MASS Meat-ia

The new Bust is out with a couple music reviews I wrote in it.



Here are the unedited versions:

Dark Meat- Universal Indians

Vice Records' most recent addition, Dark Meat is a band sure to be likened to the Polyphonic Spree on acid or maybe David Koresh's flock with instruments. This Athens, GA based gaggle of gypsies boasts seventeen members, some of whom live in a communal 100 acre eco-village called Orange Twin, which could lead to some cultish misconceptions. Cult or not, the product of their mass codependency is pretty magical on debut Universal Indians. Heavy metal guitars are countered by male-female gospel vocals, while a full brass band plays between big band and free jazz styles on oh-so-poetically named "Assholes for Eyeballs;" Sticking with the ocular theme, "Three Eyes Open" sees the band taking a soulful blues trip, before vocalist Jim McHugh launches into "One More Trip, a Mick Jagger-esque foot-stomper. If two's company, and three's a crowd, then from the sound of Dark Meat, seventeen is a full on raging family style dinner fiesta. So, gather round the table y'all, and take a big ol' healthy bite
MARY-LOUISE PRICE

Indian Jewelry- Free Gold!

It's tough to be an experimental psychedelic noise electro-punk collective these days what with the name changes, rotating members, and myriad influences. Man, do they have a lot of influences! Luckily, Houston's Indian Jewelry settled on a name (after trying on 3 or 4), and released their third effort Free Gold just as the mainstream ear is getting comfortable with a little eccentricity, and electronic blips are climbing all over the charts. The group (consisting of three key members, and around twenty contributors) zig-zag their way through each experiment with spacey synths, strings, horns, repetitive non-sensical lyrics, and spirit conjuring tribal beats, concluding the job with nearly 8 minutes of fuzzy distortion, and piano banging certain to satisfy aging and newbie Suicide fans alike. While Indian Jewelry grope at the hippie dippy, space case-y, and the just plain noisy, their originality falls short, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Free Gold is (for the most part) flattering to the ear.
MARY-LOUISE PRICE

Pick up the mag for visits with the band Ponytail, photos from the private collection of the Bouvier Beale family (not seen in Grey Gardens), and more and more and more...