CD REVIEW
Mr. Hugo Ball
Refusal Fossil
Another Chicago "now-wave" indie label with a prog-rock duo gone nuckin' futs. Ruins, a two-piece with guests, is Japan's answer to American 70's progressive rock done with 90's deconstructionist sensibilities. This 60 minutes of churn, attack and riff-swagger comes off sounding like a sales demo for the latest hi-end keyboard/sampling mo'sheen at your local music shop.
Only this duo creates that sound minus the keyboard. Ruins uses bass, drums, and vocals (with an occasional sax or guitar thrown in) to prepare a palate of thousands of sounds and styles within 20 songs. Think of the Ex and Yes laid over hardcore punk.
The carefully scripted chaos makes Tortoise look derivative and uninspired. The final 8 tracks are live which is, I imagine, how I would enjoy this most, and the last song is a cover of about 20 bands including ELP, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Gong, Kansas and Goblin containing 3-10 seconds ripped off of each and thrown into one big Japanese orgasm.
The vocals would be like watching the movie Sybil in fast motion. If you want a catalog of almost everything that's been tried in music in the 20th Century in one song coming out of your boom box with rapid-fire intensity, then this is your drink. Truly destructive, nihilistic art here.
(Skin Graft Records, P.O. Box 257546, Chicago, IL 60625).