Music

CD Review Revue

***
The creepiest part on Einstürzende Neubauten's new concept album, Perpetuum Mobile, arrives at three minutes and 33 seconds into track three. Coincidence? Vocalist Blixa Bargeld has just collapsed his own weighty voice into a whisper, miked close enough that you can hear the click of his tongue. As the silence gets heavier, his voice is reverse-looped, as if he's been sucked into a quiet wave--a spine-chilling moment on a record whose expressed theme is "a pandemonium of catastrophes."

The devil finds its other half on the new Liars EP, There's Always Room on the Broom. By lovingly swiping the cover art of Neubauten's Strategies Against Architecture '80-'83 (they painted a little witch's hat and broom on the EN logo), remaining Liars Aaron Hemphill (guitars) and Angus Andrew (vocals) make a few points, two of them being: (1) Liars are tricksters, and (2) Liars are tricksters on some industrial shit.

Yet another creepy concept record from the dark Mute fortress, the Broom singles come from their new album They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. Theme: the plight of witches, both real and imagined. (With a bassist and drummer lighter than on their debut record, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top.) The remaining Liars consummate the ideas put gingerly forth on Trench's subsequent EPs; setting out on the industrial path that's their label's legacy, they've smartly benched the über-copped Gang-o-Four steelo of yesteryear (yeah, right). The title track is the only song with disco beats, and even then a cacophonous synth sideswipes Andrew's vocals, crumpling the song into cheeky self-mockery. Elsewhere, hollow, distant rhythms replace jagged-angle guitars, Andrew's trademark barking diffused to a ghostly, listless hum ("Broom"). This stuff unveils two songwriters with more depth and vision than the hype-saddle initially allowed.

And, if EN's genius was in dispute, Perpetuum Mobile is a reminder that Liars couldn't have picked better mentors. While their thesis of wind/motion might conjure Oliveros redux and art students copping field sounds in abandoned missile silos, EN's explorations in rhythm and the vacuum thereof are diverse and playful--sans high-hat, even. JULIANNE SHEPHERD

GREG DAVIS

Curling Pond Woods

(Carpark)

***
Arbor, Greg Davis' urbane, idyllic 2002 album, is a cornerstone of the burgeoning folktronica movement. Folktronica combines laptop glitchery with acoustic instrumentation (or, rather, its practitioners commonly feed data from "organic" instruments into software programs for mutational purposes) in an attempt to bring warmth and "humanity" to what are typically considered cold, sterile productions. In skilled hands (Boards of Canada, Four Tet) the music comes off as a perfect fusion of silicon and psilocybin inspiration. Curling Pond Woods finds Davis delving even deeper into folkiness (he even covers the Beach Boys' "At My Window" and the Incredible String Band's "Air"). It's doubtful Curling will set anyone's world on fire (there's too much rain and burbling water on it for that), but it's an ideal Sunday-morning hangover cure. Every delicately plucked kalimba, tranquilly strummed acoustic guitar, and wistfully droning harmonium will ease your troubled mind. DAVE SEGAL

THE OWLS

Our Hopes and Dreams

(Magic Marker)

***
One word can change everything. In this case, it's simply the word "the" that distinguishes Minneapolis pop quartet the Owls from Chicago's ex-Cap'n Jazz/Joan of Arc art rockers, the more succinctly titled "Owls." Do take note: Owls are odd, angular, arty, and obtuse, while THE Owls are warm, earnestly sweet, and absolutely lovely. Playfully collaborative (swapping instruments and songwriting like musical chairs), the Owls effortlessly float through songs that refer to a diverse set of influences, from the Beatles to Stereolab and Low, all without any jarring disconnections. Strings, acoustic guitars, lush vocal layers, piano, and synthesizers weave in and out of clever, catchy, delicately built powerhouses. Brian Tighe's early-McCartney-esque "Forever Changing" is as pure as an homage can be, built with such devotion and accuracy it's chilling. Clearly, when referring to owls, it's all about the "the." CORIANTON HALE

**** Tammy Faye *** Ron Jeremy ** Trishelle * Vanilla Ice

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