reviews

LFM Records

Preston Furman                                                !Ticonderoga!                                                               (Seattle Rocket)
I started listening to indie rock because of stuff like this. From Columbus, Ohio, Preston Furman churn out the pop-punk classics on this 4-song EP. New Bad Things with a sense of rhythm, Green Day pre-castration, these young fellows know how to rock effortlessly and effervescently. Put the "fun" back in "poorly funded". You really, really want this record. 

Monster Zero- Come Down/Had to     (Seattle Rocket)
Another good Columbus band. What the hell are they putting in the water back there? Monster Zero is described as a guitar buzz quartet in the LFM catalog, and I think that's fairly apt.  The a-side is sprinkler-ish, the b-side has a real shoegazer feel to it. Outtakes and each side make you feel extra loved.  Nice. 

The Beautiful People- An LFM Family Gathering         (Alternative Press)                                                 As the title might imply, this is a sampling of the bands on Columbus, Ohio indie LFM. As you know by now, Columbus is the new indie-rock Mecca, at least according to Entertainment Weekly. The participants-Earwig, Preston Furman, Monster Zero, Ugly Stick and Bigfoot- all contribute 2 songs and all aquit themselves  pretty well. Monster Zero's brand of pop punk has been done before, but it's so damn catchy that you can forgive it. Earwig and Preston Furman both have an insistently melodic bent with the occaisional offsetting noisy bit.Bigfoot does well and Ugly Stick's 'Hank' is the sure highlight of the comp. LFM can rest easy, as it's team does the scene proud.

Various Artists, The Beautiful People-An LFM Family Gathering (Alternative Press)
As the title might imply, the Beautiful People is a sampling of 5 bands on Columbus, Ohio
indie label LFM. (And as you surely know, Columbus is the new- or at least latest- idie
rock mecca) The participants- Eawrig, Preston Furman, Monster Zero, Ugly Stick and
Bigfoot- all contribute two songs each and acquit themselves very well. Monster Zero's
brand of pop-punk on "Madder" has been done before, but it's so damn catchy you can
forgive it, and the bands other track, "Anyone" slows things down nicely. Earwig and
Preston Furman both have an insistently melodic bent, with the occasional offsetting noisy
bit. Ugly Stick's melancholy, country-ish "Hank" could be the highlight. Bigfoot rounds
out the disc well with their mid-70's soul-rock ode, "Lollipop". LFM can rest easy and it's
team does the scene proud. Now if only the label had Moviola...ah never mind. 

Magnet Magazine-  Bigfoot, Sleepwalk, LFM/Bluehouse 
 Columbus, Ohio's Bigfoot was  at first described to me as an alterna-country band, but I've found this to  not be entirely true. Album opener "Come On" does mention the Appalachians and the band does have a banjo in it's line-up. Ho hum...This is a Pet Sounds  meets SuperChunk record with a sprinkle of Thinking Fellers.The production  is a bit low key , but if Bigfoot can make the jump to a major label, watch  out. Vocals a la Built to Spill and a background spiced with banjo and  pedal steel have Bigfoot veering into Geraldine Fibbers territory, which I  presume will keep the band from being pigionholed. Bigfoot's sound is sincere. "Amy's Gone" is an excellant song, the most likely to be considered  country, and tracks like "Come On" , "Wait So Patient" and "Super Duped"  show that the band can craft hefty tunes worthy of repeated listens. 

Chattanooga Free Press- Bigfoot, Sleepwalk, LFM  
I am not exactly sure how or why it happened, but in the past decade or so , the  touchstone of "new music" in middle-America (ie,  underground/alternative rock) has been a renewed love for the country/folk ethic  and a reexploration of the roots of rock music, both abstact and concrete.Take any example of such a band, from the Folk Implosion to the Blues  Explosion, and one can see a progressive regression; while evolving  contextually there is a substantive develution back to the cradle. This has largely been a good thing, with a grand array of exceptional bands emerging from Mule to Uncle Tupelo, The Palace Bros. to the Bottle Rockets, not to  mention the more abstract/improv/blues side. This brings me to Bigfoot and  their countrified midwestern garage rock.  They have crossed to the other  side with a sonic quality that is open and loose. The first thing that  stood out was the vocal dissonance of "On On" and "Quicksand," but by the end of the 13 songs the cerebral efficiency and the melodicism of "Larry and  Laverne" and "Wait So Patient" become irresistible. They do move about the  material the same way a lot of these bands do (and they are on the label of  the almighty Earwig - a tough act for anyone to follow), but they do  recognize some of the pain that gives rise to all forms of art, and to  simply express it is enough, sometimes. Or so I've been told.

Monster Zero,                    Unkindest cuts of all, 7" 
 Featuring almost frail vocals,
 "Had To" makes the most
 of Monster Zero. Balanced
 exquisitly by guitar, it just
 goes to show that
 communication is everything
 in music. Though "Come
 Down" is a little bit less
 origional with it's Dinosaur
 Jr-ike dual lead vocals, the
 point is proven here as well.

Preston Furman,     !Ticonderoga!, 7"
Preston Furman's seven-incher's deep red amber pressing wins the award for loveliest vinyl.  The music aint to shabby either. Primitive and vaguely reminiscentof Superchunk with "SCRAP" the band does an about face for the slow, countrified grunge of "Step In Front" and the sludgy "A Thousand Times" with it's train-wreck drums.  Particularly adept at making it all speak loud and  passionate is singer/guitarist Matt. (Kids give up their last names when joining a proper punk band.)
 

Tiara                                            Find the time 7"                   (Squeeler Magazine)                      This one just popped up with it's pretty blue cover, on blue vinyl and kicked me in the face. It's exactly waht you would expect from a group with a name like this; a pretty song that makes you think ("Find The Time"). Or maybe you think that Lou Barlow is so over-rated that you begin to think "Is he the only one that can create beautiful melody ("From The Top" and "10lb Dream")? I don't think so. Low fidelity for the high fidelity listener. How ironic. M.L.