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PIX
the best of the mid-atlantic
moodroom • hung up on breathing
burglar • i'll give you something to cry about
mad tea party • mad mad world
brian kennell & hoptoad • cicada stew
Unsigned bands: Think your disc is pretty hot? Maybe we will, too — Directions for submitting your release to the Pix follow the column.
MOODROOM
hung up on breathing
[ fowl ]
recorded and mixed: J. Robbins (Inner Ear Studios, Arlington VA), Don Depew (609 Studios, Cleveland OH), Don Zientara (Inner Ear), Mike Wolpe (Invisible Studios, Arlington VA)
mastered: Jim Demain @ Yes Master, Nashville TN
publicity: ISL Public Relations
@: 212.541.7595, ISLPR@aol.com
web: www.moodroom.net
DC-based Moodroom has been kicking up dust in NYC as of late, honing a tension-and-release hard-but-dancable rock sound that’s a little Smashing Pumpkins, a touch of Garbage, and a big, smokin’ dose of electri-fried psychedelia. “Connection” sports a synth-tinged bass line as deft percussion and programming slug it out with loops and distorted guitars in funky and consise freakout. Singer-guitarist Stef Magro’s voice is at its most glorious in “Morning Alarm” as guitars and synths fuse together in a layer of sound that she plays on like a satin-sheeted bed. 15 songs, 63 minutes, no filler — Hung Up On Breathing is an album to get sweaty to.
BURGLAR
i’'ll give you something to cry about
[ DCide ]
produced: Richard Morel and Burglar
additional production: E.L. Copeland
engineered: E.L. Copeland and Richard Morel
recorded @: WGNS Studio, Washington DC; Alpha Beat Studio, Washington DC; Pink Noise Studio, Takoma Park MD
"Curse Of The Bambino" engineered and produced by Frank Marchandand E.L. Copeland at Emporium , Damascus MD
mastered: Charlie Pilzer @ Airshow, Springfield VA
booking & management: DCide @ 202.232.7790
web: www.burglarmusic.com
Many a rap-rock band started because they couldn’t play very well — DC’s Burglar are the exact opposite, doing the seemingly unimaginable: breaking new ground in the genre; bassist John “Hot Rod” Williams, guitarist Jimmy Valiente, and drummer Rob Cheat-Steal can really, really play, and vox-ist Simon can really sing. In the place of metal that’s come to dominate crossover, the group play blues and funk in a combination that amounts to a bangin’ cross between Public Enemy and Jimi Hendrix. Burglar promise “Slammin’ hard rock and hard rhyme that’ll shake your ass to your shoes” — and they deliver.
MAD TEA PARTY
mad mad world
mixed and edited: Karma Sound, Towson MD
booking: Digital_Darkroom@yahoo.com
web: www.drop.to/madtea
Rapidly accumulating renown for their unplugged sets, Mad Tea Party plug in for a five-song electric show that will take you down the rabbit hole. The Towson, MD group consists of solo artists and former members of Karma Sutra, Selfside, Masterplan, and Mushroom Drum. Together, they jam out focused, improv-driven rock flavored with a hint of world-music percussion. Jeff Crawford and Marnio Cueva’s percolating, hypnotic rhythms bubble and brew, and in songs like “Don't Look at Me,” Chris Henry’s shrieking guitars keep the band far closer to Oysterhead than to Phish. Even if this kind of thing ain’t your cup of tea, Mad Tea Party will make you see something you didn’t know was there.
BRIAN KENNELL & HOPTOAD
cicada stew
[ stable records ]
produced: Brian Kennell
engineered: Steve Pheil
recorded: Stable Studio, Chambersburg PA
mixed: Steve Pheil & Brian Kennell
mastered: Charlie Pilzer
@: Airshow, Springfield VA
booking: 717.334.5133
web: www.briankennell.com
A singer-songwriter who knows how to keep his mix interesting, Brian Kennell starts with an acoustic base and tastefully tramples all over the line between traditional and progressive. Backing Kennell are Hoptoad, a full band — and a big, talented one at that: e-bow, slide guitar, pedal steel guitar, and more. Slowcore mixed with folkish rock, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” opens the album with a deep, quavering, operatic delivery. Full of jangling guitars and plunking pianos, “Afraid to Call It Home” is a taste of country-tinged rock recalling early R.E.M. And with faithful versions of “Werewolves of London” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” how can you go wrong?
Unsigned bands: for best results, send CD/demo packages to all three Unsung Hero offices:
#1) UHero, c/o Pix, 116 Carlisle St., Gettysburg, PA 17325
#2) UHero, c/o pix, UHero • 23155 Town Creek Dr. • Lexington Park, MD 20653
#3) UHero, c/o Pix, P.O. Box 4024, Crofton, MD, 21114
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FRONTLINES DISC REVIEWS
jay-z • unplugged
nas • stillmatic
ShelleyDevoto • buzzkunst
the sound of urchin • you are the best
the white stripes • white blood cells
JAY-Z
MTV unplugged
[ roc-a-fella ]
jay-z and the roots plug in
Maybe you never felt Jay-Z, despite the fact that he appeared toward the top of pretty much every millennium-end list of hip hop’s all-time greats. Maybe you felt that the chorus of his latest hit single, “Izzzo (H.O.V.A.)” was more befitting of Destiny’s Child than a living-legend MC. Despire the fact that the disc was recorded at MTV, Unplugged showcases the Jigga Man stripped of all his big-budget gloss — and there’s plenty beneath. The title’s not exactly accurate — the backing isn’t, for the most part, acoustic. The Roots back Jay, along with a mid-sized string section, Mary J. Blige (on “Can’t Knock the Hustle”) and versatile female vocalist Jaguar Wright throughout. Best-of live can be a dicey move, but the Roots have long been proving that hip hop works as a vehicle for live bands, and Wright dots the exclamation point of that once-dubious proposition, helping fill in the vibrant recreations of the many funk samples from ‘hova’s catalog. So maybe you never felt Jay-Z. Now you will.
[ www.rocafella.com ]
NAS
stillmatic
[ columbia ]
not back at it... still at it
It shouldn’t work. Jay-Z buried Nas on on the diss track “The Blueprint” — but it seems that he buried him alive. Now Nas is back and he’s pissed, the anger fueling his strongest release by far in nearly a decade. Nas fires back in “Ether,” and then it’s on. Picking an unlikely sample and making it work has been one of Nas’s reliable strengths. “Got Ur Self A...” lifts the Sopranos theme, and the only surprise is that no one thought to do it sooner. But “Rule” makes a triumph out of what could have been a P-Diddy sampling debacle, Nas flowing around loops and the chorus from Tears for Fears’s “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.” Nah, it shouldn’t work. But it does. When he’s firing on all cylinders, Nas is still at the top of the game.
[ www.stillmatic.com ]
sHELLEYdEVOTO
buzzkunst
[ spinART ]
founding buzzcocks reunite
“I’m lost in the age I’m in,” Howard Devoto intimates in “A World To Give Away,” an aggressive meditation on the interchangable and transitory nature of pop music. He’s certainly qualified to comment on such matters. He and collaborator Pete Shelley formed the legendary Buzzcocks together in 1976, before Devoto left to form Magazine. Their reunion isn’t the punk nostalgia one might expect; rather, it’s a diverse mix of 80s underground elements that recalls Erasure, Oingo Boingo and Kraftwerk. The duo and guests briefly return to rock form in “‘Til the Stars In His Eyes Are Dead,” and “God’s Particle” recalls the industrial forbears of early Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, though the album begins and ends with salvos of synth. ShelleyDevoto may feel lost in an age, but they know exactly what they’re doing. And they do it well. This isn’t a nostalgia trip. It’s the real thing.
[ www.ShelleyDevoto.com ]
THE SOUND OF URCHIN
you are the best
[ RCA ]
next-level rock and roll
First a newsflash from the Sound of Urchin newsdesk: The "editied version" sticker that appears on all copies of this CD is a mistake. Despite the sticker, the disc is not edited.
Sound of Urchin’s two often-manic, fat-riff-filled EPs left fans wondering how a full album from the band would turn out — and in that questions lies the answer: You Are the Best is an album, a rolling song cycle that starts with impassioned praise of tofu (“Zen Magic Marker), climaxes in a metal meltdown (“Millipede/Who’ll Stop the Beggar”) and bids us adieu in a Ween-like cartoon anthem (“Happy”). The most promising rock phenoms to creep out of NYC since Fun Lovin’ Criminals left a blip on the radar and expatriated to England, Urchin rock out an organically eclectic mix loosely comparbale to early Sublime in terms of variety if not sound — just a smattering of reggae appears concept-album-like flow of narratives tinged by occasional lounge horns but ultimately more indebted to long-hairs and heshers like Thin Lizzy, CCR and Anthrax. Make room for your new favorite band.
• d.x. ferris
[ www.SoundOfUrchin.com ]
THE WHITE STRIPES
white blood cells
[ v2 ]
believe the hype
Minimal and disarming, Detroit duo White Stripes more than live up to the loud buzz their live shows and two previous albums have created. Cribbing from Iggy Pop, the Animals, and even a little Dylan, White Blood Cells sees the brother-sister combo pick and choose raw elements from the entire history of rock, incorporating them into hard-hitting garage chic. Built around guitarist Jack White’s scratchy voice and Meg White’s brute go-go-rock-and-roll percussion, the songs indulge in a touch of piano, tambourine, and little keyboard without straying too far from Jack’s distorted riffing and plucking. At opposite ends of the spectrum, the exceptions underscore the group’s awesome power: The acoustic “Friends” is a dead ringer for British school-days ditty. Limited to a voice and thumping drums, “Little Room” clocks in at under a minute and says more about art and rock than most album-length ruminations on stardom.
Frontlines Disc Reviews
UHero • 23155 Town Creek Dr.
Lexington Park, MD 20653
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