Japanese trio Chatmonchy takes stab at Shonen Knife legacy
“KOKUHAKU,” Chatmonchy (SIN/Sony)
Sony Music Independent Network is releasing to America the first three full-length albums from Japan’s all-woman Chatmonchy and sending the trio to make its U.S. debut March 19 at the SXSW Music Conference in Austin, Texas.
Clearly Sony is testing the waters to see if America is fertile ground for another Shonen-Knife-like following. If so, perhaps we’ll be hearing an English-language release from Chatmonchy sometime soon.
While Japan’s three-woman pop/punk Shonen Knife, which surfaced nearly two decades ago, is an obvious predecessor to the three-woman pop/punk Chatmonchy, the younger threesome will make listeners nostalgic for more than the kitschy energy and irreverence of Shonen Knife. “Kokuhaku,” the most recent of its three full-length releases, features serious musicianship from singer/guitarist Eriko, bassist Akiko and drummer Kumiko. The songs merge the spirit of 1980s New Wave music and the earnestness of 1990s alt-rock into a refreshingly timeless jumble of hooks and rhythms.
Best of all, “Kokuhaku” is a break from the AutoTuned-hip-pop-electro that has smothered most genres of contemporary American music.
Meanwhile, Eriko’s soaring voice, which is both emotional and childlike, gives Chatmonchy distinction — though separated from her deft guitar and the muscular cadence from Akiko and Kumiko, the singer’s delivery might irritate.
Whether she’s belting out taunting, rapid-fire lines on the neo-punk “Hirahira Hiraku Himitsu no Tobira” or droning in the glowing serernity of closer “Yasashisa,” Eriko is a force of nature. And despite the limitations of her high pitch, she can smolder in the hypntotic atmosphere of “Aimai na Kanjon” and ratchet up the tension of “Kaze Fukeba Koi.” Yet her peeling guitars, the heavy resonance of bass and the bossy drum beats prove just as vital to the mix.
English-oriented American ears might find Japanese a less-alluring unfamiliar tongue than, say, French or Spanish. But if the Chatmonchy trial balloon flies, maybe the trio will treat us to something we can understand.
Rating (five possible): 3-1/2
Beth Thornley can crow about comparisons
“WASH U CLEAN,” Beth Thornley (Beth Thornley)
Comparisons are usually the laziest, and most effective, way to describe a singer or group unfamiliar to your audience — whether it’s something direct like Lady Gaga meets Freddie Mercury (Adam Lambert, anyone?) or convoluted like the Black Eyed Peas crossed with Susan Boyle in a Chipmunks movie (still waiting on that one).
New and underappreciated performers might feel slighted to have their work demeaned as something derivative, but if Beth Thornley sees her “Wash U Clean” compared to Sheryl Crow, she should just run with it. Because there’s nothing wrong with Sheryl Crow.
And there’s not much wrong with “Wash U Clean,” an ambitious potpourri a notch up from Thornley’s 2006 release, “My Glass Eye.”
The lively Thornley, a native of Alabama now based in Los Angeles, dishes out the diversity with a rasp in her throat and a kick in her step. She gamely charges through raw rock on the title-track opener, where she trades her spirited insults with honking sax and pounding drums, and on the fuzzy “You’re So Pony,” where she sweats out the sexuality with, “You ain’t no one trick/You’re more like the Triple Crown.”
Working again with her “My Glass Eye” producer Rob Cairns, Thornley’s Crow-like, quasi-scattershot mix of rock, pop and Americana also has a tender side, including the brooding ballad “Never Your Girl” and the somber-sweet “Everyone Falls,” where strings and piano cushion her sincerity as she sings, “I’ve been faking it for so long/Trying to hold on/Trying to get by.”
“Wash U Clean” features other flavors: The soft “Still Can’t Hide” bears an obvious Beatles sensibility, “It’s Me” is a noble (if unsuccessful) attempt at rock theater, and the grinding, electrified “Bones” finds a conflicted Thornley swinging back and forth from empathy to hostility with lines such as, “It’s not your fault, but it’s all your fault.”
The release ends with a charming twist — a buoyant “A to Z” where she reluctantly embraces happiness: “Even good things take some getting used to.”
Thornley may not sing like a bird, but she sings like a Crow. And there’s no shame in that.
Rating: 4
Picastro’s ‘Secret’ unlikely to spread
“BECOME SECRET,” Picastro (Monotreme)
It’s safe to say the majority of the rank and file would dislike Picastro’s “Become Secret” if they ever heard it (and most of them won’t), and it’s also safe to say that the release’s very austerity is part of its appeal.
The Toronto-based ensemble of voice, cello, acoustic guitar, piano and drums endlessly shies away from convention and lurks in the shadowy depths of grim nontraditionalism: The closest “Become Secret” gets to a “hook” is the morbid death-march-chant-along, “You will never love again/I will never breathe again.”
Heavy-handed piano and sawed cello set the background for the off-kilter vocals of opening track “Twilight Parting,” which is really more the suggestion of a song than a fully realized song, and the act thus begins its unhappy saunter into obscurity.
Songwriter Liz Hysen plays the pivotal role of singer, channeling Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier with a monochromatic disconnection of voice that rarely reveals anything but ambivalence. Her most emotional point is merely an arch in tone on “Pig & Sucker” as she sings, “I don’t hate you, but that don’t mean I want you.”
Picastro fully commits to opaque dejection, whether in the muffled swells of “Neva” or in the ominous keyboard riffs of “A Dune a Doom,” yet ultimately “Become Secret” feels half-baked, the result of some noodling around by like-minded dark souls who amuse themselves with such experiments as the absurd operatic tune-up of “A Neck in the Desert” and the melancholy meditation of “I Know My Time Now.”
Elusive though it is, “Become Secret” is also pretty and odd enough that those who gravitate toward pretty and odd things will find it. But it’s hard to imagine listeners will take away anything substantial from the experience.
Rating: 3
© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Comments » 1
altamaha writes:
I had never heard of Beth Thornley before, so I checked out a lot of her stuff online. I listened to her entire "Wash U Clean" album as well as a few songs from her previous albums.
Overall, Thornley strikes me as an artist with potential, but who's not quite there yet. She's a pretty good singer, but her voice is a bit girlish and shrill, and also somewhat anonymous. She needs to improve her enunciation at times too. Maybe there's some resemblance to Sheryl Crow, but she still has quite a ways to go to match Crow. However, I think the biggest problem is that overall Thornley's songs aren't distinctive enough and lack strong hooks. With the right material, I think she could really shine.
Of all the songs I listened to online, I actually thought her best song was "You Made It So," from her first album. On "Wash U Clean," Thornley sounds a bit awkward on both the title track and "You're So Pony" in her stabs at rapping/R&B. Her most effective song on the album seems to be "Still Can't Hide," which has an attractive melody.
At this point, Thornley seems to be one of those artists who produce music that is competent but not particularly memorable. Both her songs and her singing don't really seem to have a signature touch. She needs to produce music that shouts, "This is Beth Thornley, and don't you ever forget it!" Maybe one day she'll achieve that, but until then, she's got some work to do.
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