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With the spotlight on the 350 bands performing at North by Northwest this week, I've decided to devote this space to reviewing albums by acts that for one reason or another aren't included in the festival. All three CDs were self-released and stood out from a pile of other such discs because I found them either enlightening, entertaining or worthy of wider exposure. The ranking criteria, though admittedly non-scientific, is fairly straightforward.The story opens with a young woman in custody. Ingrid is disgusting. She picks at her face until it bleeds; she tries to kill herself with a dull fork. The other inmates call her "Dog-girl." But Ingrid's tale begins years earlier in upstate New York. Her mother, Chloe, drags her from one small town to another to escape the pull of Ingrid's father, Lucas, a handsome but violent Vietnam veteran-turned-criminal. Chloe is enslaved to her former husband, Lucas, but is smart enough to save her own skin--and that of her daughter--by runng from him. But Lucas follows and wreaks horrible havoc on his family's life by committing an unspeakable act before leaving them forever.
Cannonball Simp,Secret Toy Surprise
At first listen, this comes off as bland, underdeveloped adult rock that makes 10,000 Maniacs sound like punk. Yet this Portland quartet's songwriting is deceptively refined. The mid-tempo "Sad to Say" glides along on a circular guitar riff, and Jenn Maer's restrained voice floats barely above the instrumental surface. Unfortunately, on too many of the remaining six songs, Maer's voice flies like a newly freed falcon away from the music backdrop, as poor production isolates her vocals whenever she reaches for a high note or expresses emotion. Kennedy Payne's guitar work and an adroit rhythm section nearly compensate for this glitch, making Secret Toy Surprise a promising first step for Cannonball Simp. Songwriting: 7
Production: 4
What happens when you play it loud: Pretty girls ask what you're listening to.
Overall score: 6
Cannonball Simp plays Berbati's Pan at 8 pm Wednesday, Oct. 15.
Static, EP #1
With Justin Chia's slick vocals and his amalgam of pulsing techno beats and chugging guitar riffs, you'd never guess that he developed his one-man project Static in Beaverton. Then again, where else would anyone study Nine Inch Nails' records so diligently that he could produce such a facsimile? The self-released four-song EP isn't completely derivative, however, and it does contain one true highlight: "Liverspot" mangles a twangy guitar, tosses in a feverish industrial chorus, adds a sledgehammer-rock bridge that would make Beavis and Butt-Head go ballistic, then winds down with a spacey, warped outro that layers voices and loops before stopping abruptly.
Songwriting: 5
Production: 8
What happens when you play it loud: Children weep and animals howl.
Overall score: 6
Static plays the Paris Theater at 3 am Friday and Saturday, Oct. 17 and 18.
Cal Erath, Cetus
Well, it takes its name from the constellation of the whale, and it's billed as a "relaxation and meditation CD," so you pretty much know where Cetus is headed from the start. But if you get past Cal Erath's New Age aesthetic, his 43-minute composition stands up as a noteworthy addition to the ambient genre, reminiscent of Brian Eno's Thursday Afternoon and some of Robert Rich's more minimalist releases. Erath methodically builds sonic layers in the aural equivalent of time-lapse photography. He evokes an intriguing variety of sounds, and the only instrumentation is an electric pedal-steel guitar.
Composition: 7|
Production: 8
What happens when you play it loud: Everything is OK.
Overall score: 7
Portland Postscript: The turnout and crowd reaction at Berbati's Pan pleased Mike Watt Thursday night. The veteran bassist led his three-piece band through a recitation of his album-length punk-rock opera, Contemplating the Engine Room, then left the stage to ecstatic applause. Returning for an encore, Watt seemed genuinely moved, thanking the audience for indulging his thematic performance and closing with a few old Minutemen tunes. He even dedicated a song to local rock scribe turned spoken-word artist Richard Meltzer.
The Oregon Symphony's Chamber Music on Tap kicks off its third season Wednesday, Oct. 22, at BridgePort BrewPub, with what looks like a dynamic program. The chamber ensemble Third Angle will perform Astor Piazzolla's "Tango Suite" and Michael Daugherty's "Viola Zombie," among others. It's advisable to purchase tickets in advance, as the previous season's concerts have been sell-outs. Tickets are available at 228-1353 or at the symphony box office at 719 SW Alder St. |
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