Reviews, bitch
The brilliant minds behind Mishap Productions and the
Spleen-A-Zine review some of today's most interesting and obscure music.
If you'd like your album reviewed send it to 846 Pine Flat rd. Santa Cruz, CA 95060.
the Marborough Project: the Downtrodden Outcasts of the Musical World
From Australia, Marborough Project are an amazing mix of Mr. Bungle's evil pervert circus, Residents-esque avant-obnoxiousness and Dose One style hip-hop wierdness, that never ends up sounding like a novelty act. With gloriously robotic sequences that are somehow as harsh as the best bomb squad tracks, yet still remaining extremely dancable. You'll wish you could use your super-powers to force every discotech in America to play nothing but this record over and over again. Matt and Nik's vocals alternate constantly between gutteral vomit-groans and shrill freak-out shrieks, while their MC on LSD lyrics are sure to be the thing to fill the void in your miserable life. Get everything you can from Marborough Project (as well as their previous incarnation, Boxcutter Collective) or at least die trying.
LADY MACBETH: Heavy Trucks
You might think all the able bodied, angst filled 22-year-old males in Tel Aviv ought to be out raping Palistinian women, but not the fine lads of Lady Macbeth. They've been out rockin' Israel with their self proclaimed "Seattle rock style," and slick corporate-cloned CD. It's so horribly convincing you'll think you're stuck in a perpetual
Mountain Dew commercial from 1994. These kids are ovbiously going to conquer Israel any way they can. I guess they're conscious objectors. If you're bored you can give them a call at: 011-972-50-445637
OPTIMUS RHYMES: More than Meets the Eye
Innovative hip hop from the San Francisco Bay Area's Jedi Knights
Circle. The sound is reminiscent of earlier Hieroglyphics with confessional
lyrics consisting mainly of Optimus' personal philosophies and views
on mainstream culture. The production is minimalist, seamlessly blending
an unlikely array of loops ranging from 50s sci-fi synth textures and slowed
down accordions to classical guitar and harsh orchestral stabs. Perhaps
my favorite part is Aura's flow on "the Phoenix, the Serpent"
in
which he describes the shallow, empty life and death of a business man
with the kind of monotone urgency of a victim in shock. More than Meets
the Eye is underground hip hop at it's purest, ignoring all
of the corporate rap industry's inane conventions and concentrating
on self expression and funky beats. Second Hand Productions, 17 Gonzalez
Drive San Francsico, CA 94132
WALNUT BRAIN: Walnut Brain
Undoubtedly the most brilliant thing to come out of Japan since Hello Kitty, Walnut Brain eminates the true heart and soul of punk rock. Akane and Miyuki play beautifully crafted songs of frusteration to a repeatitive perpetual drum machine. Though their sentance stucture may be questionable and their pronounciation strained, their vision comes through loud and clear. Fall in love again, with one or both of these lovely punk rockers. I know I have. I'll bet if you write them something nice, they'll send you a tape. Just try to keep the English simple. Akane Yamashita, 491-6 Shindenjyuku Zama-shi, Kanagawa 228-0026 Japan. 011-81-707-5540
DON CAMPAU: Play Dice With Me
A random collection of home-taping guru, Don Campau's tunes going back
all the way to 1984, Play Dice With Me is a bewilderingly consistent
voyeuristic journey into the mind of a prolific and neurotic man. Sounding
somewhat like a Syd Barrett / Iggy Pop hybrid, these spontaneous, wacky
lo and no-fi new wave songs never lose their intimate and playful 4-track
sensibility in the decade and a half represented here. Campau's happy songs
of misery and funny songs of nervous indecision will appeal to the young
at heart and misanthropic curmudgeons alike. Lonely Whistle Records,
PO Box 9162, Santa Rosa, CA 95405
DIGITAL UNDERGROUND: the Lost Files
This is a collection of previously unreleased Digital Underground tracks
which seem to be from their post-Tommy Boy era. There's not really
any explanation on the cover - most bootlegs these days have more information
than this. All it tells you is the names of the songs on top of some stock
clip-art; no credits, no publishing info, no address, no UPC, no picture
of the Humpty nose. If not for the infamous Digital Underground name on
this cover one would think this was some unknown's demo tape or
something. Indeed, there's little on this record that the casual
listener would recognize as Digital Underground. Missing are most of the
elements that made them extremely popular for a brief period: the gritty
P-funk samples, the complex layers of voices and beats, the freaky sex
rhymes, the all around attitude of silliness. There's no mention
of the Dolio flow, or sex packets or virtual reality hoes. Humpty Hump
is essentially missing in action; Shock G only occasionally slips into
his big-nosed doppleganger's character. Instead, what we have here is simple
(almost un-finished sounding) laid-back, Prince-esque, synthesized Humpty-soul
comparable most to their '96 release Future Rhythm. This is not
to say that I dislike this album. All the DU records have been pretty different
from each other and in certain ways I like this one better than their last
two. The beats are smooth but still funky. The lyrics seem serious
compared to most of the Underground canon - but never preachy. Shock is
introspective, exploring the "playa" lifestyle and eventually
rejecting it, but never losing the underlying element of fun. I'm
maybe not getting across how much I like this record; I would definitely
encourage people to try and get it, but then I think everybody should own
all the Digital Underground records. As one of the most undeservedly slept-on,
underrated hip hop crews of all time, Lost Files serves up more
proof that the DFlow crew aren't a novelty or a nostalgia act. Little
Butta Records
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