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CD REVIEWS: Nickelback, Jamiroquai, Mercury Rev and many more
Tuesday September 11, 2001 @ 05:30 PM
By: Debbie Bento
BIOHAZARD Uncivilization (Sanctuary/EMI)
If anybody is going to smear the line between nu-metal and the roots thereof, it's Biohazard. Evan Seinfeld & Co. have been creating and increasingly genre-splicing, breaking down boundaries and confronting the spaces between hardcore, rap and metal long before the current crop of angry youth got their first tats. With Uncivilization, the band carry on hollerin', serving up massive urban riffs, while a bevy of guest stars show up from bands like Slipknot, Pantera, Cypress Hill and Hatebreed. For a self-produced album, this packs a wallop, and indeed, the band have written songs with more dynamics and sonic layerings, perhaps nodding to the nu, but from a position of having helped invent it. I hear more roots than nu-metal here, not to mention lots of sludgy slow hardcore. Thick, angry and as is expected, quite literary. Martin Popoff
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BOB DYLAN Love And Theft (Columbia/Sony)
Long before I was born, there was a time that you could hitchhike across the country by chipping in some change for gas money. Each town rumbling by would demand your silent respect as the yellow line led you to your final destination. And the radio... well, the radio would play records much like Love And Theft. Maybe you're down and out and need a change of pace, or on your way to meet up with old friends. Either way, this is easily your soundtrack. Roadhouse blues are elevated to another level with this Dylan record. Songs like "Mississippi" and "Moonlight" are how radio should sound. Add to that Dylan's omnipresent thoughtful lyrics. These days, you can't exactly hitchhike to another city, but at least this album allows you to dream about it. Kate Guay
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THE EXPLODERS New Variations (Teenage USA/Outside)
Fueled by an MC5/Stooges-ish penchant for muddy, guitar-driven rock with more soul than the Little Richard backing band, Toronto's Exploders are a fresh welcome to the decrepit garage rock scene. Possibly the strangest part of this band is that their songs have an impeccable quality of sounding as if they were recently unearthed from some studio locked up since the late '60s. But they're enticingly modern, featuring upbeat grooves, a wailin', flailin' singer and gritty, gritty vibe. It's as if the junkyard dog learned how to play an instrument while rolling around in dusty oil slicks all day. New Variations is a non-stop barrage of insanely catchy songs with strong enough production to be crisp without losing their inherently nasty gutter grind. Keith Carman
BEN FOLDS Rockin' The Suburbs (Epic/Sony)
Ben Folds returns without his five � well, actually two. After feeling they had reached their creative peak, the power-pop trio broke up in October of 2000. On Rockin' The Suburbs, Folds still rocks out on the piano, churning out sweet pop melodies written in his unique narrative style (five of the 12 track titles contain first names). Ben Folds has the ability to relate to the Generation X, white suburban kid the same way as Springsteen relates to the blue-collar worker. Nowhere is this more evident than in the title track. A hilarious take on white-boy angst which includes Folds doing his best Zach De La Rocha impersonation while name-dropping Quiet Riot, Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi. Evan Newman
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STONE GOSSARD Bayleaf (Epic/Sony)
With the release of Bayleaf there's no doubt as to which Pearl Jam member was most influenced by his association with Neil Young. Produced by Pete Droge, Gossard's first all-out solo CD stands tall with his signature guitar sound and knack for shading plaintiff vocals with textural, sparse guitar parts. Although it doesn't sound like there are any PJ-like radio staples on Bayleaf, it has its own merits like the reggae-influenced "Cadillac," where Ty Wilman takes the lead vocals from Gossard. The title track has Neil Young written all over it and it almost seems like Gossard knows it and is playing it up. Gossard on Bayleaf comes in somewhere between Pearl Jam and Brad � right where he should be. Tim Melton
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JAMIROQUAI A Funk Odyssey (Columbia/Sony)
Since last year's surprisingly experimental electro-funk Synchronized, it seems Jay Kay and company really want to take it up an even bigger notch with A Funk Odyssey. We're talkin' more experimental, fucked up shit here. Ya see, Jamiroquai hasn't lost the funk. He's merely evolved it. Whereas Space Cowboy and Planet Earth were dancing extravaganzas, A Funk Odyssey keeps you guessing most of the time. Is he gonna go mid-tempo here? What, he's using bongo drums? What's next, the xylophone? A song like "Corner Of The Earth" shows the boo-hoo, super sensitive Jay Kay side that loves bossa nova music. It's mid-tempo, Brazilified and totally unfunky. But spin over to the disco-enhanced lead-off single "Little L" and there's a party on the go! The song puts you on such a high that once its over you're waiting for the next hit to keep your head bobbing. Fans of the old-school Jamiroquai funk will eat up "Love Foolosophy," but they'll be completely befuddled by "Twenty Zero One" where Jay sounds like Minnie Mouse. Electro-funk is one thing, but helium-funk? A Funk Odyssey might not be a recipe for success like Travelling Without Moving or Synkronized was, but add some disco, bossa nova, Latin rhythms and crazy-assed electronic funk and this isn't such a bad concoction after all. Shove the disco ball back in the closet for now. Debbie Bento
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KRAYZIE BONE Thug On Da Line (Sony)
I didn't like Bone Thugs 'N Harmony the first time I heard them. I just couldn't get into their rhyme style � it sounded something like R&B; and R&B; makes me want to pretend I'm a pit bull and drag babies out of carriages and shake them until their heads pop off. Krayzie Bone is the cute Bone Thugs one (while Wish is like the tough/sensitive/monstrously ugly one one, Layzie is the tormentedly grotesque/lazy one and Bizzy is the ominously hideous/busy one) and this is his second solo release and I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. Krayzie executive produces and serves up 18 decent tracks. "If You A Thug" sent shivers up my spine, "Ride The Thug Line" and "Rollin Up Some Mo" also had me bouncin'. Maybe the Bone Thugs actually are talented or something, that might explain how they have sold collectively over 30 million records and have made ugly thug guys around the world feel a little bit better about themselves. Kori Golding
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MERCURY REV All Is Dream (V2/BMG)
In the rarified air of the college rock cognoscente, Mercury Rev falls behind perhaps only the Pixies, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. in swooning acclaim. The main difference between the Rev and these others though, is that they�re still vital today. On All Is Dream Jonathan Donahue and crew pick up right where Deserter�s Songs left off a couple years ago. It�s more about mood than any individual song, but the astrology-themed �Nite And Fog� seems like a plausible excuse to lie in the grass looking at stars at three a.m. Though not nearly as well executed as Deserter�s Songs, it�ll surely help a number of third year students realize they�ve spent too much time in school listening to records and not enough meeting people. Aaron Brophy
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MIXMASTER MIKE Spin Psycle (Moonshine/KOCH)
Hip-hop words are always spelled differently. For example, if you wanted to go to the store to buy chips, you'd have to spell it like, I whant 2 goe 2 da stoh 2 bi chypz. Anyway, as you can see above, the name of this album is Spin Psycle and "Psycle" is like a play on words combining "psyche" with "cycle," making a brand new hip-hop word. Regardless, finally we have an album from Moonshine that doesn't suck. Mixmaster Mike, the Beastie Boys' DJ, delivers what you would expect: a mix album that highlights his skills behind the decks, cutting like an iron chef, mixing like an interracial baby and scratching like a bitch with fleas. The cuts served up are an eclectic mix, from KRS-One to Gangstarr to Binary Starr to Deltron 3030 to Fat Lip to JVC Force. He runs the range from old-school classics to new school next shit. From the first scratch to the last, this album is dope. Fans of the Beasties should check out the final track, "Three MC's And One DJ." Kori Golding
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NICKELBACK Silver Side Up (EMI)
"How You Remind Me," the first single off Nickelback's sophomore major label release, is one of those rarest of songs: not only does it hold up to repeat listens, but it actually gets better each time you hear it. When first subjected to it, you're likely to dismiss it as well done nu grunge and file it next to 3 Doors Creed, but after a couple of tries you'll start picking up on the smaller nuances: the vocal harmony between back-up and lead, the interplay of guitar and rhythm and the way that a well-designed chorus not only prevents you from becoming bored, but actually encourages you to sing along. Highlights include the anthemic "Where Do I Hide? " the heavy "Never Again" and "Good Times Gone," which is elevated by Big Wreck maestro Ian Thornley's slide guitar into a country-blues-rock epic. Predicted next single? "Money Bought." With Chad Kroeger barking bitter lyrics and the rest of the band driving forward, the song will soon be all over Much and every single Canadian new rock radio station, bombarding your musical subconscious by forcing you to listen to it a hundred times. And it�ll probably get catchier each time. Erik Missio
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P.O.D. Satellite (Atlantic/Warner)
The Fundamental Elements Of Southtown was a groundbreaking album for P.O.D. This group of religious rap-metallers had found a heaviness that did wonders for the riff fans, while incorporating just enough rhyme flow to rope everyone else in. It did wonders for them, especially as it was their debut on a major label. That was then. Satellite sees the band having been through some of the trials and tribulations of a working band. Call it maturity, call it advancement, I call it borderline sell-out. There are very few moments on Satellite that even seems remotely heavy. It's like they've been taking lessons from Face To Face and now they're abandoning the old-school, realizing that big labels mean big bucks if you put out something that just squeaks into contemporary rotation. In other words, at this rate, these cats'll be frikkin' pop-rock in about two albums. Giving credit where it's due though � songs are impressively tight, well organized and almost catchy at moments. But they're still weighted with being too wishy-washy. Afraid to roar like The Swarm, but tepid of becoming the next Korn. Appearances by HR (Bad Brains) and Rasta Eek-A-Mouse do little to make this cool, especially since most P.O.D. fans don't know who the hell they are anyway. Kinda bland, kinda just there, Satellite is merely P.O.D.'s sophomoric curse to Southtown's major label debut brilliance. Keith Carman
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SOLEX Low Kick And Hard Bop (Matador)
Combining the rough, smoky sound of Tom Waits with the lighter, cheeky sounds of '60s pop magnified through the girly sounds of Tom Tom Club, Bananarama (backing Fun Boy Three) and more recently, Le Tigre, Solex creates a quilted pattern of music that reflects a perfect merging of the old and new. The focus of Low Kick And Hard Bop is the harmonizing of vocals backed by an electronic-tinged music. The backing soundtrack relies in part on the big band sounds of the Cotton Club band leader Chick Webb. This is garage-rock with a wonderful Cramps-like heavy jungle beat that gives this album its signature sound. Horns and rumbling timpani drums merge with environmental sound effects, especially on "Not A Hoot" "You Lay Potato, "I Lay Aardappel" and "Good Comrades Go To Heaven." The end result of Low Kick And Hard Bop is an album that could easily act as a soundtrack to a sequel to the late '60s animated classic, The Jungle Book. Chris Burland
TESLA Replugged Live (Sanctuary/EMI)
The record label hype sheet that goes out to us scribblers calls this monster two-hour live package from a re-formed Tesla "a true gift to the fans." This is indeed a true gift to the press, and also, gosh darn it if Tesla were, and now are again, a great rock band. Sacramento's finest are no ordinary hair band. Their riffs burn free, Jeff Keith's vocals are ragged and soulful and the variety you get through 20 elongated tracks here charts the progression through a somewhat textbook corp. metal act. This is before the drugs and booze broke 'em up after '94's Bust A Nut. "Mama's Fool," "Signs," "Edison's Medicine," "Modern Day Cowboy," "Song & Emotion" and all the minor to moderate hits are here, on a record that sounds a little suspiciously clean. But then again, a certain pro-scrub 'em up is what you expect from this band. Martin Popoff
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THRUST The Chosen Are Few (EMI)
Thrust's last EP Past, Present And Future was dope and his verse on "Northern Touch" was hype, but does Thrust have enough juice to rock through an entire LP? Well, the album starts off nice, with solid East Coast beats with heavy bass lines that are reminiscent of the rythmic way a big booty hoochie's ass can kind of, like, ripple and bounce simultaneously when she's drunk off Moet and she's pretending she's Mariah on the hood of your Caddy. Still, despite some stand-out tracks, the LP soon gets bogged down by juvenile choruses and boring production which seem amateur in comparison to the slickly produced hip-hop the younger cats from the T-Dot are dropping. Kori Golding
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MARTIN TIELLI We Didn't Even Suspect That He Was The Poppy Salesman (Six Shooter/Outside)
As with every Rheostatics release Martin Tielli has lent his genius to, it really comes as no surprise that his first solo album brims with the same kind of bent greatness we've come to know and love. Poppy Salesman is a mostly acoustic affair, so don't expect any of Martin's ferocious electric playing, but in the absence of electricity the 11 tracks offered throw the spotlight directly on Tielli's equally magnificent, haunting vocal abilities. Songs like the ethereal, show-stopping "Voices From The Wilderness" and "How Can You Sleep (With The Light On In Your Head)?" grab you by the heart and take you on a musical journey that only Tielli could've ever drawn the itinerary for. If this release doesn't make the country's ears perk up and give credit to one of our generation's most gifted Canadian songwriters then, sadly, nothing will. Martin has a knack for writing beautiful songs and then warping them slightly into something that may not be pop in the traditional sell-a-million-copies-for-the-man sense, but into something that seems otherworldly. Lyrically, Tielli paints aural pictures from the heart and delivers them in his trademark plaintiff vocal style � a style tough for anyone else to emulate. It's when his words are accompanied by delicate finger-picked acoustic lines like on the track "From The Reel" that you'd best have a box of tissues nearby to dry your eyes. Absolutely stunning and heartfelt songs performed in a way that makes them totally believable. And believability is a big selling point. I kinda always had the feeling he was the poppy salesman. Tim Melton
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