3/26/99 - 4/9/99
Edition.
Unsigned '99 features a great sampling of Florida talent.
Mostly
shades of rock with variable country acts
thrown in for good measure.
THROKMORTON leads off the attack with a
grand slam of songs
that rock nasty and do it nicely. "I Wish I Could Be
You" is a
quick-time blitz with stellar harmonies and frenetic changes.
"Amateur Hour" is a wry music biz commentary delivered with a
sweet,
catchy melody and great lyrics like, "Meet my lawyer/
He's my dad/He says I'm
great/But we know I'm pretty bad."
All in all it makes for some
progressive
'80s- style rock that is thoughtful and provocative.
ELGIN HOOPER weighs in with "I Know," a
tune that offers fierce
Southern rock a la Skynyrd, featuring boot-scootin',
Texas-fried
boogie with growling vocals, insanely crashing guitar licks
and
running bass lines. Hooper's appropriately named "Good Time"
follows
suit.
Then, it's a brutal shift of gears when IMMEDIA
arrives on the scene, bringing a Marilyn
Manson-meets-Depeche
Mode aura to the gothic-tinged "7 Year Itch." As the
track
unfolds, the lead singer exudes an almost distracting charisma
while
angrily clawing his way through synthesizer landscapes
and savage guitar
chugging. "Daughters," on the other hand, is a
briskly paced dance track that
is perhaps better described as
KMFDM-lite.
CHELLI
RODGERS represents the sincerely country sect with the
appealing
rock ballad "Tell Me So" where Rodgers' voice is
husky with just a hint of
Nashville twang as she sings "Is our
love going over/Does your heart ever
wonder?" Rodgers' band is
polished and plays lovely ear cand to back the
melody. This one
stuck in my head for awhile.
It's a downtown dirty
blues noir scat
that's up next as TIN CAN JETS
belt out the dark and brooding
"Feel The Earth" which featues angelic chorus
vocals wafing
over loopy bass and smooth guitar textures.
Finally,
there's a vast "Unforgettable Fire" feel to "Enterseed," a
slightly mystical
tune with music that is dense and urgent.
I was also delighted to
discover GLITTERHICK represented on this disc,
the
crazy cross-dressing country boys deliver hard-rocking Southern
jams
with tongues-in-cheek as on the 16-beat drive of "Squeal
Like A Pig" and the
Primus-inspired "Country Slam," which
features the lyric "Now we say grace
and we say ma'am/'
Cause even Elgin Hooper digs a little country slam."
Gotta love it when Florida bands represent.
Send this one around for
another spin.
-- Bing Futch