The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 5, 1993 Page: 11 of 20
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1993 11
Shoegazer rap?
Swirly New Kingdom of Medicine hits Rice
BY JEREMY HART
New Kingdom
Heavy Load
Complete with their "Freedom Bus," afros
and long-ass sideburns, these two New York
homeboys (Nosaj and Sebastian) look like they're
refugees from the '60s, but slam down some
CD SAMPLER
hardcore shit The whole thing is real "retro,"
especially the old-style samples of stuff like the
James Gang, Miles Davis and Grand Funk Rail-
road — no sampled metal or hip-hop anywhere
here, which is cool
These two pot-smoking brothers are envi-
ronmentally-conscious, too. On "Mother Na-
ture" and "Good Times," they attack the big
corporations for fucking up the planet, while
tossing in some reggae-style rhythms on the
slow, stomping thunder of "Mother Nature."
I like the use of unusual instruments, too —
there's what sounds like a steel drum on "Mother
Nature" and a harmonica on "Half Seas Over."
They even do some decent rhymes about
their favorite car (a Ford Maverick), in a deep,
way-up-front groan over some heavy tribal noise.
On the mellow tip, "Lazy Smoke" is a doped-up
pot dream with some smooth sax on the side,
and "Mars" jumps from fast hardcore to psyche-
delic, jazzy swirling.
The more I hear of this, the more I like it The
liner notes say they're inspired by everybody
from Houston's own Geto Boys to Black Flag to
Jolt Cola, butthey don't sound like anybody else.
New Kingdomaren t everyday rappers—they've
got a style all their own, ripped partly from the
'60s but changed and made new.
swirues
Blonoertongueauchobaton
The cool cobbled-together cover art perfectly
exemplifies this album — "collage." On the
whole, the Swirlies play shoegazerish pop, but
there are so many disorienting—and yet some-
how "appropriate" — jumps from place to place
that this album is difficult to categorize. It opens
with twisted synthetic video-game noises, uses
all kinds of gimmicky sound tricks and leaps
from mellowness to squealing guitar in seconds.
I'd call this a skillfully-done blend of pop
melody and "noisiness," not as disturbing as
Sonic Youth but also not as blissfully mellow as
My Bloody Valentine. The dream-pop element
is definitely there, but underneath lies a dark-
ness to the music that sometimes comes through
in the lyrics: "Every night, every night, I scream
a little ..."
The Swirlies seldom seem to stick with a
melody for more than half a song before wander-
ing off on strange tangents and styles.
SEE CDS PAGE 13
Big Head Todd and the Monsters perform this weekend at Rockfeller's this weekend. They're supposed to be better live than on album. Let's hope so.
HIS HEAD IS HUUGE!
Large-skulled Monsters make 'Sweetly' boring album
By Marc hirsh
Sister Sweetly
Big Head Todo and the Monsters
At Rockefeller's with Sun 60 Sunday Nov. 7
Sister Siveetly, the latestalbum by Colorado's
Big Head Todd and the Monsters and their first
major-label release, is one of the most boring
albums to come out in awhile. It's not good, but
it's not bad enough to offend. It's just... there,
sitting in your CD player or tape deck, playing
along on its merry way until you tell it to stop.
It shouldn't be like this. Todd and the Mon-
sters have developed a large following in their
native Bou lder and in other cities they've graced
with their presence, such as Chicago, Austin
and Minneapolis, where they recorded Sister, at
Prince's (or Victor, or whatever he calls him/
her/itself these days) Paisley Park Studios.
They've been praised far and wide as one of
the highlights of this past summer's H.O.R.D.E.
tour, which featured such bands as Allgood,
Soul Hat and Blues Traveler. The entire state of
Colorado seems to love these guys. But then,
there's not much to do in the mountains.
What Big Toddhead and the 'sters do is a
tepid mix of rock, funk and blues. Lead Monster
Todd Park Mohr writes and sings the songs,
playing guitar over the rhythm section of bassist
Rob Squires and drummer Brian Nevin, who
both sing backup.
Problem is, despite all of the press Mohr has
gotten for being a charismatic leader, the album
shows absolutely no sign of personality. Mohr's
voice is just plain plain. Actually, everything
about him seems to be adequate. He writes
songs that say nothing but sound kind of pleas-
ant augmented by decent guitar playing and all-
right vocals and so-so production. It's as if the
entire album is a lesson in mediocrity.
At the root of the problem is the songwriting.
Without a powerful voice or instrumental prow-
ess to command attention, the focus switches to
the songs. While many non-singers have been
able to sustain careers in the music business, it
seems unlikely that Neil Young or Bob Dylan
would be given a second glance if they were
incapable of writing great music.
Now, Mohr's voice isn't as bad as that, but
neither are his songs that good. He's content
with finding a riff or groove and repeating it
throughout the song. The problem is that rarely
are they worth repeating once, let alone for four
or more minutes. Thus, "Sister Sweetly" boasts
a wah-wah guitar that adds little beyond rhythm
to the song. The riff in Turn The Light Out" is
repeated 16 times each verse, with no audible
variation to keep the listener interested When
Mohr stretches out to solo, the result is standard
blues-rock; full of cliches and unoriginal.
Lyrically, Mohr doesn't have anything new to
offer. Most of the songs deal with the perilous
topic of Love Gone Wrong. "Morning light fills
the room. I rise. She pretends she's sleeping.
Are we everything we wanted? And I'm thinking
love," chants Mohr in "Bittersweet" Such senti-
ments are repeated throughout the album in
songs such as "Turn The Light Out" and To-
morrow Never Comes."
Elsewhere, Mohr pretends to be a bluesier,
more psychedelic George Clinton in "Groove
Thing" but instead, clever wordplay is reduced
to bizarre proclamations like, "What is the color
of the soul? Said Buddha, Jesus, Plato and the
Poets of Old, That evening is the color of soul,"
over a funk groove that never quite takes off.
"Circle" attempts to evaluate Big Topics but
only delivers unoriginal lines like, "Rise and fall,
turn the wheel, 'cause all life is, is really just a
circle," as if it's the first time we've heard such
sentimefits.
Supposedly, Todd Of The Large Skull and
the Monsters are a crankin' live band, but there's
no indication of this on Sister. Perhaps the lim-
ited setup of a live setting makes the music more
up-front and edgier. It'd have to be, because with
the band's penchant for extended jamming, what
seems to be an inoffensive album's worth of
songs might otherwise turn ugly.
5 Movies for those who
want to read: sub-
F R 1 titles galore when the
Madia Center gives us not one
but two French films. Casque
d'Or runs at 7:30 p.m. and
DlaboHque sprints at 9:15 p.m. $4.25
gets you one or both, they don't care.
Enter Sondheim: A Funny Thing
Happened on the Way To The Forum and
to find out about it, you have to go over
to Hanszen at 8 p.m. and fork over $3,
$5 if you're a nonstudent. For
reservations, call 527-4024.
"Any way the wind blows (*gong*)..."
Shepherd School Opera Theatre presents
Puccini's La BoMme at the Wort ham
Opera Theatre in Alice Pratt Brown Hall.
Admission is $5, but they're first-come,
first-served, so let the race begin! CaN
527-4933 for tlx. Show starts at 7:30
p.m. and runs through Monday.
6 Send archb to gay Paris: The
sophomore archis are hosting
S A T a campus-wide disco party
10 p.m.-2a.m. in room 146 in Anderson.
Donations are gratefully accepted for
their Spring Break trip to Paris, France.
it's from Canada; that explains it. Careful
Is ready weird and is having its Houston
premiere in the Media Center at 7:30
p.m. and again at 9:30 p.m. They're
reallytumingthe thumbscrews this time,
charging you $5, but you'll live.
%
7 Careful at tt e Media Center
again, at 7:30 p.m. Still $5,
S U N but what do you expect for a
film with three Houston premieres?
If you knew Sousa Nke I know Souaa...
Ken Dye directs the Rice Concert Band,
the Houston Concert Band and the Tex as
T-bones in a free (!!!) concert in Stude
HaH at 3 p.m, featuring soloist Stephen
Fineman. It's a tribute to the man who
wrote the theme music to Monty
Python's Flying Circus. About time. Ni.
Be the first person at Rice to actually
listen to KTRU! The Sunday news show
starts off tonight! Tune in (it's 91.7FW,
If you've forgotten) at 7 p.m.
Baa. The Shepherd School
Percussion Ensemble is
T U E
performing a free concert at
Stude Concert Hall at 8 p.m. One of the
pieces is called "lonisation," so all you
Chemand ChemE students should come.
It'll be on the final.
A lecture entitled "Digging
±U on the Via Gabina: Twelve
W E D Centuries of Roman Suburban
Life" will be given by Walter Wklrig of
the Art and Art History Department at
5:30 p.m. in Sewall 307
Short films for those of us
■ImL with attention spans the size
T H U of ... what was I talking
about? Chronicle of a Summer and Lea
Maltres Fous start at 7:30 p.m. and
you'd be out by 10. That's my Thresher
guarantee to you.
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Howley, Peter & Epperson, Kraettli. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 5, 1993, newspaper, November 5, 1993; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245853/m1/11/?rotate=90: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.