CMJ NewMusic® CMJ STELLASTARR* 25 REVIEWED: SOUTH, THURSDAY, Report TO MY SURPRISE, SAVES THE DAY, CCMJCMJIssue No.M 832 • SeptemberJ 22, 2003 • www.cmj.com SPOTLIGHT MATCHBOOK ROMANCE + MORE! LOUD ROCK AS HOPE DIES DEAD CRPMMJ VAN DYK GETS REFLECTIVE CMJ RETAIL RAND FINALE! TRUSTTRUST NEVERNEVER SLEEPSSLEEPS Leona Naess Is Bringin’ On The HEARTBREAK RADIO 200: WEEN SPENDS SECOND WEEK AT NO. 1• SPIRITUALIZED HOOKS MOST ADDED NewMusic ® CMJ CMJCMJ Report 25 9/22/2003 Vice President & General Manager Issue No. 832 • Vol. 77 • No. 5 Mike Boyle CEDITORIALMJ COVER STORY Editor-In-Chief 6 A Question Of Trust Kevin Boyce Becoming a hermit in unfamiliar L.A., tossing her computers and letting the guitars bleed in the Associate Editors vocal mics, Leona Naess puts her trust in herself and finally lends her perfect pipes to a record Doug Levy she adores. Now if she could just make journalists come clean and get over her fear of poisoned CBradM MaybeJ Halloween candy… Louis Miller Loud Rock Editor DEPARTMENTS Amy Sciarretto Jazz Editor 4 Essential/Reviews by Dimmu Borgir, Morbid Angel and Dope get Tad Hendrickson Reviews of South, Stellastarr*, Thursday, To My reviewed; Darkest Hour and Atreyu get punked RPM Editor Surprise, Saves The Day, Matchbox Romance on the road; tidbits regarding Slayer, Opeth, and Lost In Translation. Plus, KMFDM’s Angst Exodus, Theatre Of Tragedy, As Hope Dies, Justin Kleinfeld receives CMJ’s “Silver Salute.” Black Dahlia Murder, Stigma, Stampin’ Retail Editor Ground and Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions Gerry Hart 8 Radio 200 series; and Misery Index’s Sparky submits to Associate Ed./Managing Retail Ed. Ween sits its fancypants at No. 1. this week’s Q&A. Christopher R. Weingarten Contributing Writer 12 Core Radio 75 24 Jazz Brad Filicky Ween at No. 1 here too. A chat with Jason Moran and news of the Art Web Producer/Contributing Ed. Ensemble. Reviews of David S. Ware’s new Steve Ciabattoni 13 At The Core string ensemble, Branford Marsalis’s tribute to Interns WSOU/South Orange, NJ sets sail with Sick Of painter Romare Bearden and Marty Ehrlich’s L. Bianca Buchanan It All; WERS/Boston finds NEMO; KTSW/San latest. Marcos, TX and WMCX/West Long Branch, NJ Jonny Leather show their school spirit; and WUSC/Columbia, 26 RPM Vicki Siolos SC streams once again. Paul van Dyk discusses his life changing expe- rience and reflects on his new record; Reviews CUSTOMER SERVICE 14 RAM Chart of new records from Alexkid, Robert Miles and Manager Nobody. Sean Caesar 16 Specialty Charts Coordinator Ween takes it to No. 1 at Triple A too. 28 Tours Brett McNamara Nada Surf rides into Tour Of The Week; 17 Hip-Hop Chart Mogwai and Stolie lead off the Vital Five; and ART Madlib celebrates eight weeks at No. 1. Evan Dando gets Bored in Tour Tidbits. Art Director 18 Artist Spotlight 33 CMJ Retail Drew Goren Riding atop the new wave revival all the way Best Buy gets dusted for Fingerprints (Part II); Associate Art Director into its new major label digs, Brooklyn’s retailers react to the UMVD decision; Holy Graham Brice Stellastarr* borrows from such acts as the Jesus And Mary Chain! Black Rebel Pixies and Talking Heads in order to create its Motorcycle Club is No. 1! A Perfect Circle, PUBLISHING refreshing self-titled debut. Singer/guitarist Dressy Bessy, From Autumn To Ashes and CEO & Publisher Shawn Christensen and drummer Arthur Need New Body get Points; Whiney gets down Robert K. Haber Kremer give CMJ the low-down. on the upside with Sound Garden; and ear X- Chief Operating Officer tacy gets plowed in Newsworthy. Jay B. Ziskrout 20 Caught In The Act Paul van Dyk meets CMJ, Leona Naess has run- 42 Upcoming Chief Financial Officer in with the Duke, Stellastarr* shows up in Victor Ney Blighty, a big thumbs-up for the Warped Tour, 44 Get A Job Account Executive and more — all from the page the Trachtenburg Jon Rayvid Family would love to get its hands on. 46 Airplay Director Of Marketing Stacy Chaloeicheep 21 Loud Rock 58 Radio Adds & Going For Adds It’s a thoroughly metal week, as new albums Spiritualized takes No. 1 most added with 164 CIRCULATION adds. Cover photo: Chris Floyd Distribution & Fulfillment [email protected] CMJ New Music Report (ISSN 0890 0795) is published weekly, except for one week in January, by The CMJ Network, Inc. with offices at 151 W. 25th St., 12th Fl.; New York, NY 10001. Subscription rates are $345.00 for 48 issues; $575.00 917.606.1908 for 96 issues. Sorry, no refunds. Subscription offices: 151 W. 25th St., 12th Fl.; New York, NY 10001. Tel 917.606.1908. Outside U.S. and Canada 917.606.1908. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. CMJ CMJ NETWORK, INC. New Music Report is copyright ©2003 by The CMJ Network, Inc. all rights reserved; nothing may be reproduced with- out written consent of publisher. Unless indicated otherwise, all letters sent to CMJ are eligible for publication and Robert K. Haber copyright purposes, and are subject to CMJ’s right to edit and comment editorially. Unsolicited manuscripts, photos Joanne Abbott Green and artwork are welcome; please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope to facilitate return. Postmaster: send address changes to CMJ New Music Report, 151 W. 25th St., 12th Fl.; New York, NY 10001 3 CMJ SEPTEMBER 22, 2003 REVIEWS SOUTH STELLASTARR* With The Tides (Kinetic) Stellastarr* (RCA) In the South dictionary, the entry Stellastarr* frontman Shawn for “epic” takes up at least a full Christensen has a way with page, while the one for “minimal” words. It’s not the first thing has been torn out, shredded and you’ll notice when you listen to burned to ash. The U.K. trio’s his band’s self-titled debut debut album, From Here On In, album, but after you get took the long road to sonic victo- through the intricate song ry, trading moody, anthemic gui- structures, the unforgettable tar rock with DJ Shadow-boxing hooks, the stylistic diversity and beats as it maxed out the available space on a compact disc; but the unmissable musical reference points that give the disc the now, as The Tides roll in, the newly-focused three have put their weight of a planet, you will notice. Right around that time heads together with the goal of crafting truly grand (and yes, you’ll also realize that you’ve fallen in love with this group. “epic”) songs. Clearly unafraid to attempt a climb to the heights With a quirky lyrical approach that undercuts everything of majestic acts like U2 and Coldplay, South has scrapped the from the dark new wave melodicism of opener “In The Walls” beat-driven instrumental interludes to pay more attention to to the spazz-punk of “No Weather” and the triple-vocal threat things like orchestration, arrangements and general grandeur. of the epic “Somewhere Across Forever,” at no point do The standout track, “Loosen Your Hold,” trumps just about Christensen’s words resonate more clearly than when he everything else around by successfully featuring both a harpsi- asserts (on the latter), “I’ll be the truth for you.” Because this chord and a banjo, while the group’s Beatles-esque backing har- is one of those records — the kind that establishes its own monies turn tracks like reality, sets its own rules, invites you in, and then never lets “Silver Sun” and “Natural R.I.Y.L.: Coldplay, Doves, Travis you go. Never mind that the album’s closing track (“Pulp Contact: Danny Wirtz Song”) features the band Disasters” into sweeping R.I.Y.L.: Pixies, The Cure, Talking Heads Phone: 212.414.4600, Ext. 228 dreamscapes that go well repeatedly declaring, Contact: Alli Groman Email: [email protected] “We’ve lied to you.” You Phone: 212.233.6646, Ext. 33 beyond any definition Release and Add Date: Sept. 23; ESSENTIAL can’t fake brilliance. Email: [email protected] other than their own. Sept. 16 — Doug Levy — Doug Levy Release and Add Date: Sept. 23; Sept. 16 THURSDAY TO MY War All The Time (Island) SURPRISE New Jersey phenom Thursday’s To My Surprise War All The Time could well be (Roadrunner–IDJMG) subtitled Greetings From New To have Rick Rubin as the Brunswick. Suspend disbelief for executive producer on your a moment and recognize that debut album, you must be Thursday is actually a lot like its doing something right — and fellow statesman, Bruce To My Surprise definitely does Springsteen. Sonically, the two do something right by not fol- may have nothing in common, lowing trends. Although the but aesthetically — that’s another story. Much like The Boss, band’s self-titled debut disc could be described as power-pop, Thursday uses vivid detail and gruff emotion to paint pictures that some of the music is deceptively heavy; M. Shawn Crahan’s aren’t beautiful, but they’re magnetic celebrations of human pounding drums and the thick riffs of Brendon Darner and imperfections. Listeners ride sidecar with feverish frontman Geoff Steven Robinson’s guitars on “In The Mood” sound almost like Rickly, while he questions sexual issues, remembers growing up in they could have been lifted straight off an AC/DC record. As the shadow of the New York City skyline and revisits a childhood they assert when they sing, they’re “in the mood to ruin the suicide on the Palisades cliffs. When he roars, “Please someone/ melody.” But on the very next track, “Blue,” the melody is far Teach me how to swim” on the impassioned “For The Workforce from ruined; in fact, the song would fit really well on a mix tape Drowning,” you can actually feel the tide rising over your head.