Reviews: Hawksley Workman, Mars Volta, Protest The Hero and more
Tuesday January 29, 2008 @ 12:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

AIRBOURNE Runnin' Wild (Roadrunner/Universal)
Detractors will immediately compare Aussie pub rockers Airbourne to their native land's biggest rock export AC/DC, and since Runnin' Wild is no Back In Black, the haters will declare both the band and their debut failures. But you have to hand it to Airbourne for not buckling under the pressure of living up to such standards. To say they shamelessly wear their influences on their sleeve would indeed be an understatement. But more than that, Airbourne put out an open challenge to the listener: "Yeah, we sound like AC/DC. So what? Fuck you! Try not singing and drinking along to this…" Chances are as soon as album opener "Stand Up For Rock 'N' Roll" kicks in, you'll be slathered in malt liquor screaming along "drinkin' beer/drinkin' wine/let's have a good time." "Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast" and the title track pretty much follow the same drinking theme, while "Girls And Black" and "Cheap Wine Cheaper Woman" combine a broader palate of booze with broads. Basically, if you're opposed to having fun, then stay away from Airbourne. Andre Mihsin

BACON SHOE Back From Stinkion (Independent)
Kansas City's Bacon Shoe just may be the most offensive rap group ever. How they come to that honour is truly special. MCs Toine and Lethal D narrowly focus on three topics: venereal diseases they have or are hoping to acquire; the joys of frying bacon; and in-depth analysis of the various things one can do with their anus. Amidst the musical threats to fuck your armpit and shout-outs to Aqua Teen Hunger Force's Meatwad are unsettlingly absurd skit tracks "Camelhorn Dante," "Cornking" and "Mr. Pooperpants" to truly cement the Shoe's status as nasty legends. These musings are layered over abrasive electro-rap beats laced with piercing bleeps and spastic random bass bursts, all delivered in a moderately proficient hipster white-boy flow. Taken all together, Back From Stinkion is a noxious concocton not suitable for sensitive, discerning or right-thinking ears. That said, I've already listened to it more times than that last Liars record. Aaron Brophy

THE BETTER BEATLES Mercy Beat (Hook Or Crook)
One of the best concepts Marvel Comics ever came up with was the What If series, in which they proposed the idea that our reality was actually just one of many versions unfolding at the same time, all with slight variations on each other. With this, they were able to take their mainstays like Spider Man and do stories that they couldn't do in their regular books. Listening to Omaha, Nebraska's The Better Beatles, you get the same sort of feeling, except this time the shift in reality is that Yoko Ono actually met the Beatles in 1962 and had an even more profound effect on their music. These are all the same songs The Fab Four created, except now the tunes have been broken down into art noise, beatnik vocals and mono synths to create sonic clashes with the originals. "Paperback Writer" now sounds a lot more desperate, and "With A Little Help From My Friends" moves from melancholy to suicidal loneliness. Best of all, despite Mercy Beat being recorded back in 1981, it should still do well both with original new wavers and fans of electro-pop like Ladytron. The Mouth

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE Scream Aim Fire (Jive/ Zomba/Sony BMG)
Bands such as Trivium and Avenged Sevenfold seem to have stumbled upon a hard rock formula that combines killer metal riffage with singalong lyrics that run the gamut from catchy to cheesy to just plain annoying. And while Bullet For My Valentine have enjoyed success with their unlikely amalgam of Metallica and Good Charlotte and will no doubt continue to do so with Scream Aim Fire, to seasoned metalheads it's a shame that some really good classic thrash shredding and solos courtesy of Matthew Tuck and Michael Paget get buried by sappy and cliched lyrics. Take for example the opening line from "Hearts Burst Into Fire," where Tuck cries "I'm comin' home/I've been gone for far too long/Do you remember me at all?" Not convinced? How about "What's happening to me?/I'm dying from the inside/Body hurts too much to feel" off "Deliver Us From Evil." A good riff is such a terrible thing to waste. Andre Mihsin

DENGUE FEVER Venus On Earth (M80)
Not many bands would think it a good idea to name themselves after a dreadful illness, but L.A.'s Dengue Fever have never really been in-the-box thinkers. Three albums into their career, the self-described "Cambodian pop rock psychedelic dance party" have yet to eschew the influences of their native culture and it pays off as a sort of world music for indie kids. There are a number of set-asides you'll have to accept before you can truly enjoy Venus On Earth. Set aside that it's only partially in English. Set aside the notion that a band should stick to one musical style (as the Fever jump with ease between lounge, jazz, chamber pop and surf). Set aside that there's a pretty blatant theft of some "Hotel California" riffs — the band have admitted they're heavily influenced by '70s American pop — and you'll find a novel expedition into a neglected brand of music. Scott Bryson

THE HELIO SEQUENCE Keep Your Eyes Ahead (Sub Pop)
There's no shortage of catchy indie pop these days, and to stand out in this crowd takes something special. Unfortunately, The Helio Sequence's newest effort kind of fits in between "something special" and "something average." "Can't Say No" and "Keep Your Eyes Ahead" are as catchy as they come, and acoustic ballad "Shed Your Love" is a nice half-time switch. There's a lot more '80s influence on Keep Your Eyes Ahead than 2004's Love And Distance. Whether that turns you away from it or not, depends on your tolerance for Frankie Says T-shirts. The Helio Sequence's new release is a step forward, but won't stick out as one of the great indie releases of the last little while. All's not lost, though, if Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel keep their eyes ahead from here on in. A future release could be an indie pop classic. Logan Broger

INSIDE THE SMITHS (MVD)
This cheap and not-so-cheerful DVD works best as a curiosity rather than a spectacle. Inside The Smiths is built around present-day interviews with Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, the rhythm section of the legendary Brit-pop outfit and the supposedly unsung heroes of the group as it stands. After watching this DVD, it's pretty easy to see why the pair has essentially become afterthoughts when compared to Morrissey and Johnny Marr. They talk about their musical upbringings, their time on the road, ego clashes and all the rest of it, and the sum is pretty unremarkable overall. Joyce is likeable chap, but Rourke comes off as old, bitter and chock full of Cockney depression like so many embittered Brit-pop stars of yore. Even his frank discourse about his former heroin addiction is a total snoozefest. Coupled with the fact that the DVD is devoid of actual Smiths music (although it does offer lame sound-alikes of "The Queen Is Dead" and "Meat Is Murder"), this film can really only be advised for hardcore Smiths fans. Cameron Gordon

JOE JACKSON Rain (Rykodisc/Warner)
Jackson first made a name for himself with 1979's Look Sharp! and he's reassembled the rhythm section from that album and its two fine successors (I'm The Man and Beat Crazy). But "King Pleasure Time," unfortunately, is the only track that will give you a strong reminder of his early new wave rock days. "Citizen Sane" stands out as another more upbeat tune, and "Rush Across The Road" is another nice pop number. The disc features a jazz trio-type lineup with Jackson on vocals and piano augmented by Graham Maby on bass and Dave Houghton on drums, and with the frequent forays of "the man" into more traditional jazz material over the years, it's no surprise when that genre colours many of Rain's 10 songs. It works most effectively on the melodic "The Uptown Train," which gives Jackson a chance to show off his piano chops, but isn't enough to raise one's overall enthusiasm. A separate 40-minute DVD featuring live, interview and behind-the-scenes footage rounds out the package. Steve McLean

JANE VAIN & THE DARK MATTER Love Is Where The Smoke Is (Rectangle)
It's the perfect name for the bad-ass heroine of a graphic novel but in truth, there's no Jane Vain, unless you consider the character an alter-ego of singer and principle songwriter, Jamie Fooks. The Calgary band's origin starts in an Alberta basement in 2003, when Fooks — a reportedly inexperienced musician — found herself socially ostracized and spent her time writing the songs that would eventually make up Love Is Where The Smoke Is. Five years and three band members later, we have an album of dispatches from Fooks' personal life: tales of isolation, fear and self-sabotage that sound as if they're coming from seasoned veterans as opposed to amateurs. It's hard not to get caught up in the melodrama of The Dark Matter's music with its pulsating, submerged beats mixed with guitars and swelling synths. It's a sound not entirely different from Andrea Parker's Kiss My Arp. This is a decent start and shows promise of better to come. Scott Bryson

JEFFREY LEWIS 12 Crass Songs (Rough Trade/Beggars)
In the liner notes to 12 Crass Songs, Jeffrey Lewis includes — perhaps by way of explanation — a comic strip of his history as an unlikely fan of anarcho-punk act Crass. When he first hears them deliver the line "Punk became a fashion, just like hippie used to be," Lewis, as a college beatnik, realizes how thin the dividing line between raging punk and protest folk can be. It's a division that Lewis all but obliterates on this covers album. The simple song structures and deceptively catchy melodies mesh well with Lewis' own brand of batty anti-folk as he imbues the hard-and-fast punk tirades with considerable range. "Where Next Columbus," which gets a string-laden ballad treatment, is one of the most successful tracks, as is a bouncy acoustic rendition of "Banned From The Roxy." Lewis' more vitriolic, disturbing selections from the Crass catalogue — "Systematic Death" and "The Gasman Cometh" — get the same chugging, panicky rhythm he employs on his own "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror." Though the bongos and guy/girl vocals Lewis employs will undoubtedly piss off some purists, the original messages still ring true in Lewis' jittery folk interpretations. Natalia Manzocco

THE MARS VOLTA The Bedlam In Goliath (Universal)
If The Mars Volta's last two records killed any interest you may have had in the band, you'd be forgiven for approaching their fourth full-length with a mixture of caution and indifference. The band had successfully destroyed any goodwill they may have generated with their initial output, as all but the most drugged-out prog enthusiasts or misinformed teens were repulsed by the self-indulgence on 2005's Frances The Mute and 2006's Amputechture. Shockingly, The Bedlam In Goliath manages to excise all the excess from those albums and reintroduce The Mars Volta as a tight, concise and technically bewildering unit. Their funk/prog/Latin jazz fusion still remains intact, but everything about them has become 1,000 times more urgent. There are no momentum-stunting waves of sound or indecipherable interludes, just a collective of unbelievably talented musicians red-lining for about an hour. Now why didn't they just make this album three years ago? Shehzaad Jiwani

PROTEST THE HERO Fortress (Underground Operations/Universal)
Protest The Hero's Fortress, the follow-up to 2005's well-received Kezia, lives up to its name. Strong and well-constructed from beginning to end, the record is well-thought-out and complex without sounding contrived. Described by the Whitby, Ontario quintet as having a fictional element without being as much of a concept album as the last, Fortress manages to weave important issues with squealing guitar riffs, while still making it all sound like it was always meant to be one. "Bloodmeat," the first song out of this fortress' gate, layers some fancy fretboard work with a dramatic range of vocals. Some of the guitar antics are over the top, but each note played seems to have a reason for being there in the grand scheme of things. Fortress might be showy at times, but it's also purposeful: a perfect combination, it seems, when it comes to hardcore punk. Jill Langlois

THE SHACKELTONS S/T (Loveless)
There's been a fair bit of buzz about these fellas from Pennsylvania. One blast from opening track "Your Movement" is enough to pique interest, and the rest of the album delivers and maintains a sharp-edged sonic swirl, evoking a more raw, less sophisticated, but more passionate Interpol. Vocalist Justin McDaniel enunciates, keens and wails with a deliberate intensity matched by the high-energy wall-of-sound guitars and thumping bass and drums. Co-produced by Sam Jones (director of Wilco documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart) and Tom Biller (who worked on scores for I Heart Huckabees and Punch-Drunk Love), this scorching debut is a runaway train tearing down the tracks. Hitch a ride or get out the way. Shannon Whibbs

SONS & DAUGHTERS This Gift (Domino/Outside)
Fans who've been following this Glaswegian four-piece since their Love The Cup days may initially find This Gift a little hard to swallow. Gone, are the brooding brogue, the grittiness and the screeching vocals. They've been replaced by a pop sensibility that puts Sons & Daughters on par with You Say Party! We Say Die! The change in sound isn't a completely shocking development and is more or less a logical progression from first full-length, The Repulsion Box. The bottom line is that they still have the same cutting guitar streaks plowing through every track and it's these ingenious riffs that stick around long after the album's finished playing. This Gift is stellar addition to Sons & Daughters' catalogue, but one gets the sense that there's still something career-defining to come. This isn't recommended for individuals who dislike jumping around their living room or playing air guitar. Scott Bryson

THOR Into The Noise (Sudden Death/Fathom)
Legendary rock warrior Thor is known for two things: his bodybuilding (which he's won plenty of trophies for) and his role as the lead singer of a heavy metal band. His newest musical endeavor, Into The Noise, is reason enough for him to perhaps stick to the bodybuilding. Opening track "Thor's Revenge" is a shredtacular introduction to the album, with a plethora of guitar solos, but the mediocre "Evil Twin" follows it. The only other strong track, "Berserker," is a three-minute guitar escapade (think "Eruption"), but the next eight metallic shout-fests are nothing special. Oddly, closing track "TLB" — a slow acoustic number — is the best song on the album. Thor has released plenty of solid records in the past. With Into The Noise, however, it raises the question: has Thor finally taken on some metal that's too heavy even for him to lift? Logan Broger

TWILIGHT HOTEL Highway Prayer (Independent)
Even for a sophomore album, Highway Prayer has an uncommonly high amount of expectation attached to it. For starters, it's the last record that The Band keyboardist Richard Bell played on before his death. It also follows Bethune, disc that — oddly enough, since Twilight Hotel hail from Winnipeg — was nominated for best Americana album at the 2007 Independent Music Awards. While any of the songs on this anticipated record would seem engaging if taken independently, on the whole, Highway Prayer suffers from a momentum deficit. Things start off at a near-rock 'n' roll pace, but by track three, morph into a meandering folk that never quite provides a payoff aside from the odd name-dropping of a Canadian city or province. There's nothing specifically offensive about this disc, but it's not especially engaging either. It leaves you with the feeling you've listened to a Beautiful South album with the hooks removed. Scott Bryson

VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend (XL/Beggars)
With African, pop, classical and punk influences in tow, Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut is something to get excited about. The first great album of the year sounds like a Wes Anderson soundtrack meeting a Sofia Coppola soundtrack. Or maybe Paul Simon meets The Clash meets The Coral. Confused? Don't be! They loveably create a thrilling new sound via swirling strings, warm guitar hooks, chants, cheers and the charming vocals and clever poetics of singer/guitarist Ezra Koenig. The band met while studying at Columbia University, which explains the playful college life lyrics and stories scattered throughout, but one of the great things about this record (coming from a band that only began playing together in the spring of 2006) is that it's not pretentious. Though their influences are obvious, Vampire Weekend aren't trying to recreate anything and because of that, they come out sounding like something you've never heard before. Hear them now before they get annoyingly popular. Phil Villeneuve

THE WHIGS Mission Control (ATO/MapleMusic)
In continuing the impressive Athens, Georgia music tradition of The B-52s, Pylon and R.E.M., The Whigs have produced a short, snappy, garage-influenced rock 'n' roll record that's often raw, but not sloppy. The disc gets off to a great start with the Iggy Pop-influenced "Like A Vibration," and the momentum continues through "Production City" (which features some Television guitar licks), "I Never Want To Go Home" and "Right Hand On My Heart." There's a bit of jangle and some big drums on "Hot Bed," while the horns lurking in the background of the album-ending title track offer a subtle taste of something different. There's some grinding guitar on the mid-tempo "1000 Wives," while "I Got Ideas" is a little more pop-oriented and "Need You Need You" again showcases the band's rock strengths. Mission Control was produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Guided By Voices) at Los Angeles' legendary Sunset Sound (The Doors, Led Zeppelin). While The Whigs aren't yet ready to be put in the company of those acclaimed acts, they make large strides toward it on this second album. Steve McLean

HAWKSLEY WORKMAN Between The Beautifuls (Isadora/Universal)
Hawksley Workman's new record continues in the introspective direction begun on Treeful Of Starling. It seems Workman has replaced the cabaret-style musical excess of his early albums with emotional excess on Between The Beautifuls. The cringe-worthy title is the first warning sign of this. While it was easy to forgive the extremes of his first two albums by attributing them to the overall shtick, the simplified approach is less conducive to ironic distance. Workman's melodramatic vocals undermine the sincerity of his songs. How are we to take him seriously as he cries "I wonder am I beautiful enough/for you to kiss me true" while harmonica and lap steel whine in the background? The entire record isn't as bad as that example, which is taken from a particularly sappy musical moment. "The City Is A Drag" achieves a nice balance between old Hawksley bombast and new Hawksley emoting. "Piano Blink" is another highlight that combines a sweet piano hook (surprise) and bouncing rhythm to support Workman's soulful but relatively restrained vocal performance. There are positive moments, but in general, overwrought emotion weighs the record down. It's easier to open your heart when somebody isn't trying kick in the door. Evan Dickson

ZOX A Line In The Sand (Side One Dummy/EMI)
Zox definitely win points for being adventurous. Their fifth LP crams IllScarlett, Delta 5, Public Enemy, Rush, Nick Drake and even '80s Phil Collins (why not?) into a rusty blender. A Line In The Sand is more like an insane checkerboard in the mottled, rocky earth. It's the musical equivalent of a teenager's cluttered bedroom. It may be the ultimate album for the internet generation. Don't like what you hear? Wait 30 seconds. How does one review a record like that? Let's concentrate on two notable constants. First, Zox work violin into every song, for better or worse. On "When The Rain Comes Down Again," it adds an unexpected melodic layer that's complementary, even essential in parts, but totally redundant and cloying in others. The second constant is Eli Miller's totally unremarkable vocals. Miller isn't a bad singer, but his voice is so plain that it's offensively boring — particularly when the music is so wild. With its violent mash-up of ingredients, it's hard to recommend this album in its entirety, but neither can it be ruled out. These songs are fun to listen to just because they're so diverse. Evan Dickson

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