The Wedding Present: El Rey CD review (Orlando Weekly)

The marquee bit of news regarding the Wedding Present’s first new album in three years is the fact that Steve Albini is again sitting in as producer … sorry, engineer. Albini was on the boards for their bristling, assaultive Seamonsters disc in 1991, an album which neatly divided the Wedding Present’s discography into two sections: the taut, semi-rockist take on C86 pop that marked their earliest records and the heavier, rougher sounds that marked discs like Seamonsters.

Interestingly, El Rey comes along just when David Gedge and the Wedding Present have been easing into a more gentle pop direction that evokes a mature take on the band’s initial sound. Albums like the moribund Saturnalia (1996), the glossy Take Fountain (2005) and those by Gedge’s side project Cinerama could easily follow a sonic progression that fits into the pre-Seamonsters slot. El Rey, on the other hand, could only be seen as an emotional and musical companion to Albini’s last collaboration with the band.

As snide and perpetually heartbroken as usual, Gedge has pent up some bile over the past decade or so. Though written while Gedge was living in Los Angeles (hence the title, as well as numbers like “Santa Ana Winds” and “Model, Actress, Whatever … ”), very little laissez-faire sunshine peeps through here. Instead, Gedge and associates plow their way through a series of achingly furious numbers. Granted, there’s no punk rock howl – there never has been – and, in fact, most of the disc is either midtempo (“Spider-Man on Hollywood,” “Boo Boo”) or downright plodding (“Palisades,” “Swingers”). But what the Wedding Present lacks in speed, they make up for in smart lyrical venom (“The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend”) and occasional blasts of open-chord jangle-spaz (“Soup”).

Abrasive and catchy, insouciant and insistent, cynical and sensitive, El Rey again captures all the dichotomies that have made Gedge and the Wedding Present a fascinating band throughout the years.

First appeared May 29, 2008 in Orlando Weekly.

Buy this CD at Amazon.com.

The H.P. Lovecraft Collection, Vol. 1: Cool Air DVD review (Detroit Metrotimes)

There’ve been numerous cinematic adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s works throughout the years, and most of them have been undertaken by well-meaning devotees of the man’s fantastic horror fiction. Few of them, however, have been undertaken well. This DVD — the first of four volumes of recent, low-budget Lovecraft-ian films to be released by Lurker Films — contains five films by three directors, and doesn’t do much to change the arithmetic on that formula. The Bryan Moore-shot Cool Air seems to get top billing due mainly to its length, rather than any pronounced difference in quality, as the other four pieces here are just as hamstrung by cheap locations and low-fi effects. Lovecraft’s written works are deeply atmospheric and spooky, and on paper they resonate with an oppressive mystery that’s sadly missing from their cinematic counterparts. That’s not to say these aren’t solid pieces of low-budget filmwork, and certainly the filmmakers are strident fans of Lovecraft’s fiction. It’s just that when you’re evoking “The Crawling Chaos” part of the writer’s Cthulhu mythos (as Christian Mantzke does in Nyarlathotep), you need a little more than good intentions to get the creepiness across.

First appeared May 29, 2008 in Detroit Metrotimes.

Buy this DVD at Amazon.com.

Paint It Black/Monikers/New Mexican Disaster Squad show preview (Broward-Palm Beach New Times)

Philly hardcore juggernaut Paint It Black is touring in support of its latest album, New Lexicon, and the chance to see these boys tear it up is reason enough to check out the show. But the presence of two phenomenal Central Florida punk bands on the bill should seal the deal. Monikers is headed by ex-Discount guitarist Ryan Seagrist, and the band’s noisy, chaotic take on rollicking, post-Jawbreaker melodic punk is truly a sight to behold. New Mexican Disaster Squad has emerged from a recent hiatus and continues to peddle its ferocious, audience-baiting take on ’80s hardcore. The group’s last two full-lengths (on Jade Tree and Anti-Flag’s label) have somehow managed to fly under the punk-rock radar, which is a true shame; when these guys take the stage, one is instantly reminded of the uplifting, fuck-the-world joy that most punk bands fail to deliver.

First appeared May 29, 2008 in Broward-Palm Beach New Times.