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