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| Artist: | Arkarna |
| Title: | "Fresh Meat" |
| Label: | Fume/Reprise |
| Reviewed By: | Dave Merrill |
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Engineer, mixer and vocalist, Ollie Jacobs, met guitarist, James Barnett, at Rollover Studios in West London several years ago, where they began writing songs together. They released an independently produced single, "R U Scared," as "Arkarna." Shortly after, they were signed by WEA U.K. Guitarist, Lalo Creme came to Rollover looking for work. Son of "10cc" cofounder Lol Creme, Lalo soon joined "Arkarna" as their second guitarist. The three then recorded their first single, "House on Fire," which appeared on the U.K. top 40. "House on Fire" is also their U. S. debut single, included on the "Batman and Robin" soundtrack, and on their album, "Fresh Meat." They recruited Bid, a session drummer, for their first tour, and at the end of the tour, he became an official member of the band. "House on Fire," the first track, reminds me a little of "Shreikback." This band is techno dance influenced, so there is a lot more repetition than in "Shreikback's" music. Jacobs' vocals are fairly monotone. There are just enough changes in "House on Fire" to keep it interesting. The song is about sex and wasting time. The music on "Eat me" is even more repetitive. Good vocal harmonies help to keep the song interesting. The song is about getting drunk and waking up with an ugly girl. Jacobs's screeches, "No dog you can't chew my bone." I found these song lyrics silly and offensive. Beautiful, spacey synthesizer opens the song "The Futures Overrated." It soon gives way to an annoying synthesizer beat. This song is far less repetitive than the first two. It's about a broken relationship. "It won't be the same without you/ The futures overrated." I liked this song, but I wish they'd done more with the great ethereal synthesizer piece from the beginning of the song. It was much too long, though. "So Little Time" has a bubblegum sound to it, but it's about trying to get into a girl's pants. Jacobs' nasal voice begins to wear on the ears at about this point in the album. The repetitive beat becomes a problem too. A "Yes" influenced intro marks the beginning of "Block Capital." This song has a nice soft quality to it. The beat is more understated than in "So Little Time." Jacobs' vocals here are good, and compliment the jazzy acoustic guitar. Even the lyrics are thought out well. "Pollute your lungs and your mind will follow." This is an excellent song, until the forced fade out at the end. I can forgive that in this case. This song is awesome. It earned "Arkarna" the extra half star. The next two songs, "Born Yesterday 1 and 2," mark a return to a more nasal Jacobs and a more repetitive beat. The guitar work isn't bad here, but the beat is really wearing on me now. The transition from the more electronic part 1 to the acoustic of part 2's intro is nice, but "Arkarna" abandons it for the techno very quickly. I'm tossed back into a heavy techno beat. All of the songs begin to run together at this point. I have trouble telling them apart. I begin to understand why the typesetting on the back of the album has all the songs touching. The letters are in heavy black type and it's tough to read. I listened to the album for the first time on a long trip in the car. It was at this point I started to feel like I wanted to slam the portable CD player against the passenger door. The repetitive beat is just too much for an album of this length. It's over an hour long. "Peace of Mind" has a nice message, "Peace of mind/ Peace for Mankind," but the song certainly didn't give me peace of mind. The message is totally lost in the repetition of words and beat. "Direct Dub It" sounds pretty much the same. I find I have to move on to "R U Ready" before I slam the portable CD player on the floor. "R U Ready" is 8:29 minutes long. The repetition is incredible. I find myself dreading it. I find myself wishing for a fast forward button. I find myself pushing the off button. I find myself finishing this review. |
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In Memphis, Elvis may be the "King" but the four young men of "Another Society" certainly can claim to be members of the minor nobility of rock. "Blood Wrong" is the band's second album on PC Records, and is a dark, mind-jerking, piece of near deathmetal riding the narrow edge with smoother lyrics and instrumental work. The opening cut on this album doesn't waste any time pounding on your senses, and even though entitled "Let Down" is an excellent "startup." The studio version of this song plays with the backup vocals making them sound more electronic and distant which tends to reinforce the music's theme of the immenence of death. "No Time For Speech" is a song that I could picture "Joan Jett" covering. Although the sentiments are unisexual the language lends itself to a woman's voice. "You fucked me, you raped me, you saw what I was about/ Though the time was spoken/ Though the time was shared/ I see you wanted something/ More than just my head/ No one heard me crying/ No one really cared/ Now I'm dead and you can fuck yourself instead." It is an excellent song done by AS both musically and vocally but in my opinion would be dynamite with a female vocal lead. The next two songs continue the "approach of death" theme from different avenues but both have deep driving beats. Of the two "Gift" is better, both musically and conceptually. "Little Gypsy's" lyrics are confusing and a bit rambling. The softest song on the album is "Imposter," with no sudden change of pace, but concentrates on delivering the lyrics. When "Blood Wrong" starts up imediately following, it appears you are in for a repeat until it just explodes thirty seconds into the cut. "Piece & Me" and "Mock" are subtle (well, relatively speaking) songs with more restrained vocals, but under them that same terrific beat. The bass player is really on. For some reason the lyrics for "End/Sweet Pussy" aren't included - not that they are any more vulgar or anything - in fact this is another well written song. This piece also contains nice bass solo which picks up the drum, and then the band is in full voice - it is a nice evolution that then reverses, ending with an extended solo bass note. The last song, "Times," has another good hook " I make you/ Die, live in your hell/ Distant from yourself/ I'll rule your soul/ Noone will know." All in all another bit of good writing. "Another Society" has Another Fan! |
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| Artist: | Flowchart |
| Title: | "Cumulus Mood Twang" |
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As far as I am concerned, being neither a dancer nor a clubber, there are basically two types of Electronica out there: Bad and Not-So-Bad. Once in a while something comes along that transcends the normal flat-line monotony of the genre (see this month's World Beat column for instance), but a Good Techno disc is something you don't come by every day. Flowchart stands on the better side of bad -- not horrible, but nothing to get excited about (or get up and dance to for that matter. Maybe I'm missing some kind of underlying message when it comes to this kind of music, I don't know. But if there is something, I'm missing it good. Yeah, Flowchart can master a groove and create some compelling sounds, but the music is so damned monotonous -- so entrancing and sleep inducing -- that I have a really hard time getting through this disc even once, let alone the several times I normally listen in order to come up with a fair, open minded review. The first track is the most listenable on the disc and, like I said before, there are some moments of clarity when things sound like they might become interesting, but it just never comes together. The rhythms on all the tracks sound like slightly modified versions of each other. The synth sounds, though sometimes innovative, fail to create the kind of soundscape that could carry a song. After listening several times to this disc, I cannot conjure the sound of any of the melodies in my head -- there's just no hooks here, nothing but dance floor rhythms and hypnotic loops and reels. If you are an Electronica lover, you might like New Jersey's homegrown Flowchart. They play the club scene and, from what I understand, have a cultish local following. Maybe I'm just out of the loop when it comes to this kind of music and, if I am, then take my words with a few grains of salt. But for the rest of you who are looking to buy something new -- maybe make a foray into the Electronic Age, you might want to pass this one by. |
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