Buffalo Daughter
New Rock
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NATN Recommended
Buffalo Daughter
New Rock
Grand Royal, 1998
RiYL: Luscious Jackson, Pizzicato Five, Beck, Money Mark’s Mark’s Keyboard Repair, Beastie Boys |
Captain introduced the band's unique blend of sampling and danceable beats underneath an eclectic guitar style capable of squeezing noise, rock, surf and psychedelic into the same song. But while Captain seemed less like a cohesive album than a collection of sound experiments, New Rock keeps the head spinning from start to finish.
"New Rock" begins the album with an insistent beat slathered with detached female vocals, full-throttle fretwork and a beautiful melodic riff that seems reluctant to appear more than twice. Weird noises (ocean surf, a heavily wah-wah'ed guitar) fill in the empty spaces perfectly.
"R&B (Rhythm and Basement)" ditches rock entirely in favor of triple-digit beats-per-minute, alien rhythms and some of the oddest singing I've heard in a long time. Likewise, the terminology-challenged "Great Five Lakes" is the most unusual single one could imagine -- a number that succeeds in combining pitch-bending synth beeps over TV commercial singing and bluesy acoustic guitar.
New Rock is just that, a stellar collection of songs thriving on variety and a wealth of great ideas.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"