CD reviews 6/12/06
by Kent Manthie
Akimbo: “Forging Steel and Laying Stone” (Alternative Tentacles Records)
Seattle-based Akimbo is out now with their fifth release, “Forging Steel and Laying Stone”, a cathartic, rip-roaring CD that harkens back to the heyday of the Pacific Northwest’s flannel-punk scene; bands like The Melvins, Mastodon and Dillinger Escape Plan. It’s a clean, crisp, well put together album; Akimbo took their time and screamed until dude’s throat was sore. This is the result: loud, piercing guitars, frenetic, hysterical screaming that will make your blood curdle, all very articulately produced; it doesn’t come out all muddled – you can hear each guitar play, distinctively. (http://www.alternativetentacles.com) KM.
Larkin McLean: “X-Rated Musical” (Best Day Ever Records)
Larkin McLean has broken out of the shadows to reveal a sexy, talented chanteuse who is arriving in time to freshen up a wilting musical spectrum, saturated with rock, hip-hop and other canned trends. “X-Rated Musical” starts out with a rag-like “Devil Tuesday”, with a lightly bouncing peanut gallery piano. An ethereal musical siren, enchanting the headphones right off my head, McLean sings original tunes, co-written by herself; tunes that have a coolness, a jazz sensibility with a timelessness that doesn’t sound trendy and won’t sound dated in the future. I waded through each mellow jazzy number, getting deeper and deeper into a mysterious, smoky atmosphere, losing myself in blue note after blue note until I came out on the other end, refreshed and inspired. Larkin reminds me of a modern-day Joao Gilberto, singing to a Getz-like sax on “Giving”. It reminded me a lot of a summer day in Paris, strolling in the city with a carefree attitude, something I want to last forever. (http://www.larkinmclean.com) KM.
Schoolyard Heroes: (title TBA) (The Control Group)
Punk-rock with a nasty edge to it; this as-yet-unnamed CD starts out with cacophonic un-melodies that really grate at one’s inner soul. But instead of just cutting it off right there, I listened onward and the album actually develops as it goes. By track 5 S.H. settle down a little; “Battlestar Anorexia”, “They Live” and “Nightmare at 20000 Feet” are the midway-point where the album finally seems to find its bearings and goes on from there with a bit more cohesion. (http://www.thecontrolgroup.com) KM.
Motor: “Klunk” (Mute Records)
Minimalism and repetition can have a mesmerizing effect when contextualized in the right way. By keeping a stern, steady beat and layering it over and over with ethereal, trippy mechanistic techno-synth electronica you can build a really crazy soundscape, a wall of sonic intensities that crawl up and down your skin. Well, Motor does fit in that mold, a stark, bold, unobtrusive ambient thriller of a CD here, their full-length debut after some time of putting out singles here and there. Motor is a duo, consisting of Mr. No, from Paris and Bryan Black, from Minneapolis, which is just enough to create a cool, icy shimmer of a record that you can lose yourself in, not unlike a terrific jazz record, both can hypnotize you and take you outside of the regular world. Some might say, though, that Motor is not at all comparable to jazz, there is too much mechanization; it’s only soulless, steely, cold sheets of ice and that is true, but I am referring to the euphoria that a certain music can give one, the heights that can be reached. This may not soar, but it hovers in a sedate way and lingers in a chill stasis. Think Kraftwerk, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb (only less angry) or Plastikman. (http://www.din9.com or http://www.mute.com) KM.
Inner Surge: “Signals Screaming” (Cyclone Records)
Inner Surge is a band of rockers that sound a little like TOOL. Their debut, “Signals Screaming” is a hell of a heavy metal juggernaut that grabs you by the throat at the beginning and takes you away on a rockin’ metal journey beyond the fires of Hell. The singer can sing, the band can play, what more do you want? A sound that fits the future – this is what your kids will be dancing to in 20 years. (http://www.innersurge.com) KM