Thatcher Reviews

I will admit that I used to like 311. That clever little story about 311 being the police code for public indecently was downright charming. Here’s the cincher: I liked them back with the "lucky" single. That was the "Grassroots" album back in 1994. Back when they were kind of cool. Back before Sublime displaced any need for an upbeat stoner band.

was their first real strong radio play. Most of us were not sick of them at this point. The album "Transistor" ruined everything. It was 21 tracks of homogenized formulaic songwriting. If you weren’t sick of 311 by now you weren’t paying attention.

Now the album "Sound system" is out. It’s pretty good. They kept it to 14 tracks and the songs are a little (a very little) different from each other. It’s still not much different from their established sound, but at least now you can tell the songs apart. Progress is progress.

This is a four song EP pressed in an effort to satiate us while we impatiently wait for their next full length. This is only four songs long. Track number two "Hard to impress" makes the EP worthwhile all by itself. Has anyone out there ever heard funky ska? I really hadn’t.

I mean I’ve heard some diesel Ska bass players but this one track would make Mr. Claypool himself raise an eyebrow.

In musician interviews I always catch the same question being asked again and again "What are your main influences?" Or the present tense corollary "What album are you listening to right now?" Sometimes it makes sense. Other times you get a brain full of Burton C. Bell talking about how much he likes Buddy Holly.

I wish I knew what happened to the Dillinger Escape Plan. Try to imagine a band that sounds like Meshuggah ate Rush. It’s some sort of Prog-rock-post-deathmetal fusion. It’s way out there and heavy as hell.

This retro swing stuff is pretty kitchy by definition. I never had the opportunity to wonder before this if one could push the envelope on kitch. These tunes scratch at your brain like show tunes. This is the Uber-kitch. They pomp and embrace a lifestyle that never existed.

Hopefully you dear readers know that the subculture represented in the "new" swing never existed in the past. It didn’t. It’s a strange and unabashed love of a time that never was. The zoot-suit thing was never like this. The point of bands like this is to make you wish it were. It’s a fun music. Personally that works for me.

Who knew that Teenage girls could be this heavy? Kittie is a metal band of four very petite girls in their early teens. The singer really shows off on the opening track showing a strong voice and good range. Her influences probably lean more toward Devin Townsend than Karen Crisis.

The music is Coal Chamber-ish, extremely coal Chamber-ish. The big problem with that is Coal Chamber was already a little like Korn. Kittie show cases their drummer a little more than Coal Chamber and tends to break up their changes instead of grooving. It makes some tracks a tad stiff.

Overall a technically damn impressive album for Early teens of any gender.

Great Goodness! This is some of the most intense hardcore I’ve ever heard. Race Traitor leans toward Death metal with its technical changes and sheer speed. While Burn it down is more traditional in it’s approach to hardcore.

So why are they sharing a split CD? -Because they are undoubtedly two of the most political hardcore acts in the Midwest. These two bands have a message even more intense than their music.

That’s all I can say about this. For more info on this disc check out: www.trustkill.com

Does the world need a Marilyn Manson rip off? ‘Nuff said. No wait. I’m not done complaining about this disc. I have details here.

Anytime you see the "Flip" logo on a CD that means the Flip imprint did the independent A&R for that act. Other acts with Flip include Staind (Which rocks) Limp Bizkit (which I’ve heard enough of) Cold (which also is amazing) and others.

What do all these bands have in common? Fred Durst signed them. Flip is Fred Durst’s personal imprint.

Fred has pretty good taste in music. So much so that Interscope made him a VP. He can pick ‘em and what label doesn’t want that kind of rep wandering around the halls?

He’s signed a couple bricks though. No one is infallible. This is the proof in the pudding. I hereby declare Dope a brick. But don’t just listen to me. Check out their propaganda at www.flip.com.