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Recent Albums By Bands From AP's Past
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 17-Nov-06 @ 01:38 PM| Despite the positive reader mail we get each month, we'll occasionally receive a note that says we suck because we: a) don't write 14-page think pieces on Morrissey's post-Smiths career trajectory, b) need to "get back to our industrial roots," or c) feature bands "nobody has ever heard of, like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance." So, in recognition of AP's 21st birthday this month, we present 10 current, credible releases by bands who've been part of our history. If you're over 35, well, thanks for hanging with us. If you're way younger, you really should hear what you're missing. |
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Ghostigital In Cod We Trust (IPECAC,2006)  Back when Björk was the lead vocalist in the Sugarcubes, she shared the spotlight with Einar Örn, whose sole purpose was seemingly to babble absurdities over the band’s quirky pop songs. When the ’cubes broke up, it looked as if Örn would spend the rest of his days collecting a series of face punches. However, teaming up with producer/artist/music teacher Curver under the handle Ghostigital, he’s delivered an album that bridges the chasm between underground abstract electronica and the stuff that makes Industrial Nation subscribers quiver in their PVC corsets.
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Hot One Hot One (MODERN IMPERIAL,2006)  In Hot One, guitarist/singer Nathan Larson (Shudder To Think) and drummer Kevin March (Dambuilders, Guided By Voices) team with bassist Emm Gryner and guitarist Jordan Kern for a handful of protest songs that take on everything from religious zealots (“Waiting For The Rapture”) to our fearless leader (“Fuckin’”). (Sorry for the redundancy.) Fortunately, Hot One are also pretty damned smokin’, proficient in everything from laid-back grooves to old-school glam to brisk, angular post-punk. It’s clear the quartet are out to shake up a nation whose brain has been mollified by American Idol episodes, but we’ll be happy if some of you Fall Out Boy fans come along for the ride.
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Jesu Silver (HYDRA HEAD,2006)  Justin Broadrick previously applied reductionist aesthetics to heavy metal in Godflesh, a band whose drum-machine-propelled dirges were appreciated by underground metalheads, industrial rockers and noise freaks alike. Currently recording under the name Jesu, he’s developing a vocabulary that addresses more melodic ideas within drones and maximum decibels. Silver, Jesu’s new four-track mini-album (four songs in 28 minutes), finds Broadrick embracing keyboards-as well as his own voice-alongside his familiar sustain pedal. The disc features glimmers of hope and melancholy amid the oppressive ambience on which Broadrick has built his reputation.
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Melvins Houdini Live 2005: A Live History Of Gluttony And Lust (IPECAC,2006)  The Melvins’ braintrust of singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been rockin’ the faithful and pissing off the casual for over two decades. And while this writer would give shit to practically any other band for re-recording one of their discs “live” in its entirety years after the fact, this remake of the band’s doomed major-label debut, Houdini, is just as engaging and invigorating today as it was on its 1993 arrival. Considering that Osborne and Crover have now assimilated low-end wiseguy duo Big Business into their current lineup, the Melvins are still worth keeping one oozing, jaundiced eye on...
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Model/Actress Model/Actress EP (THICK,2006)  In the early ’90s, AP was all over the jagged post-grunge fury labels like Touch And Go and Amphetamine Reptile were releasing into the marketplace. Which is one minor reason why this reviewer is down with Model/Actress, the new vehicle of Juan Monasterio, former drummer for angular electro-spazz unit Brainiac. On this five-track mini-LP, Monasterio joins former Brainiac member/current Enon chairman John Schemersal, while David Yow, frontman from the much-missed Jesus Lizard, comes out of the ether to blather all over “The Nodder.” Model/Actress are here to deliver some spiky, twisted rock, and not to traffic in nostalgia. You won’t know dickory until you check ‘em out. ()
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Mogwai Mr. Beast (MATADOR,2006)  After the majestic tower of sound that was their proper debut album, 1997’s Young Team, Scottish post-rocking guitar enthusiasts Mogwai have grown introspective to the point of boredom-or, at their worst, become a very loud Slint tribute act. Their latest album, Mr. Beast, however, is an inspiring set of songs (some with vocals, even) and soundscapes that make good on the greatness Mogwai promised over a decade ago. Maybe they need to start a pissing match with somebody like Pete Wentz or Gerard Way to get people to notice them. Sad world we live in, isn’t it?
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Queenadreena The Butcher And The Butterfly (ONE LITTLE INDIAN,2006)  Guitarist Crispin Gray and Katie-Jane Gartside were the dysfunctional duo who made Daisy Chainsaw one of the best bands ever to come out of the U.K. (and if you’ve never heard their 1992 debut, Eleventeen, your opinion on this matter is worthless). In their “new” band, Queenadreena (they were featured in AP 152, our first “100 Bands You Need To Know” issue), Gray still plays with a tuneful viciousness that recalls the late Marc Bolan fronting Killing Joke, while Gartside’s vocal range-capable of generating both preschooler whimsy and murderous rage-brings joy to those of us weary of “women in rock” clichés while waiting for Scarling to tour.
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Sonic Youth Rather Ripped (GEFFEN,2006)  This writer has seen many dullards who get their CDs free write off this NYC rock institution as “Sonic Middle-Age,” wishing SY would stick to heavy-duty noise fests. But on Rather Ripped, the band distill all the sharp noises and exotic tunings from their entire catalog into an album’s worth of great songs. “Incinerate” is the pop hit somewhere on Venus; “Jams Run Free” is arcane and angular; and the brooding, pulsing “Or” is more than enough proof that, as they enter their third decade together, Sonic Youth still have more to say than most of the bands residing in your hard drive.
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Twilight Singers Powder Burns (ONE LITTLE INDIAN,2006)  Singer Greg Dulli graced the cover of AP 67 as a member of the Afghan Whigs, a band who could cover Fugazi and R&B legends the Spinners with so much character, you could be forgiven for thinking they were doing originals. These days, Dulli is still working the persona of the cad with a battered heart of gold, and his new music is teeming with electronic flourishes that make him sound contemporary, but not bloodless. If anybody wants to film Lost In Translation II, here’s the soundtrack-and the leading man.
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Ministry Rio Grande Blood (THIRTEENTH PLANET/MEGAFORCE,2006)  Decades ago, Ministry CEO Al Jourgensen affixed the “-rock” suffix to “industrial” by wielding six-string savagery to synthesizer circuitry. It earned him five AP covers, as well as an ass-load of pretenders who cashed in by ripping him off. Today, with a hateful eye cast toward the Bush Administration, and some help from folks such as Paul Raven from Killing Joke (whose new disc would have been on this list if they hadn’t let an orchestra jerk off all over it) and Prong’s Tommy Victor, Jourgensen has delivered an album that’s absolutely painful to listen to (that’s a compliment, by the way), thanks to both the mix’s gritty high end and the political corruption that’s seeped into Jourgensen’s target.
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