Saw Year of the Rabbit again with S.O. the other night at Mercury Lounge. We stood right at the front and just smiled the whole time. Put simply: they're GREAT and play excellent rock and roll. It was fun seeing them after having heard the whole album. They opened their set with a cover of The Cure's "PLAIN SONG". That right there earns my respect. Afterwards, it was a quick stop at the Pub to catch up with Pater and then an Indian meal with my agent/lawyer/advisor/houseguest. Yes, I ate Indian food. S.O. is trying to make me more diverse. It's working...
Well the long awaited package arrived from Cracknation containing the next two Cracknation releases: Acumen Nation's "LORD OF THE CYNICS" and a final yet unmastered version of the (extremely) long awaited and anticipated Chemlab album "OXIDIZER", which as you may have read, I worked on a bit ;-)
Here are my brief thoughts:
"CYNICS" is the best written and produced Acumen record to date. The whole key to this album is Jason wisely making the most out of his new rythmn section, Dan and Eliot, and writing with them as a band. Their welcomed presence is very obvious in the material and the album is more akin to the live Acumen experience than any previous album. Also, Jason is finally singing more (something I had been nudging him to do for some time) and his grasp of melody is fantastic. the songs are catchier than the last album and the last song, CAPSULE, is a fantastic and soulful tune. Production is Cracknation standard, meaning its aces. I look forward to getting further into the album.
"OXIDIZER" is tougher to review because of my closeness to it. I co-wrote some of it, did a lot of sounds for it, and have been extremely passionate and vocal about this record for a long time. i can't review it. I am in love with 90% of the album and the other 10% I like but that mostly has to do with certain choices that were made for the album that I don't agree with, but thats real nitpicky stuff (i.e. "oh i would turn the guitar up here" etc) and thats what happens in a band. 90% is a super figure. My curiosity about public reaction to the album is quite strong. I'm sure some fans will love it and others will not, and probably for the wrong reasons. They have to accept that this is 2003 and not 1995. This album is a full success and the hidden track on OXIDIZER will make the old schoolers happy!
Meanwhile...
Last night, S.O. and I saw the film SWIMMING POOL, which was quite good. I feel a certain member of the aggression, known for his love of the part of the female anatomy called the BOOBS, would like this movie, as it has a young woman running around without a top on quite a bit. Anyhow, I'm glad we saw this instead of SWAT.
Ash is in Boston visiting relatives, but informs Brandt that he will have an mp3 arrangement of "THEME FROM PROPAGANDA" for us late tonight or tomorrow. Brandt intends to have some rough versions of the other songs for me on MP3 before I head back to LA tomorrow night. Hopefully this will happen and I will have a lot to study on the plane. What a great solo album? I'm home packing for LA and playing the new INDIANA JONES video game on mp3 while everyone else works on the songs. HAH! winner.
Seeing Saintface tonight...more later maybe.
F
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