The News Review:
- Look out for Violent Femmes
- Stew – Passing Strange – Theater – Music – New York Times
- ‘Lies for the Liars’
Look out for Violent Femmes
Malaysia Star – May 21, 2007
Imagine if you will a world where distortion guitars never existed and were not the driving force behind rock ‘n’ roll and punk music. Yet if the genres still persisted what form would the music take? If you’re a betting man you’d put your money on the Violent Femmes. The release of their first (now considered milestone) self-titled album in 1983 launched the careers of this underground uber trio.
Stew – Passing Strange – Theater – Music – New York Times
New York Times – May 21, 2007
Now suddenly things are coalescing creatively for Stew. His play opened to very enthusiastic reviews he plans to start shooting a Sundance Institute-supported movie in the fall and a filmmaker Jeffrey Winograd will release a documentary about his work later this year. Ever since Stew’s jestingly named band the Negro Problem issued its first album “Post Minstrel Syndrome” a decade ago his genre-defying rock-pop-funk-punk-cabaret music has earned him critical acclaim and a fervent cult following. Counting Crows’ lead singer Adam Duritz calls Stew “the best songwriter there is working now. ” Yet Stew at 45 remains largely unknown his broadest exposure having come through “Gary’s Song” which he wrote for a popular episode of “SpongeBob SquarePants” in which SpongeBob’s pet snail goes missing. Relative obscurity Stew said in a recent interview has been fine with him and with Heidi Rodewald 48 the lanky bassist singer and songwriter who is his personal and professional partner. “We have these fans who think it’s wrong that we’re not more famous” said Stew whose full name is Mark Stewart.
‘Lies for the Liars’
New York Times – May 21, 2007
But the group hasn’t been quite as successful as My Chemical Romance or Fall ut Boy despite a couple of great CDs “The Used” and “In Love and Death. ” Now comes “Lies for the Liars” the band’s third album (and first without the drummer Branden Steineckert) which is also its slickest and looniest. It starts with “The Ripper” a hardcore punk rant that makes space for a Queen-y a cappella break and a lot of buzzing electronics. Later come “Earthquake” a prog-rock power ballad that gives Mr. McCracken a chance to go way over the top (“I’ve slaughtered us I’ve murdered our love” he yowls) and “With Me Tonight” an audacious emo-jazz mini-epic. All of which helps make this album less convincing than the first two; after a while the surfeit of ideas starts to sound like a lack. But the choruses are as effective as ever: unreasonably pleasurable pop-punk singalongs from a fearless band of weirdoes… ” He could be a guardian or a stalker but behind him the music rises reassuringly switching from a dark minor-key verse to major-key affirmations. The National got started in Cincinnati before moving to Brooklyn but its music looks toward Britain. With a steady eighth-note pulse uninflected drumbeats and layers of guitars entwined around Mr. Berninger’s midtempo melodies its song structures revive the 1980s mope-rock of New rder and the Cure. Yet the National’s songs aren’t aimed at clubland; they’re elaborated with orchestral brasses and strings that make them weightier and more inward-looking dissolving 1980s nostalgia in the music’s sheer intricacy.