|
Built to Spill Keep It Like a Secret (Warner Bros./Warner) Yeah, there are still buzz bands out there--indie bands, rock bands. Of course, Idahoans (for the better part) Built to Spill deliver their second major-label album here, but the moves and props and full beards are pure Amerindia. So is the vaguely '70s vibe to these 10 monuments of rock, whether you're concerned with their guitintricacies or leader Doug Martsch's incongruous "pop" voice. I just wish there was a little more to be concerned with. 6.5/10 (Chris Yurkiw) DeeJay Punk-Roc Chicken Eye (Independiente/Epic)
Fred Frith Guitar Quartet Up Beat (Dame/Ambiances Magnetiques Etcetera) Experimental legend Fred Frith once again combines the talents of guitarists Nick Didkovsky, René Lussier and Mark Stewart and comes up with 13 pieces that manage to breath new life into the six string. Repetitive lines play underneath free guitar noise as experimentation and discipline are comfortably intertwined. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins) Big Dirty Beats vol.2 Bigger Dirtier Beats (Moonshine Music) Los Angeles-based Moonshine records releases yet another "rabble-rousing" collection of big beat mania, volume 2 in a series, that is a veritable sampling juggernaut. Afrika Bambaataa, T La Roc and what sounds to me like ZZ Top all make cameo appearances on this CD. And, of course, there is no shortage of those insidious acidic basslines that seem to infect the body. Rock on. 7.5/10 (Krista) The Beta Band The Three EPs (Astralwerks/Caroline)
Right, then--three EPs on one CD equals the debut album from the Beta Band, four chappies from London and Edinburgh who do the rock 'n' beat thing. Sometimes they're laconic like Beck, sometimes they're rock-on-it like Primal Scream, but what the Betas bring to the table is an added trippiness that's unavoidable in wide open spaces between their jammy vibe and looong groooves. 7.5/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
|
Prepare for an interstellar voyage through time and space, from 1955 to the millennium with a little pit stop around 1985. At the helm of this big beat machine is DeeJay Punk-Roc and he's at warp factor 17 with the thrusters on full. Make sure your safety belts are fastened securely around your hips because this ride is an all-out funk assault like none you've experienced before. 8/10 (Krista) At Sona, Friday, March 5, midnight, with the Dub Pistols, Lo Fi All Stars, Grooverider and Fabio, $20