music reviews

The Agonist
Lullabies for the Dormant Mind
3/10/09
Century Media Records
www.theagonist.net

RATING: BADASS

Century Media has quite the knack for putting out darkly delightful metalcore bands fronted by tantalizing vixens. This time it’s the sophomore effort from Montreal’s The Agonist, lead by blue-haired bombshell Alissa White-Gluz, who growls and sings. Lullabies for the Dormant Mind is a collection of morbid tales of the dreamworld, accompanied by machinegun drumming and metallic grooving – essentially the soundtrack to a Bela Lugosi film on speed. Of course, the album does succumb to a few of the pitfalls that come with being a band who embraces blue hair, chain wallets, and the other subtleties of Hot Topic sponsored teen angst, most notably with song titles like “…and their Eulogies Sang me to Sleep” and “Thank You, Pain.” However, as always, this is forgivable thanks to satisfyingly head-banging, fist-pumping musicology and a thoroughly enticing frontwoman (see: In This Moment). Izzy Cihak

***

Mirror
Mirror
www.mirror.fom

RATING: BADASS

Mirror’s debut album is a pastiche of pieces of Andy Warhol’s Factory, Weimar cabaret, and Depeche Mode intended to follow in the footsteps of Lou Reed’s Berlin and Badalamenti’s scoring of Lynch’s Twin Peaks. In other words, the most ambitiously pompous album ever released by a guy you’ve likely never heard of. However, in a Lynchian twist, the album is actually astonishing. Mirror is a multi-media project spawned by former Slow/Copyright frontman Tom Anselmi that blends playful piano pop, apocalyptic soundscapes, and delicately morbid balladry in a fashion seamless in production and concept (Trent Reznor could really use a lesson). Opening track, “Nostalgia,” uses Dave Gahan’s gently ominous vocals more effectively than even Martin Gore has since 2001’s “Goodnight Lovers.” “Nowhere” and “From No One with Love” feature the stunning work of postmodern singer/songwriter Laure-Elaine; the former her ability to write pop tunes as catchy and poignant as Kate Nash and the latter her ability to redefine the word “bleak.” “City Lights” even features a monologue by Warhol Superstar Joe Dallesandro that is akin to Burroughs’ work with Sonic Youth. In under forty minutes Anselmi presents a vast masterpiece along the lines of the soundtrack to a musical adaptation of A Clockwork Orange by Derek Jarman. Izzy Cihak

***

Revolting Cocks
Sex-O Olympic-O
3/03/09
13th Planet Records
www.revoltingcox.com

RATING: BADASS

When Revolting Cocks sing “Keeping it in the family can be a great idea,” you know that it means exactly what it sounds like. And that’s just what’s so darn loveable about them. For more than twenty years (with a decade-long gap from ’94-’04) the Al Jourgensen-led project has been creating infectiously danceable perversions under the guise of one of the greatest Industrial bands on the planet. The album, which has the band sounding as sleazy and STD-infested as ever, also embraces synthesizers, New Wave aesthetics, and that lovely brand of Pop homoeroticism that makes asses shake and rednecks squirm. “Rondo Banditos” sounds like Bauhaus remixed by KMFDM and “Touch Screen” is along the lines of Psychic TV covering the Talking Heads. The only thing missing from the collection is any of the quirkily subversive covers that they’ve become known for. Sex-O Olympic-O proves RevCo to be the only band that can make your head bang and your body rock so hard that you may momentarily forget that you’re listening to songs about watching people masturbate, celebrity porn, robot hookers, and the true origins of the human race (which has to do with hobbits fucking eight-foot-tall women). Izzy Cihak