Chewing Pine

Alif Tree – French Cuisine (Compost Records, 2005)

I don’t know if I would have been able to identify this as a European outing judging the album by the art work on the front, but I could have made a good guess. Even with the solid colored squares and circles that are displayed for the listener to see, the music, at least the first half of the album is engorged with European style electronic hip hop. On the first few tracks, Nina Simone and Shirley Horn are sampled over top of minimal, lo-fi beats with jazz inclinations and strings. That in and of itself would have been enough for me to guess not only Europe, but France, specifically, as the birth place of this album.

Alif Tree has a studio in the suburbs of Paris where he finds the laid back atmosphere conducive to creating his albums and myriad production work. After the four tracks most related to hip hop on this disc, the sound veers drastically towards laid back piano lines and electronic production flourishes. Not to say that this is a dance album, but there is certainly a lot of behind the boards work by the producer to be appreciated here.

Ending an album can frequently be difficult, and Alif Tree attempts to draw this affair to a close with an homage to minimalist composer Steven Reich. It works out well, sending a message of appreciation to the composer while giving listeners a multi-layered finale to an interesting, if not somewhat schizophrenic album.

Crain – Speed (Temporary Residence Ltd., 2005)

Crain was a little bit too early and a little bit too late. Earlier, they would have preceded the first Fugazi full length and been hailed as ushering in alternative rock. Later, they would have been considered a catalyst for whatever screamo is. But as luck has it, Crain released this, their first album in 1992. Speed was recorded at Inner Ear Studios (home to pretty much every Dischord band) and produced by Steve Albini. Since it’s worth noting the appearance of Albini, it’s also worth mentioning that he is above all else a businessman and has stated the he’s be willing to work for anyone with the funds. So his appearance doesn’t necessarily dictate quality, but it should hint at the sound. What Albini did manage to get down on record wasn’t exactly punk or metal or pop, but an early nineties amalgam. There’s almost funky drumming coupled with a brusque bass player and couple of noisy guitarists. Since Speed is an early ‘90s recording, there are marks of SST and the aforementioned Dischord bands everywhere. Most notably, the Minutemen are evoked consistently on the tracks “Monkey Wrench”, with the start/stop timing, the seven minute “Kneel”, “Ten Miles of Fiction” and “Ribcage”, which showcases a screamed chorus of, “Let me loose/Let me free”. Amongst the fourteen tracks, there’s no undeniable stand out, but only one complete loser. “Blistering” comes towards the end of the album with an enticing guitar part, but then surges forward with off key crooning. This band isn’t your life. And there’s a reason that Speed wasn’t repressed for thirteen years, but it’ll probably please you if you’re a fan of early-nineties-tiny-label-rock.

Tracklisting:
01. Car Crash Decisions
02. Monkey Wrench
03. Proposed Production
04. Kneel
05. The Dead Town
06. King Octane
07. Skinminer Pastel
08. News from Warsaw
09. Ten Miles of Friction
10. Ribcage
11. Fuckerman
12. Stabilizer
13. Blistering
14. Breathing Machine

Om – Variations on a Theme (Holy Mountain, 2005)

Om definitely doesn’t suck. But at the same time, that’s about all they got going for ‘em. Sure, they give up forty plus minutes of sludgy drum and bass rock music geared towards those of you that enjoy substance abuse; but interest in that cannot be sustained.

The album is aptly titled, seeing as each song exercises about the same tempo, shifts and mood. The bass-lines aren’t exactly the same, just eerily similar. If nothing else rarely in recorded music is the distortion on a bass turned up so high. The sing/speak method of vocals are employed, but frankly who can say if it’s even a worth while exertion of energy to decipher what Al Cisneros is saying.

The reason that this band was allowed and most likely encouraged to explore these exercises in sludge is resultant of the duos past musical relationship. Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius were formerly members of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s band Sleep. Now, what Sleep is remembered for is smoking copious amounts of weed and playing really long hard rock songs, affectionately and sophomorically referred to as stoner metal. Other members have gone on to form bands including High on Fire, a current darling of hard rock connoisseurs.

Regardless, Variations on a Themeis just that. A statement reiterated as many possible ways as the duo can muster. Now there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s not a stretch to venture playing these tunes is more entertaining then listening. Highly recommended if you’re stoned all the time and like hard rock. But, if that’s not you, then perhaps you should go pick up The Monkees reissues that Rhino put out. Killer.

Tarantula A.D. – Book of Sand (Kemado Records, 2005)

The first full-length recording from Tarantula A.D. is constructed in a manner that most reading this will find pretentious at the very least. Those people are probably right. Even if one was to simply judge this release by the art work displayed on the front insert, the same conclusion would be reached. In the construction of this album, Tarantula A.D. has recounted the rise and fall of an empire through song titles relating to mostly instrumental work. There are guests that contribute vocals, but there aren’t words coming from Inouk front man or from Devendra Banhart, who for some reason is generally regarded highly, but just moans to accompany the music. The sounds on the first track, song titles and cover art fooled me into thinking there would be a good amount of metal on this release, but I was wrong. Only does the band sporadically lurch into metal gear, choosing mostly to create airy, piano focused ambient sounds. The vast majority of this could and mostly likely should be contributed to film scores. Either way, the band is focused and well rehearsed. Stalwart standout, “Palo Borracho” includes classical sounding guitar along with a melodica and percussion to create a rather Latin tinged track. Unfortunately, the album ends with Banhart warbling his Marc Bolan impression and concluding an otherwise impressive album.

Bathtub Shitter – Dancehall Grind (Super Hit Jam Records, 2005)

This Japanese band wants their metal to be so intense that it hurts your insides. Partially, Bathtub Shitter attempts this by utilizing two vocalists; one with a deep voice, one with a ridiculously high pitched voice. So, really, the band comes off as somewhat of a gimmick or a joke half the time. But the rest of the time, the band is tight and horrifically brutal enough to be ahead of the newer crop of grind acts. They’ve been around for about a decade, so they’ve had time to hone their craft and become a rather good metal outfit. Most of these tracks will end up sounding similar to one another, unless you are a metal connoisseur. But, there are a few stabs at experimentation though. “Shit Drop” has some really beautiful acoustic finger picked guitar, while “Stihs Latem” is backwards and oddly enough comes across as more metal than the last decade or so of Metallica. All of this just makes me more curious about the cultural exchange between the USA and Japan. Regardless, the lyrics are convoluted expressions of angst that would probably come across more intelligently, in their native tongue, which really isn’t the point. Buy it for the titles, listen to it for the high pitched screamer, enjoy it for no other reason than it’s metal.

The Nu Mutants – Fire Starter (Self Released, 2005)

It’s hard to dislike a group that so obviously has their heart in the right place. Nu Mutants seems to be a collective made up of friends and associates from the Toledo area that are rather critical of the current climate of hip-hop. To call this particular EP reflexive would be an understatement. The first track, featuring the rant by Natural, takes the form of a press conference on ‘The State of Hip Hop’ and utilizes the idea that if hip-hop were a state, he “would govern that shit.” Chyna Black is featured on the next track, which also exhibits some very poor mixing, leaving the vocals sounding ridiculously high in comparison to the beat, which itself is somewhat cheese related. Spoken word can get tedious, as this album exhibits again and again but at-least Jesus Bayano makes some poignant statements like comparing religion to gangs. Imani Lateef, while having the most ethnic sounding name, has the least interesting track and leads into the “Outro” consisting of a group of people warbling over a simple and quite boring beat. Only in dreams can I comment positively upon this slab, which is unfortunate due to the effort that no doubt was poured into it. But, maybe I just have bad taste. Who knows?