Reviews of new releases from Ron Sexsmith, Pole, and The Gimme Gimmes.   Me First and the Gimme Gimmes ...Are a Drag (Fat Wreck Chords) The Vindictives Partytime for Assholes (Liberation) Of related interest: NOFX, The Migraines, K-Tel As if anti-punk proselytizers need more bullets to fire, the Vindictives and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes beg critics to praise the Lord and pass the ammo with full albums of cover songs. Fortunately, these karaoke-like exercises are dumb by design. The Gimme Gimmes are a vanity project for various Fat Wreck Chords dudes who want to be cheesy. The best way to do that? Dress in drag and turn show tunes like "Over the Rainbow," "Tomorrow" and "Phantom of the Opera" into silly skate-punk numbers. Unfortunately, the songs are performed with such dry precision that a sloppy-drunk diva-queen would be more entertaining. The Vindictives' collection flies higher because it aims lower. The title and artwork parody K-Tel, and the band plays fuzzy, loose pop-punk that turns such oddities as Syd Barrett's "Bike" and Billy Joel's "You May Be Right" into joyously stupid jaunts. But Joey Vindictive's voice--sounding like a perverted Muppet with a head cold--makes Elvis Costello's lisp on "Radio, Radio" seem Sinatra-smooth. If you can get past Joey's Meet the Feebles screeching, Partytime is a fun time for everyone. John Graham Pole CD1 and CD2 (Matador) Of related interest: Oval, Kraftwerk, King Tubby Pole, Neotropic, Nightmares on Wax, DJ Ease of Now Ohm, 31 NW 1st Ave., 223-9919 10 pm Thursday, June 10 Cover Stefan Betke, the man behind Pole, redirects audio byproducts like hiss, static and crackle into abstract electronic compositions. These two discs represent this skewed vision. CD1 is the more arduous and less accessible of the two. Repetitious riffs bubble and slurp below deep, thick ambient skin. Soft melodies dance across these dense riffs, offsetting their too-serious tendencies, but those with no taste for abstract sonic adventures may wish to skip to the second disc. CD2 throws the spotlight on melody. While the crackles and pops still rule, tuneful dub-influenced passages unite to produce a more "listenable" product. Still, the trippy, monotonous approach clearly laid out with CD1 is maintained; "Weit" sounds like King Tubby stuck in a low-speed blender. If you're a person who enjoys radio and television static more than actual channels, this stuff is definitely up your alley. Jeff Fuccillo   Ron Sexsmith Whereabouts (Interscope Records) Of related interest: Richard Thompson, Elliott Smith, Elvis Costello Ron Sexsmith, Peter Stuart Aladdin Theatre 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 233-1994 8 pm Monday, June 14 $10 Ron Sexsmith isn't doing anything that a host of other acoustic-guitar-strumming singer-songwriters haven't done before--he's just doing it well. Sexsmith begins with simple folk and pop musings on love and loss. As on his self-titled debut and 1997's Other Songs, Sexsmith then summons one of the best production teams in the music business. Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake brought Beatle-esque texture to Crowded House and industrial edge to Suzanne Vega and helped Los Lobos push the envelope of Latino rock. Froom and Blake expand their usually subtle orchestration with a rich assortment of bells, strings, organs and horns. But the fragile, wavy voice is still front and center. Sexsmith artfully plays on the natural weakness of his voice; ultimately, that weakness becomes his greatest strength. He wobbles through the album as if singing from an underwater studio, carving out a comfortable niche in the singer-songwriter universe. There are no big surprises on Whereabouts, but in this case perhaps one wouldn't want it any other way. Brian Libby - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published June 9, 1999