A For Attack

With their brand of distorted electro-rock, A for Attack wastes little time taking over where The Hit Machine left off. Based out of Silverlake, A for Attack remains unsigned and has yet to nail down a formal recording, but that minor detail doesn't keep them from putting on a good show for their hometown crowd. From the opening beats of "Christianity Is Stupid" (a cover of a song by notorious '80s rockers Negativland), their solid stage presence demands the attention of the remaining audience. Lead singer Chris Phillips opens the concert in a crouch, screaming the lyrics of "Watch Your Back" into his microphone while the bassist jams behind him. Without a live drummer, they rely on the an assortment of drum machines and effects processors for the percussion, including the Linn Drum-the same tool used by New Order and Prince in the '80s. All the beats are mixed in the studio and played through a laptop computer during live performances. This works well in the recording studio and also translates nicely while they perform on stage. With a thumping bass and head bobbing guitar riff you might expect from The Faint, "All the Harm" stands out as the best track from their short set. The layers of guitar and electronic percussion slowly build, before the Trent Reznor-like screams of Chris Phillips take over during the chorus: "I'll give you anything you want in the world / And save you from the things that hurt in this world / In my world." This song manages to stand out from the rest, which sometimes sounded so similar they were lost in the mix. With a little growth and more variety to their sound, it shouldn't be long before A for Attack inks a deal.

-Jeff Lambert
Skratch Magazine April 2005
http://www.skratchmagazine.com/livereviews.php
- Skratch Magazine April 2005

2004 singles ballot

1 Jay-Z  "99 Problems"
Roc-A-Fella

2. Gretchen Wilson  "Redneck Woman"
Epic Nashville

3. Sara Evans  "Suds in the Bucket"
RCA Nashville

4. Franz Ferdinand  "Take Me Out"
Domino

5. Amy Dalley  "Men Don't Change"
 
6. Toby Keith  "Whiskey Girl"
 
7. Molotov  "Here We Kum"
 
8.Kanye West  "Jesus Walks"
Roc-A-Fella

9. Muse  "Time Is Running Out"
Taste Media/Warner Bros.

10. X-1  "New York Is So Cool" - The Village Voice

Oh, that Larry Clark. He's at it again. His "new" exhibit is a revisiting of "Teenage Lust." Larry apparently didn't show, but the question on everyone's mind is...

Did Chloe Sevigny?

Maybe she's finally figured out how creepy it is that a guy who hovers somewhere in the 60 years old ballpark is trolling convenience store parking lots looking Jr/Sr. High Schoolers to photograph sans wardrobe.

The encounter may be fictional, but the song "New York is So Cool," by X-1(mp3 4.65 MB) immediately came to mind when I saw the Gawkerpost on the opening. Extolling the virtues of the city that never sleeps, the droning narrator of the tune cites a Sevigny sighting at a Clark opening as evidence that New York is, indeed, so cool. Gawker's dirty little sister threw out these two links (Pavement Magazine andharmony-korine.com) giving insight to and history of Clark, as well asthis one which gives you the chance to buy your very own Larry Clark picture, naughty bits and all. Or you can read what the New York Times had to say on March 25th.


Mr. Clark, who was born in 1943 in Tulsa, Okla., is a compulsively provocative artist, and his first retrospective exhibition, at the International Center of Photography, will give your moral sensitivities a workout. He is not happy unless he is working the outer limits of moral acceptability. His supporters say he bears witness to social truths. In the books that put him on the map of fine art photography, ''Tulsa'' (1971) and ''Teenage Lust'' (1983), he reported from the front lines of self-destructive youth culture in vividly immediate scenes of drinking, driving, drug-taking and promiscuous sex.
It is not only the subject matter that is unsettling; it is also the nature of the photographer's involvement. Mr. Clark has never been the classic Life magazine-style photojournalist who drops in on different sorts of newsworthy situations -- the plight of Asian child prostitutes, say -- and reports from a concerned distance. And despite resemblances, he has not been a Robert Frank kind of fine art photographer, with an eye for the powerful visual metaphor. The main impulse in Mr. Clark's photography has been autobiographical, and to the extent that his life has been driven by socially problematic energies, so has his photography.
So, listen to the song, read the post, look at the pictures. Do it in that order. Then shower, shave off all of your body hair, and hope that it gets you clean from what you have just witnessed.



posted by Jeremy D. Thompson at 4/2/2005 10:25:00 PM - http://droppingthegloves.loyaloppositionresearch.com