Scritti Politti- S up er c h un k fl un k 8 evildoers of to be harder and grungier. Perhaps MARI IRWIN the new contributing writer their other albums are better than this one. If you really There are a few millennium really like indie catchy tunes on the ANNA HARRIS rock, then this is album like "Hello contributing writer the band for Hawk," but they you. If your aren't quality songs. musical tastes Mostly the songs run in any other just don't flow direction you together or even probably will sound finished. The not like the musicians seem to mediocre album know how to play Come Pick Me Up by Superchunk. You would think that their instruments after producing nine other albums in the last ten years decently but the while still being an unheard of indie band, Superchunk lyrics are lame. Save might possibly get a clue. Or maybe they just deserve mad yourself some dinero props for making albums just because they like to. But that and use it to go buy doesn't mean you should go out and buy them. comic books or Perhaps one day Superchunk will realize Superchunk has a little bit of a Weezer sound and want something more that its time to sit on the porch Why is it so wonderful that the band desperately to sound like Lisa Loeb. Most people can't worthwhile. permanently. But in the meantime. they've which calls itself Scritti Politti is from the stand Lisa Loeb. These guys aren't as good as her. Grant- released another atrocious album. UK? The answer is astoundingly simple- ed, I haven't heard their other albums which are supposed since they already speak English, they don't need an interpreter to tell them that their newest album SUCKS! Full of over- When worlds of Made Men make used mixing techniques and a variety of nauseating blends of genre within each song, Anomie & Bonhomie is a sad exhibi- music collide new release tion by the aging band, or should we say Liz PARISI CONNOR WILLIAMS band member? contributing writer contributing writer Green Gartside, frontman for Scritti Some music lends itself to being the soundtrack of a drug When wandering through the hip-hop section of Politti, also happens to be the only steady trip. The only drugs anyone will want after listening to Afro a music store, it is very easy to become disoriented member at this time and the main force Celt Sound System's new album Volume two: Relea$e are the and overwhelmed by the huge shelves displaying the behind the production of Anomie & Bon- kind that Dr. Kevorkian prescribes. It's not that the execution efforts of new artists. The term "hip-hop" can refer homie, the band's fourth album on a major of this CD is bad, it is that the entire concept is flawed. By to numerous styles, from 01' Dirty Bastard to R Kelly. label since 1982. Only two of Scritti's songs using African and Celtic music, Afro Celt Sound System pays Slick packaging and the "hip-hop" designation can have ever made the charts in the US (back tribute to a new genre of music that should never have exist- hide lack of talent. Fortunately, this is not the case in the mid-eighties), only two less than ed. lnstead of an innovative mix of traditional sounds, Vol- with Classic Limited Edition, the new release from the the number that have charted in the UK. ume Two: Release is a boring rip-off of Riverdance with African Made Men. Not to say that their sound wasn't great drums. While this album may interest those who enjoy pseu- The subject material for the lyrics closely resem- in the '80s; on the contrary, it was inno- do-intellectual international music, the other 99.99% of the bles that of any other rap album; the requisite refer- vative and surprising then. Unfortunate- population will just raise an eyebrow and say, "Huh?" ences to crime, drugs and women are certainly pres- ly, the key ingredient of this album, which With songs like "Hypnotica" and "Riding the Waves," it ent here. Numerous guest appearances - another hall- seems to delight in relying on a mix of reg- takes no stretch of the imagination to picture the sort of music mark of rap albums - are featured as well. Help from gae, white-boy pop-rock and a smidgen one can expect from this album. Each song brings forth more Mase, Big Pun, Montell Jordan and Monifah prove of punk, has already been overplayed in images of hippie women in their 40s dancing around in flowy that, at the very least, the Made Men can hang with the last few years of this decade. skirts. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Some tracks hip-hop's elite. Please, save yourself from the agony do offer an interesting blend of tribal rhythms and Celtic The Made Men exhibit a cohesive, bouncing style of songs like "Tinseltown To The Boo- instrumentals, like "Even In My Dreams." What keeps works that is pleasing to the ear, if not entirely original. "Keep giedown" and the ever popular "Umm." like that from becoming quality music are the invasive lyrics It Movin"' is a lively track that features solid lyrics Don't buy this album -The Mushroom that destroy the hypnotic effect of the rest of the pieces. laced over up-tempo bass lines. While the album is has better taste than to buy it back from This album is probably really impressive when someone enjoyable, it is difficult to automatically place this you the next day. There are a number of is under the effects of heav dru s. The images in the book- group with the u er echelon of ra . With a solid more tasteful and entertaining CD's on let seem tailored for sophomore the market - Barney's Greatest Hits for the LSD-inclined. effort, per- Made Men example, or perhaps the newest Spice Girls It should come haps one Classic Di mi ted endeavor. Scritti Politti and their newest with a sheet of LSD that take a ｾ ｾ ［ ｦ ｩ ｾ ｾ ｳ album deserve to, as the fourth track says, stamps. Trust me, few more r""- '. "Die Alone." May we suggest finding a it'll make Afro Celt ri ks, these I Jf nice, heavy rock to do it undN? Not a true \ / Sound System guys could classic, but ｾ Ｎ -...../ almost bearable. live up to a solid album their name. nonetheless. arcade .