More Music Reviews

OK guys, continuing from my last music review post, I’ve been on a CD buying spree over the past week, so now I’ll share my opinions on my recent purchases.

The Swedish Invasion

First, I’ll discuss Veni, Vedi, Vicious, from Swedish Rockers, The Hives. As the title suggests, the band’s second American LP has some of that Sex Pistols sound, but if I had to pin it down, I’d say the band really seems more of an unholy coupling between the Ramones and The Rolling Stones. Its spastic, three chord punk rock builds on top of 60’s pop-rock song construction. Like other recent old school rock revivalists (The White Stripes or Strokes for instance), The Hives have a raw sound and don’t use (or need) a lot of studio cleanup. To quote one old, junky, crotch-goblin, “It’s only Rock and Roll, but I like it.”

The album is fairly tight, with not much in the way of filler. It’s full of potential singles, but particularly memorable are Die, All Right, Main Offender, Hate to Say I Told You So, and Supply And Demand. The only weak-point I can see, is that aside from one song, everything sounds fairly similar. However, it’s a good enough sound that you shouldn’t mind. And of course, being Swedish Punk-Rockers, the lyrics are not the strongest. Consider their wailing against the evils of Capitalism in Die, All Right:

Hey! I've got a message and tonight I'm gonna send it.
Yeah! I had a body, men with knives wanted to lend it.
Sold my body to the company so I got the money now away I go Thank you Mr. CEO.

See what I mean. But lead singer Pelle Alqvist’s distinctive rendition of this sub-par poetry caps the three chord goodness of the rest of the band.

The charming faux cocky foreigners "we are you're new favorite band" sthick, although appealing, has been done better by masters of the apporach, the infamous and much beloved Red Elvises (who may, in fact, be my favorite band).

The album is short, though, with twelve tracks that average at about 2:15 a piece, but like most good punk-y bands, it’s a fast burning flame that burns twice as bright.

One of the benefits of the short album time is the video files included on the computer-enhanced part of the CD. Instead of the normal crappy low-res Quicktime files you normally get on an enhanced CD, I’m given large, good quality, platform-independent Mpeg files. Which is nice, as the quasi-cartoon video for Main Offender is one of the coolest I’ve seen in quite some time.

Overall it’s a pretty damn good album. Although, with their recent MTV success, they certainly don’t need any help from me, I still give ‘em the ol’ thumbs up.

Of Sealabs and Trampolines

For my next bit of wondrous reviewing, I’m going to talk about the 1999 self-titled debut EP for the Band Calamine. The New York Band’s six-song album is really some well crafted indy-pop. I admit, I’m a sucker for chick-fronted indy rock, and this is a fine example of the genre. I’m sure this would make Frank Black roll over in his grave, but I don’t care, he was a dirty cock-holster anyways (Whaddya mean he’s not dead?). Which is funny, because Calamine and the Pixies with Kim Deal singing have a few similarities in sound.

Calamine, is (or was, I’m not sure if the band is now defunct their only album is three years old) fronted by Julie Stepanek, based in New York, and did the catchy theme song for Cartoon Network's Sealab 2021 (which is a hilarious show, by the way). The band’s sound is mostly mellow, but layered guitar and bass mix with Stepanek’s sometimes girly, sometimes manic voice and harmonize with guitarist Dan Crane’s backup vocals to produce some sweet-ass songs.

The six songs are all good, and no filler is involved. Aside from the ever-present vocals of Stepanek, each song has a unique sound. My personal favorite is the nostalgic, slow-paced Trampoline (when I’m in one of my nostalgic, non-drunken-rage moments), although cases could easily be made for the more forceful Repulsion, or the short and catchy Horse and Carriage.

Best of all, three of their songs are available for download on the band’s website. So, go my friends. Download, listen, and let me know what you think about these guys.

Well, that’s enough reviewing for now. I’ll have more soon, including the latest Reverend Horton Heat and Dressy Bessy albums.

 

Posted by Captain Mojo at July 29, 2002 09:40 PM | TrackBack