Album Reviews

ATTENTION DEFICIT
The Idiot King
(Magna Carta)
When semi-famous musos attack, the results can often be gruesome, a hundred-note pileup of dense riffage and egomaniacal overplaying. Not so with Attention Deficit. Comprised of guitarist Alex Skolnick (formerly of metalheads Testament), bassist Michael Manring (once a mainstay of new age label Windham Hill) and drummer Tim Alexander (formerly of Primus, currently of Laundry), AD put their prodigious chops to good use on eleven fierce 'n' fragile sound paintings allegedly inspired by the recent presidential election (songs titles include "Low Voter Turnout," "Dubya" and, of course, the title track). The trio is far more interested in making all manner of strange tones and twisted licks coalesce into intriguing, unusual melodies than in adding to the overstuffed catalog of shredfests. Manring's Jaco Pastorius-inspired fretless work and Alexander's polyrhythmic percussion have an amazing ability to wander over the melodic terrain while remaining staunchly attached to the groove. Skolnick is a marvel, jettisoning any hint of his poodle-haired past by tastefully anointing the songs with all manner of jazzy licks and shimmering textures, rarely giving vent to the speed demon he once was. With a wonderfully appealing melange of taste, imagination and humor, Attention Deficit has the ability to draw forth more moans of pleasure than gasps of awe. Michael Toland

For fans of: Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop, Gordian Knot, Allan Holdsworth

HAYSEED DIXIE
A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC
(Western Beat/DTR)
The story goes like this: a city boy crashed his muscle car into an oak tree in the charmingly named Appalachian hamlet of Deer Lick Holler. When a band of tradition-minded stringband/bluegrass musicians scavenged the wreck looking for ID, they found instead the driver's stash of AC/DC records and set to learning to play this newfangled style of country music. When they'd mastered it, they drove to Nashville (in the city boy's car?), auditioned for an exec and made a record.

Um, whatever. The basic shtick here is ten AC/DC tunes performed in hillbilly bluegrass style, complete not only with fiddles and mandolins but overalls, gaptooth grins and exaggerated country accents. Some of the songs ("Highway to Hell," "You Shook Me All Night Long") adapt fairly well to this genre, while others ("Back in Black," "Hell's Bells") just don't really work. The musicians are extremely competent, especially the dobro player, who essentially drags the music like a team of horses pulling a plow at breakneck speed. That said, Hayseed Dixie begs the question of exactly what's being made fun of here: AC/DC or hillbilly music and culture? Or, most likely, both? Even if you're able to come up with a satisfactory answer, or choose to ignore the query entirely, the joke wears thin pretty quickly. Unless you're an obsessive AC/DC fan or a non-discriminating bluegrass listener, you can probably live without this. Michael Toland

For fans of: Split Lip Rayfield, the Diamond Smugglers, early Bad Livers

MOTHER SUPERIOR
Mother Superior
(Triple X)
Mother Superior is the trio behind Henry Rollins' re-energized sound from Get Some Go Again. (Rollins returns the favor here by producing.) As RB they're dark and steely, with the occasional exotic, bluesy flair. In Mother Superior mode, guitarist Jim Wilson sings, and his voice is reminiscent in places of—don't snicker—Paul Stanley of Kiss. In fact, that kind of sums up the difference in the vibes between what these guys crank out as the Rollins Band and what they do on their fourth CD. Here they're more straightforward, with slack riffs and soulful touches. Rollins is, of course, the lyricist in his band, so we'd never hear anything from him like "You make it so hard/Well I wanna love you baby/But you know you drive me crazy" (from "Doghouse"). But there's plenty of room in rock for fun, and Mother Superior dishes it out. Their inventive hooks and gutsy tones, the backbone for songs like "Radio Sucks" and "Sorrow Song," keep this fresh and listenable. They're not inventing anything new here, but they're doing it better than most. Brian Briscoe

For fans of: Kyuss, Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, Chevelle

THE OTHER 99
At the Eleventh Hour
(Cropduster)
Stripped-down guitar pop from the Big Apple. Though a re-combination of two other bands, Tabula Rasa and Plaid, the Other 99 don't sound at all like the sum of their various parts. They obviously jettisoned any elements from their previous bands that they didn't feel was appropriate for the new combo for a simple, melodic rock/pop sound that centers on straightforward song presentation. Fortunately the tunes can hold up to such naked treatment—frontman Jeff Epstein writes smart, catchy nuggets that aren't afraid to wear beating hearts on their rhetorical sleeves, and his soulful tenor suits the material perfectly. Though the band is augmented here by keyboardist Kenny Margolis and various friends from the Cropduster family, the focus is strictly on the chemistry of two guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Pared down to the basic essentials of pop songcraft, At the Eleventh Hour is remarkably affecting. Michael Toland

For fans of: the Lemonheads' It's a Shame About Ray, the Wallflowers, the Jayhawks

AMANDA THORPE
Mass
(Cropduster)
An NYC-based songwriter, Amanda Thorpe brings the concept of the chanteuse into the 21st century with Mass. There's a smoky, intimate ambiance to this record, as if the studio was moved into a nightclub with a very large tab set up for the participants. Thorpe runs her jazzy folk/pop songs through a variety of electronics-tinged textures, bringing upbeat pop songs and seductive balladry under the same darkly romantic umbrella. Held together as much by Thorpe's versatile singing as by her love noir vision, Mass silkily moves through the crowd with a drink in one hand, the other lightly brushing your shoulder as it passes by. Michael Toland

For fans of: Jane Siberry, Holly Palmer, Joe Henry