| Pulse |
■ CD review
'Crimes' punk music runs Blood deep
Despite a simpler overall sound,
the latest album from The Blood
Brothers injects complex lyrics
BY RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
If you ignore what their music actually sounds
like (not an easy task), The Blood Brothers have
the surface look of a standard-issue emo band:
double vocalists, lyrics about pain and suffering,
sudden tempo changes and plenty of high-issue
drama. Funny how the look of things can be so
deceiving. Actually listening to them reveals that
the twin vocal attack sounds like mental ward in
mates exchanging bloodcurdling screams be
tween Thorozine doses, that the lyrics deal with
the sort of existential and cultural pain usually
left to raving street lunatics and that the tempo
changes are precision-timed shifts between
haunting melodies and the most aggressive hard
core punk currently being put to record.
On “Crimes,” their follow-up to 2003’s “Burn Pi
ano Island, Burn,” The Blood Brothers have made a
few variations to their sonic assault. They simplified
the arrangements, brought the use of keyboards and
Wurlitzer organs higher up in the mix and have even
slowed things down on a few tracks. But even
though some songs on the album are downright lis
tenable, this doesn’t mean the band as a whole has
become any easier of a pill to swallow.
“Piano Island” solidified the group as some of the
few honest-to-god avant-gardists in modern punk.
The abrasive quality of the music hid complex song
structures based on damn-near impossible time sig
natures, and often the arrangements sounded like
they could have been written by Captain Beefheart,
had he done the appropriate levels of Benzedrine.
The group also borrowed another aspect of the
Beefheart canon with its surrealist approach to
Courtesy
The latest from Seattle’s The Blood Brothers, "Crimes,"
is a powerful punk-rock assault that combines surrealist
imagery with complex, abrasive music.
lyrics. A head rush of images flowed through
each song, as if the words came first and the
meaning was attached later. What still separates
the Brothers from others who use surrealism for
the pure hipness value is that the lyrics actually
do contain a discernible meaning.
“Crimes” is basically no different than its prede
cessor, if only a bit more refined. The band balances
out its assaults of guitar and vocal violence with odd
melodic moments, which hook listeners just in time
to have their feet swept out from under them by the
next assault. And while the arrangements might not
be as complex as before, this gives the band a little
more breathing room to unleash their musical as
saults. And even though things are simpler, that
doesn’t make them necessarily simple. The band still
contains one of the most adept rhythm sections in
punk and the production has fine-tuned everything
to a razor’s edge.
Lyrically, the group still seems to be working
through many of the same issues as on previous
albums, namely the psychological effects of capi
talism and advertising, the various follies of mod
ern human relationships and other random
pieces of cultural absurdity. They resemble noth
ing so much as a sped-up version of the early
Butthole Surfers, minus much of the humor. The
title track, for example, has the second-person
narrator watching an island of garbage burning
off of the shoreline while imagining what we
could do by committing acts of theft, all while
finding odd comparisons between ourselves and
the junk surrounding us.
One central difference between “Crimes” and ear
lier Blood Brothers releases is the slight expansion in
the number of styles the band is working in. The
voodoo funk of “Peacock Skeleton with Crooked
Feathers” is driven by insistent piano chords rather
than hammering guitar riffs, while “My First Kiss at
the Public Execution” brings the bass forward
through most of the song, leading up to the almost
anthem-like chorus. “Live at the Apocalypse
Cabaret” is what it sounds like, a spooky punk-rock
take on 1930s German decadence.
Although The Blood Brothers have long-since
proved that they are one of the best bands work
ing in rock music, “Crimes” leaves the feeling
that the band is capable of producing something
much better than what they have done so far. So
while it might not be the masterpiece the band
seems perfectly capable of, it is still one of the
best testaments to the further relevance of rock
music in general. And while it might not be palat
able for many listeners, it still deserves a few
spins from those willing to give it a try.
ryannybu.rg@dailyem.emld. com
IN BRIEF
Underground band
Built to Spill comes
to WOW Hall
On Nov. 4, pop rockers Built to
Spill will be performing at the
WOW Hall. The popular under
ground act, known for their pop
culture references, complex, gui
tar-heavy arrangements and
fractured song structures, will be
playing along with Mike Johnson
and Ape Shape.
Formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1993
by guitarist/songwriter Doug
Martsch, the band went through a
number of line-up changes before
Martsch settled on Brett Nelson on
bass and Scott Plouf on drums.
The success of their first few al
bums led to a spot on the 1995 Lol
lapalooza tour and subsequently a
record deal with Warner Bros.
Often compared to Modest
Mouse and Neil Young, the
band made its name playing intri
cate pop-rock jams. With their ini
tial critical success in the 1990s,
the band began to make an ap
pearance on the pop charts with
1999’s “Keep It Like a Secret.” The
band's last album, 2001's “Ancient
Melodies of the Future,” didn’t fare
as well but still received some pos
itive reviews.
The WOW Hall is located at
291 W. 8th Ave. Tickets are $15 in
advance and $17 at the door.
Doors open at 8 p.m. Advance
tickets are available at CD/Game
Exchange, House of Records, Face
the Music, Taco Loco, CD World
and the UO Ticket Office.
ryannyburg@ daily emerald. com
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