album reviews
Q And Not U
Power
(Dischord, 2004)
If Q and Not U were scientists instead of a band, they'd be the mad variety. In a secluded lab somewhere deep in the wilds of Washington, D.C. they'd be busy fusing the head of an alligator onto a monkey or crossbreeding roses with magic mushrooms.
Luckily, these guys obviously spent their childhoods collecting records instead of chemistry sets and junior gene-splicing kits. So instead of monkeygators and mind-melting topiary, we get the new album Power, an exciting hybrid that's infinitely more appealing than any scaly, arboreal monstrosity.
Fusing disparate elements of funk, disco, dub, art rock and more onto a Fugazi-influenced, post-hardcore skeleton, Q and Not U has created a unique sound. It's part dance punk, part art rock, and all good.
The album opens with "Wonderful People," a blend of squelching synth bass, a falsetto, quasi-disco vocal and propulsive, muscular rhythms. The next song, "7 Daughters," takes a hard left turn into art-rock territory, with lots of throaty, resonant synthesizer sounds and a vaguely Middle-Eastern feel somewhat reminiscent of the Bowie/Eno collaborations of the late 70s.
From there we get everything from the indie radio-ready "Collect the Diamonds" to spazzy punk with flute and synth accents in "LAX," the dirge-like "District Night Prayer," and "Book of Flags," a dubby, trippy little slice of funk that's begging to be remixed into a floor-filling anthem. The rest of it covers an equally wide swath of territory stylistically and is of a consistently high quality.
This is not an album that will appeal to everyone. The vocals can be a little annoying at times, alternating between falsetto and a nasal, punky tone. The eclecticism that is this album's strength will certainly turn off many purists who believe hardcore and disco should never come within a mile of each other.
For anyone who can overlook some occasionally annoying vocal timbres and set aside whatever preconceived notions they might harbor, this is a worthwhile purchase.
So many bands spend their entire career reworking the familiar and timeworn elements of their chosen stylistic niche into mild variations of theme, mood, and melody without so much as a glance at what the rest of the world is doing. This can yield fine results, but all too often leads to stagnation and cookie-cutter fetishism, with each successive generation of bands rewriting their predecessors' best moments into increasingly bland derivations. Any band that rejects this staid conservatism is worth a listen. A band that does it with such consistently appealing results is a gift.
- Cory Casciato
Blues Explosion
Damage
(Sanctuary, 2004)
While Jon Spencer's name no longer adorns the band's official title, his ethos and pathos are still abundantly clear in the assemblage of a motley crew of shipmates to join the latest studio voyage.
Damage the album begins with "Damage" the song. This first track acts as a statement of intent.
The pirates plunder the past to provide Black Flag's Damaged alongside John Bonham's drumbeat from "When the Levee Breaks," underpinned with the sonic dumpster diving of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing.
Guests Chuck D and Martina Topley-Bird add an extra dimension to the songs on which they appear.
Dan the Automator, DJ Shadow, and David Holmes each assist in the production.
These outside influences add a welcome outsider's perspective to the trio's tirades.
While managing to be entertaining and energetic, Damage only feels right when the songs coalesce into a willfull whole.
- Chip Boehm
From First to Last
Dear Diary...
(Victory, 2004)
While not lacking in musical talent, From First to Last seem to have come up short in creating a fresh sound for itself.
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count leaves little to the imagination. It all sounds just a bit too familiar. Musically, they're flawless-poppy yet technical rhythms, diversity between songs, vocals that are sweet like cotton candy (even when screaming) and lyrics to match, but it's nothing that hasn't been done before.
Having one acoustic track on a screamo-rock album is acceptable, but two? And what possessed them to feature a guest rapper on the final track? Maybe they just needed some space-fillers, because that's certainly what it sounds like.
This album definitely doesn't deserve to be called "radio punk," but it falls somewhere close to what is becoming less and less desirable music to the ears.
- Sarah Conway
Jean Grae
This Week
(Babygrande, 2004)
Much like the famous Marvel Comics character of the same name, Jean Grae, the Phoenix of hip hop, has once again been reborn.
On her third lyrical outing, Grae comes off as less pessimistic about life and the game and ready to take over the rap world by force.
Unlike previous albums, the production is handled by more mainstream hip-hop producers. Midi Mafia, the production camp behind the boards of 50 Cent, gives Grae some real hot bangers. Soulful producer extraordinaire, 9th Wonder, lends production on the album's standout track "Supa Love." Overall, the production is less uniform but more solid. The beats range anywhere from gangsterish to incredibly soulful.
She rhymes about her love life on some tracks, while on others her warped sense of humor shines through. It is nice to hear her go from sounding all thugged out on one track then sounding very emotional on the next. Her delivery is fierce, her flow hypnotic and her voice is beautiful.
This Week is an incredible album. If you are looking for a perfect blend of soul and hard rap, this record is for you. If you are just looking for some great music to chill to, you should also go out and get this joint.
- Justin Rennolds
G. Love
The Hustle
(Universal, 2004)
G. Love & Special Sauce had a fairly large underground following throughout the mid- 90s, but monetary arguments during a tour nearly ended their career ten years ago.
With the release of The Hustle, all three original members are back to prove they can still write provocative music, this time simply going by G. Love.
Also back is their original sounding combination of blues, folk and hip-hop.
Frontman Garret Dutton is the highlight of the group. His sloppy sounding rapping-singing style complements the band's dirty blues sound peculiarly well.
When not singing, Dutton plays the harmonica, blending folk and pop at once with his notes.
This blend works particularly well on songs like "The Hustle" and "Give It To You," which features Jack Johnson.
G. Love definitely has a creative niche here, but in the end, most of the songs are painfully simple, and listeners really wouldn't miss anything if they only listened to half the album.
- Adam Brown |
