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It's always dangerous to push
the boundaries musically. A lot of guys get confused, thinking
that if what they're putting down is something that can't be
listened to for more than 30 seconds then it's great stuff and
anyone who doesn't
think so just doesn't get it. These, unfortunately, are the guys
who get a lot of attention. The guys who really, quietly, nudge
the boundaries yet never forget what music is have to put out
their own CDs and slave away night after night at nameless bars
and work day gigs.
Spottiswoode & His Enemies would fall
into the latter category. Their self-titled debut is a bit of a
Trojan horse, an explosion marketed as a CD. Listening to
this is like coming home and finding that your house has been
taken over by a drag queen party, with Tom Waits fronting
Morphine for entertainment and catering by David Lynch. That
would be Tom Waits without the restraint. Oh, yeah, and the
whole house is turned upside down, too.
Everything you know isn't just wrong; it's
been utterly changed. "Rattle The Bars" sets the tone
for what's to come. It's about a prison wedding where the bride
is the singer, and warbles in an offkey baritone about his
wedding dress and about his plan to strangle the warden with his
wedding veil. And things get further out from there! "She's
Not In Love, She's In Pain" is about masochistic
relationships ---surprise--- while "Heaven"....I'm not
sure what "Heaven" is about and I'm not all that sure
I want to know. "Nothing's What It Seems" is perhaps
the CD's most appropriate track, and basically sets the mode for
the whole package, which includes a CD booklet full of photos
from Spottiswoode's wedding. But nothing on this earth will
prepare you for"Enfant Terrible," a nightmare of a
track which gives a tongue in cheek treatment to kiddie porn,
among other things. The lyrics to just about everything on this
CD will make you want to crawl out of your skin, yet they're so
well-written, and the music is so goddamned good,
that you're going to be
torn between hitting the eject button and playing this track,
and others, over and over and over.
Spottiswoode has a distinctive, as opposed
to a good, voice, a flat baritone with a limited range. He does
not, however, make the mistake that so many artists do, in that
his tracks are tailored to the limitations of his vocals. His
Enemies, however, don't seem to have any instrumental
limitations at all.
I don't know what they sound like live,
but if the CD is any indication (and these days, who knows, but
give 'em the benefit of the doubt) they are tight enough to
function as a cohesive unit but loose enough so that when
Spottiswoode swerves down some musical alley they can pick up
and go right with him. The wind instruments --- sax, trumpet,
and flute, among others --- give the music a jazzy swagger that
is at once inappropriate and absolutely great. There is no point
of reference on this CD, to genre, topic, or anything else, so
as a result the listener never has any idea what the hell is
going to happen minute for minute. And it all works, dead on the
money, every single time.
These guys aren't just ahead of their
time. They're outside of time. Spottiswoode and His Enemies is
one of those bands that other bands will go to see and crib
from, watering down the music to make CDs that will sell
millions of copies while Spottiswoode continues to labor in
obscurity. Catch the future of music now at the source.
|
| Artist |
Spottiswoode |
| Title |
Spottiswoode and his
Enemies |
| Label |
Rumpelstiltskin
Records |
| Reviewer |
Joe Hartlaub |
| Rating |
 |
|
 |
| website |
Spottiswoode
Online |
| win stuff |
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