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So many CDs, so
little time! The music mafia's A&R henchmen must be getting
plenty of casting-couch action if the ongoing avalanche of
crap means anything. But don't fear! Meet Sonic Reducer, a
new kill-crazy rampage through the suburban fast-food joint
that is the music industry. For this first installment, the
Sonic Reducer Executive Junta and Glee Club declares the following
theme:
OLD SCHOOL vs
NEW SCHOOL
Daddy Freddy Meets the Rootsman: Old School New School
(BSI) vs. Beenieman: Art and Life (Virgin)
This week's Sonic Reducer theme is made flesh as the Jamaican
hardthroat once proclaimed the world's fastest rapper tangles
with a neuvo New World dub scientist. Daddy Freddy's raw
rasps smash spare back-to-the-future beats.
New jack dancehall loverboy Beenieman fires back with a
bombastic album featuring star turns by Wyclef, Redman and,
uh, that dude from Cherry Poppin' Daddies. The star of the
show delivers in a steely staccato born in Jamaica but cured
in the East Coast's concrete jungle. Songs about Jah mingle
with trax devoted to freakin' on the weekend.
All: Problematic (Epitaph) vs. The
Thumbs: All Lesser Devils (Adeline)
Is there a sadder spectacle than aging dudes trying to
rock juvenile pop-punk? All's three-chords-and-a-snotrag
sound was dated 10 years ago, and Problematic isn't
exactly bleeding artistic growth.
Baltimore blazers The Thumbs show punk-rock right from
wrong with seven sawed-off anthems of disaffection. In contrast
to All's period pieces, this is an immediately effective
dose of riot rock. Songs about Civil War strife in Baltimore
and ye olde personal betrayal drive the Thumbs deep into
their eye sockets of choice.
Various Artists: Festa Brazil (Putumayo)
vs. Da Lata: Songs From the Tin (Palm)
Putumayo, the ethno-marketeering label with artistic integrity
and cultural authenticity rivaled only by Starbucks compilations,
flops down a lifeless slab of suburb-ready Brazilian pop
slop. Hey, honey, this music matches the couch!
Da Lata drapes Brazil-esque sounds in the fashionable trappings
of electronic trance, downtempo, whatever the hell they're
calling it this week. Washing strings and percolating drums
succeed in lulling the album's dear listeners into a stupor...perhaps
so they'll buy the Putumayo disc!
Various Artists: Gimme Indie Rock (K-Tel)
vs. Various Artists: Punk-O-Rama (Epitaph)
The ultimate uncool label administers the coup de grâce
to Indie™, gathering glittering gems by the likes of
Hüsker Dü, Mudhoney, Giant Sand, Black Flag and
the Vaselines. K-Tel outdoes itself.
On the other hand, the Epitaph comp is mostly a grim death
march demonstrating upwardly-mobile punk's bankruptcy. A
few songs deliver visceral thrills (shit yes, the Dwarves
are always good for something), but when you have to deal
with both NOFX and Millencolin in the space of five
minutes, you've got trouble.
The Queers: Beyond the Valley... (Hopeless)
vs. The Automatics: Murder/Suicide (Just
Add Water)
Completely reversing their trend toward bubbleheaded sodapunk
love ballads, one-time bad-boys the Queers have reclaimed
their right to be retarded on Beyond the Valley....
Scan these anti-PC (and PMRC) tunes: "Journey to the Center
of Your Empty Fucking Skull," "I Hate Your Fucking Guts,"
"Stupid Fucking Vegan," or "I Just Called to Say Fuck You,"
the last two of which feature the Queers' original sneer-curling
vocalist, Wimpy. Guaranteed to offend nearly everyone--obviously,
their best album in years.
On Murder/Suicide, Portland's own cotton-candy pop-punks,
the Automatics, seem pretty pissed-off themselves. Guitars
scream meaner, vocals spit more viciously, and odes to cute
chicks have been swapped for bitch sessions about neurotic
girlfriends. And don't tell me the road-rage vent-session
of "Stuck in Traffic" isn't the best rush hour anthem ever--because
it is. A winner from beginning to end.
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