Dave Chamberlain

Few veterans of the punk rock wars have aged as gracefully as Exene Cervenka, one-time co-lead singer of X. Her non-X projects--including the juke-jointin' Knitters and Auntie Christ--all seem to work without her dipping into the X well too often.

Cervenka's most recent band, the Original Sinners, is no different. The band's eponymous debut on Nitro Records focuses an amazing whirlwind of energetic punk-rockabilly, California surf-punk and plain old hard rock, tied together by what sounds like a new-found jump in Cervenka's voice. But the track that's kept me coming back is the instrumental "Alligator Teeth," a nearly psychedelic rock-n-stomp song that features competing, moody slide guitars playing against each other and moved forward by a tough crunch and doomsday chord progressions. Better yet, in the spirit of punk rock, the track checks in at one-minute and thirty seconds. That alone is worth seeing the band play; Exene fans (of whom there seem to be plenty) won't be disappointed by the rest either. She told me three years ago, before anything was recorded, that the Original Sinners "were somewhere in between the Knitters and X," and she nailed it on the head. You can catch the Chicago debut of the Original Sinners on August 11 at the Empty Bottle with 41 Rivers and Winnie.

Although she's seemingly graced the pages of every underground culture magazine in the last three months, Jean Grae is hardly a household name, primarily because she recently changed monikers; in adopting the name of X-Man Jean Gray, she gave up her better-known stage name of What?What?. But that shouldn't stop this politically minded hip-hopper from hitting big, especially if her debut record, "Attack of the Attacking Things" (Third World Music) is any indication of things to come. This daughter of two South African exiles has worked with everyone from Natural Resource to Herbaliser to Tek 9, but her own project rides a wave of chilled-out production in addition to varying rhyme styles, whether battle-rap style or jazz-infected smooth. It's not a completely polished product, but she's headed in the right direction. Grae plays Chicago, August 8 at the Fireside Bowl, with collaborator Mr. Len, the Masterminds and Oddjobs.

The chirps, trickling water, birds, crickets and squeaking on "Point," the latest record from Japanese hipster Cornelius, go a ways toward nominating him a modern-day Juan Garcia Esquivel, the Mexican musician who made extensive use of reel-to-reel tapes and experimented heavily with the first stereo sound systems. Light, airy, very pop-oriented and, unfortunately, sometimes downright boring, "Point" sits where club-dance music intersects directly with lounge music. But Cornelius isn't that easy to pigeonhole. Though tracks like "Drop" (a bad song for the thirsty, what with the constantly streaming water droplets that make up the song's background) combine softly strummed acoustic guitars, a solid-but-slow dance beat and typically bland lounge vocals, Cornelius also injects the rock on occasion. "I Hate Hate" pummels with pure thrash metal and jazz-rock, sounding something a like an outtake from the John Zorn/Napalm Death "Naked City" project. And on "Fly," Cornelius takes a healthy stab at pure art-prog rock, adding wishy-washy psychedelic vocals for pop effect over Wire-like guitar chugs. Though it seems all over the map, he ties the tracks together with a clear-cut vibe that makes the record cohesive despite the varying styles. Of course, it also sounds like it would suck live--for those willing to try, Cornelius plays August 13 at the Park West.

The notes I wrote after seeing Denali, last January at the Fireside: "Female lead singer has an amazingly powerful voice on stage--too bad the band behind her looks like they'd rather be counting blades of grass than playing." That woman, Maura Davis, is the driving force behind this Virginia-based band, but the name-dropping indie-rock sort might also appreciate the presence of bassist (and Maura's brother) Keeler Davis (Engine Down) and drummer Jonathan Fuller (Engine Down, Sleepytime Trio). The band's debut, "S/T" (Jade Tree), comes off as milk-livered and quite frankly disappointed me--it hardly captures Davis' forcefully pretty singing voice and seems to shy away from the hard-soft, guitar-voice dissonance that lends so much power to the band on stage. But regardless of the record, Denali live--or at least Davis--captivated me to the point at which everything around (heat, thirst, sweaty kids) disappeared for at least fifteen of the band's forty-minute set. That doesn't happen very often. Denali makes a return to the Fireside Bowl, August 9 as openers for local boys the 90 Day Men.

Dig this little bit of tenderness from "Twist My Sister," the second track on the Murderdolls' debut, "Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls" (Roadrunner): "Jimmy Crack Corn and I don't give a fuck/I'll take a butcher knife and/ram it in her fucking gut/I'll do a chicken dance over her dead body/This is gonna hurt you more than me." As much as this might remind you of, say, Walt Whitman, believe it or not the source is Joey Jordison, one of the idiots who dons makeup and sucks in--oops, I mean plays in--Slipknot. Throughout fourteen butt-stupid tracks the Murderdolls pretty much rip off everyone from Alice Cooper to the Dwarves to the original Misfits without adding anything worth spitting on, much less talking about. I'm all about creative hatred, but with so much shit out there worthy of vitriol, these guys are sticking with the inner-rage angst? Morons. Lemmings can check out the Murderdolls, August 9 at the Metro.

(2002-08-07)

Also by Dave Chamberlain

TIP OF THE WEEK
While I normally defer to James Porter regarding obscure bands from the sixties, in Love's case I actually feel qualified: the band's "Da Capo," released in 1967, lived in my hippie mom's collection of LPs, and as such it's a record I've listened to since I was 6 years old.
(2002-08-01)

RAW MATERIAL
King Kong, Ethan Buckler's post-Slint, B-52s-dance-redux band, makes a return to Chicago on August 3 at the Abbey Pub in support of its most recent, "The Big Bang" (Drag City).
(2002-08-01)

RAW MATERIAL
Two DJ events worthy of note this week. Playing The Seminar, July 31 at Red Dog, Welsh-born drum 'n' bass DJ High Contrast (aka Lincoln Barrett, pictured) spins in support of his recently released "True Colours" (Breakbeat Science), a double-CD and his first full-length to date.
(2002-07-25)

RAW MATERIAL
What do you get when you combine rock 'n' roll guitars with Algerian rai, French house music and funk? One answer: a mess. Another answer: Rachid Taha, an Algeria-born French national who, despite overwhelming anti-Arabic sentiment throughout the West, flaunts his Algerian ancestry through his hyper-masculine, hyper-integrated protest music.
(2002-07-18)

DISCOVERIES
(2002-07-18)

DISCOVERIES
(2002-07-18)

TIP OF THE WEEK
(2002-07-11)

RAW MATERIAL
(2002-07-11)

TIP OF THE WEEK
(2002-07-04)

RAW MATERIAL
(2002-07-04)

TIP OF THE WEEK
(2002-06-27)

RAW MATERIAL
(2002-06-27)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment