Q&A
SONIC REDUCER
Portland's Greatest Record Reviews
...Or something like that, anyway.

BY ABRAM GOLDMAN-ARMSTRONG, JOHN GRAHAM, BECKY OHLSEN, BILL SMITH AND SAM DODGE SOULE
243-2122

HALF JAPANESE: HELLO
(Alternative Tentacles)

In my No. 1 Jad Fair fantasy, the scrawny, bespectacled Half Japanese singer is an evil nerd enacting brutal revenge on those who spurned him in high school. The cheerleader who shot him down is in his kitchen, bound with electrical tape, and he's prancing around her adoringly, singing about how perfect she is and how awesome their love will be: "Filled with joy--that's us, filled with joy." When Jad says "sweetheart"--as in "Best of the Best" from Half Japanese's latest, Hello--he sounds as menacing as Jack Nicholson in The Shining. In "No Doubt," he asserts, "Our love is stronger than the ticking of the clock/ Stronger than the bully of the block/...I've never been happier." It's the way he says "I've never been happier"--it's just too emphatically sincere to be credible. There must be evil lurking.

In my No. 2 Jad Fair fantasy, he's a grownup Harry Potter, a wimpy little guy who destroys monsters. But the band's monster songs haven't been as good since they started learning how to play their instruments. Which is the problem with this whole record: The love songs are too pretty, and the noisy songs aren't crazy enough. "Mississippi" and "10:00 a.m." sound almost Jon Spencerish. "Jump in the Mess" is actually sorta funky, which is fine, but it's not what you want from Half Japanese. Where's all the noise? Take away the angry-geek vocals and random background screams in "The Good Side" and you'd have nothing but a boring rock song. Call me old-fashioned, but I liked it better when they couldn't play. (BO)

Jad Fair plays at Meow Meow on Monday, April 2. 9 pm. $7. All ages.

GUIDED BY VOICES: ISOLATION DRILLS (TVT)

To anyone who thought Guided By Voices' "meteoric" rise from an underground sensation of obscure lyrics and shattered British Invasion tactics to one of the most dynamic performance bands of the late '90s indie circuit was over, think again. On Isolation Drills, Commander Bob Pollard guides his vise-tight crew through familiar GBV air space: flowery mod pop, '70s hard-rock theater, the odd bit of sound fuckery. Then, with the production talents of Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck, Foo Fighters), the whole squad locks in on a wild blue yonder of epic (untrademarked) freedom rock. "Glad Girls," with its undeniable hook and self-satisfied chorus of "Glad girls, I only want to get you high," is a sure bet to be the big hit. I'm also liking the romantic confusion of "Skills Like This" and the quiet, fatalistic acknowledgement of "How's My Drinking." You want a band that can save the radio? Well, do you? (SDS)

Guided By Voices plays at Crystal Ballroom on Friday, May 30. 9 pm. $10. All ages.

HOT WATER MUSIC: NEVER ENDER
(No Idea)

Any band named after a Bukowski book, even though perhaps not the most inspired group in the U.S., wins some sort of extra credit. Yet one has to wonder what ol' Hank Chinaski would think of these tightly wound emo mongers. Would he see their angina shouts and anthemic choruses as an appropriate complement to his whiskey-stained breakdown tales? Or would the infamously sloppy drunk find Hot Water Music's crisp-riffing emocore too clean, too clear-minded, too clever by half? Probably the latter. But for sweatshirted suburban outsiders seeking some sort of soul clarity--and a soundtrack to their very own special spiritual punk journey--this two-disc set would make a good friend indeed. Sorry: Poetry not included. You'll have to write your own. (JG)

Hot Water Music plays Pine Street on Monday, April 2. 8:30 pm. $8. All ages.

BILL FRISELL: BLUES DREAM (Nonesuch)

It's the latest micro-trend in jazz hybridization. Call it the "Delta Dabble," an attempt to approximate early blues records to spite our high-tech age. Junk Genius' recent Portland concert showed what can be done with the form, whipping up a retro-rustic atmosphere with nary a blues lick played.

Seattelite Bill Frisell, one of jazz's most creative gene-splicers, has been working out the kinks of his own melding of jazz, country and blues. On Blues Dream, Frisell tries to combine disparate thoughts--horns, pedal steel, dissonant blues licks--and doesn't get far. Like a DIY classic auto kit, the parts are all here, shiny and new. Turn the key, and there's no spark. Each of the disc's 18 (!) tunes seems a mere set-up for a blues-like dirge and another meandering Frisell solo while the guys vamp behind him. It's like a soundtrack without the footage.

There are brief moments. The country waltz "Where Do We Go?" shows some structure. "What Do We Do?" finds its wings in a nice duet between Frisell and Leisz, and the mournful fanfare "Fifty Years" gives the horns something to do. But overall this feels like an exit on Route 66. You can see the city poking up in the distance, but for now it's just desert. (BS)

THE LEVELLERS: HELLO PIG (China) MCDERMOTT'S TWO HOURS VS. THE LEVELLERS: WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN (Hag)

The Levellers started off with fiddle-driven punk, grinding out three albums that provided perfect soundtracks for many a cider-driven crusty party. In the early '90s, however, the anarchic British "traveller" scene--a loose movement of roaming neo-tribalists and Luddites--gave way to rave. The Levs, long associated with the travellers' iconoclastic Gypsy subculture, responded by becoming less frantic and more dance friendly.

On Hello Pig, the Levs' latter-day penchant for loops and distortion experiments fully blend into the music. The distorted fiddle and vocals on songs like "The Weed that Killed Elvis" create a dark, smoky feeling. "Edge of the World" holds true to their earlier sentiments, while "Sold England" proves they haven't lost that political bent and still have a touch of that former urgency.

Last fall, two of the lads from McDermott's Two Hours, the Brighton, U.K., Celtopunk band that once inspired the Levellers, borrowed the Levellers' rhythm section for a recording session. The resulting album is an excellent collection of original folk songs. Ranging from the anti-war lament for "Harry Brewer" to "Another Campaign," a call for agrarian rebellion, to "Blue Bandana," a sea shanty, the songs are reminders that traditional music is not merely the province of old folk groups, and can still be political. (AG-A)

The McDermott's/Levellers album is
available through the Levellers' website, www.levellers.co.uk.