What could Wire, one of the most influential art/punk rock bands in history, now in its fourth decade of existence, possibly have left to prove or say? Apparently plenty, but with "Read and Burn Volume 1," the quartet of Colin Newman, Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey cut right to the chase; the record's six-song, seventeen-minute play time speaks volumes about the "third phase" Wire. Through nearly thirty years, Wire has gone from punk to new wave to borderline industrial and back again, but "Read and Burn" reveals that the band has returned to jagged rock—the batteries of buzzing guitars on "Comet" could school the kids in aggressive guitar playing. On "Germ Ship" and "In the Art of Stopping," bass-driven back melodies drive the tracks forward, cut like a razor by swaggering guitar and the band's trademark chugging cadence. The murky gloom of the under two-minute "1st Fast" takes an even darker turn with Newman's manic vocals—if you didn't know better, you'd think "Read and Burn" was made by four very ambitious 20-year-olds.

Also by Dave Chamberlain

TIP OF THE WEEK
The main drawing point for High on Fire is Matt Pike, former guitarist for the lumbering doom giant Sleep. (For those not in the know, Sleep was the slowest, most bludgeoning of the early nineties doom/stoner metalists; the band's final record, "Jerusalem," is a one-song, fifty-minute opus to smoking weed.)
(2002-07-11)

RAW MATERIAL
To make the dates extra special, the boys in STLJ coerced the defunct Lustre King to accompany them for their final two hometown appearances. "They were kind of our mates for a while," says Sweep drummer Scott Anna.
(2002-07-11)

TIP OF THE WEEK
Two men, a guitar, drums and songs that hurtle off the record with all the subtlety of a runaway train—that's Modey Lemon, a duo of blood 'n' guts rockers from Pittsburgh who do the two-man band thing as well as anybody out there.
(2002-07-04)

RAW MATERIAL
"Punking Out" is a grainy, black-and-white documentary about New York's CBGB's in the seventies, and features live footage from Richard Hell and the Voivods, Ramones and Dead Boys.
(2002-07-04)

TIP OF THE WEEK
(2002-06-27)

RAW MATERIAL
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TIP OF THE WEEK
(2002-06-20)

RAW MATERIAL
(2002-06-20)

TIP OF THE WEEK
(2002-06-13)

RAW MATERIAL
(2002-06-13)

TIP OF THE WEEK
(2002-06-06)

NONFICTION REVIEW
(2002-06-06)