Glitter Gutter Trash
Issue 216 / December 2006 More from this Issue
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By ryan michael painter
Alls well that ends well, such is the life of magazine columns. December marks the end of an era, perhaps an unnoticed one but at least I was keeping score. Everything evolves, change is inevitable and without drawing this out any further it is with a great amount of sadness that I begin to write what will be the last GlitterGutterTrash column. While I will continue to review CDs, you’ll have to dig a bit deeper into the general, and soon to be only, CD reviews section. I hope you will be willing to do so. Expect more features and interviews. It was fun while it lasted, highway robbery, really… but you never know, what once was dead may rise again. Badly Drawn Boy
Born in the U.K.
Astralwerks
Street: 10.17
Badly Drawn Boy = Springsteen – E Street
Once upon a time, Damon Gough couldn’t write a horrible song to save himself. It wasn’t that the hard-luck common man approach to emotional song writing was particularly new; Gough wasn’t shy to admit the distinct impression that some American named Bruce (but answers to the call of The Boss) had made on him. Not that I, or anyone else for that matter, complained. It was Nebraska and The River from a different perspective and somehow from "Pissing in the Wind" to feeding fish the mundane seemed poignant. Then came One plus One is One and you couldn’t help but wonder if Gough had officially grown tiresome. The mundane suddenly seemed mundane again. Perhaps it was no coincidence that Springsteen had come back from ghost stories to reestablish himself as the voice of the common people with the E Street Band in tow. Still, those old Badly Drawn Boy albums really had it, hadn’t they? Yes, they most certainly had. So when Born in the U.K. found its way into my CD player, I hoped for the best while bracing for the worst. After all you have to admire the guts it takes to point directly at your influence without flinching. I can’t say that Born in the U.K. really echoes Born in the U.S.A; Gough has yet to write an anthem, let alone anything that sardonic (and misinterpreted) as Springsteen’s title track. Born in the U.K. is sentimental, whimsical, full of romanticism, sappy and not terribly different from anything Badly Drawn Boy has released before, but it works rather well. There is enough evidence here to suggest the banality of One plus One is One shrugged off as a fluke and brilliance might just be around the corner, again.
Goddamn Electric Bill
Swallowed by the Machines
99x/10
Street: 09.09
Goddamn Electric Bill = incidental music from a Sofia Coppola circus film
I’ve never exactly been to a circus. I went to Circus Circus in Las Vegas and had a miserable time. I’ve seen the touring shows that camp inside large sporting venues with all their polish and shine. Sure it was fun, but it isn’t really what I’m looking for. I want a tent, make it red or yellow and fill it with rickety bleachers and put Kraftwerk on display next to Air and a whole bank of 80s arcade games chirping as a sea of mechanical monkeys chase around over-sized clowns with toy pianos and bowed guitars. Make it hopeful, but not too hopeful. Make it magical but believable. Keep it simple, like the strum of a guitar. Show me ladies dressed like ballerinas dangling from fishing line stretched across the horizon. Drown me in confetti, analogue knobs twisting as the cannons fire. Offer lions, drum machines and bears undomesticated, exotic and agitated. Douse me in beautiful, spiraling electronic instrumentals. Give me Goddamn Electric Bill at dusk with a girl and an "I love you" line.
June in July
June in July e.p.
self-released
Street: 01.24
June in July = Spiritualized – spirituals + BRMC/JAMC – distortion
I don’t know where to put June in July. They’re the opening act that you don’t mind seeing but nonetheless can’t wait for the headliners to take the stage. They sound like they’re playing somewhere at the end of a tunnel, like a sci-fi B-movie full of reverb, echo and delay. One song bleeding into another and when they can’t think of lyrics they just sing drunken nonsenses. They’re better than this sounds, but at the same time you can’t see them climbing out of obscurity but I wouldn’t mind if they did.
Alls well that ends well, such is the life of magazine columns. December marks the end of an era, perhaps an unnoticed one but at least I was keeping score. Everything evolves, change is inevitable and without drawing this out any further it is with a great amount of sadness that I begin to write what will be the last GlitterGutterTrash column. While I will continue to review CDs, you’ll have to dig a bit deeper into the general, and soon to be only, CD reviews section. I hope you will be willing to do so. Expect more features and interviews. It was fun while it lasted, highway robbery, really… but you never know, what once was dead may rise again. Badly Drawn Boy
Born in the U.K.
Astralwerks
Street: 10.17
Badly Drawn Boy = Springsteen – E Street
Once upon a time, Damon Gough couldn’t write a horrible song to save himself. It wasn’t that the hard-luck common man approach to emotional song writing was particularly new; Gough wasn’t shy to admit the distinct impression that some American named Bruce (but answers to the call of The Boss) had made on him. Not that I, or anyone else for that matter, complained. It was Nebraska and The River from a different perspective and somehow from "Pissing in the Wind" to feeding fish the mundane seemed poignant. Then came One plus One is One and you couldn’t help but wonder if Gough had officially grown tiresome. The mundane suddenly seemed mundane again. Perhaps it was no coincidence that Springsteen had come back from ghost stories to reestablish himself as the voice of the common people with the E Street Band in tow. Still, those old Badly Drawn Boy albums really had it, hadn’t they? Yes, they most certainly had. So when Born in the U.K. found its way into my CD player, I hoped for the best while bracing for the worst. After all you have to admire the guts it takes to point directly at your influence without flinching. I can’t say that Born in the U.K. really echoes Born in the U.S.A; Gough has yet to write an anthem, let alone anything that sardonic (and misinterpreted) as Springsteen’s title track. Born in the U.K. is sentimental, whimsical, full of romanticism, sappy and not terribly different from anything Badly Drawn Boy has released before, but it works rather well. There is enough evidence here to suggest the banality of One plus One is One shrugged off as a fluke and brilliance might just be around the corner, again.
Goddamn Electric Bill
Swallowed by the Machines
99x/10
Street: 09.09
Goddamn Electric Bill = incidental music from a Sofia Coppola circus film
I’ve never exactly been to a circus. I went to Circus Circus in Las Vegas and had a miserable time. I’ve seen the touring shows that camp inside large sporting venues with all their polish and shine. Sure it was fun, but it isn’t really what I’m looking for. I want a tent, make it red or yellow and fill it with rickety bleachers and put Kraftwerk on display next to Air and a whole bank of 80s arcade games chirping as a sea of mechanical monkeys chase around over-sized clowns with toy pianos and bowed guitars. Make it hopeful, but not too hopeful. Make it magical but believable. Keep it simple, like the strum of a guitar. Show me ladies dressed like ballerinas dangling from fishing line stretched across the horizon. Drown me in confetti, analogue knobs twisting as the cannons fire. Offer lions, drum machines and bears undomesticated, exotic and agitated. Douse me in beautiful, spiraling electronic instrumentals. Give me Goddamn Electric Bill at dusk with a girl and an "I love you" line.
June in July
June in July e.p.
self-released
Street: 01.24
June in July = Spiritualized – spirituals + BRMC/JAMC – distortion
I don’t know where to put June in July. They’re the opening act that you don’t mind seeing but nonetheless can’t wait for the headliners to take the stage. They sound like they’re playing somewhere at the end of a tunnel, like a sci-fi B-movie full of reverb, echo and delay. One song bleeding into another and when they can’t think of lyrics they just sing drunken nonsenses. They’re better than this sounds, but at the same time you can’t see them climbing out of obscurity but I wouldn’t mind if they did.
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