Allison Faith Levy, Organ Grinder, Gets in Touch with Her Jewish Roots; V-Twin's Engaging, Friendly New Album
Alison Faith Levy is the keyboard player in the Loud Family?or as she calls it, "the organ grinder." She looks like a more alt version of Elaine on Seinfeld, but she's a lot more talented than that shrew. This was manifested clearly by the two songs she wrote on the last Louds LP, as well as this, her third solo album, which I get the feeling is a lot more personal a work. After all, in the Loud Family there's only gonna be one leader and that's Scott Miller. Alison's role in that band, although an integral part of the sound of the last two albums, is still subdued. So it's great that she's recorded an album like this one, one that reveals how varied her musical capabilities really are.
The first song on My World View, "Monkey Bars," sounds like the kinda paean a drunken college girl with a really good soprano might sing on a Sunday morning. But it gives a startling alert to anyone expecting the kind of organ-grinding pop of "Years of Wrong Impressions," her magnum opus with the Louds. On this album, Alison gets more in touch with her Yiddish roots?mainly, the somewhat grandiose, romantic and well-produced early 70s work of piano-playing singer/songwriters like Carole King, nice Jewish girls with romantic yearnings who combined rock 'n' roll with Tin Pan Alley standards and sentiments. Levy harkened back to these more refined elements already on "The Apprentice," her other contribution to the last Louds album, Attractive Nuisance. She reprises it here, with a string quartet this time, and it actually fits. This song has enigmatic lyrics. Lay what on the apprentice? Huh? There's one line I understand: "The flicking tongue of indecency."
Nothing indecent here, though?quite the contrary, this is one of the more well-bred outings of this or any year, and it's kind of refreshing after literally decades of young people with low self-esteem self-consciously slumming their standards. That kind of conformity-in-a-shell has resulted in a sludgeheap whereby bands with absolutely no talent can get by on sheer attitude alone (like Royal Trux, for instance). What we have on My World View is a lot more universal; it's the sound of music-as-need, performed simply to satisfy some urge in its maker. Call it "artistic," but that doesn't mean it's a vanity project like so many of those other indie-rock experiments.
This album is made up of great songs, all played expertly, with depth and meaning. There's a symphonic creation, called "Claim the Initial Impulse," that showcases Levy's classical training, but the majority of songs here are lyrical pop pastiches relying heavily on eloquent arrangements and vocals. The title cut, for instance, is worthy of either Tapestry or Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. Parts of "Brilliant," possibly the best song on the album, would do Brian Wilson proud in their overall construction. This is a very sophisticated affair. I haven't heard anyone do the same melding of rock, theatrics and grandiose Broadway dynamics that Alison pulls off on "Infidel Brigade" since Laura Nyro. Skip all albums by flaxen-haired chanteuses who sound exactly alike, and upgrade to something a little more graceful.
Joe S. Harrington
Beat Happening and Scotland's Pastels were the two most influential underground rock bands of the 90s. Discuss.
It's self-evident, isn't it? Look at Nirvana. Look at Belle & Sebastian. Look at Sleater-Kinney. Look at all those godawful lesser International Pop Underground bands I care not to name because their names in juxtaposition will surely lessen the magic and melodies surrounding Calvin and Stephen. (Hi, Softies.) Both bands have a strong, charismatic frontman that also helps other bands fulfill their artistic dreams. Both frontmen started with minimal, Velvet Underground-influenced pop music and have since mutated into more recognizable "dance" rhythms?in Calvin Johnson's case, dub, and in Stephen Pastel's case, the postrock warm experimentalism of Tortoise and Stereolab. Oh, and both have had incredible far-reaching influence across their respective countries and especially in their hometowns.
It's now almost impossible to hear a band from Glasgow without being reminded of the Pastels somehow. The V-Twin may draw upon the music of Dan Penn, playful avant-guru Bill Wells and Sun Ra for inspiration. They may sell themselves as "the Wu Tang Clan of G12," only with "wilder nicknames" because of their fondness for collaboration. But you can hear the echo of Stephen's bruised, hurt, slightly camp voice almost everywhere on this, their debut album. "In the Land of the Pharoahs (Dark Tourism)" draws so heavily on the Velvets you find yourselves singing alternate words?very Pastels. The opening track "Delinquency" is like Jad Fair married to a hip, fun dance beat?very Pastels. "Thank You Baby," with its slight country-and-western flava and remix from Kid Loco, is also very Pastels. As is the idea of putting two more, very warped and at-odds versions of the first track later on in the album.
I don't mean to denigrate Jason (Mr. V-Twin). It's clear that he has many useful, enlightening ideas of his own. ("Sound as Ever" sounds like a cross between Rod Stewart in his Faces days and Steve Malkmus?very Pastels!) Clearly, this must be so. His band started life as aspiring New York Dolls, and by the time of their first single had mutated into something funkier. Free the Twin is an engaging, friendly, surprising album?I'm just trying to make a point here by mentioning the Pastels. Like a Two-Lane Blacktop or T. Rex, the music just seems right, fast-moving and funny, but always sincere.
Everett True