8 The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 14, 1995 Trenchmouth look as good as they rock By Kirk Miller Daily Arts Writer "Chop chop chop I cut myself a place to set up shop and it's right at the top," proclaims Trenchmouth lead singer Damon Locks on "Doing the Flammability," one of the many won- derful and twisted ska / punk / mambo / jazz / whatever musical workouts the band has developed over the years, and perhaps a good mantra for their unique sound: The best way to describe Trenchmouth is not to even bother with labeling their style. Their new release "Trenchmouth vs. theLight of the Sun" is a pastiche of many styles expertly blended together to come across as something entirely new and unusual, which is hard to find in the alternative nation of today's music. "We all have abase in punk music," Locks explained over the phone while he was trapped at the Canadian border. "Me and Chris (de Zutter, guitarist) listened to the Clash and British stuff." One advantage the band has is growing up in different areas of the country, which allowed each band member to bring influences from their respective music scenes. Along with their D.C. and Chicago hardcore scenes, the members of Trenchmouth count the famous New York post- punk movement of the early '80s (Devo, Blondie) as important musi- cal heritage. But before you can say "Rancid" this is no mere punk re- tread; the band takes just as much from jazz and even mambo as the aggressive side of punk. This becomes more obvious in their show, where unlike their idols in Minor Threat or Bad Brains, there is no pit. "It's a pretty good crowd," Locks said. "We get an audience that likes music. We get a lot ofpeople dancing." The four-piece (Locks, de Zutter, bassist Wayne Montana and drum- mer Fred Armisen, who in my opin- ion makes steals the show) started in Chicago in 1988, releasing various singles almost entirely through the indie label Skene! (exclamation is theirs, not mine.) Instead of having to HAZEL Continued from page 5 ticed about five times in the interval between 'Toreador' and the album," Krebs said. Having "learned our lessons the hard way," as Krebs put it, Hazel entered the studio to record their fol- low-up release with a new attitude. "We recorded it under really relaxed conditions," revealed Krebs. "We weren't sure what people would think of it. The first record was something you could warm up to immediately, while this one needs to be listened to a couple of times. But I do think the songs are better on this record - stronger lyrically and melody-wise. It's more aggressive, but not as scrappy. I like it a lot." And well he should. From the jerky, supercharged punk-pop of "Lazy H" and "Green Eyes" to the unforgettablehook and vocal harmony of "Chasing After James" and the quiet acoustic "Crowned,"Hazel flies through this tasty batch of whiplash love songs as if Fred's tutu was on fire. "Jodi's drumming and singing really shine," Krebs bragged. Hazel releases "Are You Going to Eat That" into a very different scene than the one "Toreador" ruled two years ago. With the record-label take- over of Portland and Sub Pop leading the charge, Krebs noticed a "definite shift in the music scene here - there used to be a strong sense of commu- nity. Everybody knew everybody else. You could trust people. (Portland) was just a really cool scene." He continued, "Once a lot of at- tention was focused on Portland, all of a sudden it became really profes- sional and polished. It's not so easy to start a band here now. There's a lot of competition and a lot of people start- ing to get cutthroat and that's really a dangerous thing," Krebs feels. and while he still "totally" identifies him- self and his band with his city, "it's not the same place it used to be." Well, Hazel don't play the same places they used to, either. While Krebs insisted, "Our fort6 is small clubs and basements," he and his band nevertheless welcomed the opportu- nity to play larger venues with Veruca Salt. "We'd met them a long time ago in Chicago at a Hazel show. I guess they were fans of ours," Krebs ex- plained. "It's a good deal for us in that it allows us to play for a lot of people. It's going to be kind of weird, but I think the end result will be positive." Krebs hopes that Hazel's music - and Fred's dancing - challenge crowds they encounter. "Alternative rock is really homogeneous in a lot of ways. It's a marketing category, this license to be different, but it doesn't extend to different forms of expres- sion within the genre. This could be a pipe dream, but I hope that people will see our show and Fred, and they'll get it." Go, Fred, go. Mad Season Above Columbia Those Seattle guys are just so wacky; always playing around and experimenting with each other. The latest side project / experimentation effort from the Pacific Northwest is Mad Season's "Above," an album of dark and brooding songs from some of the best names hailing from the infamous and burned-out City of Grunge. Consisting of Alice In Chains vo- calist Layne Staley, Pearl Jam guitar- ist Mike McCready, Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin and bassist John Baker Saunders, Mad Season is definitely an interesting combination of musical tastes, making "Above" a bittersweet trip into the lives and minds of some of rock's greatest ad- dicts. With Staley's heroin and McCready's alcohol problems, "Above" frequently sounds like the angry smack addict complaining and whining while the drunk drags the song on and on, forgetting where to end. Not that that's so bad, because most of the songs work. They just delve into the mellower side of Alice In Chains' music, butdefinitely darker and more unrefined than their last release, "Jar of Flies." "Above" digs into the jazzier and more laid back moods of its members. Songs like "River of Deceit" and "Long Gone Day," which even fea- tures a saxophone, achieve this laid back and lazy feel, while others like "I Don't Know Anything" would sound right at home on Alice In Chains' 1992 album "Dirt." McCready's guitar styles are also prevalent all over the album. On the lead track, "Wake-Up," his trade- marked long and drawn out solos dominate, dragging out the song, and injure the otherwise good track. The rest of the album also has this same problem, with tracks that push the limits of the listener's attention span. One of the better tracks, "I'm Above," is a duet with Screaming Trees' frontman Mark Lanegan, and sounds just like early Screaming Trees material. Although the track sounds poorly mixed, with Lanegan's rich vocals drowned out by Staley's more abrasive cackles, it is still one of the best on the album. While Staley's vocals aren't as powerful as in thepast, his songwriting seems even darker and more potent than ever. On "Wake-Up" he sings, "Slow suicide's no way to go / blue, clouded grey / you're not a crack up / dizzy and weakened by the haze / moving onward / so an infection not a phase / the cracks and lines from where you gave up / they make an easy man to read." Mad Season has produced an in- teresting and laid-back album, with a number of good tracks. While it isn't of the same caliber as Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam or the Screaming Trees, it does experiment and offer a look into a possible new direction of that good old Seattle sound. - Brian A. Gnatt Various Artists Classic California Cuts: Vol. 1 Moonshine Music Perhaps it is all the beautiful, lipo- suctioned people and tofu bars that makes so much of the West Coast dance and techno music sound so, well, happy. California is arguably the world capital of fruity house mu- sic and it is no surprise that this inher- ent happiness is almost always present in music from the lefthand ofAmerica. Nearly every track on "Classic California Cuts" lacks any of the edge that is found in much of underground dance music. The song titles (e.g. "The Crystal Method," "Cloud 9 Mix") lend some insight into perhaps why this music sounds so much tamer than the Acid-House sound that is preferred by most in the Detroit area. One song that shows a little grit is Frankie "O"'s track "Acid Man." "Acid Man" is an interesting look into what could be the answer from the sugar coated West-Coast sound. "Classic California Cuts" has many good, happy, songs, however, they sound too tamed and cultured. If you want to listen to some happy techno, buy the album, but if you do not want to go into glucose shock, stick to the Detroit sound. - Ben Ewy 0 St 9i 2K PtJ Prodigy's music is for the jilted generation - Jilted John, that is. it's Bouler Enjoy the relaxed, comfortable atmosphere ofthe Boulder campus . Choose from over 500 couises - Select from five-, eight-, and ten-week terms or intensive courses . Have time to work, travel,or just have fun Plan now to make the Summer of 1995 a Boulder one! Term A: June 5-July 7 Term B: July11-August 11 Term C: June 5-July 28 Term D: June 5-August 11 Shorter, intensive courses also available. Call or write for your free CU-Boulder Summer Session Catalog. (303)492-2456 OffceofAdmissions"R egent Administrative Center 125 Campus Box 30 University of Colorado at Boulder " Boulder, CO 80309-0030 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER Yes, send me the free 1995 CU-Boulder Summer Session Catalog. TheProdigy Music for the Jilted Generation Mute The Prodigy's "Music for the Jilted Generation" begins with the proclama- tion of "I've decided to take my work back underground ... to stop it falling into the wrong hands" and bursts into a full-on musical assault. This album is a calculated plunge into the sounds of pure England techno. However, the Prodigy do not live up to their goal of bringing their music back to the under- ground. All of the tracks on "Music for the Jilted Generation" are cold and clean ... and this is one of the problems. The Prodigy sound too produced to effect any true hardcore vibes. The music is almost too good. The Prodigy produces very mass-appeal techno music as evidenced by their number one position on both the England Dance and National charts. The al- bum is also certified platinum show- ing that however underground the Prodigy wants to be, they are just not experimental or hard enough to be truly underground. Too many of the tracks sound like slightly watered down versions of British Jungle and other underground sounds. There is no mistaking the fact that Liam Howlett and the boys do make great techno music, they just sound somewhat behind of the cut- ting edge acts of today. Furthermore, some of their songs, like "No Good [Start the Dance]" sound a little for- mulaic, with too much of the "Rave 'Til Down" sounds and styles. This is -a very good, technically produced and danceable album. However, it sounds a lot more at home in the clubs than in the underground. - Ben Ewy Dick Siegel Angels Aweigh Schoolkids' Records Local singer-songwriter Dickj Siegel has mined his extensive imagination for another diverse col- lection of tales of love, good times, cats (as metaphors for humans), dancing and growing older. He couches his songs in a variety of settings, from the upbeat pop of "Happy" to the earnest folk of the title track and from the bounce of The Silvertones" to the cautionary rap of "Mother's Plaint." He can spin a story just as easily with a bare minimum of words ("The Secret") as he can with many ("Red"). Siegel is one of the best songwriters in the area and "Angels Aweigh" should only further cement that reputation. - Dirk Schulze 0 Warsaw Sinfoma enchants Hill Auditorium By Nik Chawla For the Daily As part of the University ofMichi- gan Copernicus Endowment theme semester, "From Polonaise to Penderecki: Polish Music at the Uni- versity of Michigan," composer Krzysztof Penderecki conducted the Warsaw Sinfonia with cellist Allison Eldredge in a program with works by Penderecki, Beethoven and viola, but transcribed for the cello), which is a workout for any seasoned soloist, since the orchestral accompa- niment is virtually pitted against the soloist. Eldredge was very much up to the task, although she exhibited some nied by piano in her rendition of. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, played as an encore. Another Penderecki piece, the Sinfonietta per Archie, provided an upbeat change in mood from the oth- erwise gloomy cello concerto. It also showcased the very talented players of the Sinfonia in a variety of solos from various principal string players. A series of undulating echoes were 1w Warsaw jinfonia E II