http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:55:49 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/12/15/175549.php Wally BangsMan, I just can't seem to get my head wrapped around reviewing Live At The Longhorn. I've started to do it, but it just never seems to work. The Hypstrz used to be called King Kustom & The Cruisers (The All Leather Stomp Band) and they played Fifites rock. They decided to change their name and move on to the next decade becoming one of the first Sixties revivalists. The Twin Cities band was inspired by The Ramones and local punk band Suicide Commandos to speed up the cover songs they were playing. This resulted in an explosive sound detonation and with few breaks between songs the Hypstrz live set was a wave after wave sonic assault. That's one way I've thought of beginning a review.I've also thought about telling of my own historical basis of appreciation. I found an old Bomp Records compilation on vinyl and it featured "In The Midnight Hour" by The Hypstrz. I didn't like the misspelled name (what is it with Twin Cities artist and misspellings), but I loved their raw cover version of a song that I really was tired of hearing. I was thinking about having the band I was in at the time cover some Northern Soul classics and hearing The Hypstrz do a soul classic was just what I needed to give me that sort of confidence.I could lead with a bit about The Hypstrz artistic bravery to play covers instead of originals. The prevailing musical currents in 1979 were disco and corporate dinosaur rock. Punk rock was becoming post-punk, hardcore, or being packaged as New Wave. The big boom in Sixties revival bands wouldn't happen for another 3 to 4 years. Then there's the simple matter that The Hypstrz preferred playing amped up cover songs to their own material which was sure to alienate the less discerning rock writers and fans. They were unlikely to win over fans wearing screen printed Journey, Styx, or Foreigner concert shirts unless they were covering those artists.The Hypstrz covered a wide ranging group of artists; 13th Floor Elevators, Standells, The Litter, Chocolate Watchband, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, The Barbarians, Shadows Of Knight, Love, The Music Machine, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, The Syndicate Of Sound, ? And The Mysterians, The Sonics, Flamin' Groovies, Barry & The Remains, The Troggs, The Pretty Things, Sam and Dave, The Small Faces, The Yardbirds, The Trashmen, and even The Shangri-La's are all tackled on this disc which reissues the rare Bomp album Hypsterization in its entirety along with the band's first 45 release along with a bunch of unreleased tracks. There are 4 original numbers included and they fit seamlessly in with the cover material proving that The Hypstrz could write their own high quality stuff.But all of this doesn't do justice to how awesome the band sounded. Turn the disc down to a whisper and it still sounds loud. All is given a Hypstrz sheen where, if you didn't know the orignal songs, you would never realize they were covers. Even more phenomenal to me is that they're still out there doing it. Tracks 35-37 were all just recorded last year at a live show. They still rock out with crazed, amphetamine glee. And I still can't think of a way to make my words capture their glory upon the written page. So this will have to do with the hope that you too will go out and get The Hypstrz Live At The Longhorn and join me in being struck dumb in the glory of rock and roll. Guitar, bass, drums, and somebody willing to scream are all you need for a good time. Music41044@blogcritics.org Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:55:49 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/12/06/174717.php Wally BangsI was lying in the gutter the other day having first been kicked out of the local grocery for what they called attempting to set the lobsters free before embarking on a three day super bender of sorts that left me feeling like Bruce Banner after a Hulk comedown when I heard somebody walking by say "The Coffin Lids are ready" and damn if I didn't feel a twinge of something strange infecting my bones that felt worse than that time I decided to give that weird taco stand a chance and while it took some time to figure it out I eventually came to the conclusion that it was an emotion known as fear. The confusion that followed is difficult to relate, but after some events involving a public park, a crafts fair, some mimes that came to a bad end, several trips to my favorite package store, a midnight screening of Two Lane Blacktop, and something that involved tokens and 3D glasses when I finally realized that the coffin lids in question weren't for me, but were for everybody. Because The Coffin Lids are just a kickass rock and roll band from Boston and they've just released a new album, Round Midnight, on the mighty Bomp label.Hell, I thought; I bet I have the album on my CD player right now. Once I managed to remember where I was flopping and once I managed to bum a ride there I discovered that Round Midnight was indeed on my player. It was even on repeat. If I'd had glass in my windows they would have been rattling because that little boombox I found was generating some sonic reverberations of the sort that Chuck Yeager would have liked. I'm talking boom daddy. Damien's drums are worthy of one named after a devil child. Coffin Jaye Toothake lends his mellifluous primal screams to the top of his bass. Skinny "Coffin" Mike sings lead and plays some damage guitar. I think he might have made a fine member of Sha Na Na. He would have been the one kicking people's heads in when they made fun of Fifties rock and roll.Those familiar with The Coffin Lids are now scratching their heads and wondering about that Fifties reference. Everybody knows that The Coffin Lids are a slamming garage punk monster of a group; a mixture of the best of Sixties and Seventies rock. Yeah, yeah that stuff's in there with thunderous good results, but there's a dose of Fifties greaser slithering around too. Put it this way, there's no way you'd ever find The Coffin Lids playing a dance for the socials. Another thing to love about The Coffin Lids is the fun song titles. There's "Frankenstein" even if Edgar Winter beat them to it, "Teenage Shakedown", "Mad Party", "Creepy Crawl" even if Black Flag was borrowing that bit from Charlie Manson years ago for some funny radio commercials, and "Tonight You're Going To Die In My Garage" that sound as cool as their titles. It's adrenalized bull elephant killing kind of music. Zack Brines contributes some tasty farfisa to several of the tracks on Round Midnight for some requisite Mysterian style menace. A reverent cover of The Lime Spiders' "Slave Girl" is thrown into the mix and it could be a damn near life changing experience for some perhaps. The biggest winner is "Action" which would make a great theme song. Round Midnight is raucous, rebellious, and relentless. Those are three of the prime ingredients that make for good rock and roll. So join me in getting out of the gutter, because the The Coffin Lids are ready.Edited:CMPEditor's note: This work of yours now has another venue for success - and more eyes - at the Advance.net Web sites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.One such site is here. Music40616@blogcritics.org Tue, 6 Dec 2005 17:47:17 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/30/175345.php Wally BangsVH1 was re-broadcasting the UK Music Hall Of Fame Sunday night and the Soulfish wife starting watching it when she noticed some old footage of The Kinks. Soon I joined her and saw the Pink Floyd induction and Black Sabbath one. Then the mighty original line up of Sabbath performed "Paranoid" and what little bit of my teenage angst I had left crumbled to dust. It wasn't the spectacle of 50 year old men rocking out. Since the young kids seem more inclined to steal old songs and recycle them as hip hop trash somebody needs to rock out; it might as well be the senior citizens of the world. What did me in were shots of the audience clapping their hands with glee and Ozzy exhorting them to do it some more. It would make me beyond happy to see Black Sabbath live. I would probably applaud them too. But I don't think I would be smiling like an oblivious idiot during their show. Their name isn't Black Sabbath for kicks. The music is ominous, loud, and dark and the lyrics to the songs are the same. Somebody remarked (I believe it was Tommy Lee) that they were the opposite of the fun and the sun Beach Boys so why was the UK audience acting like they were at a beach party? "Paranoid" is not a fun, hand clapping song.Here's what Lester Bangs (np relation) had to say about it from the June 1972 issue of Creem in an article titled "Bring Your Mother To The Gas Chamber": "People are strange, when you're a stranger. It's a melodrama of alienation, just as "Paranoid" is a terse, chillingly accurate description of the real thing, when you suddenly find that you've somehow skidded just a fraction out of the world as you have and other still do perceive it. "Paranoid" renders perfectly the clammy feeling of knowing that at this point there is absolutely no one on the planet to whom you can make yourself understood or be helped by. All alone, like a real rolling stone; it's no wonder in such circumstances that the imagination might get a little hairy, and turn to dreams of science-fiction revenge. I've felt the arctic wedge of disjuncture myself at one time and another, stuck in the painful place where you can only send frozen warnings cross the borderline and those inevitably get distorted. Because they've captured it so well Black Sabbath means a lot to me and a lot of my friends for "Paranoid" alone."So lets all clap our hands like we're at a party okay? I don't think so. Maybe I can't find true happiness or perhaps I'm blind, but shouldn't such a chilling tune have a chilling effect? The very fact that they were being enshrined should have sent little prickles of danger through me. And earlier this week it was announced that Black Sabbath would be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame along with Miles Davis, Sex Pistols, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Blondie; all artists that I love. And I wonder whether they are being enshrined for their art or that were able to turn rebellion and iconoclasm into money better than others. Because that's what it all comes down to: selling fantasy worlds to teenagers. There's this idealistic vision of rock stars being tortured artists being exploited by the huge corporations that release their music, but I don't doubt for a minute that those artists don't exploit the market on purpose themselves. I bet they sit in boardrooms with the record executives plotting ways to capture a certain demographic. If you believe otherwise you're either a deluded romantic who hasn't grown up or you're a kid. I bought Black Sabbath's Paranoid album at Wal-Mart after all. I was probably 14 years old.Maybe the people at the UK show had it right after all. "Paranoid" isn't a great piece of rock and roll art. It was only a product used to sell the Black Sabbbath brand and it was big hit which meant lots of people made lots of money off it. Whatever meaning the lyrics and song possessed were ripped from it the minute it left the pressing plant because it's only music, music to be bought and sold, which is what those vapid faced rock and roll careerists clapping their hands signifies. It's just great music. But when I was 14 that music meant something beyond this. And I was right, but there was a dichotomy involved. I bought into the fantasy world those cocaine snorting sharks in their record label satin jackets were selling. I gave my money, my time, and a lifestyle to it. And I've found it was an ephemeral thing. There is an expiration date on it. They'll try to convince you there isn't with all of the repackaged CD's and classic rock radio stations. It's a wonderful thing when groups like The Eagles reunite and milk their fans for all they can. Those fans love it too. I guess it's the chance to bask in the glow of your youth once again.But I don't want to bask. I want the music I love to be timeless. I want it to be a well of inspiration or consolation (and sometimes I just want it to rock) that I can return to time and again. It's a shock to realize that the well is poisoned and much of the meaning and significance I've afforded things is a debilitated one. I should clap my hands and be happy. But I can't. Why should I? It's not like I'd have to worry about people thinking I'm insane because I'm frowning all the time. This meandering diatribe on loan from the museum of Soulfish Stew.Editor's note: This work of yours now has another venue for success - and more eyes - at the Advance.net Web sites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.One such site is here. Edited:CMP Music40309@blogcritics.org Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:53:45 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/30/172228.php Wally BangsThe Invisible Eyes say their music is like a caveman riding in a spaceship. It's an apt description from a hypnotic quartet of rock and roll primitives whose debut has just been released on the Bomp label. Laugh In The Dark features straight out of the garage sonics recorded at Egg Studios by Conrad Uno. The operative phrase here is not "more cowbell" but "more fuzz" please. The Invisible Eyes are a potent mixture of Sixties beat, blues, and psychedelia. Aubrey Nehring is the guitarist and vocalist. Ian Barnett helps stabilize the entropy on bass. Adam Svenson pounds the drums. Janet Hurt plays the keys in such a way as to suggest that Shirley Scott and Ray Manzarek once had a love child. It all mind melds together with such protean ease you'll know that the link to the primordial ooze and clamor of our past is but a short one. Unfettered joy awaits fans of troglodyte stomp with this album.There are 16 tracks in all and while there are some slight ones there's nary a bad one to be found. Some of them do stand out a little bit more than their brethren songs. The raver "No Words" pumps around with enough swagger to make an arterio-sclerotic go-go dancer cry. There's a blues heavy heart behind "Don't Wanna Go" that will have you reaching for another beer since you'll have shed a tear into the one you were drinking. "Mother Of Mystery" hits all the right notes while leaving me thirsty for some burning wine. Maybe I need to listen to the lyrics again. Nehring lets loose with a wah-wah pedal on "Long Way" and it attacks Hurt's keys in an echoing hypno-groovetastic crescendo of hyperventilating melody and noise that reveals the potentate nature of The Invisible Eyes. Give them purple velvet and crown jewels post haste. Then on the final song of the record they flip it all around for "That Old Song..." with its folkie wail showing there's more to this bunch than just fuzztone and carnival organ sounds.So find your inner caveman and take a ride with The Invisible Eyes. The trip is spacesuit optional, but don't forget to bring your dancing shoes. Laugh In The Dark is a blast. Music40306@blogcritics.org Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:22:28 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/11/174324.php Wally BangsIt's true that you can think something to death which is what the title, Cognicide, of Western Addiction's new album means. Punk rock often veers between extremes of too much thinking and too little. Western Addiction straddles the fence both musically and lyrically while recalling the greatest hardcore punk of the past. The song "The Church Of Black Flag" isn't on the album for nothing.Cognicide takes me back to those days when I first started going to punk shows. I was just a young suburban dope on punk scared and thrilled at the same time venturing into the middle of a slam dance at a Circle Jerks show. It was sparsely attended, but I was in awe of the punks milling at the front of the stage. Leather jackets, died hair, mohawks, and Doc Martens stood in stark contrast to my jeans and a tee-shirt. The opening band was some high school kids who made up for their lack of ability by their intensity. Then the Circle Jerks came on and delivering a ripping set of hardcore punk and goofball metal. Western Addiction recalls that era of the 80's well."Charged Words" opens the record with a wallop that you should get used to because there's no let up. Revel in the fun noise and paranoia of "Mailer, Meet Jim" which has the timely lyric line "so forget husbandry and no more baking bread, one careless crow and now I'm f**king infected." There'll be no striking a pose with "We Tech Supported A Manipulator" and "Incendiary Minds" channels Greg Ginn in its intro. "It's Funny, I Don't Feel Like A Winner" is a slamming stomper that should inspire some black eye mosh pits worldwide. "Matrons Of The Canals" has a groovy intro that has an ominous Dead Kennedys vibe. Most songs begin ponderously slow until exploding into vehement shards of melody among the noise. Western Addiction bear a reverence to the past without falling victim to mere homage or parody. If you thought great punk was no longer happening. That it had only become something you could buy at a Hot Topic store, think again. Cognicide is right up there with with some of the best punk albums ever recorded. Music39418@blogcritics.org Fri, 11 Nov 2005 17:43:24 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/09/144348.php Wally BangsWhat if I'm just too pooped to power pop? Mad Science Fair is the latest power pop / hard rock band to cross the threshold into my house and it's either due to the onset of Epstein-Barr or that Mad Science Fair just isn't all that good to blame for the disinterest and boredom I find whenever I cue up For A Better Tomorrow on the CD shuffle machine. Mike Clayton formerly of Hot Glue Gun is the man behind the band. The album is produced by Adam Schmitt who has released his own share of underrated power pop gems himself. The label is Mud which is being distributed by Parasol. The ingredients promise crunchy melodies and rousing choruses. Song titles fit the bill: "All I Do Is Wrong", "Shot On Sight", "Retro Anthem", and "Green Day vs. Weezer" will entice you to hear them. After you hear them you start to wonder about the group's chance of winning a prize at the science fair of rock, mad or not. "No Room For Error" leads off well even while siphoning off more Foo Fighters than Beatles. The Posies's influence is all over "All I Do Is Wrong" making it the standout track. Then the album heads off into mid-tempo adult alternative land; a place I always find unhospitable. A song called "Retro Anthem" should have a huge guitar sound and rousing choruses, but the song strikes a middling pose early and carries it through to the end. The song title "Green Day vs. Weezer" had me thinking the tune would be novel and fun. Instead it's more medium paced plodding with a refrain of "We're getting older, we're getting older" that hints of some generational struggle going on in Clayton's head. Just come and say which side you're on. "Leave Me Alone" has the cold appeal of The Cars if they were on steroids going for it, but we all know what steroids does to certain body parts. I wish that Mad Science Fair would just let it loose once and rock out with some abandon approaching enthusiasm. For A Better Tomorrow is too studied and sterile to convince me or inspire me. Maybe next time Mad Science Fair can posit a future where rock and roll can still touch a primal nerve and prove that power pop can rock. Music39284@blogcritics.org Wed, 9 Nov 2005 14:43:48 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/08/173218.php Wally BangsThe latest release by Lagwagon is tough to critique. Resolve is a bitter pill full of emotional lows and musical highs. Skate punk's ebullience meets real world tragedy. This isn't just about crashing at the bottom of the vertical in a snake run bowl session. It's a thematic and dramatic meditation on the suicide of Lagwagon's original drummer Derrick Plourde. That it doesn't resort to Afterschool Special crassness or devolve into mere exploitation is a credit to Lagwagon, but Resolve's biggest hurdle in listening enjoyment is that the final work of art becomes very hard to separate from the final act that was its inspiration. As the name of the lead off track says, this is "Heartbreaking Music." A line like "But I wish I were as smart as you I could have changed your mind" is as blunt as it can be and the musical juxtaposition becomes even more forceful accompanied by backing that wouldn't have been out of place on an early All album. "Automatic" manages to be uplifting with its defense of the mundane sharpened by Joey's vocal on the verses, which recall the clipped anguish of Kurt Cobain either by coincidence or on purpose. Despair and love run circles throughout the album. The wondering, the questioning and the eulogizing are not held back. There's straight up melodic punk like "Runs In The Family" to the impetuous thrash of "Rager" to the dynamic groove of "Infectious" all encapsulated by the same grieving spark.Resolve might be tough for the millions who love Lagwagon to take. Joey even eludes to this on the last song "Days Of New" where he mentions "the mushy shit that people sing" knowing that one man's catharsis is another's sentimental wail, but most will surely not resist such a sincere coming to grips. It's a tribute both to the departed and to the present. Music39226@blogcritics.org Tue, 8 Nov 2005 17:32:18 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/01/170418.php Wally Bangs The Amino Acids say they are influenced by Black Sabbath and Dick Dale. Their music has sometimes been described as surf-gore and they are part of that wacky bunch The Church Of The SubGenius. They also claim to have been sent from outer space. Hey, it worked for Sun Ra. The most likely band they will be compared to is Man Or Astroman? due to the surf/space convergence except there is less concentration on B-movie samples and more reliance on fuzztone on their album, ...Destroy The Warming Sun! out on Bowlophonic Records. "Super Sonic 4-Dimensional Transistorized Sound" will grace your ears and be a fine source of the Slack revered by the followers of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. Frazzed out, fuzzed out, and blown out surfer boy riffs await from the start on "Dunked In The Think Tank" and there's no let up for the next half hour as songs careen by with light speed before entering a freakout zone on the final and title track. Best title: "Return Of The Attack Of The Curse Of The Son Of The Astro Squid Part XIV Chapter Six". Favorite track: "Gas The Verig Man" which starts out sounding like it was recorded through some vegatable can telephone network put together by 5 year olds before the producer wakes up and hits the right button on the mixing board. There's also plenty of use of the theremin (the original "look ma, no hands" instrument) throughout.This is outer space surf punk for the industrial era. It's broken down, junky, and analog like a lunar lander. Surf purists will probably hate it because it's mainly riffs without fancy arrangements. But who needs fancy arrangements when the objective is to ...Destroy The Warming Sun!. Take some Amino Acids today and soon you can be bowling in Roswell too. Music38900@blogcritics.org Tue, 1 Nov 2005 17:04:18 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/27/173247.php Wally BangsMiguel Mendez was born and raised in the LBC and attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School with Snoop Dogg. Mendez has collaborated with dudes like Farmer Dave (All Night Radio, Beachwood Sparks), Joel and Kevin Morales (Dios Malos), Tiffany Anders, and Sam Jayne (Love As Laughter). He's a guitaris, pianist, producer, and engineer. I copied all that from the CD My Girlfriend Is Melting. I guess it's all supposed to sound important and probably justify one's interest in him. It definitely sounds cool, though it's likely he will now get bombarbed with questions about Snoop when he does interviews. Mendez is being touted as the next Beck which is sort of depressing for an old dude like me. Hell, I still remember all of those new Dylans (Forbert anyone?) and the new Springsteens. The laid back, dude lay off the 'ludes, ambience of lead off track "Drinking Beers" definitely cops an acoustic Beck vibe. It's creaky and fuzzed over with that 4 track feel. This mumbling country hippie bit gets to be damn slow by the time you get to the 5th cut "Wide Awake" which sounds like its being sung through an empty bong. Maybe the title is supposed to ironic since you'll find it difficult to stay awake through it.It'd be a shame if you nodded out because the next song begins to show some promise in the kid. "Catchin A Wave" has some nifty piano notes and it sounds like some original neo-psychedelic threatening to take over the album. The Beck doppelganger interrupts the proceedings again on the next song, but "Number Race" which follows is some willfully weird yet beautiful music. My Girlfriend Is Melting needs more of these askew moments. "Fond Memories" slots into the stoner who dug Beck a little too much mode until somebody thinks to let some Beatles influence color the proceedings producing a much more genial hue to things.Much of the album is slow to the point of catatonia and you wonder how much effort was required to make things seem so effortless. If you like sitting around the house passing stuff around while staring at black light posters of unicorns you'll probably dig this album. If you like Beck when he's not funky, then you might dig Miguel too. I'm just hoping his next release heads for strange and uncharted sounds and maybe next time his girlfriend won't be such a witch. Get it? His girlfriend is melting like a certain witch did and...ah hell forget it. Music38640@blogcritics.org Thu, 27 Oct 2005 17:32:47 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/27/162204.php Wally BangsWhen most people tell you they disagree with you, but they'll defend your right to say what's on your mind you've got to figure they don't really mean it. Well I'm here to let you know that I disagree with most of the lyrical content of Propaghandi's new Fat Wreck Chords disc Potemkin City Limits, but the music rocks and if I was still doing radio I'd damn sure play it on the air. Their unholy meld of punk rock thrash melodics with prog rock is an energetic and inviting assault to the senses whether you agree with the politically charged polemics or not.Before we go over Propaghandi's politics how about an explanation of the album title. The term "Potemkin village" comes from an apocryphal story about this Russian dude Potemkin who made up a bunch of fake village facades to impress Catherine The Great as she went by once. Since then the term has come to mean any false construct, especially in a political context, meant to hide something bad. Sounds like normal politics to me. Politics to Propaghandi are to the left. The Ward Churchill quotes inside are a dead giveaway. There are little quotes scattered throughout the lyrics booklet with the best being the famous lines of Ralph from Friday The XIII "You're All Doomed" which was included on the same page with the words from "Superbowl Patriot XXXVI" which manages to take a potshot at that beloved knight Sir Paul McCartney. His performance did leave something to be desired didn't it? The album begins with "A Speculative Fiction" which posits a scenario where Canadians (Propaghandi are from Winnipeg) kick America's ass. Note to Propaghandi: it would never work. A few bombs during hockey season would do you guys in. Joking aside, they can stay pissed at the United States forever as long as they keep rocking this hard. Lyrics like "We both profess noble intent as we civilize human impediments" from "Fixed Frequencies" or "Really, it's not so much the incessant ruse of assigning profound meaning to the meaningless curios" from "Fedellah's Hearse" may read clunkily on the page, but the band comes off like a thrash Manic Street Preachers once the music is cued up. There's also a weird echo of Anthrax contained in the din. I'll admit to being ignorant to who Fedellah was, but the song kicks ass."Bringer Of Greater Things" seems to be about some issue with the Saskatoon Police. "America's Army (Die Jugend Marschiert)" is about how the government owns everyone's children. The lyric booklet has a reference to Ender's Game at the top. It's a great read, and I highly recommend it. America as big bully seems to pop up often like on "Name And Address Withheld". The funniest line on the album comes from "Rock For Sustainable Capitalism"; in reference to the WARP Tour's bands - "Hope they ship all those shitty bands overseas like they did the factories". I find their railing about music being bought and sold amusing as hell. I hope you do to when the cashier is giving you your change after after purchased Potemkin City Limits. Music38636@blogcritics.org Thu, 27 Oct 2005 16:22:04 EDT