YO BEAT: Issue 10: The Glam Rock to the Bone Issue

Rekkid Reviews

Stereolab - Dots and Loops

WEA/Elektra Entertainment

It seems that Stereolab has been lingering just outside of the snow/skate music mainstream for quite a while. Their music has popped up in various skate and snowboard videos including Michi Albin's part in a Transworld video, Marc Johnson's profile in 411 16 and in Rhythm Skateboards' Genesis. What kind of music is Stereolab? It's honestly hard to say, but I think the name of one of their older albums, The Groop Played Space Age Bachelor Pad Music, is the best description I've heard, though I'm not exactly sure what it means. Dots and Loops, their newest album, released in 1997, is their most innovative one I've heard yet. The songs range in style from using hip hop beats, to drum n bass, to funk. It has the trademark of any truly good album; You can put it on and listen to the whole thing without skipping tracks. If you need an album to relax and get into, buy Dots and Loops. Let me warn you though, Stereolab isn't snowboard rock, so it probably won't get you stoked, however it will pass the time well on the way home. For a very little more info on Stereolab, check out the interview.

DJ Shadow - Preemptive Strike

Pgd/Ils
Preemptive Strike matches, and even exceeds, the greatness of his previous album, Entroducing. Every track on Preemptive Strike offers something different, be it a creative drum beat or guitar and organ samples. My only major complaint about the album is that there are far too many of the same samples from Entroducing. Some tracks are almost exactly the same, such as "What does your Soul Look Like" parts 1 and 4, and the last track, "Organ Donor" is borrowed mostly from the previous also (though it's a brilliant track, so I won't dis it anymore). The most interesting part of Preemptive Strike is the drumming. Throughout the album it sounds raw, almost live, rather than sampled and overproduced like so many other albums in the same genre. An added bonus of this album is the 24 minute long bonus CD, a DJ Q-Bert "megamix" of DJ Shadow's songs. Even people who don't like hip hop will probably enjoy this album because quality transcends musical labels.

Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves

Uni/Geffen/Dgc Records
    A Thousand Leaves is Sonic Youth’s latest album, and my new personal favorite Sonic Youth album. Overall, the album is very low energy and mellow which is a nice change from some of their older albums which have a mix loud, fast songs and softer stuff. In classic Sonic
Youth style, many of the tracks make use of high pitched feedback and a generally chaotic sound. Though I’m usually one to appreciate the artsy, I really don’t like sitting through the feedback chaos sections, so that’s really my only complaint about the album. Buy this one, it’s good.

MxPx - slowly going the way of the buffalo   

PGD/A&M
    MxPx is the same as every other teen pop punk band. This album sounds exactly the same as their other ones. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you already own a pop punk CD, then you’ve pretty much heard this one too. If you’ve got the money to throw around, buy
it because it is enjoyable to listen to, but doesn’t offer anything original or innovative.

Strung Out - Twisted by Design

Fat Wreck Chords
    Strung Out stands above most punk bands. The composition of their songs seems vastly superior to most modern punk. This is perhaps due to the fact that their older albums were more like metal, which actually takes skill to play. Even their lyrics are far more sophisticated that the average punk band, with lyrical topics ranging from social/political criticism to girl problems. Most songs are punk but there are a few where the old metal influence is prominent. I find myself skipping those songs, but that’s just a matter of personal preference (if I’m going to listen to metal, it’s going to be metal from a real metal band, not a punk band). This album sounds much like their previous album, Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues, but is different enough to make it worth buying.

~Eerik Ilves