Jersey Beat Archives: The Busted Lives, The Evoka Project, Fear of Fred, Goodbye Girl Friday, High Beams, The Microphones, The Mountain Goats & Nakatomi Plaza (February 2003)

For several years in the early 2000s, the Reverend contributed CD reviews to Jersey Beat music zine. It was a heck of a lot of fun, with JB editor Jim Testa mailing a package of punk and alt-rock CDs that I’d work up reviews for every month. Some of these reviews deserve representation in this archive...

February 2003

THE BUSTED LIVES – One Flap Down 
One Flap Down offers the listener nothing more than buzzsaw rock ‘n’ roll with lo-fi production and an amateur’s love of the genre, the Busted Lives too cool to be old school. Roaring and rattling like a hopped-up ’74 Mercury on high-octane homebrew, tunes like “Hac Man” or “Landlord’s Bitch” represent the artistic ghetto of the ‘60s garage rock aesthetic currently championed by the American rockcrit fraternity. With tongues placed firmly in their collective cheeks, bassist “Mr. Arafat,” guitarist “Mr. Valiant,” drummer “Mr. Lotion” and vocalist “Mr. Mobutu” drop musical bombs like the riff-happy “Beaked Forever” or the echo-drenched “Drinking Like An Oakland Raider” with reckless glee. A shambling trainwreck of retro-rock, One Flap Down is nevertheless a hell of a lot of fun. Somewhere Sky Saxon is laughing maniacally at the chaos he has unleashed... (Blueball Records)

THE EVOKA PROJECT – December Drive EP 
Better minds than I have chosen the Evoka Project for big, BIG things, but the Reverend just doesn’t hear it boys and girls. The six songs on the band’s December Drive EP seem to represent an FM radio consultant’s idea of “modern rock,” derivative and broadcast-friendly with shallow vibes and as much originality as an American Idol contestant. Take one part U2, throw in a little Britpop, some Creed-styled posturing, and a healthy dose of arena-rock histrionics, say the magic words – “marketing opportunity!” – and you have the next big media sensation! Produced by Ted Comerford and mixed by high-stakes playas Lou Giordano (Goo Goo Dolls) and Mitch Easter (R.E.M.), the Evoka Project’s December Drive EP is a musical resume banging on the door of the corporate starmaking machine. (AudioLab Records)

FEAR OF FRED – Another Bad Day 
Exiled from the NYC/NJ music scene, this humble scribe wouldn’t otherwise have heard of Fear of Fred and Another Bad Day if not for the infinite grace and mercy of Mista Testa and his magic package of promo CDs. The band’s sophomore effort, Another Bad Day is a mighty fine collection of alt-rock tunes drenched with pop hooks and whip-smart melodies, easily appealing to fans of Cheap Trick, Marvelous 3, Weezer, etc. Bill White’s fabulously imperfect vocals lend each song a flawed excellence, Chris McGrath’s six-string work is razor-sharp and riff happy and the rhythm section of bassist Mark Illiano and drummer Matt McCluskey are as tight as a clenched fist. The band’s chemistry is explosive, whether they’re recklessly throwing out infectious originals like “She Don’t Know” or joyfully revisiting a classic pop gem like “I Think We’re Alone Now.” A real find by any measure, Fear of Fred is the sound of a new rock revolution – don’t wait for it to steamroll over you, go ahead and check out Another Bad Day now. (Spin Around Sound Records)

GOODBYE GIRL FRIDAY – Mr. And Mrs. 
A trio comprised of Berklee School alumni Dave Sherman (keyboards) and Dan Grennes (bass) and drummer Andy Sanesi, Goodbye Girl Friday landed in NYC from Boston by way of Nashville, picking up some considerable musical chops along the way. Formed out of the ashes of the acclaimed outfit Edison with the Weather, Goodbye Girl Friday explore a similar sort of artistic groove, throwing jazzbo riffs, avant-garde rock, and hipster attitude into the studio blender and pouring out Mr. And Mrs., the band’s debut disc. A challenging and often infuriating collection of songs, Goodbye Girl Friday are good at what they do, tho’ what they do doesn’t really appeal to these ears. Slickly produced and crafted with some skill, Mr. And Mrs. is nevertheless too smart for MOR radio and too highbrow for low rent rockers such as the Reverend. (SUS4 Recordings)

HIGH BEAMS – Hallucination 
Every smart Jersey Beat reader has seen it happen dozens of times – a music style or scene bubbles up from the underground, grabs some mainstream attention and, sooner or later, the suits come sniffing around. They’ll offer contracts and tell sweet lies of fame and fortune. By the time the major labels begin exploiting a scene, tho’, it’s pretty much over. One of the unintended results of this corporate feeding frenzy, however, is that bands like High Beams, formed by ex-Mullens frontman Matt Mayo, often get a well-deserved shot at the brass ring. Now that “garage rock” (or whatever the boys in marketing finally end up calling it) is the flavor du jour, we’re seeing musical throwbacks like the Strokes and the White Stripes receiving all sorts of hype. It’s all rock ‘n’ roll to me, and High Beams kick out some righteous jams with Hallucination, the band’s debut hewing closer to the Dictators and the Dead Boys than to the skinny tie aesthetics of the Hives. High-voltage tuneage like “Lori Looker” or the blues-infused “Tell Somebody” scream to the heavens with crackling riffs and soulful vocals while “Hallucination” sounds like vintage ‘70s Clevepunk with a shot of Motor City Madness. Graced by the ghosts of Rob Tyner, Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, and Stiv Bators, High Beams deliver the cheap rock ‘n’ roll thrills we all crave with Hallucination. (Dead Beat Records)

THE MICROPHONES – Mount Eerie 
Mount Eerie opens with a swelling rhythmic pulse, builds to a crashing crescendo and then, about halfway through the 17-minute opus “The Sun,” descends into instrumental chaos before hitting its stride with sparsely-accompanied, morose vocals. You have to respect a band that opens an album with what amounts to a funeral dirge, as the Microphones have done with Mount Eerie. One of many musical projects for the enigmatic Phil Elvrum, the Microphones have a reputation as fantastic purveyors of experimental psychedelic pop, but Elvrum has grander schemes in mind. Much as the band’s 2001 album The Glow, Pt. 2 was connected to its predecessor, so too is Mount Eerie part of the same thread, a concept album exploring the transitional nature of life and the finality of death. White noise and subliminal sounds introduce “Solar System,” dissolving into a melancholy folk-rock head-scratcher while “Universe” throws orchestral grandeur alongside droning decay. The lengthy title cut is the centerpiece of the album, clashing voices (including K labelmates Mirah and Calvin Johnson) providing fleeting and tantalizing scraps of lyrics while the mesmerizing “Universe,” with chanted vocals and rhythmic instrumentation, closes out Mount Eerie. A difficult album, Mount Eerie offers a surreal listening experience, reminding this writer of ‘80s-era mad scientists like Current 93 or Nurse With Wound, though without the occult trappings or industrial baggage. (K Records)             

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS – Tallahassee 
The Mountain Goats represent a departure from the typical 4AD modus operandi. Although Tallahassee opens with the title cut – a moody, atmospheric 4AD-styled snoozefest – most of the remaining tracks are a pastiche of alt-rock with folkish tendencies. Mountain Goat John Darnielle has been kicking around the indie rock hinterlands for over a decade now, prolifically cranking out lo-fi tunes that are long on lyrical retrospection and short on grand musical aspirations. Although slicker and certainly enjoying a larger recording budget, Tallahassee shouldn’t alienate any long-time Goat fans even as it recruits new listeners. Darnielle’s nasal bleat takes some getting used to, but delve beneath the surface and you’ll find a complex and interesting wordsmith. Tracks like the lovingly discordant story song “See America Right,” the whimsical “No Children,” with its lovely piano fills, or the bittersweet “Old College Try” witness a dark sense of humor and an intelligence sorely lacking from more commercial musical fare. Deeply personal, delicately crafted and about as far from the Billboard Top Forty as you’re likely to tread, the Mountain Goats’ Tallahassee is nevertheless an earnest effort, John Darnielle a troubadour for a new era. (4AD Records)

NAKATOMI PLAZA – Private Property 
Unabashedly hardcore, Nakatomi Plaza manages to soften the blow of its guitar-driven fury with some well-crafted melodies and thoughtful, acoustic-oriented vocal passages. An expanded CD release of the original 7-song album, Private Property builds upon the passion and intelligence of innovators like Minor Threat, Nakatomi Plaza’s odd time signatures and syncopated rhythms complimented by Hüsker Dü-styled melodies and spoken, sung and shouted lyrics. Songs like “Bike Rock Revolution” and “Next Bus To New Orleans” evince a certain social consciousness, but really attempt to lyrically reconcile the fragility of human relationships carried on under the spectre of ever-growing societal fascism. Private Property is a thought-provoking and intelligent record, Nakatomi Plaza the hardcore punk equivalent of System of A Down. (Immigrant Sun Records)