Kelley Deal 6000
Boom Boom Boom (New West)
Having emerged from the shadows into a dubious musical career founded probably
on nepotism, Kelley Deal's move to strike out with her own thing is a formidable
task. Weeding out exactly _which_ thing that is, however, from the grab bag
that is _Boom Boom Boom_, is an even greater one. While wearing many hats
(velvety chanteuse, bad girl, last one left at the bar at close and singing
into her own beer), one gets the feeling Kelley (and her 6000) see no need
to specialize. As much time is spent on the really good, super-distorted rock
assaults and ballads as is wasted on the stuff that's so spotty its inclusion
is either out of indulgence, ignorance, or both. Which is indeed why the record
is frustrating: a lot of it seems like a toss-off, which is a shame for the
salvageable and often quite good remains. The high points make good use of
both Kelley's warm and lovely singing voice and a stab towards, if not at,
a catchy song. The low points sound like somebody left the tape recorder running
at the end of practice when everybody was drunk and thought "this was
so funny, let's put it on the record". You win some, you lose some, and
here... both.
File under: not really collegiate disorganized mid-fi rock
Recommended If You Like: Jenny Mae, late Breeders
-- Liz Clayton
Archer Prewitt
In The Sun (Carrot Top)
This record is so much more like jazz or even poetry than it is "rock"
or "pop". Words that readily come to mind – like "experimental"
and "ambitious" -- bear the unfortunate weight of being overused
in polite condemnations, however applied to _In the Sun_ they are true on
the purest level. Even in the context of Archer's other musical project, the
Sea and Cake, jazzy boogie-ish numbers like "Rush Hour" and "Work"
are wildly long strides from what one might expect -- they seem to come from
another era, another school of thought entirely; they seem almost "adult".
Yet their, and so much of the album's overall, catchiness, is undeniable.
Archer is, as it were, down with the groove. The threads between sad, sad,
slow songs like "I'm All You Know" and gloriously light, stirring
songs like the fantastic instrumental "You Walk By", between the
strong and somewhat familiar and the really bold steps, are the hard things
to reconcile, and that's the true beauty of the record. It's all over the
map, but not at all _scattered_. It's evasive "center" is its jewel
-- incredibly intricate, thoughtful-but-not-academic composition, and a lightness
that flows throughout the album are what carry it to its subtly stunning success.
File under: Low-key
Recommended If You Like: Sea and Cake, late Coctails, Dave Brubeck
-- Liz Clayton
Lois Infinity
Plus(K)
So many songs on this record are about distance that one begins to wonder
if the title "infinity plus" doest't allude to some measure of space.
All kinds of distances are available here free for the taking: long, short,
the kind where you have to wait, and certainly the kind where you give up
and walk away. Musically, it's a fair distance from Lois' previous records,
too, in a way that could most succinctly be called "slower" but
is certainly more than just that. Our Lady of the Economical Pop Song and
self- proclaimed "indie-kid" Lois has gone more 'chanteuse' here,
but at no point is forlorn in any way or shape. Even the sad songs are still
_strong_. "Rougher", a duet with Eliot Smith, quietly opens the
album on a should- be-sad-but-don't-really-care note that's indicative of
much of the album's mood. "Not Funny, Ha Ha" is one of the saddest
songs, and the most low- key. In it Lois manages to sing "who the fuck
says less is more?" in a voice that doesn't even sound bitter. Of the
few songs that bear the archetypical strummy/romantic Lois-song torch, "Capital
A" is the best, with a soaring chorus and compactly pleasant musical
package. "Silent Auction", a genuinely strange song, drifts in and
out of electric guitar as curious as the lyrics themselves. "Infinity
Plus" is uncharacteristically long for a Lois record -- even though the
slow songs still seem short, the album clocks in just around thirty minutes,
but still being a Lois record, it's not as long as you'd like it to be when
you get to the end.
File under: Mature 'K' pop, comforting afternoon music
Recommended If You Like: Verlaines, Dump, Edith Frost
-- Liz Clayton