(Kill Rock Stars)
With the recent addition of WSUM to the airwaves of the Madison community, many people in the area are losing their misconceptions and discovering the sounds of rock music that is truly an alternative to that in the mainstream. If you're one of the listeners out there scratching your head, furrowing your eyebrows, or even impatiently turning the dial in frustration or confusion, perhaps the latest offering from Comet Gain will give you some insight into noncommercialized music. Who knows, maybe this series of incoherent observations loosely related to their latest release, R??alistes, will help you to appreciate something that is not as musically glossy as what you'll hear everywhere else.
1. Members of Comet Gain make music in pursuit of expressing their own creative visions, not in pursuit of becoming rock stars (note label name). Comet Gain was officially a band back in 1993, but by 1997 four of the five band members jumped ship to start up the ambient pop project Velocette, leaving singer/guitarist David Feck in need of recruiting four new members.
2. R??alistes is pretty much as devoid of pretensions as British indie pop comes these days, so revel in it while you can.
3. Oh! Listen to those beautiful, shimmering organs, man! Or are they keyboards? Who cares! What a great concoction of tasty plugged-in pop!
4. Alright you hip little boys and girls, time for the name checking! Riot grrrl super heroine Kathleen Hanna, notable front woman formerly of Bikini Kill and currently of Le Tigre, makes a loud, forceful appearance halfway into R??alistes that almost lives up to the hype surrounding her name.
5. It's quite possible that lead singer David Feck underwent surgery for the sixth track, \Moments in the Snow,"" in order to make his mind more John Cale-like. The song seems to effortlessly glide forward as if Comet Gain is spiritually possessed by the Velvet Underground.
6. There's more genuine energy displayed in this album than in 20 matchboxes, or even in gallons of fuel.
7. Although Comet Gain draws heavily from its selective influences, echoing the sounds of Cheap Trick, The Velvet Underground and Yo La Tengo, an entirely unique voice is formed from the mix, making Comet Gain anything but a rip-off band.
8. If you like Hefner or Supergrass, or if you just want a rockin' sing-along CD that sounds great at high volume in your car, then R??alistes is a prime choice regardless of your current tastes.
9. Can a song called ""Why I Try to Look So Bad"" possibly go wrong? Only you can be the judge. Hint: No.
10. If you are one of the many people who skip to the closing remarks of reviews, then this is just to spite you. So there.
