for gaming purposes as for discovering new talent, since the music she listened to during the creation of the album is as abundantly clear as Heap's own talent. And, sometimes, the musical styles she takes on can overwhelm her world view as it can help add focus. Moments like the first few seconds of album opener "Getting Scared" put everything appealing about Heap into focus -- the melding of her piano style and breathy, supple voice with the honeyed techno beats that suggest the influence of techno/folk goddess Beth Orton. Unfortunately, if the song reveals the zenith of Heap's considerable talent, it also reveals the nadir of the production -- a few seconds later, a more canned and synthetic sounding beat comes bouding out of the stereo, accompanied by a louder, processed vocal. The other end of that spectrum is the unadorned piano ballads that dot the second half of the album. These come much closer to Heap's true style and what her real voice must sound like, even if they end up sounding like various rough drafts of Tori Amos' "Leather". I'm much more drawn to the fusing of these two styles, as with the ballad "Come Here Boy". Set to the booming beat of a canned drum that brings to mind one of Brandy or Monica's girly slow jams, the emotive tinkling of Heap's piano and the vulnerable cough of her voice blend something synthetic with something real. All in all, _I Megaphone_ introduces Imogen Heap as a major talent in the making. However, one wishes that her talent was pushed and developed into more challenging, satisfying, and individualistic ways before it was committed to tape like this. Oh well - perhaps that's the next album's job. --- REVIEW: 12Rods, _Split Personalities_ (V2) - Linda Scott 12Rods is a popular trio in Minneapolis where they were named Best New Band of 1996. Their self-produced EP, _gay?_, and their live shows led to their V2 Records contract. and their full-length album, _Split Personalities_. 12Rods is a tight trio with two brothers, Ryan (vocals, guitars, bass, synths) and Ev (synths, guitars, vocals) Olcott along with childhood friend Christopher McGuire on drums. The tracks in _Split Personalities_ are rich and full, and the 12Rods trio pulls this off with the aid of synthesizers. The band marries guitar rock with musical electronics and does it so skillfully that listeners in either camp can enjoy the mix. Full bore drum/guitar attacks are joined by augmentary, not competing synths. If _Split Personalities_ reminds the listener of Radiohead, note that the majority of the album tracks were mixed by Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade who did the honors for Radiohead, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Cure and others. Also worthy of mention are the lyrics which touch on issues of emotional conflict in the post-adolescent life. "I Wish You Were A Girl" is about the barrier between gays and straights while "Make Out Music" is for all those outcasts who fantasize revenge on bullies. Not all the tracks are this heavy; there are songs about love and sexuality while "Split Personality" leads off the album with a look at the philosophies of digital and analog recording. The music fits the lyrics, the vocals are mixed so that you can hear them, and the trio knows what it wants to do with its music. High marks to McGuire for his drum work. These guys are good, so go out and find the art-rock meets guitar-rock world of _Split Personalities_. --- REVIEW: B.T.K., _B.T.K._ (Ignition) - Franklin Johnson Toronto, Canada-based five-piece B.T.K. help create a new categorization of music - psychedelic hip hop for the 90s - on their full-length debut, _B.T.K._. Melding rap, hip hop and real guitars, _B.T.K._ produces more fun on any album since De La Soul were rising three feet high. The pro-marijuana magazine High Times *needs* to make "Corncob Pipe" its anthem. 70s Backing music - rock, not disco - can be heard throughout the entire album. So "Things Gotta Change" has a Lynryd Skynyrd meets "Sun City" feel, "Peppyrock" takes the ghost of Jerry Garcia and mixes it up with hip-hop, and the song which garnered a 'best indie video' award from Canada's Much Music, "Superchile" could be placed on the turntable at any college and inspire a stoned nation to dance. Fortunately, B.T.K. - an abbreviation for Birth Through Knowledge - stick with what they know; no Vanilla Ice tall tales here of growing up in the 'hood, or any other nonsense. Instead, their raps focus on conspiracy theories, childhood dreams, and marijuana. Let the music speak for itself, as two totally distinct brands of music unify themselves into an innovative recording for 1998. --- REVIEW: Money Mark, _Push The Button_ (Polygram) - Tim Mohr As keyboardist for the Beastie Boys, Money Mark definitely has the proper credentials to create cross-category, eccentric music with a mix of live and electronic intruments--but Money Mark consistenly transcends his mere name-dropping marketability to put together startingly original records. Following on the heels of the successful re-release of his "Hand in Your Head" single last Spring, Money Mark has made an entire album of loose but structured songs with flourishes of garage guitars, vintage keyboards, and both live and programmed beats. Truly surprising, however, given some of his obtuse early Mo' Wax singles, is how much each song is just that: a self-contained, finite, song with vocals and a chorus. Push The Button_ can be compared to records by Space or the Lighting Seeds, bands using computers to make organic pop music. Perhaps an even better comparison would be to Beck, though Money Mark refrains from harnessing as much hip-hop intensity as Beck sometimes does. Take Beck's "Where It's At," add some amateur guitar strumming and sunny vocals with lines like "tomorrow will be like today," and you have constructed a Money Mark track. The music on _Push The Button_ is very inclusive--the songs are so good that they immediately incite singing-along, and the arrangements take in a wide variety of instrument sounds and stylistic genres. Though it would be too exclusionary to label the music, it is important to stress that the record is cohesive. The genre-spanning style does not subtract from the internal consistency of the album or the structural integrity of individual songs. _Push The Button_ is exemplary of the post-Britpop, post-alternative, post-techno confusion now afoot--Money Mark has used this to his advantage and made one of the strongest albums of the year. --- REVIEW: Baby Fox, _Dum Dum Baby_ (Roadrunner) - David Landgren I came across Baby Fox a couple of years ago more or less by chance at the release of their debut album, _A Normal Family_. That still gets fairly regular plays around here, so I was very interested to find out how they fared the second album syndrome. The first time around they had five years of material to use; for the second album they had to come up with new -- without messing around for another five years. Not all bands succeed. I'm happy to report that they come through with flying colours. So what does Baby Fox sound like? Broadly speaking, what they do is dub or trip-hop. The vocals of Christine Leach are the first thing that catch your attention. Imagine a bluesier Debbie Harry, soft and sensuous, with the breathiness of Curve's Toni Halliday. Then you start to pay attention to the music of Alex Gray and Dwight Clarke: the samples, the loops and the percussion. And, it is good. The opening title track's sound matches the cover art: black, sinister, bees crawling over the face of a china doll, bandaged. Other distinctive characteristic: songs fragments, samples snatched from the brink, lasting no longer than a few bars. Check out "Bluebird" especially. That's Tennessee Williams you hear. Wonderful text. Worthy of note is the long, rambling "The Rookery" parts I and II, that starts out as a grinding industrial crank rolling over deep trip-hop beats. Part II snaps back and forth between ambient techno a la Banco de Gaia and funked out electronica. It insinuates itself slowly, unfolding its immensities upon repeated listenings. "Nearly Beautiful" swells up from the depths, built around a synth loop of some morbid merry-go-round. Filled with tension yet never coming to a crest, it leaves one restless. Peace comes in the shape of the following track "Zodiac", a much simpler proposition stripped of nearly all samples, leaving only vocals, bass line and drum track. They then rip it all up with "Bad Girl Love", a track that starts out with a glacially cold keyboard loop that then bursts into a kaleidescope of ersatz brass. And at around four minutes, this is one of the shorter songs - nearly all of the rest of the tracks are five minutes or longer. The highlight of the album is the track "Hallow'een" that spans nearly eight minutes. She: "He hid himself away. He made a pact with an evil woman and disappeared last Hallow'een." He: "Woman, come pick me up, come take me down". The music peaks and troughs between wrenching intensity and soft interlude, finishing up with a long intrumental jam. Play loud! Finally comes a syrupy sweet number "That's The Way It Is". It's corny enough to be used as a theme song for Californian teenage TV series, where all the girls have long blonde hair and the boys have shiny white teeth. It's a rather masterful achievement in that one feels like dissing it, but at the same time you can't help but feeling drawn in. The last track "Naked Hour" is sounds a lot like Curve, a sharp snapping snare over sliding bassline, heavily-trafficked vocals, shimmering electronics and incongruous tinkling bells tbat pull the mood from sadness to beauty. "I am sworn to a way of life. I will be what I say I am," says a voice of wrenching desolation. I don't know where they dug that up from, but it sends shivers up my spine. _Dum Dum Baby_ grows on me with each repeated listen. Maybe it is the result of writing the entire album over the space of a few months; it has a definite cohesiveness not present in their first album. It contains, by my reckoning, three drop-dead tracks - and the rest of them are no slouches, either. A definite winner. The band has their own web site at http://www.babyfox.demon.co.uk (notably, containing the lyrics to the album), and their label's site is at http://www.roadrun.com . --- REVIEW: Evinrudes, _Evinrudes_ (Mercury) - Tracey Bleile I didn't realize Sheryl Crow had really been around long enough to actually be considered an influence. She does however, possess a style that is strong, accessible, and according to what I'm hearing from this band out of the Carolinas, the Evinrudes, worth emulating. Think spun-sugar sweet vocals over songs alternating between folky ballads ("Indians On The Moon", "Little Red Stars") and riffy bar blues ("Drive Me Home", "Swagger") with a lot of the usual suspects (violins, world-weary storytelling lyrics) and not so usual (trumpets and noisy feedback). The work ethic of the song structure and arrangements are all there - it's the copycat accusation that may hold this one back. --- REVIEW: Superkreme, _Superkreme_ (Acme Entertainment) - Franklin Johnson Co-lead vocalists Matt Sobol (formerly from the Waynes) and Susan Rasch offer a two-tiered listening treat on the Superkreme self-titled debut release. When Sobol grabs the mike, especially on the standout "I'll Be Around", images of Matthew Sweet and Michael Penn and incredibly enough, an alternative version of James Taylor ("Letter Goes Nowhere") - will immediately leap to mind. But when Rasch steps to the forefront, a poppier version of L7 and Chrissie Hynde ("Dream Girl") appears in the rear-view mirror. So, purchasers of _Superkreme_ get, in effect, two nearly-different standout EPs for the cost of one album. Produced by Mitch Easter, astute listeners will instantly think back to the mid-80s sound of college-rock forefathers such as the db's and Let's Active and wonder how much Easter's production credits (R.E.M., Pavement, Velvet Crush) had to do with the band's infectious hooks. Others may just think this is what Matthew Sweet could have done in between _Girlfriend_ and _Altered Beast_ . However, the most likely outcome after a listen to _Superkreme_ ? Another spin in the turntable, and an amazement that the Cleveland-based band wasn't snared up by a major label's A&R department. For more information on Superkreme, check out the band's website at http://www.superkreme.com --- REVIEW: The Great Western Squares, _Almost Sober_ (Blunt/Independent) - Jon Steltenpohl From the first few chords of _Almost Sober_, you realize that something a little odd is going on. The music is American country and western, but the beat is a little more like U. K. pop. Indeed, a closer inspection of The Great Western Squares bio reveals that this group, while formed under the auspices of the Johnny Cash Appreciation Society, is really an Irish band with roots in punk and other "dodgy" bands. The Society began as an ad hoc jam of musicians at a North Dublin pub called the Hut. Sparked by those nights, Gary Fitzpatrick and a few friends ended up exploring all sorts of somewhat obscure classic country and folk artists such as Jimmy Webb and John Prine as well as George Jones and Loretta Lynn. Under a bizarre set of circumstances, Fitzpatrick ended up recording a few country flavored covers of songs like Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" instead of a few of the punk tracks he had planned on recording. The result was an album called _Judas Steer_ which was well received in the U.K. Now, their follow-up, _Almost Sober_ finds the band doing almost all originals and sounding not quite authentic as country and western artists, but wholly familiar anyway. Unlike "New Country" in the U.S. which seems content on delivering sanitized rock music filled with lame puns and soft core innuendo, The Great Western Squares give impassioned renditions outside the profit driven world of Nashville. These feel like real songs sung by real people. They can be sad and melancholy without resorting to "cry in your beer" hysterics. Lyrically, Fitzpatrick uses plain words to get across strong emotions. In "She's a Dream", lead female singer Oona White reflects, "She can take men, like no other / she can break men with her smile / she can raise men from their slumber / she can make men live or die." Other times though, he gets a little bit too far into the cowboy myth with songs like "Legs Diamond". "The sheriff's got a smile," observes Fitzpatrick, "The townsfolk know your time is nigh, In hell you'll have your trial." Musically, The Squares hit their stride on the quieter pieces. "Don't Tear Yourself To Pieces" is particularly good as is the final "hidden" track and "She's a Dream". Another standout, "Anemone", isn't particularly country, but it certainly feels classic and rustic and has a slight sea chanty feel to it. For more country and western, the next track, "Small Town Reel" is the story of a young runaway complete with mandolin and lap dulcimer. A fast cover of Alan Parsons' "Luxury Liner" tries to be a barn burner, but Oona White's vocals prove to be more suited to the quieter, pleading songs than this fiddle driven, hoe-down number. The album closes with a few alcohol related songs which are nice, but serve more to fuel the fire of the Irish drinker persona than anything. And while the style of the album is neither traditional Celtic nor modern U2, there is something definitely Irish about The Great Western Squares version of country and western. Much like The Commitments version of soul, _Almost Sober_ is a fun, lyrical take on a genre attached to a continent an ocean away. --- NEWS: > Cheap Trick (Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos) will be inducted into Hollywood's Rockwalk on October 2. --- TOUR DATES: Archers of Loaf Sep. 29 Baltimore, MD Bohager's Sep. 30 Washington, DC 9:30 Club Oct. 1 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero Oct. 2 New York, NY Tramps Oct. 3 Boston, MA Middle East Better Than Ezra / Possum Dixon / Athenaeum Oct. 1 Norfolk, VA The Boathouse Oct. 2 Washington, DC 9:30 Club Oct. 4 Pittsburgh, PA Graffiti Candlebox Oct. 1 Memphis, TN Mid-South Fair Oct. 2 Nashville, TN 328 Hall The Church Sept. 30 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue Oct. 1 Chicago, IL House Of Blues Oct. 2 Detroit, MI 7th House Oct. 3 Cincinnati, OH Bogarts Oct. 4 Cleveland, OH Odeon Concert Theatre Oct. 5 Toronto, ON The Guverment Cravin' Melon Oct. 1 Orlando, FL Sapphire Supper Club Oct. 2 Tampa, FL Frankie's Patio Oct. 3 Gainsville, FL Alachua County Fair Oct. 4 Charleston, SC Harbour Hilton Resort N'Dea Davenport Sep. 29 Boston, MA House of Blues Sep. 30 New York, NY Irving Plaza Oct. 4 Norfolk, VA Old Dominion University Oct. 5 Atlanta, GA Cotton Club Irving Plaza (http://www.irvingplaza.com - New York concert hall) Sep. 29 Blink 182 Oct. 2 Morcheeba / Pernice Brothers Oct. 5 DJ Spooky Jesus & Mary Chain / Mercury Rev Sep. 30 Cleveland, OH Agora Theatre Oct. 3 Philadelphia, PA The Trocadero Oct. 4 Providence, RI Lupo's Korn Sep. 29 Pittsburgh, PA Civic Center Sep. 30 Detroit, MI The Palace Oct. 2 Milwaukee, WI Mecca Arena Oct. 3 Chicago, IL Rosemont Oct. 4 Minneapolis, MN Target Center Lenny Kravitz Sep. 29 Oxford, MS Tad Smith Coliseum Oct. 3 Milwaukee, WI Eagles Ballroom Oct. 4 Chicago, IL The Aragon Ballroom Liquid Soul Oct. 2 Carbondale, IL Copper Dragon Oct. 3 Chicago, IL Joe's Mercury Rev Sep. 30 Cleveland, OH Agora Theatre Oct. 3 Philadelphia, PA Troacdero Oct. 4 Providence, RI Lupo's Reel Big Fish / Spring Heeled Jack Sep. 29 Providence, RI Lupo's Oct. 1 Sayreville, NJ Hunka Bunka Samples Sep. 29 Winooski, VT Higher Ground Oct. 1 Cincinnati, OH Bogart's Oct. 2 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall Oct. 3 Crawfordsville, IN Wabash College Oct. 5 Nashville, TN Exit In Sheila Divine Oct. 2 Buffalo, NY Showplace Theater Oct. 3 Boston, MA Northeastern Univ. Dee Snider's StrangeLand Tour (Soulfly + more) Sep. 28 Cleveland, OH Odeon Sep. 29 Scranton, PA Tink's Hall Sep. 30 Rochester, NY Water Street Music Oct. 1 Norwalk, CT Globe Theater Oct. 2 Portland, ME State Theater Oct. 3 Providence, RI Lupos Oct. 4 Hartford, CT Webster Theater Oct. 5 Boston, MA Avalon Ballroom Spacetime Continuum Oct. 1 Boston, MA Landsdowne Playhouse Oct. 2 Montreal, QC Stereo Oct. 3 Toronto, ON Sky Oct. 4 Chicago, IL House of Blues Mike Watt Sep. 29 Tallahassee, FL Club Downunder Sep. 30 Gainesville, FL Covered Dish Oct. 1 Jacksonville, FL Fat Cat Music Hall Oct. 2 Orlando, FL Sapphire Club Oct. 3 Tampa, FL State Theatre Oct. 4 West Palm Beach, FL Ray's --- THE READERS WRITE BACK! > Scotland is not a part of England, as the Belle and Sebastian review implies ("In England, the Scottish septet Belle and Sebastian have actually had a Top 40 hit and appeared on the British show Top of the Pops.") England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland together form the political union known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This is often shortened to `the United Kingdom' or `Britain', but is not, as so many North Americans continue to believe, `England'. The Scots would no doubt be dispirited to find that despite becoming the hippest nation of the decade, people still think they live in England. - Andrew S., Cambridge, England {Ed. note: I must have missed the vote on hippest nation...but apologies for potentially causing some confusion on the wording. Scottish band, British TV show) --- ERRATA: > In the September 21 issue of Consumable, Razzle was incorrectly identified as a member of Dogs D'Amour; he was actually in Hanoi Rocks. --- Founded in August, 1993, Consumable Online is the oldest music reviews publication on the Internet. To get back issues of Consumable, check out: WWW: http://www.consumableonline.com (Delphi) Music Fandom forum; GO ENT MUSIC To subscribe to Consumable, send an e-mail message to consumable-request@westnet.com with the body of the message stating "subscribe consumable". To unsubscribe, send a message to the same address stating "unsubscribe consumable". 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 ===