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Peach Head Natural Calamity (Ideal) Of related interest: Sugar Plant, Neneh Cherry Natural
Calamity Mainly because the word "Japanoise" sounds so cool, bands like the Boredoms and Ruins distort the West's view of rock music from the other side of the Pacific. But recent exports such as Kahimi Karie and Cornelius have been shooting a kitschier wink across the blue expanse as if to say "Hello, American kitties." One of the best of this new breed is Natural Calamity, the Tokyo duo of Shunji Mori and Kuni Sugimoto, multi-instrumentalists who hooked up with sultry-voiced English vocalist Stephanie Heasley to provide us with a breath of fresh Air. Released on the Dust Brothers' new Ideal label, Peach Head saunters through groovy soft-dance-rock territory with woozy beats and some deft guitar, bass and keyboard work. "So Good" unspools like a less gloomy Portishead song; the twang and gurgling synth of "Jessica" could be the soundtrack sauce for an udon-noodle Western; and the Bacharachian melody of "That's the Way That Love Goes" flows like syrup. Two of the strongest tracks--"And That's Saying a Lot" and "As You Know"--come in regular and remixed versions and eschew noisiness in favor of dreamy, easy-listening pop for the hipster crowd. Richard Martin
Flip Squad AllStar DJs Flip Squad (MCA) Of related Interest: Sugar Hill Records, Biz Markie, New York radio station Hot 97 Lately, hip-hop-ignorant writers riding the dick have been writing mad articles about DJs Spooky, Shadow and Cut Chemist. The leaders of this new crop are suburban kids accessing hip-hop by way of the turntables. Of course since they aren't from the streets, these DJs have gained mass appeal for mixing a variety of musical sounds and highly technical scratching into a collage of junk. But these new cats forget the basic rule of DJing: Rock the party. The Flip Squad--Big Kap, Biz Markie, Funkmaster Flex, Doo Wop, Mark Ronson, Cipha Sounds, DJ Enuff and Mister Cee--takes it back to '79, hauling in underground MCs to lace the tracks. Don Blaq bugs out to Doo Wop's flipping of the classic "Rock Creek Park" into the hype "The Things I Do." Big Kap lays down an ill sampled movie-score beat for Desean Supa Star to blow out comfort to her boo on "Because." For those that know, Biz Markie does his usual thing on "It's Da Biz" and "Biz & Candy," while Cipha Sounds' "Get Tough '98" is the nicest shit on the Flip Squad All Star DJs compilation. Yo', don't get caught up with the flash in the pans because nobody beats the Biz and his boys. H.V. Claytor Jr.
Hellbilly Deluxe Rob Zombie (Geffen) Of related interest: Ministry, Misfits Rob
Zombie Rob Zombie's comic-book characters were never fully realized in the goofy groove-metal of White Zombie. Astro-Creep: 2000 may have come close, but his solo effort Hellbilly Deluxe comes closer. Though the music is similar, without the burden of bandmates (or the teen-demographic distraction of she-babe bassist Sean Yseult), Mr. Z allows his nerdy art-school persona to shuffle into the theater and take center stage while he lurks behind the curtain, thumbing switches and grinning wickedly: Shoot the spotlight on horror-show theatrics! Spark the B-movie beasties to life! Let the witches fly, demons drool, werewolves growl! A few sacrifices must be made, of course: solo Zombie is less rawking than White Zombie (possibly alienating the band's pickup truck entourage); several Hillbilly tracks are little more than morbid sound collages; and the whole album is barely over 30 minutes. But once the blood has been sponged up, the maniacal maestro seems happy and purified. The question is whether his fans will feel the same. If they liked White Zombie for its drag-strip ethos of power chords and nitro propulsion, probably not. But if undead souls are scratching at the door to your heart, Hellbilly Deluxe may be the key to letting them in. John Graham
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