LYDIA LUNCH - SMOKE IN THE SHADOWS








































Lydia Lunch "Smoke in the Shadows" Album Review
Cycling Cynicism with Doom and Boom
Part of NYC's "No Wave" movement of the late 1970's spoken-word performance artist and confrontationalist Lydia Lunch began her career at the not-so-tender age of 16 as the lead vocalist for Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Since then,she had collaborated with Nick Cave and Roland S. Howard from the Birthday Party, Sonic Youth ("Death Valley '69"), Jim "Foetus" Thirwell on a variety of projects including Stinkfist, and photographer/director Richard Kern. Lunch has also authored books such as "Incriminating Evidence" and "Adulterers Anonymous" (with Exene Cervenka).
Lunch's latest musical sacrifice,"Smoke in the Shadows" is a notably jazzy affair and probrobly her most commercially acessible effort to date. Like an investigator at the scene of a crime, she portrays a femme fatale with a penetrating stare and sultry,breathy come-on. Her obsessions continue to focus on doomed relationships complete with visions of guns,explosives,shotgun shells,cigarette butts,burning beds,car crashes,high heels and bottles of bourbon. She is an angry woman indeed. And her cynical,confessional lyrics are full of venom.
Lunch has assembled an infamous cast of characters and New York "jazz guys" to accompany her spoken ranting~guitarist Nels Cline (Mike Watt,WILCO) and his brother Alex on drums, Niels Van Hoorn on saxophone (Legendary Pink Dots) and Andel Bertei (The Contortions) as backing vocalist on several tracks. Other instruments include a vibraphone,upright bass,alto flute,baritone and alto saxophones,a trombone and trumpet. Together they create a moody and haunting atmosphere like a soundtrack to a David Lynch film.
In the end,Lunch acts as a predatory powder keg filled with violent verbal attacks,preying on other animals~in this case men. She appears to be tough yet vulnerable,callous and completely carried away by a desire to confess her sins and vituperate the faults of others.
NEW CIRCLE FIVE - DREAMING WIDE AWAKE





































New Circle Five "Dreaming Wide Awake" Album Review
Album Description
Spanning three generations, New Circle Five is an acoustic improvising contemporary music ensemble. Diverse musical backgrounds result in unique twists as the five explore the one-time only sonic environment of collective creative improvisations. The New Circle Five grew from an invitation Susie extended to Pauline to join her for a duo concert; the duo concept quickly grew to a quintet and the New Circle Five gave its premiere performance at the Tonic in New York City on April 3, 1999. <P>On this, their debut recording, New Circle Five perform their unique blend of collective creative improvisations from dreams of a non-violent world.
TUSK - TREE OF NO RETURN
















Tusk "Tree of No Return" Album Review
Pelican Fans: Read Before Purchase
A little warning, Tusk is nearly nothing like Pelican, as "heavy" as you may think Pelican is, there exists a vast world outside of postmetal/ambient/drone that defines "heavy" a little differently. In the case of Tusk, I think the group is taking notes more from the grind/crust/doom genres than the afore mentioned. Now, if 'Australasia' is your personal favorite Pelican album, and if their song 'Drought' represents everything you wish Pelican could consistantly sound like, than Tusk may actually please your palette. Their sound is raw and dark, but has an underlying groove (yes, metal can groove too)that cannot be denied. I found listening to be, in the literal sense of the word, entertaining. The album offers just a half an hour of unapologetic, unpolished, "F#$K YOU! SUFFER OUR VISION" style metal. Not for everyone... oh and the drummer (in my opinion) is the weak link.
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