Music

CD Review Revue

**
It seems that the Makers' habit of bending their image/sound to the trend winds (first '60s frat rock, then '70s punk, then glam boys) has finally landed them in the pile of generic trash-rock bands clogging $3 bins. Where were the Makers during the whole neo-garage hubbub when they could've cashed in? Now they're going to have to open for the Star Spangles.

On this stopgap until their next record, the Makers have rerecorded old favorites and tossed in some rarities. They certainly have mastered the garage template. Songs like "Tear Apart," "Little Piece of Action," and "Four Button Suit" have a good fuzzy gargle that comes from years of slumping in the tour van convincing yourself that you're cool. But ultimately what's held them back from their units-moving goal is Mike Makers' vox. His strains to emote "sleaze," never throttle full, leaving the band's deft rocking feeling like frustrated troops waiting to ditch the confused general's orders and finally attack.

And howzabout Kill Rock Stars (yes, let's) putting this out with a pic of the band holding guns, and the press release claiming Stripped is "a freakin' bloodbath," though undoubtedly a real bloodbath, like the great new Dwarves record, would never be allowed in their prim spread sheets.

But hey, these kinds of "Let's show the kids how it's really done" fallacies happen to the best of 'em. Hence the worst of 'em aren't immune. ERIC DAVIDSON

The Makers perform w/Low Flying Owls, No-Fi Soul Rebellion, DJ MF Cake, Sat Nov 27, Sunset Tavern, 9 pm, $8.

MAGNET

On Your Side

(Filter U.S. Recordings)

***
On his second album, Magnet (AKA Norwegian Evan Johansen) has refined his sound, taking an appealing step forward from his previous folktronica aesthetic. On Your Side showcases more intricate samples than his debut, hinting at moments of Notwist or Four Tet. The electronic accents don't feel merely ornamental but are imbedded in compositions formed around serious pop craftsmanship. Johansen's voice has an appealing mix of Thom Yorke's falsetto and will inevitably be compared to Jeff Buckley, but he has more in common with the skewed folkie tendencies of Buckley's father, Tim. Johansen doesn't possess Jeff Buckley's range or emotional dynamics, but his limitations force him to play to his understated strengths, turning down the drama on often loss-haunted lyrics. The arrangements with soaring strings, spare beats, and layered samples do the heavy lifting. On "The Last Day of Summer" Johansen doubles his voice and keens with an appealingly ambiguous tone, resigned to miss something before it's actually over, and anticipating his regret. There are a few stumbles on this disc, including the title track and "Lay Lady Lay"--sung with Gemma Hayes--which seems destined for a romantic comedy soundtrack. But the less traditional songs lift the album to compulsive listening and Johansen has a winning formula with the more artfully deployed arrangements. NATE LIPPENS

AQUI

The First Trip Out

(Ace Fu Records)

****
Imagine Glass Candy's Ida No fronting a macabre metal act inspired by the Contortions and Gang of Four. Such a venture would require she-male caterwauls, art-skronk arias, and an undercurrent darker than the black-and-blue blush left from a cat-o-nine-tails catastrophe. The First Trip Out is New York-based Aqui's stunning debut, a bottom-heavy, goth-tinged brew of cat-scratch guitars, atmospheric echoes, and a rhythm section that quick-shifts between Lightning Bolt power and precision and death-disco grooves. Frontwoman Stephonik's breathy Siouxsie Sioux siren screams sharply shift into hearty heavy-metal falsettos; she's Aqui's bright beacon in a fog of instrumental onslaught that's as dense as it is multidirectional. Like salacious San Francisco art punks Veronica Lipgloss & the Evil Eyes sprouting vampire fangs and laser-beam artillery, Aqui throw discord into their compositions, showering alternate tracks with robust blastbeats and brawny metal aesthetics one moment and carving out morbid blue-eyed balladry the next. JENNIFER MAERZ

THE VERVE

This Is Music: The Singles '92-'98

(Virgin)

***
The Verve were together for years before they inexplicably became the biggest band in the world for six whole months near the end of the '90s. The familiarity of This Is Music then is a bit sad, a collection of their career-veering singles that seems to insist they weren't much of a band before their big moment. While understandably great, 1997's platinum downer Urban Hymns sounded like one continuous Brit-pop ballad, with the exception of "Bittersweet Symphony," which sounded like a Nike commercial, you know, even before it became one. But if you're a fan of their misses, then you're really here to nod approvingly at the cuts from 1993's A Storm in Heaven and the inclusion of unreleased gems "Monte Carlo" and "This Could Be My Moment," both of which (while relatively tame) prove that the band's reverb-soaked layers of guitar and singer Richard Ashcroft's barefoot, soulful croon were more rewarding than three minutes on the radio ever could be. TREVOR KELLEY

LUSINE

Serial Hodgepodge

(Ghostly International)

***1/2
Serial Hodgepodge, indeed. Seattle producer Jeff McIlwain's debut for Michigan powerhouse Ghostly mixes up styles with meticulous care and little flash. Several tracks on Lusine's sixth album bring a crisp, skeletal, skewed funk that recalibrates Timbaland for nerdy Caucasians; "Ask You," "Slur," and "Everything under the Sun" display his brilliant knack for contrasting airiness and earthiness. Lusine forgoes beats altogether on gems like "Payne's Gray" and "Still Frame," whose pulsing ambience recalls Tim Hecker's becalmed aquascapes off Radio Amor. But Lusine really excels on the bravura glitch-house "The Stop" and the Frank Bretschneider- esque microfunk with pumpin' tech-house afterburners of "Falling In." (More tracks in these veins would be most welcome.) Throughout Hodgepodge, Lusine's production gleams, but it never sounds crass or superficial. On the contrary, his techniques reveal great depths and intricate details that appeal on both intellectual and sensual levels. DAVE SEGAL

**** Less than Zero *** St. Elmo's Fire ** Mannequin * Weekend at Bernie's

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