The Rocket from Seattle, Washington • 33

Valuable Incarnation Name of BandArtist Address: Please Check One I March 25 AprU 8 1 998 THB ROCKET 1 33 Bebop Destruction Heavy Machinery (My Own Planet CD) Julie Plug Starmaker (Classified CD) mental segments that transform a sim ple pop song into a six and a half minute epic virtually perfect the sing song chorus propelling it forward like an avalanche Starmaker deserves to live up to its title And if jinxed this band I apologize Robert allen Chad Crouch Kind of Like Spitting Jeff LondonReclinerland Less (Huth) Evan Symons Transition to a New Dream (Step and a Haff CD) The list of female led pop bands pledged my allegiance to over the last decade is Velocity Girl the Catheads alling Joys Magnapop the Sundays Juned Caterwaul the Heart Throbs the just to 'scratch die surface rightening because so few of them have sold many records or stayed togedier for more than a couple of albums At the risk of jinxing Julie Plug they have produced one of the more impressive debuts Tve heard in years so good the band could be English not of course but to define them as a Bay Area Asian American band would be as limiting as describ ing them as a female led alternative pop band and just as needless The songs are instantly accessible the pro duction is bright but not slick and an indefinable aura of some thing magical taking place that seeps into Starmaker all the bossa nova beat that comes out of nowhare the perfect chord change at die perfect time the clever line that completely turns a lyric around Vocalist Des de Leon has a knowing smirk in her voice a bit like the Harriet Wheeler She can deliver a song tike an angel or freeze you with sarcasm as the song requires Guitarist Terry Nicolas is no less impor tant equally capable of gently or aggressively coloring a song Picking one track from a collection this spectacularly good is hard but if only one deserves to be blaring out of After setting the town alight with the apocalyptic pop bop of The Day After Bebop Sc Destruction clear some new ground with Heavy Machinery Well not completely new still classic sounding bebop but this time got some room to move taking their sweet time instead of confining them selves to the five minute long songs of emphasizing big sounding production Ciao Bella manage to sustain their youthful enthusiasm in songs like with its hyperactive guitar open er pitted against the controlled melodies and clean simple production Their enthusiasm is overtaken only by their great hooks accenting each song with an organ keyboard theremin or various studio experimentation which gives each track its individually wrapped candy like appeal Admittedly the album in its entirety can be over whelming if you in the frame of mind for sheer delight but then again this might be helpful at just such times ERIC MAST Reclinerland (Mike Johnson) came together for several days and recorded in home studio even backing each other on individual tracks making this more like a complete well rounded album and less like a compilation even with die diversity of styles presented Reclinerland have a crafted straight up pop style with a nod to the Beades Their love song You Need is is an optimistic boost next to Kind of Like Smog like bleakness on lines like much for doubting or a tune like Your Heroes Hate Jeff London creates delicate shim mering observations that shuffle to a crescendo while Chad songs have a laidback sparseness and flowing vocal melodies often accented with his quirky signature organ tones Also I forget to mention die beautiful violin playing by Mollie Hardy that accompanies several of these songs Overall Less emerges as a solid well produced DIY effort that proves singersongwriter scene have to end with Elliott Smith ERIC MAST The Donnas have equal parts Nikki and the Corvettes Joan Jett Ramones and Gary Glitter a reasonably admirable pedigree but the Donnas end up sounding like four teenage girts buying guitars and covering Ramones songs or maybe a band that the poor kids would have put together in an early John Hughes film In one sense this is still pretty good I'd rather hear this than another Spice Giris or Alanis Morissette done The production is thin however and the Donnas really did stop reading the songwriting book as soon as they got to the page with Joey and DeeDee Sample lyrics: wanna eat these vegetables! wanna read this the radios Every book nd just want to go to the Bracketed between two instru rock roll show Lower the singers voice and add a two three at the start and 1980 again On the plus side there are some nice short guitar solos to mix up the A and progressions and the songs are all peppy kevin rexroat Normally leery of multiple artist releases especially if four singer songwriter types because of the diffi culty in making the release seem cohe sive However nothing short of delighted with this one Portland artists Chad Crouch Kind of Like Spitting (Ben Barnett) Jeff London and Evan Symons looks like one of those throwbacks I used to see outside the Berkelee School of Music in Boston and his music is kind of similar to that technically flawless playing of ho hum material He plays all the instruments (gui tar bass drums clarinet keyboards) on this pedestrian psychedelic pop affair that was recorded in his spare room on a Macintosh not a com plete loss of the has a decent guitar solo and and contain some interesting electronic effects but the good moments last long According to the press kit a lot of his personal experiences went into the songs but the music never rises above paint by numbers especially with his bland vocals He labels it but merely pop with a whiff of electronica and prog Symons is try ing too hard to be cool and not He comes off like a doofus rock star wannabe and a pretty sad thing ROL SEMPREBON (PO Box 41246 Memphis TN 38174) The Donnas American Teenage Rock Roll Machine (Lookout! CD) Electronictaoise JazzLcunge oliySinger Metal Top 40 RapHip Hop Description 10 word limit I We will edit if you go long! ft bi nn Directory Annual Ayour band PHOTO or I0GO will be printed in above your listing! (HorizantaL Only! 5 a i rt ji ij i 4 4 it oil' fat 1 4 '1? 1 vjC 1 I Mr Bw iwf pw HMJir lw ATl ft ft ff 9 fl 1 lix rflWlL A 1 '9 jL 9vl I I I i 9Mr II 9 4 Bv wfrx ni Vi3QWnTCiK SGUMOOOMOaKe II ''i 3W MM I Issue 26 W) I 40123 113 I B9 A I A Ja Xs 9H9 I I i I I I I I i i i i i i i i i i I Phnnfts I I ft I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Rock Rank ABRIL 6TH to: I 9 Americana i foOuOmOr i as ssasassr ass ns sc 'a4v 9 I SslUHmsniil i 9 Misicians Ihrectory 9 9 OTiOQ Rh Axra I 9 9 Seattle WA 98121 I 1 ReggaeWorld Beat (206) 72B K)CK 9 I AX: (206) 728 8827 9 I If not in here you better be dead or in jail! 9.