Related Artists: Glassjaw - Slipknot - Coal Chamber - Machine Head - Sevendust Built to Spill - Guided By Voices - Sebadoh - Pavement Pat McGee Band - Dave Matthews More CD Reviews: - Neil Young - Hanson - No Doubt - AC/DC - Oasis - Smashing Pumpkins - Violent Femmes - Rollins Band More of Brian Farrelly's Work on NY Rock  |
Glassjaw, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence
Props must be given to the band's production, too, for whereas most disciples of "Adidas rock" sound like they recorded their songs on an Edison wax cylinder and then nuked it in a microwave, Glassjaw opt for a more spit-shine Turtle-waxed sound. Though one or two tracks try a bit too hard to concoct those hemorrhoid-inducing, scream-along anthems that the kids do so love, the CD is a good overall mix of guttural noise for the sociopaths out there and radio-friendly distorta-goop for the angry teenie-bopper in us all.
Built to Spill, Live I've heard a lot about Built to Spill over the years, but somehow, never really enough to make me want to check them out. After listening to Live, I'm not exactly a convert, but I'm darn close. I had assumed I was in for yet another whiney, indie-rock band left over from the whiney, indie-rock heyday of the mid-nineties, but instead I heard a band with a menacingly dark sound and penchant for "jamming" that kinda grows on you. I don't mean jamming in the sense of indulgent noodlers like Phish and the Grateful Dead, but more along the lines of Neil Young and Crazy Horse where you crank the amps up to 10 and spaz out on your guitar. More often than not, they come up with some mighty purdy sounds during these jams (particularly on "Broken Chairs" and a cover of ol' Neil's "Cortez the Killer"), but with some of them clocking in at over 20-minutes, the tunes can get a bit tiresome. The band's shorter songs are much easier to digest and they show off the band's ability to blend such disparate influences as the jangly psychedelia of the Stone Roses and the precise guitar work of Slint seamlessly into one tune. Live presents a pretty decent hodge-podge of styles and sounds and it's a good introduction to Built to Spill's work, but probably only a must-have for die-hard fans of the band.
The Pat McGee Band, Shine Innovative! Daring! Rockin'! None of these words are in imminent danger of describing the Pat McGee Band's new album Shine. Simply put, if the Dave Matthews Band is a bit too "heavy" for you and their lyrics too racy and hard to follow, then my friend, Pat McGee is your man. Strip-mining the very same hippy-dippy, feel-good, lite-acoustic rock that Matthews does, McGee touches you in that place near the hackey-sack of your soul. Somewhere between Hootie and the Blowfish's frat-boy sing-alongs and the world-weary music of Sting lies a field where Pat McGee and his band can serenade their legion of fans with good vibes and inane funk-folk. Will you help me turn this field into a mass grave for them? Please? One redeemable value for this CD would be to use it to trick some granola-hawking, Ben & Jerry's-ice-cream-eating, Tom's of Maine-toothpaste-brushing hippie chick into thinking that you're a "sensitive guy" so she'll sleep with you. On the other hand, if you're that desperate, take my advice, get her a nice bottle of wine and listen to a James Taylor album sped up a few RPMs, 'cause that's exactly what the Pat McGee Band sounds like. I'm sure, as their press release says, they're a "great live band" (whose press release doesn't?), nor do I doubt that they have a "rabid, grass-roots following," but so do the Moonies and there just t'ain't no accounting for the bad tastes of the general populace. If nothing else it will make a good trade-in at my local music boutique for $2 in-store credit so I can buy the new Debbie Gibson Box Set. May 2000 
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