High Bias aural fixations
July 7, 2003

THE CHAINS
On Top of Things!
(Get Hip)
With the so-called "garage rock revival" reaching media saturation and market indifference (except for the White Stripes, who don't really fit under an easy genre banner anyway), you can be forgiven for your first reaction to the Chains being a yawn. What would be truly unforgivable, however, would be to dismiss the Montreal quintet on basis of genre affiliation. Sure, the Chains are steeped in cheap fuzz tones, mutated R&B licks and the usual bucket of attitude (just check out frontman Alexandre Boivin's baleful glare on the back cover). These guys competently utilize the tools of their trade, but that's not what makes them special. The Chains boast two things far too many of their Nuggets-loving brethren don't: a surprisingly soulful singer and consistently good songs. Boivin and guitarist Sebastien Hould write tunes with immediately captivating hooks, and Boivin's edgy voice delivers them with the right balance of spit and polish. "Nervous Breakdown," "Disappearing Man" and "Try, Try, Try" are just darn good songs, regardless of label, and the Chains are simply a darn good band. Michael Toland

For fans of: the Dropouts, the Forty Fives, Zakary Thaks

EELS
Shootenanny!
(DreamWorks)
One of the more interesting aspects of prior records by California's eels—the ever-evolving project conceived by singer/songwriter E—is the band's tendency to use hip-hop production techniques on what are essentially straightforward rock and pop songs, a style that reached its zenith on eels' last album Souljacker. For the group's fifth album Shootenanny!, however, E abandons the more modernist approach for a stripped-down sound more in line with the unadorned nature of his tunes. Indeed, E hasn't made such a clean, uncomplicated album since his days as a solo artist; there's no overarching concept, no studio futzing about—just straightahead melodic tuneage. Catchy cuts like the butt-rockin' "Lone Wolf" and "Saturday Morning," bop-poppin' "Dirty Girl" and "Wrong About Bobby," and easygoing, sardonic "Love of the Loveless" and "Rock Hard Times" set the toes a-tappin' and the smiles a-twitchin' with little effort. He also adopts some strains of that most uncomplicated of musics, the blues, in tracks like "Agony" and "All in a Day's Work." The beating heart of the record, however, is found in intimate ballads like the melancholy "The Good Old Days," mournful "Restraining Order Blues" and hopeful "Somebody Loves You;" while they're hardly soul-bearing letters from hell like those found on the artist's Electro-Shock Blues, they still provide a glimpse into E's emotional core. There's also a compositional consistency here that E has never before achieved; every song has something—an instantly appealing melody, a clever lyric, a heartfelt performance—to recommend it. While it would be unfair to claim the band has topped itself, with Shootenanny! eels have another triumph to add to their growing collection. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Beck, Randy Newman, Badly Drawn Boy

GRAVITRON
The Dawning of the Finite Moment of Now
(Four Walls)
Gravitron's debut The Dawning of the Finite Moment of Now was supposedly recorded while under the influence of the theories of the German Expressionist artist collective Die Brücke. It's hard to believe Erich Heckel or Fritz Bleyl would pen a song called "Stone Fox" or write a lyric like "That Yankee fuck is going to pay," but we'll allow the band its indulgences as long as it continues to prove itself a worthy avatar of psychedelic heavy groove rock. Drummer/singer Dave Gebhardt and guitarist/singer Kevin Kapala kick out the jams hard on brutal tracks like "High Flyer," "Slider" and "The Meatman Cometh," while maintaining a slower, more sensual vibe in "The Rise of the Mastodon" and "Pour It In My Hands (For a Dime)." The production is nicely thick and full, despite being recorded on an 8-track, though the vocals suffer a bit from the dryness. Nobody's going to mistake Gravitron for an innovator in the sludge-rock sweepstakes, but the band has a solid record on its hands that will easily twirl the lobes of hardcore psych-metal fans. Michael Toland

For fans of: Ichabod, Nebula, Dixie Witch

ED HARCOURT
From Every Sphere
(Heavenly/Astralwerks/Capitol)
Ed Harcourt's debut album Here Be Monsters earned the young Brit a healthy amount of critical acclaim, though it didn't gain any sizable hold on the marketplace. Now it's time for the all-important follow-up, the record that will not only expand his hold on the hearts of the scribes, but also tweak the interest of the public. That's a lot of pressure for one young man to endure, but if Harcourt is suffering from the weight of expectations, he certainly isn't showing it on From Every Sphere. From a performance standpoint, he sounds relaxed and confident, moving easily from piano to guitar to drums, from celebratory pop ("All of Your Days Will Be Blessed") and electronic noir ("Ghost Writer") to sardonic spookiness ("Undertaker Strut") and confessional balladry ("Bleed a River Deep"). Harcourt and co-producer Tchad Blake keep the arrangements meticulous but open and airy, never letting the songs get bogged down in clutter; few records sound this loose while still being so lush. All the better; Harcourt may not be bothered by the prospect of following up an acclaimed record, but he sounds pretty tightly wound emotionally on tunes like "Jetsetter" and "Metaphorically Yours." Fortunately he also finds a measure of peace in "The Birds Will Sing For Us," "The Hammer and the Nail" (a bonus track on the U.S. edition) and the title track. Harcourt's melodies don't leap out and grab the earlobe, but their hooks sink in over time, and it's time well spent. Would that all highly praised debuts have follow-ups as strong as From Every Sphere. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Joseph Arthur, Rufus Wainwright, Hawksley Workman

LINCOLN CONSPIRACY
Details Are Everything
(Lincoln Conspiracy)
Let's get the easy stuff out of the way first: Prefab Sprout, Ben Folds Five, the Beach Boys. Piano, bass, drums and harmonies. Slick eighties progressive pop production, queasy synth lines accentuated with plenty of back-up "oohs" and "ahs," John Hughes soundtracks.

The Lincoln Conspiracy is a Boston band and the only one like it. They have quite a pair of choirboys in drummer Steve Lourie and keyboardist Ethan Kreitzer. Is Lourie the new Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout)? No. Is that okay? Yes. Prefab Sprout were often extremely annoying with their earnestness and over-the-top processed back-up vocals. Like in "Cars And Girls," an otherwise great song until McAloon sings with a choke, "too many folks getting carsick." Ugh! I think I just got carsick! That was a digression away from the Lincoln Conspiracy, but the truth is that there's no denying that Prefab Sprout is one of the Lincoln Conspiracy's main influences, and that's a rarity itself. But what the world needs now is not necessarily another Paddy McAloon.

When the Lincoln Conspiracy hits its mark, it's pretty magical indeed. Details Are Everything's opening number "Let's Get Ready To Go" is a brisk and optimistic walk down a big city avenue through the eyes of a twenty-one year old. Its hot-shot melody and uplifting chorus with a triple call-and-response hook are reminiscent of the Beach Boys—but merely reminiscent as the Lincoln Conspiracy, with its slavish regard for the eighties, never sounds even remotely like a sixties band. The group hits its stride on "All The People Say," a Wings-meets-Hall & Oates romp through the jazz-chord fakebook, complete with Herb Alpert-style trumpet break and a terrific falsetto hook. Perhaps what makes the Lincoln Conspiracy so impressive is that despite the fact that the musicians so heavily and intentionally stylize their own music, they can actually hit their mark and can definitely generate hit material of the type which could grab them the attention of a major label if the tide swings back to pop, as it did a few years back with the whole Fastball/New Radicals/Semisonic thing. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that the Lincoln Conspiracy's best songs might just be a bit too sophisticated to get onto the charts.

But what does that say for the worst? "Candidate" feels a little too much like a cross between "My Sharona" and the Mentos theme song. Am I out of my mind or does "Still The Same" rip off E.L.O.'s "Evil Woman?" And why does it sound like the Lincoln Conspiracy could perform its vindictive break-up song "Happy Anniversary" on MTV Spring Break? With its giant piano chords and half-time beat, opportunities abound for doing those big jumps that the kids love so much. What kind of a picture does this paint? Often, the Lincoln Conspiracy drags the songs out a bit too long, and the chord progressions wear themselves out, or it becomes an issue that Ethan Kreitzer is no Joe Jackson, though he does his darnedest. It's always just gonna be simple chords and variations banged out on an electronic piano, with solos performed on groovy auxiliary keyboards. And while co-songwriter Steve Lourie is a drummer of substantial gifts, he is somehow relegated to forever play beats like "You Can't Get What You Want ('Til You Know What You Want)" by the aforementioned Jackson. (You know, the awesome one with the periodic sixteenth beats on the high-hat?) Totally eighties, and totally sincere, I would like to hear the Lincoln Conspiracy take it up a notch and edge out some of the cheese on its next outing. Better than Weezer. Jonathan Donaldson

For fans of: Prefab Sprout, Ben Folds Five, the Mentos theme song

THE LOVETONES
Be What You Want
(The Committee to Keep Music Evil)
You'd think that a band with the implicit patronage of Brian Jonestown Massacre leader Anton Newcombe (since The Committee to Keep Music Evil is his label) would bear a similarity to the BJM's shambolic psychedelia. But, in the case of Australia's Lovetones, you'd be wrong. Led by former Drop City major domo Matthew J. Tow, the Lovetones present Be What You Want, a debut collection of tightly constructed, blatantly anthemic set-pieces that sound like arena rock singalongs without the cheesy aftertaste. Tow sings with plenty of emotion, but he keeps it under tight rein, rendering strongly focused performances that spotlight the melodies without belaboring them. The band adds the occasional orchestral bit—a glockenspiel here, a Mellotron there—but sticks fairly close to its guitars/bass/drums core. This is the kind of music that could get old if left to rampage unchecked, but the band's craft balances out Tow's heart nicely on excellent songs like "Guiding Star," "The One and Only" and "Something Good." This is the kind of soulful, widescreen pop certain British bands would kill to be making. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: the Verve, Spiritualized, The Soundtrack of Our Lives

MUSHROOM WITH GARY FLOYD
Mad Dogs & San Franciscans
(Black Beauty)
One day Patrick O'Hearn Thomas, drummer and leader of San Francisco's spacey progressive fusion ensemble Mushroom, had a brainstorm: record an album of 60s and 70s covers with Gary Floyd, beargod frontman of bluesy punk rock troops Black Kali Ma and Sister Double Happiness. High concept at its finest, right? Mad Dogs & San Franciscans isn't quite the work of genius implied in the idea, alas. Not that there's anything here that's less than good—Thomas and his bunch are fantastic musicians, and Floyd has always been one of the most soulful vocalists in punk, so it's impossible for any of them to do these songs badly. And that's the problem—it's almost too competent. Covers of Spirit's "I Got a Line on You," Clarence Carter's "Slip Away" and Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" are so faithful to the originals that they sound like they were meticulously crafted from sheet music; Floyd even sings the Mayfield tune in a falsetto that approximates its author's. For a bunch of musicians for whom pushing the envelope comes as naturally as breathing, this kind of orthodoxy is surprising and a little disappointing. Sometimes it works—the group's resurrection of the Who's unrecognized gem "Water" is appreciated and its version of Matthew Moore's "Space Captain" is just impossibly soulful, while lead guitarist Josh Pollock ravages the otherwise faithful take on the Spencer Davis Group's "Keep On Running" with a snarling solo. But for the most part these songs comes across as unnecessarily stodgy, which is a term that could never be applied to either artist's usual work. Maybe that's why "Even the Beatles Had Beards" and the tongue-twistingly titled "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, But It Will Be Auctioned Off on Ebay, " the two loosest, most compelling tracks, are both Mushroom originals. Let's be clear on this: this is by no means a bad record and the artists do perfectly decent versions of all these songs. But Mad Dogs & San Franciscans isn't nearly as adventurous as fans of the folks involved would no doubt expect. Michael Toland

For fans of: Money Mark, Air, really good bar bands

Copyright © 2003 High Bias