8 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 27, 1995 Grenadine Nopalitos Simple Machines This indie supergroup (Jenny Toomey from Tsunami, Mark Robinson from Unrest and Jeremy Christiansen from the Eggs) follows up its great 1993 debut "Goya" with "Nopalitos," continuing the alcohol-related trend of their album titles. Local music impresa- rio Warren Defever (His Name Is Alive, Princess Dragonmom, the Dirt Eaters and others) produces this effort, and the combination is heavenly. Toomey's songs, like "Puddle" and "The Bar- nacle" mix angularity and pop hooks in a way that jabs itself into listeners' heads. Meanwhile, Robinson's songs take a completely different tack: "What On Earth Has Happened to Today's Youth?" "Hell Over Hickory Dew" and "Roundabout On a Tuesday" sound like the products of a gently deranged mind. Guitars jangle like ukuleles and Robinson makes like a modern-day Rudy Vallee, singing his vocals into a megaphone. While a more laid-back, subdued affair than the peppier, poppier "Goya," Grenadines beauty still shines on Nopalitos, taking lounge-inspired music to a higher level. - Heather Phares Barkmarket Lardroom American Following his production work on Cop Shoot Cop's recent album "Re- lease," David Sardy is in your face yet again with his own keen group Barkmarket. Reknowned for his abil- ity to make music on tape sound like itdoes live, Sardy's productionjob on the "Lardroom" EP shines through in its communication of drums, guitars, voices and bass. The music is pretty special, too. "I Drown," "Johnny Shiv," "Little White Dove" and "Dig In" are classic Barkmarket (as defined on their last album, "Gimmick"). There's a lot of head-splitting guitar with a strong rhythm underlying it and Sardy's voice screaming over it, making a most entertaining vibration. "Pushin' Air" is sort of different, as it was written by bassist John Nowlin. There's a heapin' helpin' of radio static and a voice strained in a differ- ent way, but the breaking point of Barkmarket is still far beyond. Go. Buy it. Love it. - Ted Watts Bottle Rockets The Brooklyn Side East Side Digital Those who, for whatever reason, picked up the Bottle Rockets' 1993 debut were treated to a powerful blend of punk exuberance and country long- ng -a harder rocking Uncle Tupelo, if you will. Those who did not, their numbers being somewhere around the entire population of the United States, have a chance to redeem themselves with the Bottle Rockets' second re- lease, "The Brooklyn Side." Though it is slightly less satisfying than the eponymous debut, their latest finds the Rockets with their straightforward songs intact, spinning tales 01 love, lust, doomed children, radar guns and cars that refuse to run. The band formed from the broken core of St. Louis's Chicken Truck, a punkier outfit featuring three of the four current members of the Bottle Rockets. Touring with Uncle Tupelo after the release of their debut sharp- ened their musical vision, but perhaps a bit too much. Some of the variety of that first record is missing on "The Brooklyn Side." At 14 songs, the new album is too long, mining the same groove for a few too many cuts. At 10 or 11 tracks, "The Brooklyn Side" would have been another inspiring collection of straight-up rock, coun- try and punk as the songs that con- nect, like "Welfare Music," "What More Can I do?" and "Queen of the World" hit hard with their simplicity and understanding of southern cul- ture. But at the length it is, it is just shy of greatness. - Dirk Schulze Dink Dink Capitol So what is a Dink, anyway? The word doesn't conjure up anything imposing or dark or sinister or fun; it sounds more like a wacky Saturday morning cartoon that's fun to see for all of 10 minutes. And that's more of where Dink the band is coming from. Ohio's answer to EMF has re- ceived extensive radio play for the catchy-but-pointless "Green Mind," which is a pretty good consolidation I of the rest of the album: sample a bizarre spoken word segment, punch it up with a dance beat, throw in a vaguely industrial guitar noise and bop'til you drop. Lather, rinse, repeat ad nauseum. Fun? Sure. Memorable? No, but it doesn't make any pretensions to it either. Dink don't stink, but they sure aren't unbelievable. - Kirk Miller Mary J. Blige My Life MCA Records With hit singles "Mary Jane," "You Bring Me Joy," "My Life," "I'm Going Down" and "Be Happy" - over one third of the 14 songs pre- sented in her sophomore CD - al- ready hitting big, Mary J. Blige has established "My Life" as MCA's first big release of 1995 (even though it was actually released in December '94). However, these five songs aren't the only dope ones. The slow and sensual ("You Gotta Believe"), the subtly rhythmic ("Mary's Joint") and the exotic ("I'm the Only Woman") are all available for your listening enjoyment in "My Life." Not only is "My Life," Blige's second release, it is also her best. This is not to be taken lightly as her debut release was no joke either. Mary's alto-ish voice is a perfect comple- ment to the R&B tradition. If you can get past her wack, bleached-blonde hair, you will quickly be entranced by the musical treat which lies in store. - Eugene Bowen Boingo Boingo Giant When a band changes its name, you know something is going on. And, when Oingo Boingo became merely Boingo, it was no exception. The band whose music used to make people cringe and laugh at the same time with lyrics like, "I like little girls, they make me feel so ... BAD," has now developed into a stereotypi- cal alternapop band. They have traded in darkly haunting works of art for mundane jangle pop and have come up with a self-titled album in which the only unique quality is the ridicu- lous length of the songs, ranging from 44 seconds to 16 minutes, with the average being somewhere around seven minutes. Fortunately, the band has retained its original members, including lead vocalistof"Simpsons" theme fame, Danny Elfman. Unfor- tunately, even Elfman has lost the quirky, whiny tones that made his voice so distinctive on earlier record- ings. But, despite the overly lengthy material and lack of originality, Boingo still has some catchy melo- dies. The album has already spawned the tuneful single "Hey!" and "Spi- der," with its offbeat rhythms and careening guitars, should be follow- ing soon after. But, don't expect as many satirical choruses as in the'80s. Depending on your ear for surreal couplets, Danny Elfman's lyrics can seem either startlingly profound or frustratingly ridiculous. Though, "Don't you know though our kids are dumb / we got smart bombs / What a joyous thing," is mildly funny, you could find substantially morehumor- ous material on any They Might Be <°: :>. Giants CD. In fact, Boingo has be- come so desperate for material that they have resorted to doing covers. Boingo's version of "I Am the Wal- rus," has no particular appeal other than that it's a great song to begin with. Even if people were tired of hearing originals, they still wouldn't be tired enough to replace them with limp remakes. Instead of buying Boingo, go for the classics - "The Best of Oingo Boingo." An experi- ence that will leave you with only "Nasty Habits." - Lise Harwin John Frusciante Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt Americana, You're most likely familiar with John Frusciante's gu'itar work on the last couple of Red Hot Chili Pepper albums. But this is not a Chili's al- bum. In fact, it might show why there was a. parting of the ways between Frusciante and the others. "Niandra ..." is an acoustic gui- tar-based album. And when I say that I mean there's mostly acoustic guitar and Frusciante's voice with a little overdubbing. It's the sound of a man and his guitar. They've got somecom- plex riffs that at times bring to mind "Under the Bridge," but for the most part the songs are completely sepa- rate from Frusciante's previous work. Sometimes dabbling in tape manipu- lation, the voice is at times distorted. When it's not distorted, the voice sounds kinda distorted anyway as it flutters in the upper reaches of human- pitch. It all combines into a rather uneasy unplugged-on-heroin-actin' affair. This is not an album that lends itself to easy listening. On the other hand, it grows on you. Like a crazy old guy in the subway playing Simon and Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny! I!!!!lll!!!!!!!!!!!!HI! Frusciante, that is. metal/industrial band, as Garfunkel songs, "Niandra ..." is ugly but kind of amusing if you stick with it long enough. Even if most of its songs don't have names, maybe you'll throw a quarter or two in the guitar case. - Ted Watts $ . .. ' Tribal Tech Primal Tracks Bluemoon "Primal Tracks" is a "best of' col- lection for the group Tribal Tech, and they repeatedly show us how jazz fusion isdonethroughoutthe 13 tracks on this release. "Elvis At The Hop," "Got Tuh B," "The Necessary Blonde" and "Bofat" are all top-quality com- positions with some virtuosic playing from the two founding members of Tech, Gary Willis and Scott Henderson. Henderson's guitar solos are creative, technically dazzling and just really, really cool. Willis holds his own on the bass, but his strong suit is definitely articulation of lines and holding the whole group together. Things aren't always perfect on this album, and it would be best to avoid "Mango Prom," "Twilight in Northridge" and "The Rain." If you like fusion, you would be advised strongly to take a listen to Tribal Tech - they are among the best that the genre has to offer. - David Cook Michael Hedges The Road to Return Windham Hill Mike Hedges is really an imagina- tive and talented fellow. If you can get past the unambitiousness of his brand of new age pop, you'll discover a col- lection of really beautiful, inspiring compositions. As a renowned acoustic guitarplayer, he has the decidedly taken the road not travelled bymostplayers of his capability. He takes a simple ap- proach tosongwriting, giving themusic only a supportive role while putting his vocals at the forefront. Even though he never really goes wild on the six-string, the music is well- written, often outdoing his proficient but corny vocals about such Christian themes as staying together, communi- cating, trusting others, etc. On "India," the best song on the disc, he plays a surprisingly rocking riff with a beauti- ful Arabic flute solo over which he sings "India I want to break down your defenses, if you open up and let me through the glass." On "Communicate," he goes for the campfire approach sing- ing such hokeylyrics as "Every world- wide color of meaning can shade what we're meaning to say, before darkness falls it's time we try and communicate." There are a lot of other songs with similar sentiments. The disc is great for relaxation and studying. If you need inspiration or just a change of pace, it is highly recommended. - Gianluca Montalti Shady World Beggar's Banquet Mix together the creative forces of Mercury Rev, the Boo Radleys and Rollerskate Skinny together, and out comes the glorious mess that is known as Shady. The solo project from ex- 01 I . _ _ t' AN :r DL"T IN~9. ~ RADIO FREE ANN ARBOR 1" Ak' BIU 0 S TAT4~cro - M, I