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Jason Thompson
Reviews: June, 2001
Scroll
down for Those Peabodys and Theselah
Tik N' Tak
Friends
(Universal
Records)
Teen pop. Blahhh. Who in their right minds would ever seriously
listen to that stuff? This is the usual thought process that
crosses my mind when I contemplate the likes of the Backstreet
Boys, N Sync, Britney Spears, and Christian Aguilera. It's
probably the same process that crosses many other peoples'
minds as well. When will this reign of prefab commercialized
crap finally end? Who knows. But then again, I've recently
been sucked into the vacuum myself.
Yes,
you heard me right. One album from the bubblegum factory has
escaped and caught my ear. But in all honesty, I feel that
it resembles a break from what we have come to know and loathe
these past couple of years. Ladies and gentlemen, I present
to you Tik N' Tak straight out of Finland. And that's where
the difference lies, my friends. Tik N' Tak is not another
group of choreographed dancers with mics strapped to their
heads lip synching as best they can. Tik N' Tak is a real
band.
So
move over, Dream. You have nothing on these six girls, aged
14 to 17. Lead singer Petra can really carry a tune with the
kind of talent that makes one take notice upon first listening.
She doesn't showboat a la Ms. Aguilera, she doesn't demolish
the melody under her ego like Celine Dion, and she certainly
doesn't croak and grunt to mask a talentless chasm like Ms.
Spears. She sings the songs and sings them well. Petra can
command a throaty delivery on the rocking numbers and make
it light as a feather on the softer tunes. Honestly, it really
is a captivating voice.
These
girls met early on in their childhood and wound up attending
the Helsinki Band School together. The rest of the group is
comprised of Emilia on guitar and vocals, Mimmu on bass and
vocals, Nea on keyboards, Noora on guitar and vocals, and
Tuuli on drums and vocals. And despite what you may be thinking,
that the Backstreet boys wrote and "played" on a few of their
own songs, just don't even go there. Tik N' Tak's website
(http://www.tikntak.com)
features a live performance video clip that shows the band
in action. It continued to make a believer out of me after
seeing it. These girls are the real deal.
But
I think that partially has to do with them not being American
and being thrown into the Max Martin bracket that relies on
a show more than a real performance. For what it's worth,
Emilia's acoustic rhythm guitar work throughout the album
is quite pretty. Her understated notes in "Anytime" punctuate
Petra's vocal delivery perfectly and add that certain something
to the song that makes me play it over and over. But friends,
there's not a bum cut throughout the twelve tracks that make
up the Friends album. And that's saying something.
At least I would hope that there are other older listeners
such as myself who can fully appreciate this album as much
as I do. Yeah, the lyrics often verge on the teen-crush aspect
of youthful romance, but so what? We're bludgeoned by love
songs on many of our favorite albums. But above and beyond
that, most of the songs here are simply fun and optimistic
from the opening groove of "Upside Down" to the sha-na-na-na's
of "Please Get Me Down". But there is also a real rock element
at play here as well. Mimmu's fuzzy bass in "Don't Turn Back"
and "I Need Your Touch" add the kind of gritty groove that
is always absent from the so-called "rock" tunes by all those
other groups. And in drummer Tuuli, Tik N' Tak has a solid
beat that is bother versatile and steady. Indeed, it is the
beat of "I Need Your Touch" that makes it as believably sexy
as it is.
Keyboardist Nea adds real color to all of the tracks, especially
"I Will Always Be In Your Heart" and "All I Really Want".
Lead guitarist Noora is nothing to sneeze at, either offering
up a vast array of licks and tricks that further the authenticity
of these songs. The production is sleek as one might expect
with an album like this, but it never overshadows the band
or their performance. It merely allows it to breathe and expand.
Ah, but I don't need convincing. I truly love this album as
much as any of my Beatles or Velvet Underground discs (and
if that's blasphemy, then so be it).
I truly hope that Friends will be a hit on our shores
and change the teen pop landscape, as I feel that Tik N' Tak
have the ability to truly transcend all the muck that is being
dumped upon us on a daily basis. But as I said, I feel that
this album can quite easily cross over to the older market
as it did with me. Honestly, there was never a moment when
I didn't like this album. The first time I listened to it,
I noticed the distinct difference between Tik N' Tak and everybody
else. These girls have a lot of talent to show for their work,
and I look forward to future releases with much anticipation.
__________________________________________________
Those
Peabodys
s/t
(Post
Parlo)
Rock and roll hasn't sounded this good in a long time. If
we were still in the heyday of vinyl, then my copy of Those
Peabodys would most certainly already need replacing from
all the times it's been played (and I haven't even had it
that long). This is the kind of music that should be on the
radio. I don't know when the bigwigs and radio programmers
are finally going to learn. To borrow from Robert Plant for
just a moment, all I can say is "Does anyone remember rock
and roll?"
Fortunately
Austin, Texas' Those Peabodys have. This self-titled release
was recorded with just Clarke Wilson on vocals and bass and
Adam Hatley on guitars and drums after two of the original
members had split (the band now features JD Cronise on additional
guitar and Aaron Franklin on drums). Still, you'd never know
that it was only two guys bringing the rock when you hear
these ten songs. It's full-throttle rock and roll with more
hooks and riffs than I would have ever thought possible, especially
given the fact that most of these tunes are between two and
three minutes each.
To fully describe what is going down here is tough. You can
throw around similarities like AC/DC and the rest all day,
but it doesn't do justice to these boys. Those Peabodys are
the perfect example of what makes Austin's wide and varied
music scene so great. They know what the hell they're doing,
and give a fucking performance that is so solid and rocking
that you begin to scratch your head and wonder just what has
happened to rock as a whole. Well for now, it's all right
here. The riffage that explodes forth from the opening track
"Plum Parts" doesn't let up until the final crash of "Negro
Spiritual".
And let me settle on that song just for a moment if I may.
How these guys managed to lock down so many great riffs in
one song is anybody's guess. Every time I listen to "Negro
Spiritual" I just sit there in awe and am reminded why music
is so goddamn essential. Hearing the song for the first time
was just incredible. I thought, "wow, that's a great riff,
I'll definitely have to go back and listen to that one again".
Only to hear another great riff and another on top of that
right after that kept topping the previous one. Simply amazing.
You just don't hear shit this good in that style anymore.
Guitar heaven for those of us who are blown away by Zappa
as much as Page.
Elsewhere,
there's the funk strut of "Hazzard County" complete with ultra-tight
handclaps and wah-wah. Then there's the jolt of "Frank" that
I still say sounds like the Pixies meets the Violent Femmes,
but with a whole lot more style than either of those two.
And of course there's the little things that add up to all
the big things here, such as the repeated "kick some ass"
that runs rampant throughout "Arrived" and the "Oh no! Watch
out! Here comes the rock out!" on "Too Quick". In a word,
Those Peabodys is classic through and through with no stops
to catch your breath. Not that you'd really want to, but just
be warned that this is one that doesn't let up and leaves
you wanting for more. Hail hail rock n roll indeed.
__________________________________________________
Theselah
No Sleep, More Fun
(K.O.A.)
Fuck you and your million-dollar multi-track digital recording
studio. There. I said it and I'd say it again. Theselah would
probably say it as well. For No Sleep, More Fun was
recorded entirely on a four-track recorder. Having gone that
route myself and understanding what it takes to come up with
a good sound and good production from said technique, I can
fully appreciate what this band is doing and honestly give
this album the highest recommendation possible. But perfect?
Yes, Theselah's sophomore effort is indeed that. It is multi-layered,
filled with noises that leap out left and right, simple chords,
simple drumming, a distinct knack for melody and a blurring
of the senses that make for a fascinating album with limitless
possibilities.
No, this isn't another Ween-type excursion recorded on a shoestring
budget with a lot of stoned laughs. If anything, the songs
that make up the album are downright scary. Scary in a way
that not even Trent Reznor has figured out yet. Theselah has
managed to really scrape the bone here with their sonic textures
and paranoid vocals that make events like Tool's "comeback"
seem irrelevant. The band literally buzzes on the spooky "Uryne"
that opens with amplifiers crackling, waiting for the electric
notes from the guitars to be pushed through the cracked cones.
Those notes eventually arrive in the form of pure electric
buzz. Are those chords or just pure white noise? The vocals
are over-amped, resulting in each line ending in a ring of
hollow feedback that is both trance inducing and more than
a little unnerving.
On
"Bad-Ass HiFi", the drums are pushed through this delayed
track echo effect that I used to get on a rotten old two-track
reel to reel by feeding the mic through my stereo live so
that the sound would travel through the speakers and back
into the mic while also having the second track such off,
creating the shaky echo. It's neat to hear this effect used
by someone else (whether or not Theselah acquired the effect
in the same way is unknown, but it sounds strikingly similar).
There are no words to the song; the guitars simply feedback
and grind away as the drums are pounded into the ether and
the lone simple bass line ties it all together. But Theselah
isn't all about jarring abstract noise. The opening "Nothing
Special" and "Green-Blue Crayon" echo Spiritualized's Lazer
Guided Melodies and Pure Phase at their best moments.
Comprised of the Kims and Yangs (Joseph Kim and David Yang
on guitar, vocals, and bass, Nam Kim on drums, and David Yang
on bass, vocals, and drums), Theselah has created a sonic
masterpiece here. Whether they are combining their distorted
chords and "la la la's" on the strange "Anna Come Out" or
experimenting with dissonance and pop on the trippy "Lazy
Dresser", No Sleep, More Fun is a sprawling, yet surprisingly
coherent mix of psychedelia, lo-fi buzz, and alterna-pop that
remains grounded firmly even at its most cerebral moments.
The band finally gives in to its white noise tendencies in
the shrieking "Take It Fast or Take It Slow", then melts away
the nightmare with the languid "Rooks Derisious". The album
closes with the punk thrash of "Anthem to K.O.A." and the
startlingly delicate "Little Song to Self".
Nothing
on this album is wasted. Not one note, not one crushing chord,
not one drum beat. No Sleep, More Fun is proof that experiments
in the outer fringes of the rock lexicon need not be pretentious
and boring. It also proves that you can indeed still create
something well worth hearing from the confines of your own
basement, garage, or where ever else you may like to record
with your four track machine. And though this album might
not be for everyone out there, I guarantee that Theselah has
what it takes to make the fascinating kinds of records that
such acts as Radiohead and Tool are often touting yet rarely
break any ground with. Here's the real so-called "post rock".
Actually, it's just unclassifiable and I think that's much
cooler. Don't you?
__________________________________________________
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