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22 May 2006
Mike Nicolai, God Fatigue in the Post Atom Age (Eclectone)
Mike Nicolai is one of those artists who is impossible to hate. He's just too damn good. His stripped-down arrangements suit his superior lyrical wordplay, and yet somehow commercial success has eluded him (for now). God Fatigue just might change all that. Opening with "Tarot's Road", you're drawn into the idea of a singer-songwriter record... only to have the rock stomp of "Post Atom Age" blow your hair to the back of the auditorium. Though he might be advised to abandon his falsetto ("The Depths of Love" almost induces cringes like that), he's otherwise on the right track. "The Pope died today / I don't guess I care / He was just a man / Full of shit, blood and water / and an appointed leader / of a sham institution / that frowns on a lot of my friends" is a line full of bite. It may strike controversy, but if gets more people listening to him -- mission accomplished.
[Insound]
— Evan Sawdey
"Lifesucker Waltz": [MP3]
"Thunderstorms": [MP3]
"I'm Into You": [MP3]
Singer-songwriter 
Automatic Head Detonator, Fuck U All (Lo-Fi)
Automatic Head Detonator has an innovative approach to gigging: it rents a flatbed truck and sets up outside venues as shows by artists from Sonic Youth to Queens of the Stone Age let out. I've seen their guerrilla gigs rolling through east Hollywood a few times (unless some other band stole the idea), and it's a brilliant underground tactic. Musically... eh, not so much. Fuck U All is essentially one half-hour barrage of eclectic samples, over which AHD frontman Zeke Wray adds guitar and vocals. We get everything from Daft Punk to Noam Chomsky to Schooly D, but what we don't get is developed songwriting. Sometimes the elements coalesce: the requisite L.A. diss "Los Angeleaze" has a fun moronic stomp, while "Piano Song (Fuck U All)" begins with an amusingly ridiculous plunked-out version of the theme from Star Wars. "Kill Whitey" builds up some righteous steam, but most of the album relies too heavily on industrial trappings over hip-hop beats, making it great for jogging but relatively unrewarding on close listening.
[Insound]
— Whitney Strub
"Los Angeleaze": [MP3]
"Piano Song (Fuck U All)": [MP3]
Alternative / Punk / Industrial 
Aldo Romano, Chante (Dreyfus)
Romano's a duly celebrated drummer, whose talents for singing and Sprechgesang have come to the fore. The voice is gentle, slightly hoarse, he sings quietly. The singing he began to do very occasionally in public now gets a whole CD, with an interesting set of songs. Accompaniment varies from sundry small jazz ensembles, André Ceccarelli on drums, comparably classy performers, sometimes Nelson Riddle-ish string sounds. Most songs are in French, the few outings in English include "The End of a Love Affair", one of the best performances. On "Sans Un Mot" the piano is atmospheric, likewise the strings, which sigh and match the passionate quiet tenor solo. Solo bass opens "La Valse Des Lilas", guitar performs accompanying duties until the swell of strings announce the arranger's notion that a turning-point has been reached. "Les Papillons De Nuit" uses clarinet, guitar, and the string entry is nice. "Estate" sounds a little like quiet Jobim with guitar, the piano solo's harmonically bold (even touching on Tristano-Bauer atonal duets of a long gone avant-garde! but gently). "Rue De Douai" starts with more like a Jazz Messengers ensemble and Romano talking. Speech becomes song, not that exciting, or redeemed by the instrumental passage of piano, trumpet, tenor and rhythm. A few items miss the high level of "Sans un Mot" or the duet with a pretty lady.
[Insound]
— Robert R. Calder
jazz 
The Insult That Made a Man Out of Mac, II (Varasto72)
The Insult That Made A Man Out Of Mac (just wanted to write that out in full), veteran Finnish industrial outfit, strip back the machines and discover their inner -– Rammstein. The similarity is uncanny: from the industrial guitars to the screaming, disgusted male voice. It's all so predictable: on "Panic" when the singer, in the quiet section, chants "it's getting harder to breathe", bet that soon there will be an explosion of noise, a screamed exclamation. Subtle differences begin to emerge as the disc progresses but they aren't enough to truly differentiate the band -- songs bounce with shreds of originality, usually in the introduction (as in "Sorry") or the percussion (as with the garbage can drums on "Crawling I Follow"), but always come back to their comfortable home –- melodic industrial rock. At least the band's not afraid of melody, and these songs are tight if not revelatory. The songs were recorded live, and it's a testament to the band's commitment to their art that bones were apparently broken in the process. Maybe not the most original, but still the real deal.
[Insound]
— Dan Raper
multiple songs: [MySpace]
Industrial / Rock / Punk 
.: posted by Editor 8:02 AM
