Big TakeOver Jan. 2000
Reviewed by Jack Rabid...
The Big Takeover Issue No. 45
airshow (DOT DASH CANADA) -This six-year-old Toronto Quartet make it easy on a reviewer. "The band is influenced by those who have approached music with an irreverent kind of reverence-read: The Fall, Prolapse, Wire, Mekons, Pixies, Wedding Present, Can, Velvet Underground, and all the other usual suspects," they state, mani- festo-like, in their press sheet.
As Don Pardo used to say, "Right you are, Bob."
You can hear a little of the Wedding Present's furious strumming on "Insincerity," a screwed-up VU jangle to "Last Incarnation," and everywhere the sort of "pitch be damned" disdainful singing of Mark E. Smith, Lou Reed, Mark Mothersbaugh, and Thurston Moore.
Several songs seize on the fucked-up bumpy rhythms and unpredictability of Prolapse, while the furious, craggy intensity of "Amuse" is Fugazi-esque. One can hear a little space rock, too.
But it's one thing to claim influence; it's another to match it. And apart from somewhat weak singing (unlike the more inventive guitar parts), Parts Unknown aren't far off from such lofty, scabrous anti-pop fellowship. In fact, "Insincerity" works best in its decisive coda, when it locates a riffing groove that reaches for the stars instead of adhering to mere noise pop.
More of this, please!
(Also look for two previous CDs and three cassette releases.) (429 Crawford St., Unit 5, Toronto, ON, M6G-3J7, Canada; dot- dash@mail.com)