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BANG SONIC!
the Atomic-Powered alt.rec.misc.music.comp E-Mag
Feb94 Vol.I Iss.6
Bang Sonic! is published once a month as both a stand alone Macintosh
document and as a text only file. Prepare to have your intelligence
insulted: if you don't have a Macintosh, read the "text only". If you do
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Bang! is available in assorted Usenet newsgroups. It could show up
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misc.writing
Barring natural disaster Bang Sonic! will also be available via:
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You can also get a copy of the most recent issue by writing to us at:
ai983@freenet.buffalo.edu
In this issue:
k.d. lang / Fem 2 Fem / Aztec Camera / Sheep on Drugs / Tag Team
lists / letters / releases
the return of Frankie Machine
- *******************************************
k.d. lang
Even Cowgirls get the Blues
Sire
HOWDY HOWDY
There is little to say about k.d. lang that hasn't already been said. It
is almost universally true that by the time Barbara Walters gets around to
talking to you on TV, the world is just about sick of hearing the sound of
your voice. It was only a couple of years ago that Sire Records was
giving away k.d. lang samplers to anyone who would call an 800 number.
Now she is big. Bigger than big. Vanity Fair big. But it's hard to hold
it against her.
It's obvious what makes k.d. lang North America's favourite lesbian and
Phranc little more than a curiosity. k.d. hasn't ditched the cowpolk
shtic, but she has expanded it to include lush, classic arrangements as a
venue for her deeply powerful voice. k.d. definitely plays on the VH-1
all-star team, but she doesn't sound like she has sold out so much as she
has stolen Holly Cole's thunder.
k.d. lang is so big at this point that she doesn't even need a movie to
support her soundtrack album. It certainly isn't her fault that the movie
has been repeatedly delayed due to critical revulsion. Probably the most
interesting point to be taken is that if an album says "k.d. lang" at the
top this year, it makes little difference what the rest of the title is.
GIDDY-UP, GIT-A-LONG
The first moderately important question is whether it is a soundtrack
album or a pop album. Mathematically, it works out to about half and
half. Nine tracks are instrumental/incidental music, four are faux
country tunes, there are the two big disco-pop singles, and a lone
lonesome torch song. This covers a lot of ground, but it isn't a bizarre
debacle like the first Batman film that tried to find the common musical
thread between Danny Elfman and Prince. There is purpose and consistency,
as well as a sense of structure with regard to the order of the songs on
the album. This isn't as single minded a collection as Harry Connick's
"When Harry Met Sally", but the songs do work together to build an
interesting vision.
The two up-tempo singles both have the potential to carry weight on
darkened dancefloors. "Lifted by Love" and "Just Keep Me Movin" stand as
the two most likely candidates to start the "funky cowboy" movement since
Goober and the Peas first album. "Just Keep Me Movin" is already doing
business on the charts abroad. Its deep, organic groove is reminiscent of
the Saturday morning jams churned out by Fat Albert and the Gang. The
mike volume is turned way up so k.d. barely has to whisper until the
chorus which demands slightly more heavy lifting of her. "Lifted by Love"
is more spacious. Uncongested by horns and 70's funk guitar. As a result
k.d. has an opportunity to really let loose with a soaring performance
while the rhythm gently gallops underneath.
The instrumental songs lack the trademark, the voice, but they don't fade
into the background. Most of them are quiet, moody pieces that evoke
lonesome images of the Great Western Plains. The set ends on the upbeat
note of "Cowgirl Pride" which picks and twangs its way joyously into the
sunset.
Critical reviews aside, it is probably a terribly fortunate thing that the
movie "Even Cowgirls get the Blues" has been postponed until long after
the release of the soundtrack. For a while, these songs belong to their
own little universe. Any images that director Tom Robbins links with this
music will inevitably be inferior to the ones they conjure on their own.
Vital Statistics
k.d. lang - Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Released on Sire
Catalog number 9 45433-2
Total playing time: 40:04
16 tracks
Just keep me moving
Much finer place
Or was i
Hush sweet lover
Myth
Apogee
Virtual vortex
Lifted by love
Overture
Kundalini yoga waltz
In perfect dreams
Curious soul ashtray
Ride of the bonanza jellybean
Don't be a lemming polka
Sweet little cherokee
Cowgirl pride
Produced by k.d. lang and Ben Mink
- *******************************************
Fem 2 Fem
Woman to Woman
Critique Records
I ENJOY BEING A GIRL
While Howard Stern won't go down in history as the voice of a generation,
he certainly displayed keen insight when he explained what Americans
really want: hookers and lesbians. Of course, this doesn't apply to all
Americans (or all lesbians for that matter) but like most sweepingly broad
generalizations, there may be a kernel of truth to it.
Seems that all of a sudden everybody loves lesbians. Ask George Costanza.
Ask Warren Beatty. Ask Cindy Crawford. America loves lesbians. While
pop culture has a fair number of gay women, they are, for the most part,
politically correct, ready for PBS prime time lesbians. The kind of
upstanding people you'd be proud to take home to Mom, or at the very least
expect to find at a "Take Back the Night" rally.
Fem 2 Fem are the women America has been waiting for. Cartoon lesbians
ripped from the pages of Penthouse (or at least a good issue of Playboy.)
Beautiful, shapely, long-haired women who love to love other women and
love to sing about it. To hear them tell it, only one of them is gay,
another bisexual, and the other two are straight. However, judging from
the album cover, they are the kind of straight women who don't mind
hugging other naked women.
The cover deserves a few words because it is obviously one of the main
selling points of the album (never underestimate the power of cover art.)
Four women, clutching each other, nude, with their arms covering up each
others' interesting bits. Even though you probably were not wondering,
there are NO revealing photos in the CD booklet. This isn't a skin
magazine after all. It's an album.
I REALLY, REALLY ENJOY BEING A GIRL
Not all of the tracks are gay rights manifestoes, but the better ones are.
"Switch" is the big single, lead-off cut and, thankfully, is in no way
connected to the movie of the same name. It is truly remarkable on a
whole number of levels. As a dance song it is relentless. It has the
traditional bullet-train rhythm section as well as trendy rave flourishes.
The amazing thing about "Switch" is the male-fantasy lesbian lyrics. "Fem
in the streets, butch in the sheets" they sing, feeling free not to mince
words.
That is the most endearing quality about Fem 2 Fem. They are what they
are and the do not stand on pretension. At least not too frequently.
During the best moments of Woman To Woman there is the definite sense that
their tongues (God love 'em) are in someone's cheeks.
Lyrically Fem 2 Fem are, for lack of a better word, blunt. However, as
long as the train keeps moving through disco nirvana all is well. In
addition to the afore mentioned "Switch", a number of the tracks bring all
the ambiance of a gay disco into your living room. "Coming Out" carries
forth at a blistering pace equaling anything on the L.A. Style album in
either speed or intensity. The title track is like a 900 number at 122
bpm. The "Erotic-Trance Mix" of "Switch" is more trance and less erotic
than the normal Penthouse Forum reader would like, but from a public
policy standpoint that may be for the best.
When the tempo slows the results are less consistent. "Waiting in
Tangier" is difficult to take seriously, but "I Lose Myself" is just
pretentious enough to be embarrassingly appealing.
Fem 2 Fem have the same magnetic, undeniable appeal as tabloid television
and best selling author, Howard Stern. It should come as no surprise that
they have appeared on Geraldo and the Joan Rivers Show. Now if they can
only get Stern to make a guest appearance on their next album.
Vital Statistics
Fem 2 Fem - Woman to Woman
Released on Critique Records
Catalog number 01624 15417-2
Total playing time: 55:47
11 tracks
Switch
Obsession
Woman to woman
All about eve
I lose myself
Coming out
Waiting in Tangier
Charmed
Freedom of choice
Switch (erotic-trance mix)
Woman to woman (extended mix)
Produced by Peter Rafelson
Fem 2 Fem are:
L.D.
Michelle Crispin
Lynn Pompey
Julie Park
- *******************************************
Aztec Camera
Dreamland
Sire / Reprise
"From the mountain tops down to the sunny street,
A different drum is playing a different kind of beat."
-R. Frame (1983)
OVERDOSING ON KEETS
There's no truth in history but it bears repeating nonetheless. Roddy
Frame was the angry young man with the world at his feet. With the crisp
sparkle of a freshly strummed guitar and a cleverly turned phrase Aztec
Camera sailed on the New Wave with young Roddy's steady hand on the helm.
His songs were romantic with a capital "R", filled with all the power and
beauty of a Hemmingway short story.
The follow up album, Knife, quite remarkable, avoided the sophomore jinx
and even improved on the formula in a great many ways. Then a strange
thing happened. Aztec Camera released a moribund version of Van Halen's
"Jump" which sounded like nothing so much as a flag of surrender being
raised. After that, time passed.
When Roddy returned in 1988 with the album Love, the magic was gone, and
the angry young man had mellowed into a new demographic stratum. There
were brief, shining moments. However, taken as a whole it did little to
engender respect in the aging process. Stray from 1990 was a far sight
better. At least Roddy sounded fiesta again. Sure, there was residue
from England's summer of love, but at least it sounded like an Aztec
Camera album again.
THE BUGLE DOES NOT SOUND AGAIN
Now, Aztec Camera has taken up residence in Dreamland. A mythical land
where string sections follow you down the street and insomnia is unheard
of. There seems to be a concept at work here and that is rarely a good
thing. Progress can be a wonderful thing, but all too often it demands an
exorbitant price.
The opening notes signal the tone. Late model Prefab Sprout and all of
the baggage that carries with it. There is plenty of production work here
in Dreamland. Plenty. The e-z listening keyboards are everywhere, almost
impossible to escape. Once in a while the trademark Aztec Camera guitar
finds its way to the center of town and it makes all of the effort seem
worthwhile. Then Roddy starts spelling again on "Valium Summer" and the
citizenry is ready to revolt.
Dreamland certainly contains its fair share of perfect little gems.
Brief, passing moments where all the elements come together. "Black
Lucia" has the sound and the lyrics, the moon and the stars, the whole
nine yards. The chorus has U2 overtones, but even that can be forgiven.
The unincumbered faux flamenco melody of "Spanish Horses" is as beautiful
a moment as Aztec Camera has ever conjured. "Pianos and Clocks" has
fantastically simple instrumentation which accentuates the vastly
underused 3/4 time signature. While it adheres to the relaxed-tempo, law
of the land, "Sister Ann" strings together some of the finest lines Roddy
has ever penned.
Alas, all is not well in Dreamland. There are more unpleasentries than
would be polite to mention. Mostly bombastic love songs that have been
crushed under the weight of a thousand pounds of production. Then there
is the matter of Roddy Frame spelling his way through "Valium Summer".
Please, for the love of God, someone stop him before he spells again.
However, it isn't good to dwell.
It sounds like Roddy is all grown up now. It's a tragedy that youth can't
last forever.
Vital Statistics
Aztec Camera - Dreamland
Released on Sire/Reprise
Catalog number 9 45076-2
Total playing time: 51:17
11 tracks
Birds
Safe in sorrow
Black lucia
Let your love decide
Spanish horses
Dream sweet dreams
Pianos and clocks
Sister ann
Vertigo
Valium summer
the Belle of the ball
Produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Roddy Frame
mixed by Julian Mendelsohn
- *******************************************
Sheep On Drugs
Greatest Hits
Smash Records
BULLSEYE?
Any band that puts a circular saw blade on its cover begs the question "do
they get the joke or are they the joke?" Sheep on Drugs get the joke.
The second obvious question is "What's with the name?" Sheep on Drugs is
a reference to the lack of imagination displayed by modern youth culture.
The rave scene has allowed narcotic use to drain away all sense of
creativity and individuality in vast numbers of its leigionous following.
As if to prove their point, Duncan, the lead singer himself, dealt with a
heroin addiction for a number of years. Drug use is a recurring theme
throughout the album, but the name is a mocking reference to the cultural
turf from whence the band came.
Finally, if you call a debut album "Greatest Hits", there is a better than
average chance that you get the joke.
EWE BET
The sound is angry, zip-gun techno. A music classification that has been
sadly underexploited. It's Carter USM on speed. It's Ministry with more
hip-hop sensibility. It's a Jesus Jones nightmare. The music is dense
with sound effects, but not Public Enemy, wall of noise, overkiller dense.
Just enough helicopters and crowd noise to make the listener feel
comfortably surrounded by the familiar cacophony of urban life.
Duncan opens the album with the greeting "Hello sinners" and the stage is
set for an hour long assault. The bits between the songs beautifully
maintain the atmosphere so that the post-Blade Runner scene is never
fouled by a momentary lapse of silent reality. Drive the trench
expressways of Detroit for an hour with this playing and you'll be all set
for a carjacking.
As an album, "Greatest Hits" is relentless. Not a weak track in the
bunch. Head to tail, the Sheep pound away with jackhammer intensity.
Some might charge monotony, a malady which plagues many of Sheep on Drug's
contemporaries. However in this instance the accusation would be unjustly
leveled.
"Greatest Hits" is a blistering racket. The dark and sinister tone is
matched by lyrics that explore the ugliest sides of human nature. Then
the album draws to a close with three minutes of sheep noises and, as if
there were ever any doubt, it's obvious that Sheep on Drugs get the joke.
Vital Statistics
Sheep on Drugs - Greatest Hits
Released on Smash Records
Catalog number 162-888 006-2
Total playing time: 60:02
11 tracks
Uberman
Acid test
15 minutes of fame
Track x
Suzy q
Catch 22
Mary jane
Motorbike
TV usa
Chard
untitled (3 minutes of sheep noises)
Produced by Gareth Jones
Sheep on Drugs are:
Dead Lee
King Duncan
- *******************************************
Tag Team
Whoomp! (There it Is)
Life Records
I DIDN'T DO IT!
This is an excellent album to listen to on compact disc. Because of the
crystal-clear quality of CD sound? No, because it's much easier to scan
to the next track after 10 or 15 seconds of each song.
Last summer when the song was released (coinciding with the release of 95
South's remarkably similar, yet vastly superior "Whoot! There It Is")
countless millions of people incorporated "Whoomp!" into their collective
vocabulary. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing "Whoomp! (insert
anything here)." The battle cry so completely saturated the air waves,
that when our neighbors to the north (Canadians) won the World Series last
fall the stadium mockingly erupted with shouts of "Whoomp! Here We Are."
Recently The Simpsons aired an episode in which Bart became famous
overnight after accidentally uttering the words "I didn't do it." If only
Tag Team's catch phrase were as innocently conceived. Perhaps then it
would be easy to laugh at them too.
WHOOMP!
Can any one name any other song on the Whoomp! album? Chances are, no.
It sounds like it was thrown together in a frenzy to capitalize off the
success of a chart-topping single.
"Whomp!" was such a rush job that they didn't even have time to list the
songs in the correct order on the case. The trend in the direction of
mis-labelling songs on the album cover must stop! This album was hard
enough to understand as is, and forcing the listener to play a game of
hunt and search for song titles, while trying to enjoy Tag Team's
harmonious (sic) style (sic), is both aggravating and distracting.
The opening track is, you guessed it, "Whoomp! There It Is," placed first
so listeners don't have to listen to forty eight minutes of this drivel.
Following the mighty "Whoomp!. . ." is "U Go Girl," with a bass line
suspiciously similar to Doo Doo Brown's "Too Hype Brothers." The fourth
or maybe fifth track (like anyone really cares), "It's Somethin'" includes
the words "whoomp, there it is." Perhaps Steve Rollin, DC, and the Brain
Supreme thought uttering the magic words would make this a hit too. Sorry
guys, no such luck.
Number nine, "Gettin' Phat," is unique for its Fat Albert sample ("Hey,
Hey, Hey!) and its references to Captain Kirk and Klingons. But if you're
a trekker don't rush right out and buy the album, the other three minutes
and thirty eight seconds turns out to be a lesson in feeble rhyming.
The album is, however, good for something. It is a reminder of how
quickly we as a society forget things. Remember the pet rock? The
dancing flower? Buy "Whoomp!", put it with your other compact discs, and
in two or three years you can listen to it and laugh and laugh at just how
stupid we were one hot Summer back in '93.
Vital Statistics
Tag Team - Whoomp! (There it is)
Released on Life Records
Catalog number LR 72000 2
Total playing time: 48:10
13 tracks
Whoomp! (there it is)
U go girl
Free Style
Just call me DC
It's somethin'
Get nasty
Bring it on
Funk key
Gettin' phat
Bobyahead
Wreck da set
Drop dem
Kick da flow
Produced by Tag Team
- *******************************************
THE NEXT BIG THING
FEB 1994
F. Machine
"...events no longer have any meaning: not because
they are insignificant, but because they have been
preceded by the models with which their own process
can only coincide." - J.Baudrillard
Fin, the tender of bar here in one of the rare outposts of cocktail
society in the central time zone, really knows how to mix a martini.
Second nature I suppose, effortlessly wrapping shots of Tanqueray in a
dash of Vermouth and Bitters the way incendiary bombs were covered with
pictures of Betty Grable during the BIG ONE. Your brain never knows what
hit it. He offers either twists or olives, I recommend the twist -
actually a 30 cm. unbroken ribbon of lemon rind tied in a knot at one end
to ensure immersion - not that olives don't have their place, William
Powell would loath a twist - but tonight is a lemon night - you
understand. Never underestimate the importance of a garnish. This is
certainly better than a cold bath with someone you dislike.
Cocktails, one time totem of the cold-war suburban middle class, are
finally coming around again. It is good to see young people with haircuts
enjoying a nice martini, all those 70's associations with red shag carpet
and Neil Diamond have finally dropped away. Time purifies things. Now
when someone mentions a martini, you are more likely to think of second
hand Armani ties and Chet Baker. It's enough to make you think things are
getting better.
But on to the matter at hand, the NEXT BIG THING. I'm not sure my
predictions are worth much, in a way I wonder if everything isn't the Next
Big Thing. By the time a thing is known as next and big, it is usually
neither. To name it is to kill it. Fin thinks I should leave it at
that, just tell you that THE NEXT BIG THING has no name and you'll know it
when you hear it if you haven't already. Maybe he is right, but then I'd
be out of a job - so I'll take my chances. When the king falls, its good
to know who is next in line. The current kings are getting old and
tired. We need new paradigms. New Romanticism, Hi NRG, House, Acid,
Techno, Rave, Manchester, Bliss, New Psychedilia, the revived Ska revival
revival, Thrash, Grunge, the list goes on and on. They all have their
merits, but by and large our pop idioms are like the Law profession, too
many people joining up just because they can't think of anything else to
do. Modern music needs to take a cue from Hoagy Carmichael: it needs to
drop out of law school and hang around in smokey jazz bars enjoying
cocktails and making big plans.
In short, we need more COOL JAZZY DISCO, this month's NEXT BIG THING.
CJD has been bubbling just below the surface for a quite some time now,
with the "Jazz Dance Revolution" that never really made it out of the
Camden Ballroom and its recent descendant "Acid Jazz" seemingly doomed to
a life of trying too hard. Miles Davis even made his final bow in the
direction of Hip Hop, but only ended up compromising both jazz and Dance,
sounding more like an old Quincey Jones production than anything fresh and
new. Rap continually pushes itself to the edge of Jazz, only to back away
and cash in on genitalia references. SOUL II SOUL started cool and jazzy
but never lived up to the BIG promise. CJD is nearly tied with Reggae as
THE NEXT BIG THING that almost was. But between the beginning of 1994
and the end of 1995 CJD will rise to BIG THING STATUS. Radio stations
will format 48 hour CJD weekends, Clubs will set aside Thursday for CJD
night, and by 1997 Retro parties will be drenched in nostalgia for that
old COOL JAZZY DISCO. Ah, but I'm sounding like a half baked rock
journalist -- and I've got a martini to attend to.
Scotch and Soda, more on CJD and another NEXT BIG THING, next month -
This is Frankie Machine at the Blue Marlin.
- *******************************************
Hit Lists from Around the World
because you wouldn't want to be the last to know
British Top 20
as of February 4, 1994
20: Bitty McLean - Here I Stand
19: NEW ENTRY. Orb - Perpetual Dawn
Following the re-released Top 10 success of their first single
'Little Fluffy Clouds', the Orb return with the single that
really made their name back in the summer of 1991. A far cry
from their usual ambient paintings, 'Perpetual Dawn' is
actually quite a commercial piece of dub-reggae and now on
re-release becomes the massive hit it deserves having only made
No.61 first time around.
18: Rozalla - I Love Music
17: Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston - Something In Common
16: Eternal - Save Our Love
15: East 17 - It's Alright
14: Garth Brooks - The Red Strokes
13: Richard Marx - Now And Forever
12: Deep Forest - Sweet Lullaby
11: Chaka Demus and Pliers - Twist And Shout
10: Haddaway - I Miss You
9: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away
8: Culture Beat - Anything
7: Celine Dion - The Power Of Love
6: Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl
5: K7 - Come Baby Come
4: Enigma - Return To Innocence
3: Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart/Sting - All For Love
2: Toni Braxton - Breathe Again
1: THIRD WEEK. D:Ream - Things Can Only Get Better
Clinging onto the top, despite the appearance in the Top 10 of
their album. Time may well still be limited for D:Ream but the
odds on their replacement are wide open.
(This list is an excerpt from the always insightful Top 40 analysis
done every week by James Masterton. Contact him directly at
hid009@cent1.lancs.ac.uk -ed.)
Dutch Top 10
as of February 4, 1994
10: Cher with beavis & butthead - I got you babe
9: Bryan Adams - Please forgive me
8: Chaka Demus & Pliers - Twist and shout
7: Culture Beat - Anything
6: Rod stewart & bryan adams & sting - All for love
5: Ace of Base - The sign
4: Take That - Babe
3: 2 brothers on the 4th floor - Never alone
2: Laura Pasini - Solitudine
1: Paul de leeuw & a de rooy - Ik wil niet ../Waarheen ..
Australian Top 10
as of February 4, 1994
10. Urban Cookie Collective - Feels like heaven
9. Bryan Adams - Please forgive me
8. Mariah Carey - Hero
7. D.J. Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince - Boom shake the room
6. Denis Leary - Asshole
5. Twenty 4 Seven - Slave to the music
4. The M-People - Moving on up
3. Salt 'N' Pepa - Shoop
2. Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting - All for love
1. Cut 'N' Move - Give it up
American Top 10
as of February 12, 1994
10. Janet Jackson - Because of love
9. Ace Of Base - The sign
8. Aerosmith - Amazing
7. Mariah Carey - Hero
6. Gin Blossoms - Found out about you
5. The Cranberries - Linger
4. Color Me Badd - Choose
3. Celine Dion - The power of love
2. Toni Braxton - Breathe again
1. bryan adams & sting & rod stewart - All for love [3rd week]
- *******************************************
Upcoming Releases of Note and Interest
look out! incoming!
When Who What
---- --- ----
1 Feb Kristin Hersh Hips And Makers
1 Feb Green Day Dookie
1 Feb The Other Two The Other Two & You
(the 2 in New Order who are not Bernard Sumner nor Peter Hook -ed.)
1 Feb <various> Alternative NRG
1 Feb Tori Amos Under The Pink
1 Feb Bulgarian Women's Choir Tour '93
1 Feb <various> Dancehall Underground...
8 Feb The Greenberry Woods Rapple Dapple
8 Feb Jawbox For Your Own Special...
8 Feb Moxy Fruvous Bargainville
8 Feb 13 Engines Perpetual Motion Machine
8 Feb Ben Harper Welcome To The Cruel World
8 Feb Slowdive Souvlaki
8 Feb Animal Bag Offerings
8 Feb Enigma The Cross Of Changes
8 Feb Beastie Boys Same Old Bullshit
15 Feb Pavement Crooked Rain
15 Feb Sarah McLachlan Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
22 Feb Right Said Fred Sex & Travel
22 Feb Terminator X Super Bad
22 Feb Bruce Cockburn Dart To The Heart
22 Feb The Veldt Afrodisiac
28 Feb Saint Etienne (UK) Tiger Bay
alledgedly, to be released sometme in February...
Feb Front Line Assembly <title unavailable>
Feb Sir Mix-A-Lot <title unavailable>
Feb Ice Cube/Dr. Dre Helter Skelter
Feb They Might Be Giants Get Outta' Here
1 Mar Sass Jordan Rats
1 Mar Yanni Live At The Acropolis
1 Mar Cell Living Room
1 Mar Pooka Pooka
1 Mar That Petrol Emotion Fireproof
1 Mar Downy Mildew Slow Sky
1 Mar Sister Machine Gun The Torture Technique
1 Mar Etta James Mystery Lady
8 Mar Morrissey Vauxhall & I
8 Mar Soundgarden Superunknown
8 Mar Groove Collective Groove Collective
8 Mar Sam Phillips Martinis And Bikinis
(easially the best album title in 5 years. -ed.)
8 Mar Alison Moyet Essex
8 Mar The Latin Playboys The Latin Playboys
8 Mar Failure Magnify
8 Mar Brian Setzer Orchestra Brian Setzer Orchestra
8 Mar Material Issue Freak City Soundtrack
8 Mar Jump In The Water Nothing Else Will Do
8 Mar Anthrax Live: The Island Years
8 Mar Vanilla Ice Mind Blowin'
8 Mar Pet Shop Boys Very Relentless
8 Mar Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral
11 Mar Those Darn Accordians! Squeeze This
15 Mar Tangerine Dream Turn Of The Tides
15 Mar Motley Crue Motley Crue
15 Mar Inspiral Carpets Devil Hopping
15 Mar Gil Scott-Heron Spirits
22 Mar Pink Floyd Awaken To The Sense...
22 Mar The Proclaimers Hit The Highway
22 Mar Yes Talk
22 Mar The Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works-Vol.2
22 Mar The Farm Hulabaloo
22 Mar The Charlatans Up To Our Hips
22 Mar Texas Rick's Road
22 Mar Galliano What Colour Our Flag
22 Mar Brand New Heavies Brother Sista
22 Mar Eazy'E Str.8 Off The Streetz...
22 Mar Overwhelming Colorfast Two Words
22 Mar Atomic Opera For Madmen Only
28 Mar Roxette Crash! Boom! Bang!
29 Mar The Church Sometime, Anywhere
29 Mar Hole Live Through This
Coming in March and April if they can get their act together...
Mar Yello Zebra
Mar Peter Gabriel <title unavailable>
Mar Shawn Colvin <title unavailable>
Mar Nelson Imaginator
Apr Sonic Youth Experimental Jet Set...
Apr David Byrne Between The Teeth
Apr Stone Roses Second Coming
Apr Crystal Waters Story Teller
Apr Violent Femmes New Times
Apr Boingo <title unavailable>
Apr Siouxsie & The Banshees <title unavailable>
Apr Marianne Faithfull <title unavailable>
Apr Paul Weller Wild Wood
Apr Frank Black <title unavailable>
Apr The Smithereens <title unavailable>
Apr Me Phi Mi <title unavailable>
Apr Deee-Lite <title unavailable>
Apr Adrian Belew <title unavailable>
Apr Seefeel Quique
Apr <various> Excursions In Ambience
Apr Elvis Costello/The Attractions Brutal Youth
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Mail From YOU to US
operators are standing by at ai983@freenet.buffalo.edu
A lot of people wrote in seeking help with the Macintosh Stand-Alone
version of Bang Sonic! It seems there is a problem when using any of the
"Stuffit" products (the dodgy bastards) to de-binhqx Bang!
The solution? Use either "Binhex v.4.0" or better yet "HQXer". They are
available here and there, mostly there. Check the Info-Mac archive or the
UofMich archive. If worst comes to worst, as so often it does, write us
and we'll send out a tow-truck to help you.
Bang Sonic!
As you well know, last year saw the release of musical albums from
not one, but TWO of America's favorite television families. Both the
Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family recycled their finest musical moments
for the digital age. Coincidence? I think not!!!
As has become par for the course, the entertainment industry and the
media establishment conspired with the so-called Brady "Bunch" to rain on
the parade that rightfully belonged to Shirley Jones and her brood of
spunky offspring. The deception is over!!! SHAME ON YOU for assisting in
the perpetuation of this fraud on the citizens of the world.
I will expose you for the lackey stooges of corporate America that
you are!!! The truth must be told!!! The Partridge Family crush the puny
Bradys and all others who oppose them!!!
Sic Semper Tyranis!!!
Danny B...
This is just one of the dozens of colourful letters we inexplicably
received on the subject of the Brady Bunch conspiracy. Coincidence? We
think not. Conspiracies aside, the contest between the Partridges and the
Bradys is no contest at all. "Susan Olsen as Cindy Brady." Enough said.
-Ed.
Dear Sirs,
I would like to call your attention to an error in the January issue of
your fine publication. In your discussion of "venereal warts" you used
the term "in uteri" when it would have been more accurate to say
"cervical".
Keep up the good work.
Dr. Francis Dinkins, m.d., d.d.s.
We think you probably intended to write to Details Magazine for Men.
Their address is . . .
detailsmag@aol.com
In response to an inquiry last month, the research staff did a little
poking around to find out more about the television series "Lipstick on
your Collar." Here is what was discovered:
-There were a mere six episodes, originally broadcast last spring on
Britian's Channel 4.
-Shortly after its debut Michael Jones wrote in the London Times,
"Lipstick On Your Collar is a high-tech product of our contemporary pop
culture. It exploits the climate of permissive television to the full."
-"Splendid television," said the Financial Times. "Dependably
pleasurable," echoed The Independent. "Has the makings of a triumph,"
chortled the Daily Mail. London's Evening Standard went further over the
top by comparing Potter's new assault on the senses with Shostakovich's
Fifth Symphony.
-The Daily Express critic commented: "Spectacular sex."
-By the end of its run the critics were less enchanted. In a
year-end review of 1993's television offerings Craig Brown wrote,
"P" is for the verb to POTTER, derived from Dennis Potter's
disastrous Lipstick On Your Collar (Channel 4), meaning: "to sing yet
another set of old songs while dolly birds strip off and moustachioed men
say 'bum holes' at one another."
(Hard to believe that anything fitting that description could be
"disastrous". -ed.)
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Bang Sonic! is edited and reluctantly managed by Colin P. Macinnes.
Lending invaluable assistance with the more mundane aspects of day to day
life are:
Assistant Editors-
J.Patrick Ronan & Todd Matthews
Writers-
D. Carver
J. Burnett
B. Crull
T. Scodwell
Political Consultation and Bartending-
Scott P. Higgins
As usual, hats off to X-Mag Guru, Jeff Hansen
"Let's go and drop a chicken!"
-Xuxa (Non-native English Speaker)
Bang Sonic! is a monthly E-mag that has little concern for trivial matters
like quality or integrity. Yank our chain at ai983@freenet.buffalo.edu
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