Tom Lynch

"Do you know what it means to be doomed?" they ask. Disturbing, haunted and fresh, Dallas band The Paper Chase stomp all over the line between art-rock and mind-rape metal, the musical equivalent to waking from a bad dream and not wanting to open your eyes for fear of what will be there. And it's really good. With darting guitars entangled, pounding percussion, striking strings and frightening samples, the songs are littered with sadism, destruction and chaos. "Now You Are One of Us," on Kill Rock Stars, is a monster record--fifteen tracks in all that for the most part form one long nightmarish trip through hell--filled with allegory and terror, demonic house imagery and pain in the night. Check some song titles: "We Know Where You Sleep," "It's Out There and It's Going to Get You," "You Will Never Take Me Alive," "The House Is Alive and The House is Hungry." Leader John Congleton alternates between semi-melodic crooning and threatening screams, howls and aggressions. I can't wait to see this.

The Paper Chase plays January 26 at Subterranean, 2011 West North, (773)278-6600, at 7pm. $12.

(2007-01-23)

Also by Tom Lynch

Rock City
The 1900s, Bound Stems, Psalm One and more
(2007-01-16)

Verge Overkill
Bang! Bang!, Chin Up Chin Up, The Changes and more
(2007-01-16)

Never Mind the Parents
"Alternadad," author Neal Pollack's new work of nonfiction, follows the trials and tribulations of a punk-rock slacker-writer and his wife as they struggle with parenthood, trying to stay youthful themselves, attempting, in so many ways, to stay cool
(2007-01-16)

Tip of the Week
Califone's "Roots & Crowns," undoubtedly the band's best record yet, on Thrill Jockey, catapults the group beyond the experimental art-folk tag and into a new realm of superfluous categorization--musical geniuses
(2007-01-16)

Tip of the Week
(2007-01-16)

Our Little Ponys
(2007-01-09)

Tip of the Week
(2007-01-09)

Tip of the Week
(2007-01-02)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-22)

All Acquaintance Be Forgot
(2006-12-22)

The Year in Rock
(2006-12-19)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-12)

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