Moviola
Durable Dream
CD

Simple and sweet, this is their most poppy, happy, jangly, tinkly album to date. From the Byrds influence of the first track to the cello and XTC arrangement of the title track, there's that certain looseness - especially in the vocals -- that first intrigued me about Moviola moons ago.

My favorite tune is probably "Monument" with its little high Pere Ubu helping out the Pixies "ba ba" synthetic vocal effects. And I can't help but compare much of the CD to Beck's Mutations a bit too.

- Joel (Feb 20, 2000)

Well, well, someone's been hiding in the basement with to much gear and no food to eat other than the nasty little maggot eating away at Lower's flesh, Only Flesh! Finally after all the hype, all the talk, all the meanderings & negotiations!Yes, first think back in the days when experimentalism was at its peak with bands like Throbbing Gristle, Godflesh, Klinik, & Coil. Think when using what limited pieces of unsophisticated gear and ready to use materials were all you had to create Music! Now fly into the present time, add crazy, yet disturbing vox effex & modern day f#cked up samples that could make you laugh or squirm and you find "crippled book of flies." Experimentalism would actually be an understatement of this demo. Lower entices the mind with annoying samples that pull you into the coffin and bury you alive with harsh guitar riffs, abrasive chaotic beat structures, and forbidden unforgiving layered vocals.Versatility is strongly apparent in this release for many strong artist work in collaboration to make this project actually happen. Yet all is material, so be aware, Lower digs further into the grave with this one. Tracks such as "Christ Junkie","Fools Night", & "Our Disease" give the best interpretation to what this is all about ! Not for the weak at heart or stomach! Don't be afraid walk into the darkness, it's your friend!

(McClelland)DEADWYRE webzine

- McClelland (Feb 17, 2000)

Although the Ron and the boys have been laying low lately, they hardly seemed rusty Friday night at up and coming rock joint High 5(maybe beer serves as rust protection).

The show began with frontman Ron House ranting about how he heard some girl was showing her breasts at the previous week's New Bomb Turks show. House declared that the girls in attendance had better not show their breasts tonight, because it was his show and he didn't want to be upstaged. Upstage Ron House? Not likely considering this is the man who performed a 4th of July show with a prosthetic penis strapped to his head.

The crowd was sparse but continually growing as the Slave Apartments hit the stage and tore into Bait and Switch sing-a-long "You Can't Kill Stupid." It wasn't long before Ron House was doing his signature, um, dance,and while it may never land him a spot on Soul Train, it is still one of the best parts of a TJSA show.

Running something like 45 minutes, TJSA's set was chock full of favorites from Bait & Switch and Straight to Video, and peppered with darker numbers from their upcoming Rock-a-thon release.

Following the Cowtown boys, were inadvertently creepy Cleveland rhinestone rockers Cobra Verde. Scene vets, they turned in a great performance, although the singer wouldn't stop chattering his teeth like a deranged chipmunk and the keyboard player, I don't even want to talk about him. Suffice it to say he had a red laser zig-zagging designs on his face for the duration of the set, wore a cowboy hat and was sporting flashlight rimmed glasses.

- keg (Feb 09, 2000)

This first album from the Mullins Band (which of course was formed after Ekoostik Hookah founding member John Mullins left that group) is entirely live with the exception of one studio "bonus" track. It was recorded at the now sadly defunct Chelsie's in Nov. 98 and Feb. 99 and released on June 4, 99. The band (at the time this was released in '99) consisted of Mullins on guitar/vocals, Nate Hollman on keys, Chris Connor on lead guitar, Jim Wolfe on bass, and Steve Frye (another original Hookah member) on drums. All the songs are written by Mullins.

We get started with Harmonic Convergence. This is a moody piece and is a good showcase for Mullins' biggest asset - his song writing. While not the most prolific writer, he can certainly write a great song when he puts his mind to it. As with many of his songs, Harmonic Convergence has a sort of folksy storytelling quality. Mullins' vocals are strong and remind a little of Steven Stills but also are reminiscent of Jonathan Edwards. In fact, one of Mullins' biggest influences seems to be Mr. Edwards (the band covers several of his tunes including "Athens County"). This song features a nice organ solo from Hollman which builds slowly to a powerful crescendo.

Mississippi Steamboat is next. With more storytelling lyrics, this song has a deeply nostalgic feel. "Sitting in the back room with my grandpa, when I was only a boy. Telling stories and playing cards till dawn...that old Mississippi steamboat." Hollman again plays a beautiful solo here, this time on piano. Nate has a dynamic sense that really adds a lot to the band's sound, frequently kicking them into another gear. Chris Connor also has a nice solo here. He has a sort of country-rock twinged style that's quite unique and a bit hard to explain. It took me a while to get used to, but once I did I really appreciated his style and tone (unfortunately he has since left the band).

Bluebird - Another moody song, this ballad has some more strong lyrics. "Love is more that a business deal, at least it is to me." I like that. I should write that down for the next time my girlfriend brings up marriage.

Bats In The Belfry - I like Connor's solo on this one. You can hear his more rockin' style as it builds. Never flashy, Connor always plays what's appropriate for the song. I feel he fit in better that any of the many other guitarists who have played in Mullins Band (which has included such respected local musicians as Paul Brown).

Shadane - One of the more upbeat songs on the album, built around an interesting, jazzy riff. Steve Frye plays a nice shuffle rhythm on it with lots of double stroke rolls on the snare.

The Ballad of Sam McKully - The longest song on the album at over 10 minutes, the song features some nice twin lead trade-offs between Mullins and Connor.

Freedom Flying - Contains the most interesting improvisational explorations on the album. Nice jazzy, spacey feel. Mullins plays electric on this one and shows he is capable of playing some nice lead as well. Goes right into...

Reciprocity - Another jazz-inflected song including more solid Hammond work from Hollman. Connor also plays some outstanding atmospheric leads.

Tumblin' (studio) - The shortest song on the album and only studio track. I like this song because it's more rock 'n roll than a lot of their stuff. It is also more pop-inflected than a lot of jam-bands will allow themselves to get. In reality, its just got a catchy chorus and is a fun song. It'd make a good first single for the band.

Overall, this is a solid first outing for the band. Although many of these songs were previously released on Hookah albums, this album certainly offers a new take on them. Generally well mixed (Mullins' acoustic guitar sounds rather thin and under-mixed at times) and produced by Mullins and Fred Blitzer. Local legend Tom Boyer engineered and mastered the live tapes.

Any jam-band fans should enjoy this release. It does a fairly good job of capturing the bands live sound, but to get the full effect check 'em out the next time they play.

- Drew Layman (Jan 28, 2000)

The Big Creak

The Big Creak made the trek south from Bowling Green to a packed house at Northberg Tavern. It was supposed to be the grand re-opening, but the renovations that were supposed to be done, were not. It was as packed as I have ever seen the place. Northberg installed an actual booth for the sound board and hired a professional sound company.

The Big Creak followed show opener Mushcup from Pittsburgh. I missed Mushcup trying to find a reasonable place to park on campus. I arrived just as they were tearing down.

The Big Creak went on and I was happy. The played some familiar tunes for me because I have seen them five times in Columbus. The Big Creak is like a pop jam band. Only Guster really sounds anything like them on a national level as far as I have heard. The just flat out rocked the house down. A definite foot in the jam band door, but strong song writing to go with it. A short forty five minute set that stretched a little over when the guitarist Jim had some instrument cable problems. The band played through it by pulling a friend up on stage to free style some rhymes to the music. I have seen this before, but on this occasion it couldn't have come at a better time. The trouble Jim was having had started to make it hard for the band to keep up the jam. The rhyming lasted a bit longer than I would have like, and I am sure the rapper would agree due to some of the things I heard him coming up with.

Strong set by the Big Creak!

Ordinary Peoples

What the hell can I say. The party was fucking jumpin' when these boys hit the stage! A full band behind an MC. Very G Love but much much more rootsy. I was even boogieing? (sorry, how the hell do you spell that anyway?)

Ari, the rapper most of the time for OP had his father join him onstage to play harmonica with the band. Great overall musicianship and performance ability. I absolutely loved every minute of it. I really can't say anything negative about this show except too much Tommy Hillfiger and Abercrombie apparel.

- Melvin B. Strange (Jan 26, 2000)

Columbus's own electro/industrial band FLESH FIELD recently released their first album on Inception Records out of Canada. The album is entitled "Viral Extinction". Included is a review found on Tentecles E-Zine: "Imagine if you will, a debut CD so excellent that it literally dwarfs recent releases from the major players in the industrial genre. Well, I have news for you.... it isn't your imagination, but a reality, a reality called Flesh Field.

Without a doubt, Flesh Field has created the most amazing album of 1999. This album is overflowing with pure energy and emotion.

Someone describing their sound might possibly say that it sounds like euro-style electro/EBM (a la Leather Strip), but that would be far too limiting, since it only bears a similarity. The song-writing is extremely well done, and the production is excellent (Two things that debuts rarely ever have). The album as a whole, is very upbeat and dancable, with strong attention to song-structure and melody.

Not only is the album well written and produced, but I haven't been so moved by programming and sampling since the classic Front Line Assembly days. To put it succinctly, this album is an epic masterpiece. All the songs are excellent, and we even get a remix by Assemblage 23 as a bonus.

Now, some of you may be saying, "Well... the music may be good, but what about the vocals, oh wise one?"

"Patience my son, it gets even better.":

Ian and Rian totally destroy any preconceptions that industrial fans may have of bands that include both male and female vocalists (distorted aggro male screamings followed by totally dissimilar undistorted female "singing"). Not only can both Ian and Rian sing "heavy", but they can both really "sing"! Distortion is used on both their vocals, and neither really plays the role of primary vocalist on the album, instead they both intertwine with each other, complementing each other and the music perfectly. Rian has an excellent voice, that especially shows through with her beautiful solo vocals on the epic and neo-classical "My Saviour". For their climax, the magnificent dance floor destroyer "Cyberchrist", she shows us her sheer intensity in full, and her vocals definitely magnify the intensity of the song.

If other industrial bands even _attempt_ to top this album, then the genre has never been in better shape.

Conclusion: Buy this, don't think twice, in fact, don't even think once, just buy this!"

- ian Ross (Nov 30, 1999)

The MoonDance Experiment
Fall Awake in Your Dreams Tonight
CD

OK, the mystical, hippie folk overtones of the name made me a bit hesitant. Then the press kit reinforced those mystical overtones to a point of over-absorbed pretension. I found much of it silly, though I think MoonDance may take it a bit seriously. If not, I congratulate them on a schtick well done.

The press kit went into detail on their writing technique. Basically they improvise and play off of each other for 45 minutes or so. Later they come back and hone that jam. Actually, that may not be much different than how a lot of practices go, but I guess the philosophy is bit different. This CD evidently reflects the outcome of one of these "45ers".

The day after reading the press kit, I put on the CD prepared to hear some combination of Pink Floyd, hippie space jams with repetitive, monotonous, bad and/or overzealous musicianship. Instead I got moody, somewhat experimental and pastoral brit art pop! Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, Eno-era U2 and James (the band), later (post pop) Talk Talk, Marillion, Steve Reich, Topographic Oceans-era Yes, This Mortal Coil, and even Oasis came to mind much more than Floyd, the Dead or anything hippie or folk. Hmm, beware expectations -- can't judge music by its makers?

The CD, though divided into 14 tracks, is approached as one continuous piece with short intro, midpoint and extended closing instrumental "ambient nature" pieces. Instrumentally, the keyboards are sometimes too predominant for my tastes. The percussion tends to be either very tribal and key or very minimal -- if not absent. MoonDance often gets around this by having other generally non-percussive instruments carry the rhythm -- and it works.

Sure, when the vocals come in they are often too effects driven and over-emoted. Plus the lyrics can be a bit too mystically heavy handed. Fortunately these two things kind of work together in a way that makes the lyrics difficult to decipher except when they take the spotlight. Thus, I'm not sure I like the spoken word sections at all, but they do provide a bit of a break between sections. At the same time, sometimes I enjoy a little pretension.

In the end, I found Fall Awake in Your Dreams Tonight largely intriguing -- especially on first listen. After repeated listenings it still holds up perty well for me, though the quirks and short comings became a bit more obvious. Now I can't help but be a little curious about their live show. Hmm, where's that calendar???

- Joel (Oct 27, 1999)

Lotide Freakwave
Live at Bernie's 10/8/99

A history lesson of sorts ...

Damned be the bands made up of ex-members of bands I was a huge fan of. Double damn the bands with ALL their members from bands I was a big fan of.

In other words, I'm probably a bit more critical of bands like Lotide Freakwave. Vocalist Michelle Ishida, bassist Jeff Plavcan and drummer John Messersmith were in both Wishyfish and Mary Adam 12. Guitarist Geoff Ortlip is probably best known as the original drummer for the Econothugs and their predecessor, the Flapjaks. He was also in Miss May 66. Or was it the Mudflap Girls from Venus? Damn me for forgetting.

The first thing that stood out was Geoff's guitar sound and style. It was a bit less refined and mature than the more sophisticated stylings of Wishyfish or the more subtle understated quality of most MA12. But then again, Michelle was in a not too dissimilar sounding band called Lovin' Mouthful for a bit.

At times it had a very rough 80's pop feeling. The first 2-3 songs were actually disappointments. But after that they began to play a little more interesting parts. The bass began to become more prominent. And the bass is probably the biggest highlight of this band at this stage.

The song writing sounds like it may still be fairly solid, but the execution is lacking to these damned ears. My comparisons would include the B-52s, Babe the Blue Ox and a bit of standard loose girl pop.

By the end of the set my disappointment nearly disappeared. The potential for another band I'll eventually rave about like a damn lunatic is there. I think they just need more time to tighten up before they open up in a way that doesn't just sound loose.

- Joel (Oct 10, 1999)

The Bygones
Bernie's 10/9/99

Bygones bassist Dan "the man" Piercy -- the man behind the Seldom Scene, the original round of the official Guided by Voices and the Sponic Web sites -- has sent me a few samples of the Bygones -- probably including at least one tune that predates the band name and drummer. The other members ya may actually recognize: Jason of Preston Furman on drums and Bill from Guinea Worms and various Athens open stages on guitar and lead vocals.

My first impression of that early tune was country Pavement. Ya know, that kinda unsure, pubescent vocal sound with rough, twangy, folksy guitars. Now having heard a few more tunes and especially seeing them live, I realize the county/folk side is much more of an influence.

The first tune had a Dylanesque delivery and ended with a few repeated references to Van "the man" Morrison. The next several tunes made me (and David Holm of Bigfoot) think of the Last Waltz. Yes, there were Neil Young, Dylan, the Band and Van nods all over the place.

I think of it as that Athens county country sound. Or my old still largely standing and seldom disputed theory: More people in Ohio than any other state, know how to play Euchre and are influenced by Neil Young. As for Pavement, I suppose it's more Built to Spill through the drunken, high daze of Southern Ohio life.

- Joel (Oct 10, 1999)

The Marbles
Live 8/22/99

Not more than 2 weeks ago I couldn't get Sweet out of my head. (I know,I know, there's an ELO pun here some wheres.) So much so that not only did I borrow a sweet Sweet compilation from a co-worker, I ordered my own from CDNow. Sweet, ya ask? Think "Little Willy Willy won't ... go home", "Action", "Fox on the Run", "Love is Like Oxygen".

What's this got to do with the Marbles? Not much really. It's more to establish my state of mind. I've unrequited want of some good ol' pop. The Marbles filled it quite well.

The female bassist led trio plays an 80's pop reminiscent of say, Kim Wilde ("Kids in America") minus the synths, Missing Persons ("Destination Unknown", "What are Words For"), Scandal (the "Goodbye to You" "Warrior" girl), Katrina and the Waves ("Walking on Sunshine"), the Police's early pop tunes and more straight ahead yet "Dreamy" Blondie. Of course it's a bit edgier than all that live - but still there. Plus the bass player definitely gets a cute bass player award, too -- if Cringe has any left.

As for Sweet, that CD ended up being not just remastered in 1995, but also new recordings by some weak revival with Billy "What's-his-name" as the only "original" member. Oh well, it's probably too late to return it now. At least I've got the Marbles' Rocks Not Dead CD.

- Joel (Aug 22, 1999)

Chalk
Nothing Left To Do But Die
CD (Deary Me Records)

I'm gonna make this a quickie. Chalk is a Cincy area band that's had a couple gigs in the Columbus area in the last year or so. Chalk kinda picks up where Joy Division left off with some anxious paranoid gloom. Ample squirmishes of noise, dissonance and distortion throughout arouse the industrial pop sensibility of, say, Ethyl Meatplow (one of my favorites from 10 years ago) with a few pure noise experiments.

- Joel (Jul 24, 1999)

Ice Cream Phoenix
June 4, 1999 at Smiling Rhino

I'm not sure what the name references, but it's clear the Doors provide a strong reference for Ice Cream Phoenix. But don't take my word for it. They make the comparison perty easy when covering "Light my Fire" fairly true to the Doors' (not Jose Feliciano's) version. In short, ICP (no, not Insane Clown Posse, just an unfortunate "monogramatical" coincidence ... I think) is garagy, psychedelic, blues art rock with occasional fits of guitar and vocal rage. The thing is I just don't like the Doors much -- well, at least not vocally or lyrically. Musically I think ICP is lacking, which is the one place I appreciate the Doors. Oh well.

- Joel (Jun 5, 1999)

Go Evol Shiki!
June 4, 1999 at Smiling Rhino

Go Evol Shiki! is kinda a descendant of Ayanami (not that that gives many a point of reference). The band was two guitars/male vocalists, one female vocalist, a drummer and one keyboardist/bassist/guitarist? Um, I couldn't see this last guy too well. The music was moody with slow yet somewhat dancable drums and bass. One guitarist commonly provided bits of noise, grace notes and intriguing fills. The other guitarist tended toward more structural playing. In the end, especially when the female vocalist sang, Portishead was an obvious comparison. When the guitarists sang, Kitchens of Distinction tended to come to mind. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a quite a bit of 70's Pink Floyd with more drums and bass type rhythm section at work here too. Quite an enjoyable change of pace for me and our standard bar band.

Update: Shiki has since lost their female vocalist. Unfortunately this leaves the band a bit less unique or Portisheadish and a bit more droning and Floydian.

- Joel (Jun 5, 1999)