" Wanna go for a ride?" during " Zero," it sounds like an invitation too dangerous for any hitchhiker. Corgan ' s and Iha ' s guitars interleave and clash during " Porcelina of the Vast Oceans." Chamberlain crashes with precision and power through " Where Boys Fear to Tread," locked into the punishing grooves with Wretzky. The set includes souvenir trinkets for ardent fans. Seven color lithographs are ready for framing and hanging in your shrine to Pumpkinland. There ' s a custom tarot deck for the mystically inclined, and a hardbound book. The book includes lyrics, track-by-track notes from an earlier reissue, and Corgan ' s sketches with notes for collage artist John Craig. Craig ' s antique stylizations are enlarged and expanded throughout the package. A new essay by Corgan unfolds in hallucinatory prose and florid language as it describes the pressure of bringing Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness to fruition. Relationships were strained and fractured in pursuit of a hazy vision that could only be truly recognized upon arrival. With daggers dangling overhead from frayed strings throughout the process, Corgan writes that the burden was essentially his to bear alone. Rumors, hype, and reputation for megalomania notwithstanding, he ultimately insists that Smashing Pumpkins have always been a real band and never his solo vehicle.
The whole shebang is housed in a massive blue velvet slipcase with a silkscreened cloth cover. The presentation is as deluxe as they get.
– Jeff Elbel
9
TORTOISE Touch( International Anthem Recording Co.)
While Liz Phair, Urge Overkill, and The Smashing Pumpkins turned Chicago into the“ next Seattle” around 1993, making headlines and getting tons of play on MTV and radio, another local scene was determined to stay subterranean. The term“ post-rock” described a group of bands uninterested in chasing the alternative rock mantle; instead, these groups preferred to push the boundaries of what could be considered rock music while gathering a small but rabid following via local independent labels like Thrill Jockey and Drag City. Chicago’ s Tortoise was a headache for any major label A & R rep. The music they made was instrumental, and while they flirted with jazz, it wasn’ t something that would be playing at a cocktail bar. They used a fair share of electronics, but could never be considered dance music. They played guitars, but it wasn’ t the quiet verse, loud chorus template that was everywhere at the time. Founded by Eleventh Dream Day bassist Doug McCombs and drummer John Herndon as a freelance rhythm section, the guys eventually linked up with another drummer, the studio wizard John McEntire, to bring their sound to fruition on their self-titled 1994 debut album. While not exactly setting the Billboard charts on fire, the record certainly helped coalesce a scene of similarly obtuse postrock bands such as Gastr Del Sol, Isotope 217, US Maple, and Stereolab. The followup Millions Now Living Will Never Die pushed the scene to the next level, appearing in nearly every rock magazine’ s yearend list in 1996. Pretty soon, a whole new generation of post-rock bands would pop up like weeds. John McEntire’ s glitchy, psyched-out studio approach would influence many paranoid Y2K rock masterpieces like Radiohead’ s Kid A, Sigur Rós’ Ágætis Byrjun, and Wilco’ s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The band would become less prolific as the years went on, focusing more on production and remix work as well as McEntire’ s more straight-up band with Sam Prekop, The Sea And Cake. The new album Touch marks Tortoise’ s first album in a decade. Instead of making an immediate impact, Touch reveals itself slowly, with opener“ Vexations” beginning with a simple Jeff Parker guitar chord pattern before disintegrating into a percussive psych jam.“ Works And Days” sounds beamed in from a rainforest, full of dreamy marimbas and Return To Forever vibes.“ Elka” shakes things up with fouron-the-floor beats and sinewy synths reminiscent of Chicago’ s Industrial music mecca, Wax Trax Records. Most of the album sounds like what should be playing on the expensive hi-fi system in a sophisticated mid-century bachelor pad. Touch is a relatively succinct suite of sounds at just 38 minutes, and it never overstays its welcome. The way Tortoise has spent the past 30 years dodging trends, building sonic worlds, and charting its own trajectory should be celebrated.
– Andy Derer
7 HÜSKER DÜ 1985: The Miracle Year
( Numero Group)
The first disc of this two-CD set, entitled Minnesota Miracle, captures a feral set by Hüsker Dü at First Avenue in Minneapolis on the frigid night of January 30, 1985, two weeks following the release
ALL AGES
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