Instead of impending summertime sentiments peppered with smiley faces and i's dotted with hearts and 2-cute-2-go-4-u's, Springfield got a cafeteria splattered with blood. As for that incident as a seasonal
indicator ushering you into the hazy crazy lazy days of summer, well it was no water slide accident if you know what I mean.
With the advent of the summer season seeming just a little unclear or unusual comparatively, I found one good indication that the time was right for dancing in the street, and that was the bountiful crop of new releases at the record store. What a switch after what seemed like months in the Tower/Virgin/Wherehouse doldrums. It was like the difference between hot house and vine-ripened tomatoes at the produce stand. It's been a while since I've concentrated solely on music for one of my columns so here goes--a run down of some great new discs you should rush out
and buy.
One of the most highly anticipated new releases of the year is Mezzanine, the third full length effort by Massive Attack, nearly four years after their second release, Protection, which was a big success but lacked in the cohesive ever-present mood and smooth depth of their debut LP Blue Lines, a highly influential record and arguably the original seed of the entire trip-hop sound furthered and augmented by the likes of Portishead and Tricky. Massive Attack's method of combining certain elements of hip-hop and pop sounds with reggae/dub and incredibly soulful vocals from an ever changing and diverse roster of great singers, some plucked from their own bands on loan, (Everything But The Girl's Tracey Thorn, Reggae great Horace Andy, Dancefloor Diva Shara Nelson, Tricky), makes for a uniquely atmospheric and sensual musical force.
With Mezzanine Massive Attack has seemingly hit their full stride, coming up with one of the most pleasurable beginning to end listens I've heard in some time. The principle vocalist for this venture is Elisabeth Fraser of The Coctaeu Twins, and I've never enjoyed her vocals more. Imagine singing real words that can be understood and everything, unlike her, albeit beautiful and impressionistic, ethereal wispy non-word phrasings that enchanted so very many black-clad fey proto-goths in the 80's. All of her performances on Mezzanine are fantastic. Horace Andy is back again with his distinctive vocal timbre--sounding at times like a jamaican male Marrianne Faithful oddly enough. A newcomer vocalist Sara Jay is also featured and sings lead on my favorite of the album's cuts, "Dissolved Girl" which starts off with a quiet, trippy intriguing intro that builds into a swelling, hard center of guitar mayhem, something I've never really heard from Massive Attack, before returning to the somber tones of the intro. The entire record has a decidedly darker feel to it than the previous two but it also feels so rich and deliciously produced that soundwise it's uplifting. The resulting feel of the disc is urban, urbane and truthful. It's also a great make-out record, clocking in at about 64 minutes. Buy it, it's hard to not like.
In a similar vein, the third fulllength LP by Tricky, Angels With Dirty Faces was just released and I picked it up automatically yet with reservations that it would be underwhelming based on the single I had bought just prior to it's release, "Broken Homes" with guest vocalist P.J. Harvey. Taken out of context, "Broken Homes," is an odd sounding, gospel-influenced soundscape with a very even vocal delivery from Harvey, lacking in her trademark emotional acrobatics. On Angels With Dirty Faces where the cut lands at number 4, it seems to make more sense, nestled in between more of Tricky's unique compositions. This disc comes off sounding far more accessible than his previous ones, less cold and dark but it's plenty creepy and unsettling, it's mood somewhat akin to Massive Attack in that cinematic soundtrack-of-modern-urban-life way, leaving some bare truths unadorned, not pretty-ed up--truthful. To an amalgam of styles and influences already seeming quite broad, tricky has delved into some new areas and added a few more to his aural catalogue like the middle-eastern sitar sounds on the haunting "Mellow" and the hyper-rhythmic fast electro-funk of "The Moment I Feared"and the absolutely minimal intro of sparse mournful manipulated hip-hop beats of "Tear Out My Eyes" that build up into a frenzied psychosexual cry for mother then the lyrics, "I Wanna Demonstrate Hate/ I wanna Rattle/ I Want to blow my head off in Seattle," before the song gentles back down to the final eerie whispered message, "We have to die because of lies/ wanna take my clothes off/ tear my mouth and nose off and take out my eyes/ take out my eyes." My favorite song on the album is called, "Singing The Blues" in which Tricky's Longtime vocalist/partner Martine sings a traditional-sounding blues song about needing money
but realizing you had been robbed and her voice is compressed in such a way that she sounds as if she's singing through a telephone while the looped tapes of rhythm make their progress in twisted off-beats creating a mesmerizing mix of yesterday and today--base sad desperation expressed similarly for decades, merging with an unusual off-kilter stuttering treatment of what Tricky has always sounded like--the future. Buy this disc too.
On the lighter, satanic hand gesture in the air, rock and roll goodtimes side of things, there is a record that really embodies that great summer fun party spirit and although they've been written up all over the place twice, I must say that the Donnas LP American Teenage Rock n Roll Machine has really got some incredibly grand reckless moments of teen rock abandon like the song "Outta My Mind" with the lyric "Are you ready to party with me are you ready to give me some sin/ Cause I've been waiting all night long so come on and stick it in." That song plus You Make Me Hot and the extra mean scary girl threat of "Looking For Blood," replete with lyrical switchblade attacks and axe-solos that would make KISS proud, The Donnas is a great summer disc, even if it's been out since spring.
Another really hot disc that I can't get enough of lately is the third or fourth LP by Washington DC's Make-up called In Mass Mind. Imagine a four-piece combo of white kids clad-in-black, mop-topped, pegged pants 60's psychedelic-looking band who play a feverishly funky groove catalogue having far more to do with the likes of James Brown and Prince at his grittiest than say, the Yardbirds or Small Faces or other bands they look like. Add a touch of the lo-fi sensibilities that catapulted Jon Spencers Blues Explosion to popularity and the charisma of a vocalist who must soul-scream his voice raw with every song and you've got Make-up, and a party record that just won't quit. Listen to him scream repeatedly, "I'm for sale, I'm for sale, I'm for sale, I'm for sale, I'm for sale, baby, I'm for sale," and just go buy it. For that matter, buy their entire catalogue, it's all good.
My lovely friends from Canada, Adam and Micheal, who have returned to grace this city once again with their wit, sophistication, good taste, evil expertise and pepper spray, brought with them a couple of musical treasures I didn't know about, the best of which is the debut disc from a trio called Placebo. They thought this group was from ireland but more recently I learned that the vocalist figurehead is an american relocated. At any rate, this band is delicious, young and pretty with a glam-rock bent and a vocalist that sounds like Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks, the vocalist of The Undertones, and Geddy Lee the vocalist from RUSH. It's a high pitched wonderous instrument backed up by very meaty melodic and large guitar punches and their big hit to date is a wonderful song called "Nancy Boy". That considered, as well as the amount of make-up the bandmembers wear and I think they might be quite queer identified. The record is joyous and youthful but skillfull as well. Get it.
Another release I picked up is actually a re-issue of the entire catalogue of a group from New York who were mildly popular in the early eighties around the time of The Bush Tetras, ESG, and that whole era of the New York scene. They were called Liquid Liquid and they were basically a rhythmic group playing mostly percussion instruments with bass guitar and yelping monosylabic vocals. They could create a groove so well that Grandmaster Flash copped a song of theirs and remade it into the monster rap hit "White Lines." Grand Royal Records--originated by The Beastie Boys--has re-released the bulk of their material on one disc, eponymously titled, and bless them for doing so. The music is trance-like and soothing yet gives off a certain heat you can easily get caught up in. I hope Grand Royal has plans to re-issue the catalogue of ESG too. There were some great bands going on back then.
Finally, I'm quite pleased to report that the thought to be almost a thing of the past, with poor record sales for their last two releases, Public Enemy have bounced back to true form with the soundtrack to the film He got Game, and this record really rocks with all the elements that made PE an undeniably brilliant and necessary force in Rap music in the 80's, back to give it all back to you again. Just because it's a soundtrack doesn't mean this joint is anything like softened or toned down. It's a surprisingly sharp return to form. Get it.
Finally, it seems like a very timely idea for some music industry wag to re-issue an old hit single from years ago due to the worlds events of present giving it a new meaning . You know, like in the year 1999 someone will have to re-release Prince's "1999", right? Well, in lieu of all of these bloodbaths in our nations public and bible schools, I suggest a re-release of the Boomtown Rats first hit single "I Don't Like Mondays," as it was based on that 13 year old girl who shot up her schoolyard sniper style and gave the reason for doing so simply put, "I don't like Mondays." You're really cute and funny, have fun this summer, and 4-ever.
