Volume
I used to think Y2K was overrated. But lately, weird, I mean weird, things have been happening. Never mind the natural disasters–earthquakes, hurricanes, floods–crazier stuff is going down in your neighbor's yard. This is not a freak flash, but keep your eyes open for the next handrail knob created to stop you. And meanwhile, people will keep splicing film and cursing the brew.
There's something Y2K going on in Volume this issue. Define it, write us about it, and whoever is exactly right, will get a new deck and a pair of shoes of their choice. Make sure to give us all your info, and we'll make sure you get your package.–Tania
Butta Fuco
Peanut Butta Fuco … wut wut
Cholesterol Records Pop in Butta and Fuco's live road-trip recording to bear witness to the one of the most bizarre hip-hop CDs ever recorded. This trip consists of nonstop cornball freestyling, car wrestling, and the driver almost wrecking plenty of times.
"I'm 'bout to get on my disco strutta, ‘cause I'm the smooth-ass Butta. Smack! Fuco, why'd you slapped me, I'm not too happy ... "
"Yo! Butta look at dis, it's my fist!"
"Owwww, dude that f–kin' hurt, chill"
As the show continues, the crashing and ripping sounds let you know that Butta, Fuco, and whoever else is along for the ride are destroying the car. At one point someone hucks the car stereo out the window, so they start to boom box. I'm not sure if this album is filed under comedy or hip-hop, but these two hip-hop rejects are hilarious.–Shad
Biter
Biter Don't Wait Until Sunday
Border Patrol Records
Biter. Three girls who will bitch smack you until you realize their music in unlike anything you've ever heard or dreamt about. Imagine a cross of The Pixies, Van Halen, and Mary J. Blige, and that deranged sound only begins to explain their extraordinary talent. Guitarist Miranda plays like Angus Young minus the schoolboy uniform, and the rhythm section, consisting of Robyn on drums and Andrea on bass, is reminiscent of Erik Avery and Steven Perkins of Jane's Addiction. At a recent show in Hollywood, I walked up to music guru Ryeland, a.k.a. DJ Ryebot, and asked him what he thought of Biter: "They infuse an energy into the traditional formulaic melange and in turn transmogrify into iambic cadenzic stanzic experiential rhythmic conclusion."–Tania
Foo Fighters
There is Nothing Left to Lose
RCA The Foo Fighters are a great band. They don't saturate radio or MTV; They don't host Total Request Live with Fred Dirst. All they do is write great songs. On There is Nothing Left to Lose, the band softens their edges even more than they did on The Colour And The Shape, and showcase their ability to write poppy songs. The Foo Fighters take an approach to their music that so many bands these days overlook. They don't wear makeup. They aren't about an image, and thank god they don't rap. They stick to bare-knuckle, straight-ahead rock that, in the end, far outlasts their flashy peers.–Nick Bogardus
Stone Temple Pilots
4
Atlantic Records
What good is putting out an album when your lead singer can't stick to methadone and ends up in prison for heroin weeks before the album's release? Be it heads of a Atlantic Records or bandmates, Scott Weiland has to have at least a few people angry at him. With 4, the Stone Temple Pilots attempted to release an album that melded their sound from Core and Purple, but ends up without direction. That might've had a little to do with a lead singer who makes Trainspotting look like a fun weekend. My vote would be to save your money to buy the other musicians' solo albums.–Nick Bogardus
3 X Gene Hackman
Do Seagulls Use Tools?
Tire Fire Records
Besides timber and single-digit temperatures, Quebec's Ungava Peninsula doesn't produce much. But from the desolate isolation of 60 degrees northern latitude has emerged the next big musical hit from French-speaking Canada: 3 x Gene Hackman. What sets this quintet apart from other modern rock acts is the incorporation of heavy machinery into the music. Who ever thought guitar, vocals, bass, drums, a heavy-duty rock drill, and a 210-horsepower stump grinder could be such a seductive combination? The band's debut album Do Seagulls Use Tools? has been likened to listening to mid-80s Van Halen in a lumber mill. You might need some protective goggles for your first listen, this band's gonna be a smash hit!–Jim Otto
KROQ
The Best of KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas Vol. 1
Time Bomb
Every December, Los Angeles radio pioneer KROQ puts on the West Coast's best Christmas concert. The show draws thousands of people and showcases some of the biggest bands in the country. This compilation lives up to the standards of the concerts by snaring some of the best performances throughout the years. With bands like Radiohead, No Doubt, Everlast, the Violent Femmes, and Hole, this CD captures the bands at their most vulnerable–in the live setting. Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" displays their dynamic power, and No Doubt's "Spiderwebs" exhibits the band's improvisation and great live sound. The fact that a live recording of any of these bands is so rare makes picking up this disk completely worthwhile.–Nick Bogardus
Macho Disgusto
Extra Goats
Dudeface Records
Out of the ashes of the inevitable wreckage of several So Cal music projects comes crawling (and clawing), this schizophrenic yet ultimately beautiful monster. Rocking back and forth like a nervous kid at the back of the class, this release changes gears, sputters, and slams on the brakes.
These guys can't figure out if mom was cooler cranking Stevie Wonder in the kitchen, or if dad was hipper listening to Jim Croce while he fixed that goddamn clutch. Eventually, Extra Goats finds its pace, and when it does the result is an elegant little gem.
Remember when Supertramp videos played right next to Judas Priest videos, and Round Table pizza was like a goth, medieval sports place, and your skinny red-haired neighbor brought over the cardboard and pop-locked to Run DMC? Well, the guys in Macho Disgusto do and they're doing their best to tell you about it. They're also doing their best to learn the new Pavement songs and decide which pants to buy at Urban Outfitters.–Larson
Phish
The Siket Disk
Who Is She?
Phish, the silliest, most prolific cover-jam band in (and, because of their hectic tour schedule, oftentimes "not in") Burlington, Vermont, have recently released The Siket Disk. The idea for the project is keyboardist Page McConnell's, who reedited and rearranged music from recording sessions in March and September of 1997 for the band's 1998 release, The Story of the Ghost. The music is reminiscent of an exercise in stream-of-consciousness writing–it meanders and wanders with no apparent destination, thus lacking the patented Phish crescendo. It's a little like reading a 68,000-page Congressional bill written by the world's best greeting-card author. Only not.–J.P.
