[This review was published in Popshot.]
What the hell is this? Collider play schticky AOR rock replete with big hooks, kitschy keyboards and dumb, dumb pop culture references. For an EP that is likely going to serve as an introduction to a band, the problem is mainly context — where is Collider coming from?
(continue reading…)
So I’m looking at all these notes to insurance claims at my temp job and I’m running across explanations that range from the mildly amusing
HARLO FLIPPED OVER THE TRAILER.
to the Ralph Wiggum-esque
WALL FELL ON MACHINE CRUSHING MACHINE
[This piece originally appeared in All The Rage.]
When Super Furry Animals appeared on the British music scene in the mid-1990s, they were surrounded by foppish, guitar pop bands – bands like Radiohead, Oasis and Blur. While it took those bands years to turn to experimentation – to get “weird” — SFA had been weird from the get-go. The Welsh band’s 1996 release, Fuzzy Logic, was an oddball in a year of Wonderwalls and Country Houses. Their debut record whirred, blipped and squawked but unlike other artsy rock, it actually rocked. Like a masculine Ziggy Stardust, SFA charted a course through edgy guitars, bizarre lyrics (dreams about hamsters generating electricity?), and oddly catchy choruses.
I’ve realized that Todd K has developed a new strategy: he cleverly decides when we can pong so that once he has more wins, he can avoid losing to me. Todd K is Mr January, but no less than three times did he invite me over to play and then reneg on the invite. Each time “something came up” (yes, like Erin and her “I have to go” routine, it runs in the family), but the cummulative effect was that between his “I’m so drunk these matches don’t count” and his blue-balling invites, he ended up with the most wins.
Fair is fair, Todd wins. He’s Mr January. But now the gloves are off. Since I know there’s a possibility that he won’t give me another match, I’m going to have to beat him mercilessly every time we get to play. Will this mean that Todd won’t be so willing to play me? Probably. But until the Ks get their grrr up, I’m just going to have to institute martial law on the table.
I sincerely wish that I weren’t sitting in a cubicle in a nicely-ironed shirt and slacks doing NOTHING!!