Wednesday, June 28, 1995 - The Michigan Daily - 13
RECORDS
rimus
Tales From the Punchbowl
Interscope
Les Claypool's a hard working guy.
The last Primus album came out about
nine seasons ago, last year saw an album
and tour forthe proto-Primus group Sau-
sage and now comes "Tales From the
Punchbowl." Fortunately, each of these
releases has become progressively bet-
r.
The songs on "Tales..." are goofy vi-
gnettes in the classic Primus style. The
opener, "Professor Nutbutter's House of
Treats," starts with circus music and
crowd noises, slowly replaced by a
bassline and finally guitars, bass, drums
and vocals as well. The song has some
catchy drum pounding and lyrics with a
definite carnival barker bent, telling the
story of Prof. Nutbutter. "Wynona's Big
rown Beaver" spins the tale of a curi-
us animal and someits interactions with
people. Maybe. At any rate, the guitars
are running all over the place while the
bass lays down atasty basis forthetrack.
And "De Anza Jig" is a great banjo
pluckin' tune about high school memo-
ries, and is quite possibly the greatest
song ever written thatmakes direct refer-
ence to Taco Bell.
Not that all the songs are stories.
'Year of the Parrot" is a diatribe against
usic that rips other music off so every-
thing sounds like Van Morrison singing
over Led Zep riffs. And there are, of
course, the instrumentals. As a whole,
though, "Tales From the Punchbowl" is
a keen bass album collecting stories from
Wackyland. A fine vacation spot.
-Ted Watts
Eric's Trip
orever Again
ub Pop
Unlike many indie bands, who feel
compelled to bury their melodic and
pop sensibilities under layers of distor-
tion and poor recordings, Eric's Trip is
a band with beautiful songs. And
they're proud of it. Even though "For-
ever Again" is an extremely lo-fi
record, even when the band's voices
crack and the stompboxes are on full
t, the poetically simple and beautiful
elodies shine through. The home-
made, rainy-day quality of the record
only adds to the beauty of songs like
"December 93," "All Day," "Cloudy,"
"New Love" and "My Chest is
Empty." At 19 songs long, "Forever
Again" seems to last an eternity. But
with a sound this mesmerizing, time
would stand still anyway.
-HeatherPhares
- p
Primus prove their name isn't mud.
The B.U.M.S
Brothers Unda Mc
and Tyme
Priority
Although a trac
My Dick" is follo'
called "Elevation (I
on the B.U.M.S firs
sic on this first shot
tic. The beats are so
crowded, while the
super-nicely with
sounding edge to
from Oakland, the a
ingly East Coast, w
loops and not a C
sample.
The messages o
many, ranging from
just straight forw
rockin' the party -
with singin' and az
One highly unique
out at the end of the
song called "Let t
Your Mind" does ju
the full length tr]
sample and some sI
the listener is payin
they'll miss it -t
takes your mind.Y
solid first try, wit
hooks.
Minxus
Pabulum
Too Pure I American
Minxus sound s
mishmash of punk,
all rolled into thef
trio, but their most e
is, as is so rarely th
pull it off without se
sort of novelty fusi
out the album 15 tr
let up on their punk
mixing the jazz at
pop sensibilites m
music stays away
ness.
The album open
of three-minute ge
Aphex Twin
adness: Lyfe ... I Care Because You Do
Sire
Like nearly all of Richard James'
k called "Suck projects, "... I Care Because You
wed by another Do" is a collection of both old and
Free My Mind)" new material, but his sonic innova-
t album, the mu- tions seem to get stranger and more
is not so eclec- fully developed with each release.
lid but not over- "I Care" is an extremely different
basslines flow recording from last year's ominous
a Pete Rock- "Selected Ambient Works Volume
them. Coming II," which was a collection of fore-
ibum is surpris- boding, minimalist soundscapes.
Kith lots of nice While far from being a dance (or
leorge Clinton even danceable) album, "I Care"
features several songs featuring
n the album are James' spastic rhythms made up of
ithe majority - ingeniously sculpted percussion
ard dissin' and sounds of his own creation. It's hard
- to a few songs to believe that James is still able to
message or two. find ways to redefine and reinvent
moment stands his drum sounds right down to the
first side when a simple bass drum sound, but, as
he Music Take songs like "Wax The Nip" and the
st that by fading screeching "Ventolin" show, he's far
ack into a new from running out of ideas.
houtouts. Unless "I Care" is also, by far, James'
g close attention most diverse individual release.
the music truly While his work as a whole is stun-
All in all, it's a ningly diverse, most of his albums
h a few unique have revolved around a more singu-
lar theme. This album, on the other
-DustinfHowes hand, leaps from percussive inter-
play experiments to somber,
minimalist pieces, to painful noise,
before ending with three of the most
moving pieces James has ever re-
omething like a leased, the space-jazzy "Alberto
and pop and jazz Balsalm," the garage-funk of "Cow
form of a power Cud Is A Twin" and the supremely
ndearing quality beautiful neo-classical piece, "Next
he case, they can Heap With."
teming like some Despite having more of a compi-
on act. Through- lation-like feel than his other works,
acks, they rarely "I Care" still works beautifully on
-like energy, and all 12 tracks, each of which create a
titudes with the space of their own. Until James' gets
takes sure their around to releasing the rest of his
from repetitive- 10,000 or so recordings, it'll be nice
to have this album as an indication
s with a barrage of his diverse musical skills.
ms, which state -Andy Dolan
Who couldn't love a face like this?
Jesse
Never Let You Go
Capitol Records
What is that line of demarcation which
separates your everyday R&B Joe from
those recording artists, like Aretha
Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Patti LaBelle,
whose fame will last forever? Whatever it
takes to cross the threshold intotthe land of
R&B immortality, it can be certain that
Jesse has those talents, and his debut re-
lease "Never Let You Go" will be the first
of a long line of spectacular musical cre-
ations.
Jesse, a native of Chicago, is an out-
standing artist, and one listen to almost any
of the 12 cutson "NeverLetYou Go" will
make you a Jesse fan forevermore. His first
single, "When You Cry I Cry," a very
beautiful song, played wellon many Black
radio stations. But, this song doesn't make
the CD, it is only one contribution to an all-
around spectacular LP. Cuts like the title
track, "The Comfort of YOu Man," "Keep
It Slow"and my personalfavorite, "Know
That I Love You" will continually flow
sweet sounding lyrics and music into your
ear.
Words cannot describe the full musical
impact "Never Let You Go" has made.
And, it has come at the nick of time - a
time when so-called artists are making a
mockery of R&B with theirlackluster per-
formances and even notable artists such as
Luther Vandross and Keith Sweat have
fairly recently released musical downers.
Jesse has not produced simply the best
R&B CD in recent memory; he has pro-
duced the mostexcitingandrefreshing set
of R&B grooves this decade. All R&B
hopefulshadbetterkeeptheireyeonJesse,
because asofnow, he's the man to beat.
-Eugene Bowen
Minxus' case perfectly. "Minxus" is
an introduction to the band's acces-
sible side, with some carefree jazz
vocals courtesy of bassist She
Rocola. Next up are the more punk-
oriented "Silk Purse" and "I Know
You Want To Stop," and the beauti-
ful "Pabulum," which shows that the
band have a great sense of melody as
well.
More than a few times, however,
the band's energy slips somewhat,
on songs like "Vultura" and "Fecund
Girls" which just don't seem to have
any of the elements that make nearly
all of the other tracks so exciting. On
most tracks, though, Minxus keep all
of their musical ideas flowing
nicely, whether it's on the spastic "X
Y Zoom" or the mutant-pop of "I
Live On Sand."
While not perfect, "Pabulum"
does succeed where so many pop-
punk albums fail. By throwing in
their jazz-oriented attitudes, they've
managed to create a collection of
songs that remain interesting even
after those first few listens.} ° _ r-<
-Andy Dolan
Various Artists
AmRep Motors 1995 Models
Amphetamine Reptile
Amphetamine Reptile has a spook-
ily good stable of performers of the
squeakin'-guitars-that-impale-you
sort. This compilation crystallizes that
as well as anything. This comp leads
off with Love 666's "MDMA," a
kickdrum enhanced song with vocals
that crawl under your skin and make
you itch in a good way. The last song is
SWAT's brilliantly evil and kitschy
cover of "In the Ghetto." And every-
thing in-between keeps up with these
established quality parameters. Gems
come from people varying from '70s
innovator (but still turning out good
music) Helios Creed to the band Halo
of Kitten (made up of members of
Halo of Flies and Free Kitten) which
recorded a single song for the upcom-
ing soundtrack for the film "Porn."
There's not a single poor song on this
disc, and, with a price of about half a
normal CD, you can't afford to not get
"AmRppMoptrs 1995,Models.
- Ted Watts
Department of Recreational
Sports
INTRAMURAL
SPORTS PROGRAM
WANTEDI
SOFTBALL OFFICIALS
CLINIC BEGINS:
WEDNESDAY JULY 5
8:30 PM
IMSB
For Additional Information Contact: IMSB 606 E. Hoover 763-3562