An Interview With Cave In

colorful prisms whenever Wilk hit the cymbals. The godlike Tom Morello delivered some superb solos on his guitar, which had the words “Soul Power” written on it. Chris Cornell positively ruled the stage, demonstrating how his voice is in a league of its own, especially on the acoustic beginning of the beautiful “I Am the Highway” and on “Show Me How to Live,” which ended with Cornell chanting in a crouched position. A surprisingly cool cover of the White Stripes’ “7 Nation Army” was a definite crowd pleaser. This was undoubtedly my favorite set of the day.

Jane’s Addiction —Three bikini-clad women gave a brief, slightly erotic dance performance in front of the stage’s curtain before it parted to reveal the event’s headlining act. Dressed in a very glammy, sparkly red vest and pants suit, Perry Farrell led his legendary band throughout an awesome set filled with bouncy, catchy, popflavored material and trippy, spacey instrumentals. Despite some technical difficulties near the beginning of their set, hits like “Been Caught Stealing” and the epic “Mountain Song” sounded as great as they did 15 years ago, and a surprisingly cool cover of the Who’s “Tommy” overture was positively chill-inducing. The set ended with an extra long version of “Jane Says,” complete with a tribal-flavored percussion jam. Dave Navarro, looking quite sexy in his low-cut black leather pants, is one of rock’s most underrated guitar gods. And Farrell seems to be heading down the same path as Mick Jagger: a mentally, physically, and spiritually fit aging musical icon who is still able to outperform many musicians half his age. Hopefully his bandmates will be able to keep up with him.

See more photos from Lollapalooza at www.playbackstl.com.

Charlie 2na of Jurassic 5

Currently enjoying the success of their first major-label CD, Antenna, the Boston four-piece Cave In is far from being an overnight success. Their origins can be traced as far back as the mid-1990s, when the band released their earliest recordings on a small independent label and began playing small clubs to steadily build themselves a following in the Northeast. Over time, Cave In fine-tuned their sound, which started out as progressive metal and has now evolved into what critics have sometimes referred to as “space emo.”

After opening for the Foo Fighters on their U.K. tour a few years ago, Cave In headlined their own U.S. tour last year and were then asked to become part of what has become the summer’s most highly anticipated rock festival, Lollapalooza. A few hours prior to their outstanding late-afternoon side-stage set, I spoke with Cave In’s guitarist, Adam McGrath, and drummer, John Robert Conners.

Where did you get the band’s name?

AM: We actually stole it from a band called Codeine, who were on Sub Pop in the early ’90s.They’re from Boston; they had a song called “Cave In” that we really liked. We covered that song in the studio recently, but we’ve never played it live.

How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?

JRC: I like to say Radiohead with balls.

AM: I always say loud, aggressive rock with psychedelic highlights.

Do you agree or disagree with the term “space emo” that you’ve been tagged with?

AM: I disagree. I think that emo is a pisspoor media term used to pigeonhole bands. I don’t think that in 20 years people are going to really remember emo music. Rock is more general, and punk is more general, and so is metal. Those are the terms that we can relate to and feel a connection with, and those are the true places that we come from.

What are the best and worst aspects of being on a festival tour like Lollapalooza?

AM: The best would definitely be all of the diversity—there’s so many kinds of music here: punk, hip-hop, rock. I think that makes people in the audience a lot more apt to paying attention to what’s going on. It gets people excited, because they’re being exposed to new and different styles and sounds. The worst part is having to deal with the heat, which really sucks the life out of us when we’re performing. But this tour is such a great place for us to be, so we’re dealing with it as best as we can. This was way too good of an opportunity for us to pass on simply because it was too hot!

What do you like to do on your days off?

JRC: I don’t remember a day off. [Laughs]

AM: It’s true; days off in Cave In don’t really exist because we’re always doing something that’s related in some way to the band, since this is our full-time career now.

What are the band’s plans for the future?

AM: For now, we’re trying to make the most of what our latest CD has to offer us. Also, we’re interested in writing lots of new songs that are probably going to be a lot heavier than what we’ve done over the past two years. Maybe going back a bit to more of the metal roots of our earlier days. That’s what we’re focusing on right now. —Michele Ulsohn

Adam McGrath of Cave In

Ned Brower of Rooney

LLOYD COLE: MUSIC IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (Sanctuary)

Disc is available both as an import or directly from Cole via his Web site (www.lloydcole.com).

Lloyd Cole is a musical god. He’s got that perfectly lazy-dreamy voice, ready wit, and poetic pen. He’s older and wiser, that’s for sure, having traded his youthful skepticism for aging sarcasm (“So forgive me if I’m less than awed/by you world-weary 26-year-olds,” he scorns on “Music in a Foreign Language”). Where once were jaunty pop songs and vocal headiness, now Cole sings softly over heartbreakingly beautiful piano and thoughtfully strummed guitar.

Back in 1982 in his native England, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions was born, and England embraced this articulate songsmith and his band. Five years and three albums later, Cole dis

banded the Commotions and moved to New York to pursue a solo career. With Music in a Foreign Language, Cole has commercially released five discs (as well as a box set on his own), beginning with 1990’s Commotions-like Lloyd Cole; he’s also married and the father of two sons. These days, he’s just likely to be holed up in a dark, smoky New York hole-in-the-wall with just his guitar, voice, and wit. The alwaysjust-out-of-reach recognition he deserves isn’t even on his wish list anymore; now he plays music because it’s what he loves. And when it isn’t fun anymore, as he told me in an interview two years ago, he’ll quit.

Cole’s latest offering is a gentle gem. It’s neither flashy nor loud (as is immediately apparent by its cover, black with a small, fuzzy picture of Cole in the middle); rather, it’s one of those albums that will quietly grow on its listener, revealing more to appreciate with each listen. The songs are slow and acoustic, most likely road-tested and perfected during Cole’s frequent unplugged solo gigs. It’s an understated album, lyrically poignant and instrumentally beautiful.

The title track opens the disc as Cole laments, “What pale fire I ever had is gone/but you don’t want to hear that in a song.” He then offers a gentle chorus of “la’s,” a lighthearted contrast to the words. In “My Other Life,” with its constant, repetitive strumming of a series of chords, Cole hints at a hidden life of crime, eventually singing, “Welcome to my made-for-TV movie.” “No More Love Songs,” reworked as an acoustic song since its debut on 2001’s The Negatives, is even more captivating than it was the first time around; lines such as “Rather than you, she said, I prefer solitude” show off Cole’s poetic side brilliantly. “I’m Not So Sure” sees Cole’s protagonist rethinking his commitments, a hint of melan

Photos courtesy www.lloydcole.com

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Send your answer to the following trivia question to editor@playbackstl.com: Which choly to his voice: then up-and-coming power-popster “Didn’t the stars guested on guitar on Cole’s first solo shine awful bright?/ album? Winner will be announced in next month’s issue. Didn’t I look into your eyes?/Didn’t I swear I’d always be there?/ Today I’m not so sure.” Behind the words, a searching piano shares the pain.

On “My Alibi,” Cole again returns to poking fun at himself, an aging rock musician: “I’m freezing cold ’cause I’ve been out all night/I guess I left without my coat/I just got to walking ’round and ’round your block/Very very rock and roll.” His cover of Nick Cave’s “People Ain’t No Good” is spot on, as Cole’s rich voice lends an honesty to the classic tune. “Brazil” is reminiscent of Mainstream-era Commotions work (“My Bag,” “From the Hip”) with the notion of pharmacy as savior: “I hear they have the good drugs in Brazil/Maybe I’ll take some/Maybe I’ll feel better if I do.”

Saved for last is the lovely and elegiac “Shelf Life.” Ex-Commotion Neil Clark guests on guitar (as he does on three other songs), plucking a melody as heartbreaking and catchy as the piano was in Rattlesnakes’ “Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?” In the highly personal lyrics, Cole reveals where he is in life, having long since abandoned the big dreams: “No longer waiting for my prayers to be answered/No longer waiting for my publisher’s call/No longer charming in my reminiscence/Only immersed in a faint afterglow.”

Music in a Foreign Language will certainly satisfy Cole’s faithful fans on both sides of the ocean; its musical and lyrical depth may very well win him a new audience, as well. Although the U.S. distribution deal is still in the works, the disc is available both as an import or directly from Cole via his Web site (www.lloydcole.com). —Laura Hamlett

BLUEBOTTLE KISS: REVENGE IS SLOW (In Music We Trust)

This is the fourth album by Australia’s Bluebottle Kiss, and though I’m late to the party, I’m so glad I was finally invited. Revenge Is Slow is poetic, sweet pop. Jamie Hutchings’ voice is achingly sincere, scratchily pained as he sings complicated lines like “Such coincidence always befalls you/It gets so far beyond comedy that/How do I play the part/When I’m jogging in your slow lane now” (“Ounce of Your Cruelty”).

“Last Cinema” is a haunting soundscape evoking a mental movie as the object of the song comes to life: “And you’re beautiful I can see you right now/Under a dim streetlight in a salt drenched town.” On the slow verses of “Hasten the Blows,” Hastings proclaims, “Sleeping in to two pm/That’s the kind of life that’s gonna kill you.” On the soft “Prussian Blue,” he tells her in a gentle falsetto, “When you fall apart you hide your own kite/And you take flight/With no one holding the strings/The sky won’t hold you.”

“Let the Termites Eat Our Riches” is one of those captivating songs that gets inside a listen

er. Backed by strange ringing bells and clapping noises, a fret-heavy guitar keeps a steady accompaniment to the three lines, half of which are in falsetto. The piano and harp, along with Hastings’ lazy delivery of lines such as “I know that I give the impression/Of someone who’s taste is acidic/full of possession,” give an Elvis Costello quality to “Hello Stranger.” “Gangsterland” evokes a cinematic feel with its chord-heavy intro and relentless drumbeat; again, Hastings’ voice perfectly matches the feel of the music, alternately light and airy or serious and dark.

As much as the voice is Bluebottle Kiss, the instruments, too, are played with precision and skill; indeed, it is very often the melody that transports a listener seaside or into someone else’s dream. Bassist Ben Grounds, guitarist Ben Fletcher, and drummer Richard Coneliano all deserve accolades.

Before summer’s out, fall in love with an Australian stranger, and give Bluebottle Kiss a spin. Welcome to the party. —Laura Hamlett

R OB CROW : MY R OOM IS A MESS (Absolutely Kosher)

The sun shines. Birds fly. Love is inspiring. Fiber is a necessary part of a good diet. People shouldn’t kill each other. Oh, and one more thing to add to the list of things that go without saying: Rob Crow makes a lot of music. What, you aren’t familiar with Rob Crow? You haven’t heard Pinback or Thingy or Physics or Optiganally Yours or Heavy Vegetable? Well, if you haven’t, you sure as heck should’ve. This guy is one utterly fascinating musician. He may not be a household name yet, but Rob Crow has released a stellar new solo album called My Room Is a Mess. If you’ve been bemoaning the state of the industry, you can pin your hopes on daring, devoted, dazzling indie artists like Rob Crow who have the chutzpah to do things their way and the talent to make their way a pretty damned fine one for music fans to follow.

It’s hard to neatly summarize what the San Diego–based Crow has done on My Room Is a Mess because, well, it’s a mess: a mess of styles, sounds, and weird little sonic asides. But it’s the most interesting mess that any one-man music factory has produced in a long time. Throughout the course of 18 concise tracks (the whole album continued on next page

Play by Play

logs in at just under 36 minutes), Crow serves up a bewildering platter of musical curiosities, which are melodically and aurally distinct. You get the dreamy XTC-styled acoustic guitars/odd arrangements of “Beyond Him,” “Last Bus From the Che” (a haunting number that you can’t help wishing lasted longer than its 1:45 length), “When You Lie” (this definitely sounds like a great demo from Andy Partridge, and that’s a compliment), “Wants/Needs,” and the unforgettable “Kill All the Humans,” which appears to be about a rebellious robot, or maybe it’s just about feeling like a robot. “I don’t want to be a fucking robot/Kill all the humans,” sings our upbeat narrator, in a tune that manages to be rather charming even as it repeats that less-than-sunny sentiment numerous times.

Recorded entirely in Crow’s bedroom, My Room has the sound of private musical ramblings being captured as quickly as possible, at the moment of inspiration. What makes the album a gem, though, is the fresh, spirited vibe of the whole affair; the pleasing, unpredictable flow from one ditty to the next; and the crisp, sensitive production. In beautiful tunes like “Iocane” and “When You Lie,” Crow manages to touch your heart and tickle your ears in tunes of great brevity, something that many longer albums fail to do.

My Room Is a Messmay sound like a haphazard recording on first listen, but it’s actually the work of an inspired and disciplined musical artist, one who unquestionably has his creative shit together, regardless of what his room looks like. It’s one of the year’s greatest low-key delights. —Kevin Renick

EELS: SHOOTENANNY! (Dreamworks)

Every morning when I get up and hit the bathroom, I stare in awe at the mirror. It is a fact that I am getting older. Gray hairs sprout out of my brown, and that somewhat grizzled look that I have happily sported for years is now looking more shabby than chic. There is a sense that time is not there in the quantities it once was. This appears to be the concern at the core of Shootenanny!, the new Eels LP. Eels frontman E shares my observation, and as with the previous four CDs from the band, he is turning his angst into a delicious salad. Many classic Eels songs have ripped open the man’s chest and exposed the depth of his suffering and the heights of his joy (witness the torturous but brilliant Electro-Shock Blues). His best songs are the ones that give you a definite and clear emotion; the ones that are more goofy character sketches, not so. E, or Mark Oliver Everett, is best when he has his Howl on.

On Shootenanny!, the band returns to the form that it seems to have misplaced a bit on last year’s Souljacker. The current version of the band features Lisa Germano, Kool G Murder, Joe Gore, and longtime E sidekick Butch. Most of the songs are beautiful and reflect inward. They are the thoughts of a man getting older who is wrestling with adult problems, and they range never too far from the emotions of their writer.

The album travels familiar terrain from the soft apology of “Lone Wolf,” which reveals the tender explanations of a man who has trouble finding that connection with his wife, to “Numbered Days,” which is a beautiful (and simply detailed) look at mortality. Even when the album gets a little kooky—as all Eels albums do—it does so creatively and without derailing the main project. No one else in music today can write a song called “Restraining Order Blues” and make you feel empathy for its subject as E can. The part about Eels that is most intriguing is that none of the songs seek to give a conclusion. They simply give you facts—much like life.

There is much to hum along to on this disk and much of it explores territory that we all must travel. In an age when much of what makes it on to radio is soulless and calculated to sell, it is gratifying to hear an artist that is willing to bare his soul and hope that you will be intrigued enough to spend some time listening. —Jim Dunn

F OG: ETHER TEETH (Ninja Tune)

When I heard that the new Fog album was available to review, I jumped to claim it; I really liked his first album. As my pimpedout baller appearance and crankness cause me to be often stereotyped as all hip-hop all the time, it was questioned whether I was qualified to review such heady stuff (even though, I protested, Fog is found in the hip

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hop section). The higher-ups, I believe, feared that I was of the “Whoa, that’s so weird I don’t like it” school, as opposed to the favored “Whoa, that’s weird so I like it” school. In the end, I emerged with the CD due to my young hotshot rep.

Andrew Broder used to be DJ Andrew, an excellent and imaginative DJ. I saw him at the St. Louis/Midwest Regional DMC competition several years ago, where he lost to our own DJ K9 and his Roc Raida body tricks. Broder now records as Fog, mostly making acoustic and turntablebased freestyle folk-hop. His new album is reminiscent of Beck before he struck it big with “Loser” and lacking the touched-by-grief quality in the lyrics. Ether Teethhas a hazy, meandering beauty which, unfortunately, sometimes gets bogged down and turns rather murky. But there are points of subtle clarity that give flashes of brilliance such as appear in “The Girl From the Gum Commercial,” the album’s strongest track. I personally prefer Fog’s self-titled debut album, but Ether Teeth reveals the possibility of an interesting direction for Fog. Let’s hope he finds the way in his next offering. —Mike Zapf

GANG STARR: THE OWNERZ (Virgin)

Thirteen years after dropping their classic debut Step Into the Arena, Gang Starr is still bringing the heat and letting cats know what’s up and down with their highly anticipated new album, The Ownerz, an apt title considering the influence and respect that Guru and DJ Premier inspire in everyone in the game. No one has come with material of this quality as consistently as these architects. Gang Starr holds a unique spot in hiphop with roots and a following firmly planted in the underground, while still carrying such mainstream clout and relative commercial success.

The Ownerz has the tough job of following 1998’s The Moment of Truth, and although it is

not as strong as that classic, it stands on its own as an excellent album. A big reason Gang Starr has been on top for so long is producer DJ Premier, who, true to form, packs this album full of buttery beats on tracks such as “Rite Where U Stand,” “Skills,” “Riot Akt,” and the one-minute interludish “Werdz From the Ghetto Child.” That last track is one of my favorites with its melancholy piano stabs, lazy bass stroke, and bangin’ drums. Preemo builds all throughout with sweet soul samples from The Temptations, Curtis Mayfield, and Brown Sugar creating sonic backdrops and scratched-in choruses which often contain soundbites from Gang Starr’s vast discography. Preem is one of the most heavily sought-after beatsmiths today, lacing up countless rappers with nodinducing masterpieces. Premier’s longtime partner in rhyme, Guru, gets down for his on the lyrical tip, speaking on an array of issues. The Ruler Universal calls out wack MCs, vents and reports on the underhanded dealings of the record companies, and spits street poetry that deals with violent reality without glorifying it. Joining Guru throughout the album are Foundation regulars Freddie Foxxx, Big Shug, Krumbsnatcha, and M.O.P.; other guests include Jadakiss from the Lox spitting his best on “Rite Where You Stand,” newcomer Boy Big crooning on “Nice Girl, Wrong Place,” Fat Joe on the weak “We Got Gunz,” and

a clean Snoop Dogg on the catchy “In This Life.” The variety of guest MCs shows the sway Gang Starr holds on all levels of the biz.

On a heated interlude, Premier calls out mainstream radio DJs for being “robots” that let themselves “be handcuffed by program directors” and slaves to the set lists, playing the same tired shit over and over. Gang Starr has done it again; they’ve been doing it for a hot minute now and will continue to do it for some time to come. Regardless of the style of music you prefer, cop a copy of The Ownerz;it is one of the best albums so far this year by one of the best rap groups of all time. Throw some headphones on your dome and zone out to Preemo’s innovative, soulful hiphop beatscapes and learn from Guru’s deep authoritative voice and resonating lyrics. —Mike Zapf

G ENE LOVES JEZEBEL: EXPLODING GIRLS (Bless Momma Records)

When an ’80s new wave icon makes a ’00s revival, it has to be met with equal parts old friend/new skepticism. The return of Gene Loves Jezebel—best known for 1986’s Discover— arrived with a couple other question marks, as well. Frontman Michael Aston, who founded the group with twin brother Jay in 1980, is the only original member; the siblings haven’t spoken since 1997’s legal battle over the rights to the band name. And then there’s the fact that Aston has recorded not just any album, but a concept album: ten songs about women.

But they’re not just sappy odes to women he has loved; the first track, “Exploding Girl,” is an homage to Wafa Idris, the first female Palestinian suicide bomber. “Jenin” pays tribute to the Palestinian refugee camp. And “Blue Mary” is dedicated to the fallen, Mary Magdalene.

Upon first listen, Aston’s voice—flat, nasal, and very distinct—is comforting and familiar. Rather than sounding lost in the ’80s, though, the music’s contemporary and relevant, as is the message. Lyrically, Aston is still a bit repetitious, and he asks a lot of his voice—though interesting, it’s not quite enough to pull off an entire album alone (here is where brother Jay’s contrasting ranges are sorely missed). Still, he gives it his very best try, complete with vocal distortions and his own prerecorded backing vocals, which provide a bit of variety.

Highlights of the disc include the aforementioned “Jenin” (“Jenin is waiting, she is waiting continued on page 22