Local CD Reviews
Issue 209 / May 2006 More from this Issue
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By Spencer Jenkins
Bleed Yellow
Self-Titled
Octopus Records
Street Date: 03.31
Bleed Yellow = Big Black + early Nine Inch Nails + Eli Morrison
This album was originally recorded ten years ago on an old four track by Eli Morrison, member of the Wolfs and a half dozen other Utah bands and projects. As reported two months ago by SLUG, Eli has just launched Octopus Records which released several albums that are as high on creative innovation as they are low on corporate marketability. In this album, Eli has reworked the sound and had several friends record tracks over the top of it. Eli describes it as an, "exquisite corpse." Most of the songs are driven by rudimentary drum machines that sound like a looser version of Big Black. But the beats are more like Odd Nosdam in that they are gritty as well as danceable. Eli supplies the vocal screams and hisses that scratch an itch I've been trying to reach for a long time. The tracks are exploratory and distended while retaining a cohesion that holds together the experiment sounds. The beats are interspersed with raygun effects, early NIN distortion and tribal drums. They are as catchy as they are spooky. It seems clear that the point of this album (and the others on the label) is not to make a dollar profit but to foster individual creativity. Spencer Jenkins
The Cunted
Self-Titled
Self-Released
Street Date: 05.01
The Cunted = Tom Tom Club + Le Tigre + Sex Ed + feminist humor
In this self-titled release, the ladies of The Cunted use misogynist slurs in their lyrics in order to defuse the words of their negative connotations. With the use of humor they at once address the way men often view women and strip the derogatory view of its negative power. When they sing about taboo subjects like "cunts," "queefs," "super cocks," and "gaps," they reclaim the words and thereby defuse them of their depreciative associations. The word "cunt," is reclaimed with a laugh. The album was produced by Scott Selfridge, (Red Bennies, Coyote Hoods and The Horns.) While the lyrics are undoubtedly humorous, the songs also have the pleasing self-conscious hipness of mid-eighties pop bands. The entire album is a mocking jeer at misogyny and the male ego, like in "Super Cock." It goes, "Super cock is going to make you wet. Super cock is going to make you sweat." The jokes are effective because they reveal just how men's egos revolve around their sexual virility. But since they disbanded after the CD release party, this album will be your only chance to hear them. Spencer Jenkins
Ocular Faith
...And the Golden Saints Wept
Self-Released
Street Dave: 05.01
Ocular Faith = Throbbing gristle + Marilyn Manson + Wolf Eyes
This album attempts to confront the intolerable amount of injustice and hypocrisy enacted by the leaders of our god-fearing country. Ocular Faith mimics the horror show of general abuse and misconduct with morbid imagery and abrasive noise. Most of the songs address the rage with self-serving politicians who use the country's taxes to fight terror with terror. Their lyrics are filled with images of entrails, rotting corpses and children without limbs. They do a persuading job of mirroring the outrage at what our country is doing in an artistic form. The last song was inspired by former first lady Barbara Bush's, "racist remarks," after Hurricane Katrina. Some of the lyrics are a little stiff but the feeling and intention are there. The self-proclaimed goals of their songs are to, "provoke thought, to offend, to bring to light topics of hatred...ignorance and intolerance." The pleasantly noisy songs display an outrage and frustration that comes from watching injustices without a direct way to do something about them. Spencer Jenkins
Red Bennies
Annoucing! Demos
Octopus Records
Street Date: 03.31
Red Bennies = Black Sabbath + Smokey Robinson + Speed + Salt Lake City
Through the course of listening to this album a thousand times, I kept finding that it was so good that the volume was turned up to ten and my ear was right up against the speaker. These demos were recorded a few years ago in one or two nights at the Moroccan. Serendipitously, after producing the recordings, the original demos turned out to be superior. The sound on this record fulfills all of my prepubescent fantasies of what rock n' roll can sound like. Although it was recorded a few years ago, you can tell that they were already a veteran band. They marry R & B, heavy metal, a convincing badass attitude and addictive hooks like a polygamist town of four people. These songs will sound fresh ten years from now. They deliver bone-crushing drums, hollow-pointed Decepticon distortion and soulful, moving lyrics like on, "Don't Stop Saying What Hurts." If you stop to listen to this album for one second you won't be able to take it out of your stereo; every track is going to be your new favorite song. You might as well enjoy your hearing loss. Spencer Jenkins
Bleed Yellow
Self-Titled
Octopus Records
Street Date: 03.31
Bleed Yellow = Big Black + early Nine Inch Nails + Eli Morrison
This album was originally recorded ten years ago on an old four track by Eli Morrison, member of the Wolfs and a half dozen other Utah bands and projects. As reported two months ago by SLUG, Eli has just launched Octopus Records which released several albums that are as high on creative innovation as they are low on corporate marketability. In this album, Eli has reworked the sound and had several friends record tracks over the top of it. Eli describes it as an, "exquisite corpse." Most of the songs are driven by rudimentary drum machines that sound like a looser version of Big Black. But the beats are more like Odd Nosdam in that they are gritty as well as danceable. Eli supplies the vocal screams and hisses that scratch an itch I've been trying to reach for a long time. The tracks are exploratory and distended while retaining a cohesion that holds together the experiment sounds. The beats are interspersed with raygun effects, early NIN distortion and tribal drums. They are as catchy as they are spooky. It seems clear that the point of this album (and the others on the label) is not to make a dollar profit but to foster individual creativity. Spencer Jenkins
The Cunted Self-Titled
Self-Released
Street Date: 05.01
The Cunted = Tom Tom Club + Le Tigre + Sex Ed + feminist humor
In this self-titled release, the ladies of The Cunted use misogynist slurs in their lyrics in order to defuse the words of their negative connotations. With the use of humor they at once address the way men often view women and strip the derogatory view of its negative power. When they sing about taboo subjects like "cunts," "queefs," "super cocks," and "gaps," they reclaim the words and thereby defuse them of their depreciative associations. The word "cunt," is reclaimed with a laugh. The album was produced by Scott Selfridge, (Red Bennies, Coyote Hoods and The Horns.) While the lyrics are undoubtedly humorous, the songs also have the pleasing self-conscious hipness of mid-eighties pop bands. The entire album is a mocking jeer at misogyny and the male ego, like in "Super Cock." It goes, "Super cock is going to make you wet. Super cock is going to make you sweat." The jokes are effective because they reveal just how men's egos revolve around their sexual virility. But since they disbanded after the CD release party, this album will be your only chance to hear them. Spencer Jenkins
Ocular Faith
...And the Golden Saints Wept
Self-Released
Street Dave: 05.01
Ocular Faith = Throbbing gristle + Marilyn Manson + Wolf Eyes
This album attempts to confront the intolerable amount of injustice and hypocrisy enacted by the leaders of our god-fearing country. Ocular Faith mimics the horror show of general abuse and misconduct with morbid imagery and abrasive noise. Most of the songs address the rage with self-serving politicians who use the country's taxes to fight terror with terror. Their lyrics are filled with images of entrails, rotting corpses and children without limbs. They do a persuading job of mirroring the outrage at what our country is doing in an artistic form. The last song was inspired by former first lady Barbara Bush's, "racist remarks," after Hurricane Katrina. Some of the lyrics are a little stiff but the feeling and intention are there. The self-proclaimed goals of their songs are to, "provoke thought, to offend, to bring to light topics of hatred...ignorance and intolerance." The pleasantly noisy songs display an outrage and frustration that comes from watching injustices without a direct way to do something about them. Spencer Jenkins
Red Bennies
Annoucing! Demos
Octopus Records
Street Date: 03.31
Red Bennies = Black Sabbath + Smokey Robinson + Speed + Salt Lake City
Through the course of listening to this album a thousand times, I kept finding that it was so good that the volume was turned up to ten and my ear was right up against the speaker. These demos were recorded a few years ago in one or two nights at the Moroccan. Serendipitously, after producing the recordings, the original demos turned out to be superior. The sound on this record fulfills all of my prepubescent fantasies of what rock n' roll can sound like. Although it was recorded a few years ago, you can tell that they were already a veteran band. They marry R & B, heavy metal, a convincing badass attitude and addictive hooks like a polygamist town of four people. These songs will sound fresh ten years from now. They deliver bone-crushing drums, hollow-pointed Decepticon distortion and soulful, moving lyrics like on, "Don't Stop Saying What Hurts." If you stop to listen to this album for one second you won't be able to take it out of your stereo; every track is going to be your new favorite song. You might as well enjoy your hearing loss. Spencer Jenkins
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