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REVIEWS

CD: "Bridge Over Bottled Water" - Psychadelic Goat Records (self-release)

SONGS OF INNOCENCE

Ellen Shapiro is a young, serious artist with a lot of talent and potential. Listening to "Bridge Over Bottled Water" is like reading the diary of a smart, literate teenager, with all the requisite intense emotions, yearnings to break free, pain, humor and, of course, thoughts of love. And, like an unedited diary, the album is just a bit too much of everything.

Since the instrumental backing is just plain (although multi-tracked) guitar, it's a good thing Shapiro is just plain good at playing the darn thing. She attacks the grooves like she wants to will a four-piece band into existence behind her, and in the best rockers, like "Four More Days," "First Things First," Addict" and "Andy Warhol Was Wrong" the evocation is successful. But hook-wise, the mid-tempo "Stupid Things" is the standout track both musically and lyrically:

     Call me a hopeless romantic or call me delusional
     I've always fallen for that one true love shit
     So I sit alone at night and wait for my one to come
     I'm starting to think that this ain't working, I wonder
     Why do I do stupid things?
     Why do I think stupid things?
     Why do I say stupid things?
     Why does everything I do feel like stupid things?

There's also a sparse beauty in "The Man," which deals with a child's perceptions of illness and death, but obliquely so as to make the shadowy stories universal:

     People talk about the man
     They say he couldn't outrun the thing
     That I never even understood
     But people still talk about the man

Shapiro's lyrics range from poignant and real like those above to (in some of the weaker songs) unedited true-confession. There's some great in-your-face humor, as in "Bitching About The Heat":

     A hot summer day and humid, yeah we stick to everything
     A hot summer day, the air's so thick, it's hard to sing
     A hot summer day, fuck the clowns! Send in the ice cream men

Shapiro is already a good singer and will only get better. In the age when strong young female voices are too often watered down to nothing by handlers and producers, it's good to hear a youthful singer-songwriter displaying high levels of both talent and conviction. Confidence is the one trait common to all successful musical artists, and on the evidence of this recording, Shapiro's got it.

The CD sounds remarkably good for a four-track home recording. The spare, acoustic-punk sound is consistent throughout. One or two songs break the style mold, notably the country-ish "The Next Time I Fall," but on a CD with such limited production, seventeen songs is too many, making it a work to be sampled rather than listened to all at once. Backed by a band, Shapiro's songs would show off their variety better. And maturity will improve her ability to judge her own work and decide what makes the cut and what doesn't. It will show her that you don't have to put it all out there. Leave the run-of-the-mill stuff in your journal - we just want the juicy parts!

Artist website: ellenshapiro.com

CD: "Vibrolux" - Last Beat Records

SONGS OF EXPERIENCE

Once a casualty of major label shakeout syndrome, Vibrolux is back with its first full-length CD release, titled simply "Vibrolux."

I was all set to dislike the band after I fired up the first song, "Holiday." Oh no, I thought, not another band that thinks ballsy drums and raunchy guitars will magically make wispy vocals and bubbly-pop hooks profound. I hate bands like that.

But by the second verse I was hearing something in Kim Pendleton's voice that made me want to keep listening, and I'm glad I did. "Holiday" flows right into the countrified "We Love Pepsi" where Pendleton's gravelly vocals take center stage, rising from plaintive depths to passionate heights by the final chorus, and after that, the groovy (and in some cases killer) melodic hooks just keep coming ("Soldier," "Good Night Sleep," "Hammer Head," "Love Letters.")

Vibrolux isn't just about sounds and melodies. The lyrics, though sometimes lightweight and occasionally difficult to make out, are smoothly written and contribute some concrete imagery that helps give structure to the washes of sound. (Not that I have anything against scenic sonic soundscapes, it's just that it's so much easier to create them than to actually write a good song.)

Those lyrics and their strong melodic hooks ride Pendleton's haunting voice and Paul Quigg's inventive guitar work, all supported by a fabulous rhythm section, into some nicely original waters. Vibrolux serves up more muscle, more memorable tunes and more musical variety than most dream-pop bands could hope to. Cross the "Pink Panther" theme with Elvis Costello's "Spike" album and you might conjure the bluesy swing of "Where I Stand," and the band's jazzy version of David Bowie's "Win" works wonderfully too.

The CD runs out of steam towards the end. "Begging" and "Finest" are mood pieces that would make great soundtrack music. They get all the benefit of the A-Plus musicianship and production that characterize the whole album, but anyone could have done them. And an up-tempo beat, a cool ending and Pendleton at her scratchy best can't lift a weak piece like "Can't Feel" to the level of Vibrolux's best. And their best is very good indeed.

All in all, "Vibrolux" is an excellent, grown-up effort from a band that must be a lot of fun to see live, and deserves a successful (and more fortunate!) future in this ridiculous business we call music.

Band website: vibrolux.com