10 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 23, 1994
GASHUFFER - IT'S A GAS, GAS, GAS
- - - --.- - --.
Top 40 punk, you're a bunch of junk! Well, actually some of Green Day's
and Offspring's white hot riffing approaches critical mass. But the singer
from the Offspring, i.e. the Michael Jackson of punk, could stick his arm
down his throat, rip out his vocal chords, wrap them around his neck and his
singing would probably be 500 times better.
We're probably just too jaded from hearing our neighbors crank the top 40
punk (and those way so alternative rock godz Candlebox) all the way to
eleven at 3:30 in the morning. But that's all right, because we own Lou
Reed's "Metal Machine Music."
Anway, this is all beside the point. Seattle's Gas Huffer has just released
"One Inch Masters," on Epitaph Records (the Hall of Justice for top 40
punk). So, northwest sludge meets California gloss, and the result is well
surprisingly excellent. "One Inch Masters" is like a rock and roll rumble, with
our heroes Gas Huffer blasting away while Kurt "Rock and Roll" Bloch of the
Fastbacks tries to reign the band in from the production chair. But nothing is
constrained on this work of art. So, will these one-inch masters go top 40?
In a perfect world, perhaps, but in this one, very doubtful.
You can see the 'Huff at St. Andrew's tomorrow night with Ann Arbor's own
Tiger 100 opening. Doors open at 8 p.m. and tickets are a measly $6. So
start Huffing.
It's not
eay being
Black & White!
RECORDS
Continued from page 9
just what happened. He signed these
four jobless street musicians onto his
label, and this, their first CD, was born.
"From the beginning, I felt that this
group had something NEW in the way
of sound and feeling," said Macero.
Boy what an understatement.
"Soul of Grand Central" is a bril-
liant hodge-podge of reggae, pop, jazz
and dance music. The few cuts with
singing or rapping do got it goin' on,
but it's the soulful sounds which per-
meate throughout the CD that will call
to you. Especially pleasing is the ever-
present showing of Zane Massey's
saxophone prowess.
Rapping on that Monie Love tip,
Charlene Fitzpatric, who performs
"Autumn Rap," does an excellent job
of leading into "Autumn Leaves." This
vocal-less, highly relaxing jazz would
make Winton Marsalis jealous. The
sax and xylophone (an instrument Ijust
don't hear much of) produce the
smoothest sounds you'll ever want to
hear.
"Don't Worry About It," "Salsa En
El Grand Central" and "Spanish Love"
spotlight this group's love of the Latin
beat, and "Journey Home," the CD's
final cut, with its soothing sounds, takes
you home more relaxed than any Grand
Central train ever could.
Get this CD. Don't deny your ears
what they deserve.
- Eugene Bowen
The Benedictine
Monks of Santo
Domingo
Chant
Angel Records
The country that brought us the
inquisition and conquistadors is at it
again. "Chant" is an incredibly beauti-
ful and awe-inspiring album that is
becoming an "international phenom-
enon" and has cracked the American
barometer of worth, the Tower Records
Top 25!!
"Chant" is a timeless album that
transcends comparison. No knowledge
of Gregorian chant is necessary to be
moved by the sublime qualities of this
record. Listening to this record has the
healing quality of a three-hour long
mental massage; the "serene spirit"
conveyed is a spiritual cleanser.
The record was recorded in the
monk's cloister and the acoustics are
nothing short of perfect. The echo's
and reverberations of the monk's voices
only adds to the ethereal nature of their
music. The music is incredibly mov-
ing.
"Chant" promises to be a European
import of extreme importance. This
album can be equally enjoyed by any
person desiring a beautiful and healing
experience.
- Ben Ewy
Sponge
Rotting Pinata
Chaos/Columbia
Well, they're local. That's good.
They're also boring, derivative alterna-
metal. That's bad. The title track basi-
cally consists of shouting the words
"Rotting pinata!" over and over with
some generic grunge chords thrown in;
the rest of the album goes downhill
from there, with songs like "Rainin"'
and "Drownin"' failing to pique any
interest; the good news is that one can
tune out the band's music fairly easily.
Their name is Sponge; why couldn't
they have soaked up some talent?
- Heather Phares
Greg Ginn
Let it Burn (Because I Don't
Live There Anymore)
Cruz
This is the good part of Black Flag.
Rollins is the not-so-good part of Black
Flag. Rollins is popular and so now he
sings loudly about stardom and hating
his fans. Greg Ginn still labors in rela-
tiveobscurity and so he sings in a voice
that is very hard to hear about hating
people in general.
No less than three of the song titles
on "Let It Burn"have the word "lame"
in the title. His hatred is immense. His
music is dark and heavy so it fits well
with this thematic drive. His vocals are
mostly overwhelmed by the music.
Ginn sounds like he's been buried alive
and isn't too happy about it.
Overall, this disc sounds pretty
good. It's very open about its anger, but
it doesn't really overstep its boundaries
and become annoying the way certain
people named Hank do.
Get this instead of other Black Flag
fallout.
- Ted Watts
Nu Soul Habits
Meant to Be
Motown
Just when you stopped visiting the
R&B section at the record store -
except to mourn the death of a once
vibrant scene which produced Marvin
Gaye, Al Green and Otis Redding - a
group with somemerit appears. It seems
that a few record company execs at
Motownfiguredoutthatsalesofgroups
like Jamiroquai and the Brand New
Heavies - artists at least partly based
on the soul traditions of the original
Motown and the Stax/Volt labels -
were not just a fluke. "Perhaps people
actually like live bass, organs, simple
tracks and funk" they said to them-
selves. Hence, Nu Soul Habits was
born. "Meant to Be" is certainly along
the lines of the above mentioned groups
but with a distinctly American flavor.
It has the feel of some of the '90s funk
and the sappiness of Color Me Badd
and Tony Toni Tond, or a Stevie Won-
der and Aretha Franklin with more
ridiculous messages.
The mention of these people in the
same paragraph may be cause for con-
cern; but the album has the feel of those
artists. And it's not bad. There are
some problems with the album, for
instance alow quality synthesized saxo-
phone which reveals itself without
shame. However, on the whole it is
quality and most importantly it is dif-
ferent from the overproduced, mean-
ingless, gushy music regularly pumped
out of the R&B machine. This alone
warrants purchase of the album (just to
send those execs a message) and be-
sides that, it's a good start to what will
hopefully become a long lasting trend.
- Dustin Howes
Transmisia
Dumbshow
Invisible -
Lots of scream-yourself-hoarse
vocals, wacky rhythms, death-metal
oriented drum machines and screechy
guitar bursts from this Italian indus@
trial-metal outfit. Some tracks are remi-
niscent of the Young Gods or Ministry
in one of their more mechanical, guitar
riff-oriented moods, while others are
pretty much serve their purpose as ge-
neric speed-metal.
Like a lot of this style of music, you
probably already know whether this
kind of thing is for you or not.
"Dumbshow" is nothing particularly
new or groundbreaking, but there's@
enough interesting twists on old ideas
here to make it worth a spin if this is
what you're into.
- Andy Dolan
a
'44
CGolox
r
amazin' blue
is holding
auditions
for a tenor slot
there will be a mass meeting
on Sun. 9/25 at 6:00 P.M.
in room 2105 Michigan Union
For moreinfo call-University Activities Center at 763-1107
S TATrE ,T HEATRE *'.,
On State at Liberty.- Adults $5.00 Students wMID $3.00
Matinees -- Mon - Fri 4:30 -Y Sat & Sun 2:00 -A L L SE ATS $3.00
24 hr INFO 994-4024, . gow serving Coffee and Capaccino
yallommum"m
'w '!. i
Take this quiz:;.
When is the next special occasion with your certain someone
a) The U-M vs. Penn State football game
b) The next episode of 90210
c) Sweetest Day
If you answered: (a), then ask Qary Moeller to marry you.
(b), then you need to get out of the house!
(c), then you are as sweet as sugar! Prove that your are with a:
0
1]
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on The Michigan Daily Classified Pages!
Declare your love for only $1.00 per line (3 lines min. please). Your message will be
published Friday, October 14. Deadline is 5 p.m., Wednesday, October 12.
Look out for the form in upcoming issues.
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7
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