A ‘Sailing’ debut from
local boys Jolly Mon
SAILING
★ ★★
GROUP Jdiy Mon
UWtl fitment*!
Records
By Dave Charbonneau
Otfgcvt l mBtjM
If you've lived in Kugene for any
amount of time, you know jolly Mon
And if you know Jolly Mon. you were
likely crushed when they pin kod it up and
moved to Portland a year ago Well, the
ltx.nl boys done good
Jolly Mon's new C.I) Sailing is nine
songs-worth of the sound and feel that has
made them the hand with the ability to
lure voii into a skull-«:ra< king pit. while
lighting up a howl nt the same time
The «ID, like |ollv Mon's live show. is
loaded with ups ;uuf downs, further prov
ing tfs.it lolly Mon c ould he one of the
most versatile hands in the oh so-htp
Northwest music sc ene
The roller coaster rich* begins on the
opening track, "I'll ■ Machine After a
somewhat loopy beginning, the song col
ics Is itself and fires into a powerful rv.ill of
noise that is enhanced by the surprisingly
obnoxious sounding vex als of Cnrey Ku h
from there the song falls bat k into a
dreamy, melodic break that doesn't sound
one* hit out of pine e
Next comes The Class Headed Boy.
which brings the listener hat k doyvn to
earth with its hypnotizing heat and mel
low lyrics
The third trai k is the popular "Fairy
Tale." This song, along xvith "The Ode."
became anthems to many- of the pit
dwellers in Fiugeno and the songs shine as
much on Sailing ns they do live. Whether
it be Carey Rich's bass intro on "Fairy
Tale" or Greg Kklund's drum intro on
The Ode," both songs build up tension in
the opening seconds and explode once
Carl Becker's guitar tomes crashing in
(Sadly, Bis ker has smt e tjuit the band, but
Jolly Mon has already pu ked up a 17-year
old replacement from Salem)
The short-but-sweet "Mother Nature"
launches in and out in less than two min
utes and is followed by another slow ride
with "Alien " The song has no guitar, just
Imiss, drums and wood blocks Pretty cool
One word of note is that Stilling will
finally give Jolly Mon funs a chance to
hear Rich's voit «. and at times you can
actually hear what he's saying Kit h's
voice is not great, but by as low as they
usually have the voit e mike turned down
live, you'd think he was terrible, which he
is not But Jolly Mon's vocals are at its !>est
when Kith and Bet ker are harmonizing
On "Mother Nature." "So Big" and
"Tolusa," Rich and Be* ker prove that the
vocal skills of Jolly Mon cannot be over
looked On "So Big." the repeated "ahs
near the ant) of the song would get annoy
ing if not for perfect sounding harmonies
of Bet ker and Kit h
Sailing is tile second album released by
elemental Rt*t ortls in Portland — the first
was a compilation CD entitled Northurrst
t 'ngrungr. whu h Jolly Mon also appears
on and the people at Kleinenta! did an
amazing job of t apturing Jolk Mon away
from their familiar stomping grounds: tin
stage
The only disappointments of the CD is
that the hand decided to t ut out the reggae
beginning of "Tolusa” anti there are only
nine songs included. Besides that, let's
pist Ih- proud that we can all sit back and
brag to our friends that I viw them before
they were big " It's something to Ini proud
of.
Jolly Mon guitarist Karl Becker adds his talents to the band's sparkling debut album.
... a UO Tradition Continue
_ SAT OCT 1st and
it our Karaoke with more new English, Japanese & Korean
(Karaoke Lounge is open to all ages) ^ ,
centennial Blvd. (next to Autzen stadium)
T * For more information call : 343-4734