Music Reviews
Boredoms: Pop Tatari (Reprise)
Japanese music is poised for invasion, and Osaka's Boredoms are the movement's supergroup. Led by Yamatsuka Eye, these guerrillas perform titles like "Okinawa Rasta Beef Mockin' Fuzz2." Boredoms' mosh starts with six mixed-gender voices that scream, curse, squeal, argue, spit, and slurp noodles like a Tourette's convention captured on disc. Add '70s funk, whammy bar, dueling drummers, Motorhead riffs, and a dose of improvisational theater, and the resultant maniacal audio disgorge makes Ren and Stimpy look lethargic. Head for the bunker and bring a blaster.
- Colin Berry
Rise Robots Rise: Spawn (TVT Records)
Give Robots credit for freshly reinterpreting funk: high-tech grooves peppered with world beat, reggae, hip hop, and jazz, all with a hard backbeat and plenty of wah-wah pedal. Their lyrics - smooth-rhyming, buttery blends of PCness - and some dazzling fifth-tone vocal harmonies rescue songwriters Joe Mendelson and Ben Nitze from blatant Parliament/ Funkadelic plagiarism. You can trust me - an uptight white cat from the 'burbs - when I say if you want squeaky-clean beats with shine and polish, give Spawn a spin. (If you want da real funk, cue up George Clinton's latest.)
- Colin Berry
Joe Henderson: The Blue Note Years (Blue Note)
Joe Henderson's genius on tenor sax is his facility with a multitude of styles. Whether leader or sideman, he blows bop, blues, or Latin with consistently fluid grace and melodiousness. The vast array of personnel on this compilation (Kenny Dorham, McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter, to name a few) further evokes Henderson's mastery of the music, and his tonal and textural virtuosity with such classics as "In 'N Out," and "Y Ya La Quiero." Spanning 1963 to 1967, this compilation is a great introduction to both Henderson and post-Parker jazz.
- Peter Herb
Cocteau Twins: Four Calendar Cafe (Capitol Records)
Time and again, the soaring sound of heavenly vocals and interwoven instrumentation has elevated this British trio to dazzling plateaus of expression. Cocteau Twins continue this upward spiral with Four Calendar Cafe, their first release after leaving the 4AD label. The Twins offer rhythmic emotion with the refinement of experience. For over a decade, Cocteau Twins have refused to compromise their unique, aural magic that soothes the mind, body, and soul. Instead, they prove it a timeless art.
- Nori Castillo
Material: Hallucination Engine (Axiom)
Not since Mingus has there been a bass player who has composed as much music in a lifetime as Bill Laswell. A master of both the electric bass and the recording studio as instrument, Laswell has built a small yet prolific empire at Axiom. Hallucination Engine is definitely the best Material album to date. Every continent is represented, and groove reigns supreme. House, jazz, funk, rock, dub, ambient, African, Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese (!) all swing like mad. This is the real shit.
- Will Kreth
Leon Fleisher, Piano: Piano Works for the Left Hand
(Sony Classical)
Pianist Leon Fleisher, who suffers from carpal-tunnel syndrome, presents a recital of compositions for the left hand alone, including works by Brahms, Saint-Saens, and Scriabin. These performances can be admired for Fleisher's technical prowess; a symphonic metamorphosis of Strauss waltzes by Leopold Godowsky, for example, is a dazzling, virtuoso showpiece which Fleisher pulls off with good taste to boot. This unusual repertoire is much more than mere curiosity and is well worth hearing.
- Bryan Higgins
Sun City Girls: Torch of the Mystics (Tupelo
Recording Company)
The Girls' first CD in their twelve-year career is a testament to both their Eastern travels and their scruffy underground roots, sifting a seething mess of Moroccan-jazz-chant rhythms into concise tunes. Bassist/vocalist Alan forsakes words, invoking half-syllables and cries instead to tell ancient folktales betwixt brother Rick's tangled network of electric guitar and pal Charlie's relentless drumming. The Girls toy with organ, bells, and strange horns, but magic happens when they sculpt otherworldly beauty with just rock-trio instruments and voice.
- Patrick Barber
Daniel Denis: Les Eaux Troubles (Cuneiform)
Formerly of Univers Zero - an obscure but magnificent experimental rock ensemble - Denis has always produced music that is difficult to peg: Zero's music might be described as a fusion of Magma, King Crimson, and Bartok. Once again, composer, drummer, and keyboardist Denis explores territory with music at once trenchant and brutal; horrific yet irresistible. The rhythms are irregular and jagged, the harmonies piquantly dissonant, and the melodies angular, if not downright bizarre, yet the music is utterly compelling. If you're up to the challenge, Troubles is not to be missed.
- Dean Suzuki
