Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / April 2, 1992, edition 1 / Page 10
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Page 4 DTH Omnibus Thursday April 2, 1992 Latest British techno band throws a 'curve7 Curve Doppelganger AnxiousCharisma 12 Mow can one possibly have a hit record when the catchi-j-v est song's main refrain con j I sists of an ethereal female " voice emanating a slow, sen suous string of "heeyyy, heeyyy, heeyyy, heeyyy 's? Curve, the latest sheep in the magi cal.swirly, gloriously pretentious Brit ish flock of "Shoegazers," have cer tainly figured out how to alter the guitar-oriented, heavy-on-the-effects formula just enough to be fairly origi nal and capture the hearts of us swirl deprived Americans. The tune in question, "Horror Head," perfectly exhibits the band's consolidation of unexceptional song structure and sen sational wall-of-sound effects that are all the rage in Britain right here, right now (see My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Swervedriver.etc. etc. etc.) Curve was born when vocalist Toni Halliday and guitarist Dean Garcia reconciled a long and bitter feud. See, after Halliday paid her dues in mul tiple bands since age 16, she was in troduced to Garcia by Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics and they promptly formed a funk-pop band called State of Play. Signed to Virgin Records, the band wasted loads of Shiny happy music the Lightnins Seeds Sense MCA Records 12 can't help believin' in this per fect feelin'Like a dizzy fairground ridesenses come aliveAnd I'm happy!" Whee! The Lightning Seeds are back with an album of shiny happy music ... fahrvegnugen for the Senses. Actually, there's a bit more to it than that. Sense, the second album by Ian Broudie (the Light ning Seeds incarnate) is somewhat of a departure from the 1990 debut al Summer Burkes company money and ended up in debt. Halliday and Garcia sued each other, Halliday won, and Garcia mar ried State of Play's guitarist and fled to Spain for four years. In Christmas 1989, they bumped into each other and decided, along with their good friend Jack Daniels, to forgive, forget, and form Curve. Presto. So why do you, the listener, need to know this? So you'll have proof that they aren't your usual spoiled, scrubbed, cocky 19-year-olds that pervade the sub-genre. Perhaps that's why their music is more cultivated and less self-indulgent than "the oth ers." Perhaps that's why, along with Toni's troubled childhood as a drunken hippie yacht-pirate's daugh ter in the Mediterranean (no, it's true), their lyrics contain more angst than, say, "He's gonna step on you again." Check the song titles: "Wish You Dead," "Clipped," the aforemen tioned "Horror Head." Or the lyrics from the title cut: "Ohh, the devil is in me ... ohh, the spirit is in me ... just keep me from being me.. .just keep me from knowing you." Even the vocals, though characteristically floaty, have more pent-up rage than any other non-hardcore girl singer with hair I can think of. Since Curve formed in 1989, they Levdsday Lowry bum Cloudcuckooland, which, with hits like "Pure," bounced through the pop music charts with such success. Cloudcuckooland was the epitome of happy music, with lilting, bouncy vocals and lyrics, dizzy keyboards and guitar. The lyrics were somewhat na ive, but it was the kind of music that you could take on a Thanksgiving weekend road trip, when the rain is coming down so hard you can't see the steering wheel in front of you, and you still find yourself tapping the brakes to the beat and do-do-do-ing all the way down 1-95. Trust me. That's happy music. have released four EPs in Britain Blindfold, Fmzen, Chary, and Fait Accompli on the Anxious Records la bel. (Surprise! Not Food or Creation!) Besides Halliday and Garcia, the band is composed of drummer Steve Monti and guitarists Alex Mitchell, Debbie Smith, and Alan Moulder (Toni's boyfriend and producer of Ride, My Bloody Valentine, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and, naturally, Curve). The band finally signed with Charisma Records here in the States and re leased Doppelganger this month, once again reminding the Colonies that we are indeed sitting in the back seat of the musical clue bus. If one needs a reference point, and even though I hate to compare bands to other bands, Curve is vaguely like My Bloody Valentine in terms of typi cal lofty British production and the fiddling with of guitar knobs, but Curve is less muddy, less pretentious, more bouncy, more industrial, and more accessible. Seems to me that Curve is the perfect mulatto child of the dance-techno-wve movement and the shoegazing movement. Before I explain this band to death, let me sum up by saying even though the trend is well established and one may be tired of the sound, Curve deserves as much (if not more) ac claim than most of their British coun terparts. (Chapel Hill's own Brit-influenced band, The Veldt, voted Curve one of the top ten bands of all time in Spin magazine.) And, if all else fails, you can just fall in love with the lead singer. springs from new Seeds album "I don't think that this album's a massive departure from the first one, but it's definitely a progression," says Broudie of Sense. "The basic values are the same, but it's a wider view and some of the colors are different." The album's first song and title track is pure Seeds. It'll make you feel all butterfly-smiley inside, with a mix of shimery keyboard runs, guitar, and lilting vocals (with a healthy sprin kling of peppy do-do-do's), and lyrics like "I'm standing high on tip-toes looking over fencesWaiting for some body like you to kiss me Senseless ..." "The Life of Riley," song number two, like its predecessor, defies the listener to keep from bouncing their head from side to side with a goofy grin about the lips. It starts out with a lone accordion and quickly gains momentum and vitality with drums Bud&Eh Bar and Grill Timberlyne Shopping Center, Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill 942-6624 Imp E "'If Why are you looking here? Read the damn article! and spiraling keyboard runs. Pretty soon you're running along at light ning speed (pardon the pun) on a roller-coaster ride through the Milky Way as Broudie sings "Although this World is a crazy rideYou just take your seat and you hold on tight." In nature and sound at least, Sense retains the innocence of the first al bum, but, as Broudie says, "the lyrics are a bit more grown-up and intense; they're about being born and dying, basically." I'd say that's a bit more intense ...) More than once this re viewer found herself bopping along cheerfully to one of the tracks, just as warm and fuzzy as could be, until I stopped to hear the lyrics. "A Cool Place" sounds optimistic, with strong up-beats and an almost Beach Boys-esque back-up vocal, but the lyrics add a different color to the palette. "I'm not seeing very clearly Because I'm lost in my depression And I'm running after something But it's in the wrong direction." era i nnnt.inii IV1 U V I fc SHADOWS AND FOG I' mil urn lm mi (inn in Him urn mm llll dun Inn Hum Hum mi iiiiimi mm lm iiniiiiiiii iiiiii niijiki in Him inn inn ra A Kff EMtMUm EnftftmH 1 ismis.ms.9IS fried QreefiTomafoes 3U S-.il HUM In "Where Flowers Fade," Broudie croons "I feel like the poor relation Passing through an empty stationOn this empty trackI'm ha If povertyHalf oystersNo moralsTarnished laurels Going nowhere fast," while around him background vocals spiral and drift in harmony, and horns slide rhythmi cally over the danceable beat. "Happy" is early '80s OMD meets the Open House Party. The heavy backbeat and bass seem almost in congruous with the innocent and rather high voice of Broudie and the breathy ba-ba-ba's dancing in the background, as he sings "I can't help believin' in this perfect feelin'Like a dizzy fairground ridesenses come aliveAnd I'm Happy!" Sense is the incarnation of those very words. Don't expect too much to stimulate the intellect, but do expect a fairly light and spirited album with spunk. The more you listen, the more Lightning Seeds will (wince! ) "grow" on you. forget it wait for a bargain bin buy tape it from a friend buy it buy two copies
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 2, 1992, edition 1
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