Flak Magazine: Gold Teeth and a Curse for this Town: Tracks 1-5, 01-10-02

It's easy to imagine Wainwright in the morning, sitting in a bathrobe, blowing smoke through chocolate milk-mustached lips, goose-stepping into the crescendo. Then he halts the momentum for two perfectly out of place lines — "I'm just a little bit Aries, a little bit Irish" — that turn Wainwright from a pop genius into a human. Only Randy Newman has perfected this, but Wainwright shows he's worthy of the comparison.

By the end of the song Wainwright's sliding on his knees, right up to the line of lightbulbs, begging the audience to "please be kind … because I'm a mess." Stephin Merritt would kill to sound this timeless. (— Aaron Tassano)

2. "We've Been Had" | The Walkmen
The Walkmen EP | (Startime) | 3:22

"We've Been Had" doesn't begin, it materializes.

Chimes slowly fade in and mark the song's rhythm, while bass and drums introduce the main lick. Then comes Hamilton Leithauser's opening assertion of his decidedly unironic point-of-view:

Well I'm a modern guy
I don't care much for the go-go or the retro
image I see so often

Leithauser's intonation resembles the young Bono in terms of its serious conviction. And the lyrics deal honestly with a real subject: post-collegial disillusionment. Rather than succumbing to disappointment or frustration, he comes across as relieved in the chorus:

We've been had
you say it's over
sometimes I'm just happy I'm older
We've been had
I know it's over
somehow it got easy to laugh out loud

The relaxed instrumentation elevates the insightful vocals, creating a sound best described as progressive garage rock. But the apex of the song arrives with the second verse, when the drums and bass drop out and the harsh sound of a guitar finally breaks through. The shift in tone emphasizes Leithauser's attempt to tear down his hipster past:

See me age 19 with some dumb haircut from 1960
moving to New York City, live with my friends there
we're all taking the same steps
seems foolish now

After a final chorus, "We've Been Had" fades out with a reverbed guitar solo. Somehow, the tune lingers on after its end, catchy without ever being melodic or pretty. As a manifesto, the song works perfectly — brief, serious, unpretentious, and clear. The band, an amalgamation of former Jonathan Fire*Eater and Recoy members, is scheduled to release a full-length in the Spring.
(— David Zahl)

3. "Aerodynamic" | Daft Punk
Discovery | (Virgin) | 3:27

It's tough to pick one song from Daft Punk's incredible sophomore effort, though either of their singles — "One More Time" or "Digital Love" — would be suitable choices.

The instrumental track "Aerodynamic," however, rises to the top by virtue of its sheer intensity, which is the defining characteristic of Discovery. Marrying Van Halen-esque guitar arpeggios with Kraftwerk synths and Daft Punk's brand of electro-funk-acid-house, "Aerodynamic" takes you around the world and back again. It also sounds kick-ass at maximum volume on a car stereo with the windows open. Too bad I live in Wisconsin. (— Nicholas Coleman)

4. "A B-Boys Alpha" | Cannibal Ox
The Cold Vein | (Def Jux) | 4:27

Like most forms of music, hip-hop typically pulls you in with the hook. It may be a sample, it may be a chorus, but it is certainly repetitive and catchy. Not Cannibal Ox. Free flowing in the truest sense of the phrase, "A B-Boys Alpha," like the rest of The Cold Vein, is all atmosphere — piano keys tinkling somewhere in the background, an organ sustaining one eerie note and a hard beat heavy on the snare.

The two MCs, Vast Aire and Vordul Megilah, and producer El P use deep, introspective lyrics that obviously took some serious pencil chewing. Among the cut's many standout rhymes:

Folks be banging in the paint throwing elbows
My first fight was me against five boroughs
I lost my first wish
But remembered every detail of my first kiss
That's that Bronx tale bliss

The two function as war correspondents, only they are reporting from a harrowing industrial world absent qualifiers like good and evil. Another cut, "Ox Out of the Cage," documents the Bronx projects with Aire explaining his role:

I grab the mic like Are You Experienced
But I don't play the guitar I play my cadence

Let's hear Christiane Amanpour try to best that.
(— Yancey Strickler)

5. "Go Your Own Way" | Dougal Reed
Rumours | (The Kitty Kitty Corporation) | 4:20

No Flak year-in-music feature would be complete without a cover tune, and the enigmatic Quickspace side project Dougal Reed obliged with a whole album of them. Rumours is a top-notch, top-to-bottom reworking of Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album of the same name.

Dougal Reed's version, however, was released with surprisingly little fanfare. A press release on The Kitty Kitty Corporation's website announced that Rumours was an album recorded by two brothers, James and Dougal Reed after Dougal wore out his copy of the classic LP. But gosh, that guy on the cover of the record sure looks a lot like Quickspace's frontman, Tom Cullinan, and isn't that Quickspace's singer/guitarist Nina Pascale singing the Stevie Nicks parts? And the album is on the record label run by Quickspace's Sean Newsham, who's thanked in the liner notes.

Not surprisingly, Rumours sounds a lot like Quickspace's garagey Krautrock. "Go Your Own Way" has been so thoroughly Quickspaced that anyone unfamiliar with Fleetwood Mac's version would be hard-pressed to figure out it was a cover. Cullinan starts the song off with an off-key, half-whining "Loving you is not a good thing to do," which makes him sound like the loneliest, most pathetic man in Camden, if not the world. The remaining Quickspace flourishes, including sloppily bowed guitar, distorted arpeggios and synthesized strings, take Lindsey Buckingham's kiss-off anthem to such incredible heights, you'll wish you'd been dumped, too.
(— Eric Wittmershaus)