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CD reviews: August Spies; Aqueduct,; Dead to Fall; Bayside; Anberlin; Low Luster League

By Paul Maldonado
Friday, March 2, 2007

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August Spies, "New Catastrophe" (Blue Island Records)

The music on the debut full-length from this Duke City quartet has an urgency about it. These are definitely not pop songs, but the tunes still possess hooks over the course of 4-minutes plus. And as the band says: Everybody "sings."

The post-punk New Wave of opener "Pedaling Backwards" is dance rock with echoey vocals and chiming guitars. The title track features disembodied vocals over spacey psych-guitar; it kind of sounds like the Deftones' "Hole in the Earth." In fact, the trippy atmospherics and spaced-out jams ("Secondary") are reminiscent of present-day Deftones.

The guys rock out on the punky-dubby "Spades," while the futuristic funk of "Eye of the Liger" gets by on a dub/ska beat and angular guitar progressions. The post-hardcore closer "Came and Saw" could be interpreted as an anti-Bush, anti-war song.

August Spies will celebrate the release of "New Catastrophe" at the Launchpad, 618 Central Ave. S.W. The Oktober People, Feels Like Sunday, Your Name in Lights and the Cherry Tempo get the party started at 9 p.m. Saturday. $5. 21 and over only. 764-8887.

Listen to "Spades"

Aqueduct, "Or Give Me Death" (Barsuk Records)

David Terry, a Tulsa, Okla., native transplanted to Seattle, is basically a one-man band. While the piano is the main instrument, he also plays horns, synth strings and an electric guitar to flesh out most of the tunes.

His looped and layered vocals sound like Brian Wilson's high-pitched whine; and the poignant, bittersweet lyrics are often self-deprecating. (There are double-entendres in "Lying in the Bed I've Made" and "Living a Lie" with the line: "It's not living a lie if you're not living at all.")

This is melodic, off-kilter, lovelorn pop that's achingly familiar, as if from some future AM radio station. He keeps faith in the human condition amid the loneliness and misanthropy ("Keep It Together"), while helplessly hoping everything will turn out OK (the bizarro Beach Boys-like "Just the Way I Are"). Another bizarro Beach Boys turn appears on "Broken Records," where Terry laments: "You are so over the top; I am so over it now."

"Zero the Controls" is electro-industrial chill, glitches and all, while "As You Wish" describes a mutilation like something out of "American Psycho." "With Friends Like These" offers a kiss off, as does "Split the Difference" ("I'll go nowhere if you let me, been this way before you met me") only with a little more subtlety, except for its speedy tempo and rapid-fire vocals.

Aqueduct brings David Terry's broken heart to the Launchpad on Wednesday. The Annuals, Mei Long and Leiahdorus open the show at 9 p.m. $6. 21 and over.

Music available at Aqueduct CD.

Dead to Fall, "The Phoenix Throne" (Victory Records)

This Chicago metalcore five-piece is brutal and relentless in its sonic assault. The precision musicianship proffers hardcore speed-metal with tempo shifts and changes. And the howl 'n' growl vocals make the doom & gloom lyrics (usually with a death fetish) almost unintelligible.

"All My Heroes Have Failed Me" is speed-metal math rock with stop-on-a-dime time/tempo shifts, while "The Reptile Lord" is even faster hardcore, and "Death & Rebirth" concerns "the cycle of despair on the Phoenix throne."

However, if you listen closely (or read the liner notes), these guys display an almost-out-of-place sense of humor. "Chum Fiesta" chronicles a shark attack; "Smoke & Mirrors" is a diatribe against faddists and trend followers; "Guillotine Dreams (Slow Drugs)" is deadman talking (and thinking); and "Doomed to Failure" reassures that you really don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Dead to Fall is part of the support for Kittie's headlining show tonight at the Sunshine Theater, 120 Central Ave. S.W. Walls of Jericho, 36 Crazyfists and In This Moment also lend support on the "Funeral for Yesterday" tour. Doors for the all-ages show open at 7; tickets are $17, plus service charges, at Ticketmaster outlets. Call 883-7800 or go to Ticketmaster. Smoking and alcohol service in segregated areas only.

Listen to "Chum Fiesta

Bayside, "The Walking Wounded" (Victory Records)

On its first full-length release since the death of original drummer John "Beatz" Holohan, this Long Island, N.Y., four-piece is less emo and more rock. Sporting a bigger sound, this is energetic, melodic, punk-infused rock; this could be their best record yet.

There's a lot of self-loathing in the lyrics - in the title track; "Duality," with the line "I've tried `brave' and I've tried `saved' "; the anger, aggression and cunning of "I and I"; and the alcoholic love affair of "Choke Hops, and Bottled Self-Esteem" - and a crisis of faith ("Dear Your Holiness").

But the bandmates seem to be seeking redemption in and with their music. The hipsters of tomorrow get their comeuppance on "Head on a Plate": "I define up and coming; they already came up and went."

On "A Rite of Passage," the band is putting itself out there and letting the public judge its songs, but, in the end, it doesn't really care what the public thinks. Ultimately, there is self-acceptance ("(Pop)Ular Science") and a new beginning.

Listen to "Duality"

Anberlin, "Cities" (Tooth & Nail Records)

On its third long-player, this Winter Haven, Fla., quartet delivers loud, anthemic emo rock. It still dishes its Christian rhetoric but without being preachy; they're kind of like UnderOath sans the screaming or growling.

There's a struggle between good and evil ("Godspeed," an indictment of "fashion statement suicide"), as well as between heaven and hell ("A Whisper & A Clamor"). They also sing about love, life, loss, lies and lipstick traces ("Adelaide"), and, of course, sin ("Reclusion").

Even the acoustic guitars are loud, as on the saving grace of "The Unwinding Cable Car" ("This is the correlation of salvation and love"). The breakup song "There Is No Mathematics to Love and Loss" is driven by synths, while orchestral strings embellish the pretty pop ballad "Inevitable."

The nine-minute closer "(*Fin)" comes complete with children's choir and is a declaration of faith while at the same time seemingly questioning that faith. This is Christian emo rock for even the nonbelievers.

Anberlin gets to test Bayside's philosophical outlook on Wednesday at the Sunshine Theater. Meg & Dia and Jonezetta open the all-ages show. Doors at 7 p.m. $12, plus service charges, at Ticketmaster.

Low Luster League, "It Happens" (Self-released)

Hapa Martinez from El Paso is a one-man band, playing guitar, drums and bass. And he also sings, in English and Spanish.

The 12 songs on this disc are very catchy lo-fi garage, pop-punk rock, with a bit of mariachi thrown in for good measure. The bilingual lyrics (mainly delivered through processed vocals) mostly deal with love and sex or the lack thereof. On "The Late Bloomer" he's "looking for a friend with benefits."

The title track and "Tonite Again" sound like the whacked-out offspring of the Strokes and White Stripes. Martinez is all over the genre map (often in the same song) but somehow makes it all work: "Mujer" '60s-style rock 'n' roll; and "Me Luv" is a fuzzed-out polka that alternates between Spanish and English.

"Always, All Ways" seems to be a reluctant love song, and "Cicatriza" is the broken-hearted wails of a man in lust.

Low Luster League brings its bilingual schmooze to Burt's Tiki Lounge, 313 Gold Ave. S.W., on Tuesday. Sleeping in the Aviary and the Small Flightless Birds open the free show at 10 p.m. 247-2878.