==== ISSUE 101 ==== CONSUMABLE ======== [February 27, 1997] Editor: Bob Gajarsky Internet: gajarsky@email.njin.net Sr. Correspondents: Jeremy Ashcroft, Dan Enright, Reto Koradi, David Landgren, Sean Eric McGill, Tim Mohr, Al Muzer, Jamie Roberts, Joe Silva, John Walker Correspondents: Daniel Aloi, Lee Graham Bridges, Scott Byron, Janet Herman, Bill Holmes, Eric Hsu, Tim Hulsizer, Stephen Lin, Scott Miller, P. Nina Ramos, Linda Scott, Scott Slonaker, Simon Speichert, Jon Steltenpohl, Courtney Muir Wallner, Simon West Technical Staff: Chris Candreva, Dave Pirmann Address all comments, subscriptions, etc. to gajarsky@email.njin.net ================================================================== All articles in Consumable remain (C) copyright their author(s). Permission for re-publication in any form must be obtained from the editor. ================================================================== .------------. | Contents | `------------' INTERVIEW: Squirrel Nut Zippers' Tom Maxwell - Joe Silva REVIEW: White Town, _Women In Technology_ - Bob Gajarsky REVIEW: Mazzy Star, _Among My Swan_ - David Landgren REVIEW: The Art of Noise, _Drum and Bass Collection_ / _The FON Mixes_ - Jamie Roberts REVIEW: Various Artists, _The Smiths Is Dead_ - Bob Gajarsky REVIEW: Bjork, _Telegram_ - Eric Hsu REVIEW: Big Head Todd and the Monsters, _Beautiful World_ - Simon Speichert REVIEW: Longpigs, _The Sun Is Often Out_ - Simon West REVIEW: Greg Kihn, _Horrorshow_ /_The King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Greg Kihn_- Daniel Aloi REVIEW: Drain S.T.H., _Horror Wrestling_ - Linda Scott REVIEW: Arcanum, _The Spoken Scream_ - Bob Gajarsky NEWS: Depeche Mode, Dread Zeppelin, London Suede, Melankolic, Moe., Sand Rubies/Sidewinders, Waitresses TOUR DATES: Backsliders, Bally Sagoo, Better Than Ezra / Jane Jensen, Bloodhound Gang, Camber, Lisa Cerbone, Cordelia's Dad, Shawn Colvin / Freedy Johnston, Connells, Cordelia's Dad, Coward, Cracker, Cravin' Melon, Donovan, Jason Falkner / Silos, Mary Ann Farley, Goldfinger / Reel Big Fish, Dave Hawkins, Hazies, Humble Gods, Humpers, Irving Plaza , Joykiller, Local H / Failure, Luciano, Metallica / Corrosion of Conformity, Moe./Sweet Vine, Nancy Boy, New Bomb Turks, Odds, Pen Pal, Plexi, Professor & Maryann, Rasputina / Cranes, Samples / Stir, San Francisco Noise Pop Festival, Sebadoh, Sick of It All, Sissy Bar, Sister Hazel, Sno-Core Tour, Space, Sterling, Tool / Melvins, Type O Negative / Sister Machine Gun / Drain S.T.H., Urchins, The Urge, Volebeats Back Issues of Consumable --- INTERVIEW: Squirrel Nut Zippers' Tom Maxwell - Joe Silva As is right by most Amerindie standards, the stage of Athens, Georgia's 40 Watt Club remains the unadorned pedestal of several generations of DIY rock heroes and associated wannabees. Typically met at all flanks by clutches of boho-baggy clad boys and girls who are usually greeted by the mumbles and indirect glances of those they've come to worship, the welcome cry of "Buh-ruthers and Sistas!!" goes out to meet the throng. In the half-light, evening jackets and strands of faux pearls can be seen muscling for hip swinging room alongside the staid band shirts and random piercings. The Squirrel Nut Zippers take the stage armed with swing, smiles, and a flu bug that's unoticeably tagged a few key members. The horns are phat, the furnace is lit, and the the first congo lines probably ever seen within the club's dingy walls are drawn in the sands of the altera-nation. A day or so later, Tom Maxwell elucidates from a hotel room the satisfaction of the post-inaugural buzz and the stress of being hot. Consumable: Someone at the label (Mammoth) told me you were sick during the Athens show. Tom Maxwell: Oh yeah, absolutely. It's a winter tour my friend. Jim (Mathus) and Katharine (Whalen) had to actually go to the doctor. In fact, I spent the first song and a half deciding whether or not I was going to pass out. C: And you had just come from the Inaugural didn't you? TM: Yes, we played the inaugural ball. What a whirlwind. We played a Rock The Vote party the night before at this restaurant called the Red Sage and astoundingly enough it made the front cover of the Wall Street Journal, "Hottest party in town, music by the Squirrel Nut Zippers." It was basically like a frat party because there was too many Goddamned people in there, but everybody looked great and one of them happened to be Kevin Costner. Every so often I'd turn around and there would be Uma Thurman or something. C: I know there were a lot of parties up there, but was there any sort of theme to the gig you played? TM: Yeah, we were at the 21st Century Ball, the so-called youth Ball and it was held at the Postal Museum. C: So were you guys onstage when the President came in? TM: No, I don't think anyone was onstage, because when he comes in, they have a big 'ol lockdown and they pick a few representatives from each band to come up. So like a clutch of security guys come in and gather up everybody in some room and basically I got to peek through a curtain at the back of his head. However, Jim and Katharine were onstage and they got to meet the President and Vice-President and their wives. They were thrilled to death. It's incredibly surreal. C: Didn't you guys do a long engagement at the Olympics? I remember thinking that when the bomb went off, that you were one of the bands down there that week. TM: We had played our last show the night before and I guess it happened late Friday night, early Saturday morning. We had really been held up getting out of town because the President was coming in. So we go up to Asheville and play a show and somebody comes up to us and says "Did you hear about the bomb?" and we were just crushed. That experience had been so positive for us. There was really a good spirit there...a great spirit. For whatever reason, we were part of a southern music showcase, and they put us up in a dump of a motel but with all these great cajun fiddlers, Austin two-step bands, American Indian singers. So we all instantly congregated on the deck outside of the bar and held jam sessions nightly until six in the morning each night. And soon the performances at Centennial Parl became secondary to these incredible jam sessions that would take place. C: Now just taking those two events into account, do you guys consider yourselves "made" yet? TM: If anything we're going to have to start cloning ourselves to meet the demands being made on our time. We just started receiving some airplay on some big FM stations and now the ballgame is starting to change. We've gone from the kind of band where it's "Just do your records, and do your thing." to "Jesus, we NEED a video and we need it right now!!" So we're kind of stunned. We spend most of our time being exhausted. C: Did you guys put out a video for this record? TM: Yeah, well I got to direct a video for "Put the Lid On It," but then came the one-two punch of that it didn't turn out to be the radio single and MTV wouldn't play it because we intimated that we might burn a house down. We're shooting the video for "Hell" the day we finish this tour. It's my goal to set it up to be as much like the Lawrence Welk show; the way it's lit and shot and the costumes. How can you get any better than that? I really want it to look like a late 60's broadcast. C: Now is the third record more or less in the can now? TM: Yeah, just about. It's recorded, mostly mixed and we're going to master it out on the west coast. We recorded it in an old house in my hometown of Pittsboro, North Carolina. We had convinced the label to let us do it ourselves. Instead of going back to a studio, we took the money that was going to be advanced to us and bough or borrowed a bunch of a recording equipment. We brought up Mike Napolitano how worked with us on _Hot_, and we just set up this house. I mean the plumbing needed fixing, the foundation was rotting, the electric wiring was primitive to say the least and the heat wasn't on. We had to get all this shit fixed up, and get this equipment in, but it was a good old North Carolina house. One room has a high ceiling and it sounds good, and every room has different personalities and we made a record. However hectic and stressful a time it was, I think we knocked one out of the park. I think it's better than the first two put together. We were able to realize more of the production sound that we've been trying to go for even though we were basically reinventing the wheel. Not everything worked out as well as we would have liked, but I think it starts where _Hot_ left off. C: So how will that work now? I think you called it from the stage, that this would come out in Spring. TM: Not even brother. Summer or fall. We're pushing it back a little bit because somebody smells money on _Hot_. We're going to strike a delicate balance, because the band wants to keep rolling and putting out material. I don't want "Hell" to be played into the ground on FM radio and to have people get sick of it. This new one is more like Big Star's _Third Record_. The songwriting is really great, but there's also times when things kind of break down. We were making weirder sounds on this record than we ever have. I feel like we've gone onto a new level. It was like we were getting our sound on _The Inevitable_, we became a live band for _Hot_, and then on this record there's this new thing going on that's weird and great. C: I know you guys are into people like Cab Calloway and Fats Waller, but do you find yourselves going back to that well for inspiration or is that music around you so much that it's ingrained at this point? TM: Both. I actually wrote a tribute song to Fats Waller's guitar player Al Casey on this record. I got to meet him and it was the thrill of my life. And I wrote a song for him. There's also a song on there that's kind of a tribute to Cab Calloway. I really didn't think about it when I wrote it, but when it came out, I was definitely going for that Cotton Club orchestra sound. So I always go to that well. But even our weirdest and darkest moments, I think we retain some of that sensibility even though on the face of it what we're doing doesn't bear much of any resemblance. It's just damn good music. Are you saying that we're at the point now where we can be musically self-sufficient? C: Yeah. TM: I think we always have been in that we haven't covered people's songs or lifted people's riffs. We've just always tried to go for the emotional nut of the thing and proceed from there. C: Does anyone ever come up and accuse you of being derivative in that sense? TM: Never. Never to my face. If some people come away feeling like that, they don't ever tell us about it. Besides by and large, I don't think most people have ever heard of these guys. Rock and roll didn't pick up on a lot of the things that were in pre-war jazz that we like and jazz disassociated itself from it and denied it. And when they do talk about Fats it's much more of a condescending thing. I mean they can't deny how popular he was, but nobody is interested in giving him credit. I think he was the greatest thing in the world. C: But it's amazing how now that you guys are htting your stride, whether it's commercially or just getting a bigger fan base, you see things like swing nights in Atlanta rock clubs. TM: Well, that's cool. I don't know how much we had to do with that. Of course everybody wants to contextualize what we're doing, which is the last thing that we want to do. C: What sort of response do you get from older people? TM: Overwhelmingly positive when we can reach them. For example, you're not going to reach these people playing the 40 Watt in Athens. But when you do NPR people hear it. When we play early shows in Chapel Hill, for instance, we're able to get the twelve year olds that love us and the seventy year olds. The people seem to be universally excited about it. But the market is devisive where they say "You fit into this six year age range, by God, and we don't expect anybody else to listen to this." And it can be extrapolated just as easily to race. I talked to our label about how can we get black people to come out and they looked at me like I was from Mars. "They have their own charts." is what was told to me. Which is true, but it's FUCKING insane!! C: But considering some of the roots of the stuff you're doing, it seems sort of logical. TM: Sure, it did to me too, but that doesn't seem to be theway that things work out. I mean there are black people that are fans of ours, but the percentages are infinitessimal. We don't even physically move in the same circles. C: Is the dynamic changing for you at all now that things are taking off? TM: Well we just fired our bass player, which was a traumatic thing to do. That was a thing where friction that might have been there when we were all dishwashing chumps didn't make a difference and now three or four years down the road, we couldn't work together. It was very painful for everybody. When money gets involved everything changes. And when you're not allowed to get together in a relaxed manner and enjoy each others company and play music, it's a sad thing. When we see each other, it's associated with being tired, sick, being on the road, humping and doing our thing. But right now the band's getting along great. We split the publishing money equally, not just to the songwriters. But you know, I've been in the thing for three years now, and one day it will derail, but I'm just trying to do the best job I can now and see this thing through. --- REVIEW: White Town, _Women In Technology_ (Chrysalis/EMI) - Bob Gajarsky A bonafide Internet user hits the jackpot, and thus establishes himself as a net.legend... 30 year old Jyoti Mishra has been working as the main focus of the English band White Town since the late 1980s. Early gigs supporting bands such as Primal Scream and the Sea Urchins were the precursor to independent singles on his own Satya label, and eventually on the Parasol label. Several White Town songs appeared on independent compilations, and his debut full length, _Socialism, Sexism and Sexuality_ didn't generate much interest outside of his native land. Up until this point, White Town's tale sounds like hundreds of other independent bands who can only see their name in the trades if they purchase an ad. But something went terribly wrong - or right, in this case. Mishra soon decided that "I was fed up with playing the guitar...I started moving more into a sample-based synthy direction", and recorded new songs, including the wonderfully infectious "Your Woman". Released as part of a four-song EP (_Abort, Retry, Fail?_) in England, radio programmers loved it. And this rags-to-riches tale started to blossom Mishra from a caterpillar into a butterfly. Defying all odds and debuting at #1 in the UK, "Your Woman" includes a sample of a 1932 jazz hit, Lew Stone and the Monseigneur Band's "My Woman". The sample (not unlike what the Squirrel Nut Zippers are using, but from the original release), hooks up with the Buggles radio static on "Video Killed The Radio Star" and a healthy dose of keyboards similar to St. Etienne to create a track which might just be heard on American radio all through the spring months. "Your Woman" was truly a DIY project - recorded in Mishra's spare room, and this was a deliberate action on his part. "The whole point of me recording at home," states Mishra, "is to stay out of all the airless, artless studios scattered around the country where music is machined to some technical level of acceptability. Consequently, _Women In Technology_ is *full* of clicks, pops, earth hums, and bum notes." However, just as Soho failed to clear proper credits from the Smiths with "Hippychick" (and wound up giving 25% of their sales to Morrissey and Marr for "How Soon Is Now"), Mishra learned the unfortunate rule of clearing samples first. Now, as he recalls, "30% of the royalties (from "Your Woman") go to the publishing company." The unfortunate part of the album is that, not unlike the Primitive Radio Gods' "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand" (which sampled B.B. King), people who buy _Women In Technology_ to hear 12 songs identical to "Your Woman" will likely be disappointed. Much of _Women In Technology_ has a Johnny Hates Jazz meets the Dream Academy feel to it - slower, synthesizer-driven tracks. Some of the slower tracks from Cause & Effect's _Trip_ would blend nicely with this collection. Probably the best example of this is on the soft "A Week Next June", where Mishra's vocals sound a bit like Paul McCartney on this nearly-acoustic track. "Going Nowhere Somehow" is another track which immediately catches the listener's ear with a unique sound similar to the slower side of KLF (think: _Chill Out_). But in a world of niche-marketing and radio programming, it probably *won't* be the listener who has heard "Your Woman". What does the future hold in store for Mishra? He's currently being courted by Madonna's Maverick label - and the most recent artist that she took such a strong personal interest in was a Canadian named Morrissette. Took home a couple music awards here and there. He's also decided to cover the Magnetic Fields "Famous" for his next EP. And, in between jetting to the U.S. and Europe, you might just catch him on the Internet... --- REVIEW: Mazzy Star, _Among My Swan_ (Capitol) - David Landgren _Among My Swan_ is Mazzy Star's third album. The first album, _She Hangs Brightly_, slipped unnoticed past many, this reviewer included. On the other hand, a lot of people sat up and paid a lot of attention to their second album, _So Tonight That I Might See_. Credit must go to the suits for not pressuring Dave Roeback and Hope Sandoval into cashing in on their new-found fame with a formula copy, but instead letting them take all the time they needed to work on the new album. In many ways, the gamble paid off: this album is not so different from _So Tonight That I Might See_. The bluesy fragility and country melancholia is still very much present; much of the percussion is nothing more than a simple tambourine, and the instrumentation hovers between an acoustic or electric guitar, with a few basslines or violins dotted here and there. The album opens on a sleepy track "Disappear", with Hope sounding only half-convinced that the album has started, and a guitar doodling around upon waves of heavily distorted electric guitar way down in the mix. The second song, "Flowers in December" picks up, with acoustic guitar and tambourine providing the backdrop to a harmonica intro that sounds like the melody to The Go-Between's "Quiet Heart". As the songs go by, it becomes clear that Mazzy Star are intent on pursuing a precise direction in their music. While the first album was a quirky patchwork of different writing styles, the second album slimmed down the variants and on this album they have reduced their margin of manoeuvre down to almost nothing. The first four songs blend into each other with little differentiation; all stripped down to the bare bones of delicate guitar noodlings, laid-back percussion and Hope's vocals. Which makes for excellent the-party's-over late night listening. Which makes "Take Everything" a bit of a kicker. The song starts out much the same as the previous tracks, however, it builds up considerable intensity and lifts the album up a notch. Possibly due to William Reid returning a favour (Hope Sandoval added the vocals to the Jesus & Mary Chain track "Sometimes Always" on _Stoned and Dethroned_), to lay down a JMC guitar riff on the song. Briefly, taking in the rest, "All Your Sisters" is an absolute gem. Down the minimalist path again, with only an acoustic guitar to accompany Hope. "I've Been Let Down" and "Look On Down From The Bridge" are the two most overtly country-sounding tracks. "Umbilical" is very much the song "So Tonight That I Might See, Part II". Same guitars going beserk in the background, exploding like fireworks; along with "Roseblood", with its reverse-gated guitar. _Among My Swan_ is an album that begs to be considered as a whole. It's not the sort of album to be heard in shuffle mode. It deserves to be listened to from start to finish to get the most out of it. That said, in all honesty, if you don't have the budget to both this and _So Tonight That I Might See_ then I would class STTIMS as being more important. So get that first, and if you like it, you'll probably winding up purchasing _Among My Swan_ anyway. You won't be disappointed. Resources on the net: there isn't a lot out there. The best bet is to scan the newsgroup alt.music.mazzy-star for current information. --- REVIEW: The Art of Noise, _Drum and Bass Collection_ (Discovery) _The FON Mixes_ - Jamie Roberts The Art of Noise are one of the most sampled bands in music history. Pieces of their work are found in some of the most popular music of the past 13 years (The Prodigy's "Firestarter" comes to mind among many many others). Their beginnings in 1983 saw them as a faceless studio-bound vehicle for Trevor Horn, and their body of work created "...the blueprint for new styles of hip-hop and electro-rhythms" and became "...a crystal ball of hardcore technology". Now we come to the stage where the very people who were moved by AON's early works to create on their own, come "home" and put their spin on the work of their mentors. _The FON Mixes_ are the hardcore's response to their historical influences. Each original Art Of Noise track is re-mixed with a burst of energy from noted mixers like Mark Gamble, Youth and Richard H. Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire (using the pseudonym Sweet Exorcist). On the _FON_ CD "Peter Gunn" is mixed with "Dragnet". It gets really campy and exaggerated using vintage Art Of Noise echoes and backbeat as it lumbers along. This Mark Gamble mix of "Peter Gunn" is as right-on representation of the original track, as his mix of "Yebo" is abstract. With its ominous beginning, and its blend of African chants with mechanized beats, there is not much of the original to be heard in this mix, which runs just short of two minutes. "The Art of Slow Love" is brilliantly re-done by Youth starting off a bit like Primal Scream's "Loaded" easing into a long, slow, sexy groove. Samples of "Moments In Love" are sprinkled throughout the track, seemingly reminiscing about the original AON track. _The Drum and Bass Collection_ tackles many of the same songs, but with a more textured approach. This collection features mixes from ILS, Flyright, Lemon D (from Metalhedz) and Lightfoot among others. I was not readily familiar with the work of these mixers, as many Americans will not be, but their work on this CD speaks volumes. Flyright tackles "Peter Gunn" in a way that is diametrically opposed to Gamble's (from FON). Completely unrecognizable as "Peter Gunn", this track speeds along at a breakneck pace. There is no exact pattern or reason to this mix of the track, but that is what grabs your attention, and keeps it to the end. The bassy meandering of Lightfoot's almost-six-minute version of "Yebo" makes its numerous tempo changes with low-key grace. The levity with which ILS attacks "The Art of Love" is not at all like Youth's 'Slow' version. It owes more to break-beat in the beginning, and its tempo changes plateau at an ambient groove. The Art Of Noise has contributed a great deal to the music we all listen to. Getting your music from the very source of this genre will show you how it has developed over the years, and will allow you to pick out samples from this often credited group. Using the old AON albums as reference points and comparing the mixes is as enlightening as listening gets. --- REVIEW: Various Artists, _The Smiths Is Dead_ - Bob Gajarsky Outside of R.E.M. and U2, the Smiths are the best-known band around the globe from the "alternative" branch of the 80s. And no one can bring his fans to tears of joy and adulation as quickly as Morrissey. Therefore, with millions of worldwide fans of the Smiths, it would seem natural that these people would be the perfect target audience for a tribute album of 1986s _The Queen Is Dead_, aptly titled _The Smiths Is Dead_. Think again. The liberties taken on _The Smiths Is Dead_ by many of the individual bands are quite different from the original Morrissey/Marr compositions - and in the process, will likely anger devoted Smiths fans who long for music which stays true to the originals. The ten song compilation (which follows in identical order to the 1986 classic) leads off with The Boo Radleys version of "The Queen Is Dead". The "Wake Up Boo" band completely ignores their leanings towards the 60s pop sound and while omitting the "Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty" intro from the Smiths, does their best impression of Portishead's "Sour Times". Slowing down Marr's instrumentation is a tactic utilized several times throughout the songs. The Divine Comedy sound like Crash Test Dummies on their walk through "There Is A Light", and the High Llamas do their best psychedelic Beach Boys on "Frankly Mr. Shankly". The Trash Can Sinatras unfortunately lack the passion which drove "I Know It's Over" - and, of course, Billy Bragg couldn't slow "Never Had No One Ever" down much more than the original, and it's interesting to hear Bragg's accent replacing Morrissey's. Don't get the idea that the entire compilation is a walk in the park. Supergrass come off as a super-cool garage punk band (!), wailing away on the drums for "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others", and Placebo do Morrissey's sneers justice in "Bigmouth Strikes Again". Therapy? toss in some slightly different guitars on "Vicar In A Tutu", and press darlings Frank & Walters and Bis contribute on "Cemetry Gates" and "Boy With The Thorn In His Side", respectively. This was originally issued through France's Les Inrocktuples magazine, and has since found its way to import racks in the states and many areas of Europe. Music industry insiders looking for a change of pace from the daily grind have fallen in love with this compilation, and those fans of the current British alternative scene will likely want to purchase a copy as well. However, _The Smiths Is Dead_ should come with a warning sticker: "Not for the Morrissey worshipper." --- REVIEW: Bjork, _Telegram_ (Elektra) - Eric Hsu A few years ago this would have been called "a bunch of remixes." But now remixing for the dance floor has become recognized enough as an art that this can be hyped as "radical reinterpretations" of songs from Bjork's last album _Post_ (get it? Telegram... Post). That's a pretty fair description: basically, the record is a bunch of covers of _Post_ songs for which Bjork was kind enough to show up and sing vocals. Some of the more extreme remakes include the ever-dabbling- in-rock Brodsky Quartet (remember their string quartet version of "Purple Haze"?) who do a chamber music version of the lovely "Hyperballad", and Outcast who do a grindingly techno version of "Enjoy". Dobie has thrown in a reggae dub into the middle of a loping "I Miss You". Evelyn Glennie and Bjork have collaborated on a charming percussive new song called "My Spine", which is mostly charming for the novelty of the percussion (exhaust pipes) and Bjork's spontaneous enthusiasm. Among the other remixers are Mark Bell from LFO, Eumir Deodato, Graham Massey, Dillinja, and Finnish techno band Metri. Dillinja revs up "Cover Me" with a big drum and bass sound that takes the original hanuting piano line and makes it really catchy. In the end I find the remixes interesting, but uniformly inferior to the original mixes. When I listen to the artistic choices made on this record, it gives me a renewed appreciation for the skill and tastefulness exercised on the magnificant _Post_. Bjork comments, "_Post_ has a lot of different emotional angles on it... I flirt with this idea, but on _Telegram_ I gave myself liberties to go all the way with that." And it's true. I think these remixes are best heard as remixes and not as an intro to either Bjork or these songs. In stretching for emotional extremes the songs on _Telegram_ often become one-dimensional. The net effect of listening to this record was to make me go back and listen to _Post_. My recommendation: listen to _Post_. If you think it's awesome and/or like any of the remix artists mentioned above, listen to _Telegram_ in a store. But psychologically, treat this as an album of B-sides. --- REVIEW: Big Head Todd and the Monsters, _Beautiful World_ (Revolution) - Simon Speichert As of now, I cast my vote for Todd Park Mohr as songwriter of the year. The way Todd writes simple pop songs for a three piece band, they sound like symphonies. There's a certain ambience to Big Head Todd and the Monsters' songs in that they just seem to fit the mood perfectly. All the songs on _Beautiful World_, BHTM's fifth album, were written by Todd, with the exception of "Boom Boom" which was written by blues legend John Lee Hooker, who contributes guest vocals on the song. The album, produced by Jerry Harrison (Crash Test Dummies, Live, Neurotic Outsiders), is comprised of 12 songs. Some of the more outstanding songs on the album are first single "Resignation Superman", "Tower", "Please Don't Tell Her", and the aforementioned "Boom Boom". Big Head Todd and the Monsters are amazingly proficient on their instruments - what can you expect after over a decade of playing together? - melding together to create technically perfect songs. Brian Nevin's drums and Rob Squires' bass, the perfect rhythm section, hold down the groove, leaving just enough room for Todd's awe-inspiring guitar playing and singing. Every fan, and even those who aren't, should look up to Big Head Todd and the Monsters for their ability to function as a unit. It's tough to describe what BHTM sound like. Imagine old rock and roll, real rock and roll, from the early 50's. Then take that and combine it with modern rock (not alternative, not metal). Take that mixture and give it to some technically proficient guys with a lot of soul, who love to tour. Hey, if you've got that, it's a beautiful world. --- REVIEW: Longpigs, _The Sun Is Often Out_ (Mother/Island) - Simon West Yes, another British guitar/bass/drums quartet - hardly an endangered species these days. Sheffield's Longpigs have actually been around three years, but only escaped various record company problems to release their debut a year or so ago, now finally up for a Stateside release. It's worth the wait. _The Sun Is Often Out_ is a fine debut, mixing jangly guitar hooks and a slightly deeper atmosphere than most of Longpigs' peers with an energetic, distinctive vocal style that frequently launches into falsetto. Slightly over to the rock end of the spectrum, Longpigs display enough style and originality to distinguish themselves from the pack, from the Radiohead-flavoured pop of "She Said" to the opener "Lost Myself", which starts out deceptively slowly, before exploding into a power-chord driven chorus. "Far", a recent single, is 3-minute pop at its finest, a rhythmic, chantlike verse giving way to the catchiest of choruses. "On and On" is a gorgeous mid-tempo ballad, unspoiled even by singer Crispin Hunt's occasional tendency to sound uncomfortably like one of the Proclaimers. The powerful "Jesus Christ" is also excellent. "Jesus Christ / I'm on fire when you smile" wails Hunt in a voice that suggests he's actually burning at the stake. Three years into the British indie rebirth, then, and bands like Longpigs are showing that there's still talent waiting to surface. Success in the UK could well carry over to the States with a little airplay - Longpigs, like Kula Shaker, have more of an 'international' accent than Blur, Pulp, et. al, and (Oasis excepted) this seems to be translating to more success in the States than the more obviously 'English' sound of yer Casts and Bluetones. _The Sun Is Often Out_ is never astonishing, but it's a fine record, the best parts of which suggest real potential for greatness. Not quite Premier League then, but solid First Division stuff. --- REVIEW: Greg Kihn, _Horrorshow_ (Clean Cuts/Rounder) _The King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Greg Kihn_ (King Biscuit Records) - Daniel Aloi The first thing you notice about Greg Kihn live on CD is what a masterful power pop songwriter and showman he was. But the first two things you notice on either of Greg Kihn's mid-1990s solo studio albums is that he's no longer a power pop artist, but still a great songwriter. In the mid-1980s, Kihn was at the top of his game and the height of his success. He had Top 10 hits on the radio, an appealing and refreshing image of self-parody in his videos on MTV, and album titles that endlessly punned on his name (_Next of Kihn_, _Kihntinued_, _Citizen Kihn_, etc.) His name recognition at the time was the payoff for more than 10 years of dues-paying, from his native Baltimore to his adopted San Francisco bay area home, as his cross-country tours saw him graduating from clubs and college venues to arenas. Kihn's strengths come to the fore in the King Biscuit Flower Hour concert recorded April 22, 1986 in Philadelphia and just recently remastered and released from the KBFH archives. Numerous surprises await a 1997 listener; let me spoil them for you: -> The tour for Kihn's final Beserkley album, _Love and Rock and Roll,_ featured a then-unknown lead guitarist named Joe Satriani, whose solos lift the show well beyond the arena-rock standard and into the stratosphere. -> The opening "Another Girl, Another Planet" is a fiery pop song that bears striking resemblance to the recent No Doubt hit "Spiderwebs." (There goes my chance to sum up this then-and-now review with "they don't write 'em like that anymore.") -> 10 years later, it's still safe to say Kihn made some of the most danceable songs of the post-New Wave era, from "The Breakup Song" and "Reunited" to "Jeopardy" and "Little Red Book." The latter must have had the audience bobbing like a sea full of corks. -> Kihn does two Bruce Springsteen songs, the wordy 1972 rocker "For You" and "Rendezvous," an uptempo love song from 1976, never recorded by The Boss and originally covered by Kihn on a 1982 LP. Performed with power and passion, Kihn makes them his own. -> Kihn shows his sense of humor, and acoustic roots, on a one-time-only performance of "Imelda Marcos Talking Blues," and his rock and roll heart (rivaled only by Springsteen at his 1976-78 peak) on two rocking bonus tracks, "Happy Man" and "Testify," from a 1982 college show in New Jersey. The liner notes manage to cover Kihn's career in a minimum of words, and he is quoted describing his approach to rock and roll and songwriting. King Biscuit has so far released 12 remixed and remastered shows by different artists, at a bargain price of about $12.98 - and the Kihn disc is superlative. Like 1994's _Mutiny_ before it, Kihn's latest, _Horror Show,_ fits the mold of a solo effort by a mature popsmith who once ruled the charts - foregoing commercial aspirations for a personal vision, he hews to artistic truth and yields beauty. That praise sounds pretty high-minded, I know, especially for a guy who's folksy enough to seem to be saying "here's my latest bunch of songs, folks, hope you like 'em" - but the artist formerly known as "the one who did 'Jeopardy'" is that good at what he does. But no more arenas for him - he'd rather play the coffeehouse (or take a regrouped Greg Kihn Band back to the clubs). Art and literature and history inform Kihn's recent work. _Horror Show_ opens with Eric Von Schmidt's "Kay is the Month of May," comparing (like a true poet) a woman to a list of famous painters. In "JFK," Kihn tries to make sense of the experience he shared with a nation in 1963. The title track equates love with a monster movie. (And "Vampira" extends the theme in a humorous country vein, absolutely no pun intended.) "Noa Noa" continues a romance with the sea he previously set out on _Mutiny._ The album is direct, honest and heartfelt. From the evocative, moody original love song "Beam the Light" to a cover of the bouncy Cajun two-step "Alligator Man," Kihn kindles a warm connection with the listener. The acoustic arrangements (recorded with nearly the same cast of Baltimore supporting players used on _Mutiny_) amble from contemporary folk to country to rock and back again, and the recording is clean and crisp. As with his earlier tributes to Springsteen, Kihn continues to pay his musical influences back, with covers in context with his new songs - this time with a nice version of Ray Davies' classic "Waterloo Sunset" and an arrangement of the traditional song "Trials, Troubles, Tribulations." (_Mutiny_ also included sea shanties and covers of the Rolling Stones, Buddy Holly, the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan and others, along with acoustic Kihn originals.) First and foremost, though, the man is a writer to be trusted - and incidentally, his first novel, also titled "Horror Show," has been published by Tor Books concurrent with the album. --- REVIEW: Drain S.T.H., _Horror Wrestling_ (Enclave) - Linda Scott Picture a Swedish band and what comes to mind? Roxette? Ace of Base? These pop music bands are popular in Sweden and with MTV and its crowd of music watchers. Drain S.T.H. is a woman's quartet from Stockholm, but you won't see them singing pseudo-dramas on the box. Drain is a heavy metal band influenced more by Black Sabbath than Abba. Along with most hard rockers, their music and videos aren't getting airplay. In this alternative and rap-controlled state, those that rock hard depend on the clubs and music sales for their audiences. _Horror Wrestling_ - the title refers to wrestling with problems and horrors of life. Twelve tracks of dark lyrics underscored by throbbing bass and crashing riffs make up this first full length Drain album. Lead vocalist Maria Sjoholm and drummer Martina Axen come up with these raw lyrics out of who knows what experiences. Guitarist Falvia Canel blasts the occasional speed metal riff and bassist Anna Kjellberg makes the bass pound. _Horror Wrestling_ is for metal and hard rock lovers only with its harmonies that remind one of Alice in Chains and the distant sounds of Sabbath. Current band favorites are Sepultura and Pantera, and their current Type O Negative tour cements their position as pounding rockers - not Swedish cotton candy pop. The band came together in 1993, but Axen and Canal have been working together for twelve years. They were quickly signed by MVG in 1994 and put out an EP and _Horror Wrestling_ in Europe. _Horror Wrestling_ is now available in the States, and if you live for the sharp edge of metal, get a copy. --- REVIEW: Arcanum, _The Spoken Scream_ (2Surreal) - Bob Gajarsky And everything we once loved came back again... Once upon a time, Duran Duran ruled the pop world, and Depeche Mode and New Order were providing a dancefloor alternative to bad remixes of generic pop songs. The mid 1980s don't quite seem so long ago with the volumes of _Just Can't Get Enough_, _Flashback Favorites_ and _Living In Oblivion_. Rising out of the ashes of this not-quite-forgotten era comes Marietta, Georgia based Arcanum, set to kick up the 80s with all new music. Think of post-Vince Clarke Depeche Mode, or even Martin Gore's solo album of covers _Counterfeit, combined with early-mid 80s Duran Duran. As thoughts pass of those hairstyles (and yes, lead singer Shaz *does* have the floppy-hair and long sideburns), ignore the image and remember the music. Catchy synthesizer-driven, pounding (but not heavy) grooves with vocals which could seemingly drive anyone to dance. The lighter side of Trent Reznor, or even Ministry's long since-disavowed _With Sympathy_. Arcanum captures these images with a flair far greater than associated with an indie band. Key tracks on _The Spoken Scream_ include "Rhythm Is A Sadist", which would fit in nicely on DM's _People Are People_, and "Love Like A Loaded Gun". "Losing Control" periodically threatens to veer off into any number of New Order songs before returning to its base roots, and much of the album continues down the same path: familiar keyboards and guitar sounds which excite the ear and fulfill the longing for a new wave of new wave. Curiously enough, some of their more recent work (not available on the CD), such as "Phantasm" is a driving combination of Nine Inch Nails, Enigma and the Prodigy, coupled with Martin Gore's vocals. Guitarist/keyboardist Brett Schieber noted that the band is "really getting into the drum and bass/techno scene coming out of Europe", which makes it likely that the band's future projects will continue down that path, without completely abandoning their starting point. Keep an eye out for these guys. If the Durannies modern music or Depeche's twists into more guitar/less keyboard have you yearning for days gone by, Aracanum might save the day. And at 70 minutes, _The Spoken Scream_ packs a lot of bang for the buck. For ordering information, contact the band via e-mail at arcanum@mindspring.com, or check out the band on the web at: http://www.mindspring.com/~arcanum --- NEWS: > Word on the street is that extracts from the new Depeche Mode album _Ultra_ have already appeared across the Internet. Initial reports of the tracks suggest a return to the mainly electronic style of _Violator_ and _Music For The Masses_. The influence of Bomb The Bass' Tim Simenon can also be heard throughout the album. There are eleven tracks, plus one unlisted instrumental; two songs are sung by Martin Gore, the remainder by Dave Gahan. The first single, "Barrel of a Gun", is the exception rather than the rule; the second single, "It's No Good", sounds like classic Depeche Mode. _Ultra_ appears in stores on April 15. > To subscribe to the Dread Zeppelin e-mail list, send a message with the subject of "subscribe" to dreadzep-list-request@eskimo.com > London Suede are currently on tour in Japan for a tour of the Far East. They have just finished recording B-side for their fourth U.K. single, "Lazy" - the single will be released on April 14, six days after the American release of their _Coming Up!_ album. These tracks, produced by Bruce Lampcov, are the first time the group has worked with a producer other than Ed Buller. > A new record label - a collaboration between Caroline Records, Virgin UK and Massive Attack - has been formed. The label, Melankolik, has already announced several signings, including Horace Andy, Craig Armstrong and Ariel. > Moe. will be on L.A. Live (http://www.lalive.com) on Friday, February 28th. > The Sand Rubies are performing at South by Southwest in March, and will be returning to the recording studio soon. Information on the Sidewinders, Sand Rubies and Rich Hopkins & the Luminarios can be found at the web site http://www.contingency.com > A new site chronicling the Waitresses and their members is available at http://www.hardcafe.co.uk/waitresses/ --- TOUR DATES: Backsliders Feb. 28 Bethesda, MD Twist & Shout Bally Sagoo Feb. 28 Los Angeles, CA Club Yes Better Than Ezra / Jane Jensen Feb. 27 Orlando, FL Embassy Music Hall Feb. 28 Jacksonville, FL Milk Bar Mar. 1 Washington, DC Sheraton Washington Mar. 2 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Theatre & Club Bloodhound Gang Feb. 28 Carroll Valley, PA HFSKIMO-SnowJob Mar. 1 Baltimore, MD Fletchers Mar. 2 Harrisburg, PA Zee's Mar. 3 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop Mar. 4 St. Louis, MI Galaxy-KPNT SHow Mar. 6 Chicago, IL Metro Mar. 7 Omaha, NE Ranch Bowl Mar. 8 Lawrence, KS Bottleneck Camber Mar. 1 New York, NY Brownie's Lisa Cerbone Feb. 28 Ellicott City, MD The Ellicott Theatre Cordelia's Dad Feb. 28 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Mar. 1 Chestertown, MD Andy's Shawn Colvin / Freedy Johnston Feb. 27 New York, NY Beacon Feb. 28 Boston, MA Orpheum Theater Mar. 1 Burlington, VT Flynn Theatre Mar. 2 Portsmouth, NH Music Hall Mar. 6 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre Mar. 7-8 Washington, DC 930 Club Connells / Odds Feb. 27 Baltimore, MD Bohagers Feb. 28 Newark, DE Stone Baloon Mar. 1 Washington, DC 9:30 Club Cordelia's Dad Feb. 28 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Coward Mar. 2 Baltimore, MD Fletchers Mar. 3 New York, NY Brownies Mar. 4 Philadelphia, PA Silk City Mar. 6 Atlanta, GA The Point (w/Gravel Pit) Mar. 7 Columbia SC Elbow Room (w/Gravel Pit) Mar. 8 Jacksonville, FL Milk Bar (w/Gravel Pit) Cracker Feb. 27 Greenville, SC Characters Feb. 28 Columbia, SC Characters of Columbia Mar. 1 Charleston, SC The Music Farm Cravin' Melon Feb. 27 Rock Hill, SC Silver Dollar Feb. 28 Sylva, NC Baily's Mar. 1 Augusta, GA Red Lion Donovan Mar. 3 New York, NY Symphony Space Mar. 6 Washington, DC Birchmere Mar. 8 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts Jason Falkner / Silos Mar. 3 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues Mary Ann Farley Feb. 28 New Brunswick, NJ Rutgers University Mar. 8 Brooklyn, NY Fall Cafe Goldfinger / Reel Big Fish Feb. 27-28 Fullerton, CA Back Alley Dave Hawkins Feb. 28 Columbus, OH Key Largo Coffee Co. Hazies Mar. 1 Lubbock, TX 19th Street Warehouse Mar. 2 Amarillo, TX Blue Iguana Mar. 5 South Padre, TX Charlie's Paradise Mar. 6 Austin, TX Steamboat Mar. 7 Houston, TX Cardie's Mar. 8 San Antonio, TX White Rabbit Humble Gods Feb. 28 San Diego, CA The Showcase (with Incubus) Humpers Feb. 28 Phoenix, AZ Hollywood Alley Mar. 1 Salt Lake City, UT Bar & Grill Mar. 3 Denver, CO 15th Street Tavern Mar. 4 Lawrence, KS Bottleneck Mar. 5 St. Louis, MO Hi-Pointe Mar. 6 Atlanta, GA Dottie's Mar. 7 Chapel Hill, NC Lizard & Snake Mar. 8 Jacksonville, FL Milk Bar Mar. 9 Tampa, FL Tarantula Records Irving Plaza (New York Concert Hall - http://www.irvingplaza.com) Feb. 28 Max Creek / Vertical Horizon Mar. 1 Lunachicks / Yuppecide / Sleepasauraus Mar. 6 Local H / Failure / Ednaswap Mar. 7 Laibach Mar. 8 Commitments Joykiller Feb. 27 Dallas, TX Galaxy Local H / Failure Feb. 28 Washington, DC 930 Club Mar. 1 Old Bridge, NJ Birch Hall Luciano Feb. 27 Springfield, MA Mikaras Feb. 28-Mar. 1 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Academy of Music Mar. 2 Dorchester, MA Russell Auditorium Mar. 7 Newark, NJ Club Eclipse Mar. 8 Washington, DC Capitol Ballroom Metallica / Corrosion of Conformity Feb. 28 Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum Mar. 1 Worcester, MA Centrum Mar. 2 University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center/Penn State Mar. 4-5 Boston, MA Fleet Center Mar. 7-8 Philadelphia, PA Corestates Moe./Sweet Vine Feb. 28 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour Mar. 5 Eugene, OR The Wild Duck Mar. 6 Portland, OR Berbatis Pan Mar. 7 Seattle, WA The Backstage Mar. 8 Vancouver, BC Town Pump Nancy Boy Mar. 6-7 Newcastle, UK Newcastle Arena New Bomb Turks Feb 28 Tampa, FL State Theatre Mar. 1 Miami, FL Cheers Mar. 2 Melbourne, FL Metro Cafe Mar. 3 Orlando, FL Sapphire Club Mar. 6 Jacksonville, FL Moto Lounge Mar. 7 Atlanta, GA The Point Mar. 8 Athens, GA Atomic Music Hall Odds Mar 3-4 Ottawa, ON Barrymores Mar. 5 Montreal, QC CabaretMusic Hall Mar. 6 Toronto, ON Phoenix Concert Theatre Mar. 7 St. Catharines, ON Front 54 Mar. 8 Waterloo, ON Federation Hall U of Waterloo Pen Pal Mar. 3 Little Rock, AR Vino's Mar. 4 Lawrence, KS Replay Lounge Mar. 7 Rolla, MO Open Hand Mar. 8 St. Louis, MO Hi-Pointe Plexi Feb. 27 Cambridge, MA T.T.'s Feb. 28 Washington, DC Black Cat Mar. 2 Baltimore, MD Memory Lane Mar. 3 Charleston, WV Empty Glass Mar. 4 Chapel Hill, NC Lizard and Snake Mar. 6 Birmingham AL The Nick Mar. 7 Savannah, GA Bay Street Bar Professor & Maryann Mar. 6 New York, NY Arlene Grocery Rasputina / Cranes Mar. 7 Atlanta, GA Masquerade Samples / Stir Feb. 27 Atlanta, GA Variety Feb. 28 Tuscaloosa, AL Varsity Mar. 1 Winston-Salem, NC Ziggy's Mar. 4 Columbia, SC Elbow Room Mar. 5 Charleston, SC Music Farm Mar. 6 Chapel Hill, NC Cat's Cradle Mar. 7 Nashville, TN 328 Performance Hall Mar. 8 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre San Francisco Noise Pop Festival Feb. 27 - Bimbo's - Archers of Loaf, Engine 88, Knapsack, Spoon, Peppercorn Feb. 28 - Chameleon Club - Trackstar, Papas Fritas, The Moons, Death Star Feb. 28 - Bottom of the Hill - Fastbacks, Hazel, Model Rockets, Foster Brooks Mar. 1 - Bottom of the Hill (noon) - Fluf, Peechees, Decal, Frogpond Mar. 1 - Bottom of the Hill (9 pm) - Meices, Bracket, Action Slacks, Limp Mar. 2 - Kilowatt (early) - Snowmen, Creeper Lagoon, Retriever, Crash & Brittany Mar. 2 - Kilowatt (9 pm) - Overwhelming Colorfast, Chixdiggit, Carlos, Me First, Go Pound Salt Sebadoh Feb. 27 Pittsburgh, PA Graffiti Mar. 2-3 Boston, MA Paradise Sick of It All Feb. 28 Washington, DC Capitol Ballroom Mar. 1 Richmond, VA Twisters Mar. 2 Atlanta, GA The Point Mar. 3 Jacksonville, FL Motto Lounge Mar. 6 St. Pete, FL State Theatre Mar. 7 New Orleans, LA Fauborg Center Mar. 8 Houston, TX Emo's Sissy Bar Mar. 3 West Hollywood, CA Viper Room Sister Hazel Feb. 28 Tallahassee, FL Floyd's Mar. 1 Gainesville, FL Florida Theater Mar. 6 Orlando, FL The Sapphire Mar. 7 Ft. Myers, FL The Indigo Mar. 8 Tampa, FL Frankie's Patio Sno-Core (incl. face to Face, Pharcyde, Voodoo Glow Skulls) Feb. 28 Denver, CO Ogden Mar. 1 Salt Lake City,UT Fairgrounds Mar. 3 San Francisco,CA Warfield Theater Mar. 4 Las Vegas,NV The Joint Space Feb. 28 Seattle, WA Moe Mar. 1 Vancouver, BC Starfish Room Mar. 5 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy Mar. 8 San Francisco, CA The Concourse Sterling Mar. 2 Asbury Park, NJ Saint Tool / Melvins Feb. 27 Asbury Park, NJ Convention Center Feb. 28 Fitchburg, NY Wallace Civic Center Mar. 1 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid Hudson Civic Center Mar. 3 Dayton, OH Flara Arena Mar. 4 Kalamazoo, MI Wings Stadium Mar. 5 Omaha, NE Mancoso Convention Center Mar. 7 Springfield, MO Shrine Mosque Mar. 8 Austin, TX Music Hall Type O Negative / Sister Machine Gun / Drain S.T.H. Feb. 27 Wichita, KS Cottilion Feb. 28 Tulsa, OK Cain's Ballroom Mar. 1 Springfield, MO JukeJoint Mar. 2 Indianapolis, IN Emerson Theater Mar. 3 Milwaukee, WI Rave Mar. 4 Cincinnati, OH Sudsy Malmes Mar. 5 Detroit, MI Shelter Urchins Mar. 1 New Brunswick, NJ Budapest Cocktail Lounge The Urge Mar. 1 St. Louis, MO American Theatre Mar. 5 Cincinnati, OH Annie's Mar. 6 Detroit, MI Shelter Mar. 7 Toledo, OH Club 2000 Mar. 8 Madison, WI Wisconsin Memorial Hall Volebeats Mar. 1 Detroit, MI Magicstik Mar. 6 Chicago, IL Schuba's Mar. 7 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop --- Founded in August, 1993, Consumable Online is the oldest continuous collaborative music publication on the Internet. To get back issues of Consumable, check out: WWW: http://www.westnet.com/consumable FTP: ftp.quuxuum.org in the directory /pub/consumable ftp.prouser.org (URL) http://www.westnet.com/consumable/Consumable.html (Delphi) Music Fandom forum; GO ENT MUSIC 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 ===