Elastica

Elastica
The Menace


Elastica (Geffen ‘95) Rating: A
The year 1995 saw a lot of hype about a new British invasion, with bands such as The Stone Roses, Oasis, and Blur seeking to win over U.S. audiences after conquering the U.K. With comparatively little fanfare, this tough, primarily female (except for their excellent drummer) quartet came out with this stunning debut album kicked all their asses. Elastica features sixteen songs and is over in a mere 40 minutes. Just about every song (exceptions: “Hold Me Now,” “Indian Song,” “See That Animal”) is a gem that features a hard-hitting new wave sound, along with a no bullshit bravado and energy that’s pure punk. Slinky, rumbling rhythms are matched to catchy, angular guitar riffs and great lyrics, as Justine Frischman’s sexy voice alternately coos and rages her sex crazed thoughts about car fetishes (“Car Song”), the difficulty of waking up every day (“Waking Up”), impotent lovers (the awesome “Stutter”), and bright beginnings quickly turning sour (“Never Here”). And though they’ve been criticized in some circles for borrowing riffs from punk forbears such as Wire and The Stranglers, they merely use these riffs as starting points that they then expand (and in my opinion improve) upon. Besides, even if you feel compelled take points off for a lack of originality, you’d still be hard pressed to deny that Elastica was an expertly produced album of knockout songs. Other high points include the grungy “S.O.F.T,” the briskly paced but poppy “Blue”, the soon to be on the popular Trainspotting soundtrack “2:1,” and the super catchy “Connection,” which briefly landed the band on the U.S. charts.

The Menace (Atlantic ‘00) Rating: B+
Five long years and many “whatever happened to’s” later, Elastica finally came back with a revamped lineup (they’re now a sextet), and a new album on a new label that unfortunately did a poor job of promoting it. Fortunately, they brought along another batch of cool tunes, and though none are as classic as “Connection,” “Waking Up,” or “Stutter,” this is actually a more varied and original collection overall, even if it's not as good. Elastica are still led by Justine Frischmann, but she’s joined by her mates (and herself via multi-tracking) on several shouted verses and choruses, while the band’s action packed new wave sound remains totally intact. If anything, the band pries even more noises from their instruments this time out, with each instrument (guitars, drums, bass, keyboards) at times taking the lead. While the band are capable of simplicity, most of the time they opt for making a busier, all encompassing racket, but the band’s strong chemistry ensures that their everything-but-the-kitchen-sink sound still gels in the right ways. OK, the vocals are annoyingly shrill at times, and some songs aren’t quite fully developed, as perhaps there were some growing pains with the reconstituted lineup. Predictably, The Menace features several high-energy rockers, but the band can also get more atmospheric (“Image Change,” “Human”), produce dreamy (“Nothing Stays The Same”) and silly (“Da Da Da”) bubblegum pop, and they even deliver a best-heard-in-the-background spoken word mood piece (“My Sex”). Furthermore, “The Way I Like It” shows off the band’s ability to be both atonal and melodic, while “Miami Nice” and “KB” make me think that the band’s been listening to their share of ambient/techno music. The larger than life sound of “Love Like Ours” improbably brings to mind a female fronted Nine Inch Nails, and though the band still closely recalls other artists (“How He Wrote Elastica Man” is a tribute to The Fall that even guest stars Mark E. Smith), when all is said and done (i.e. after the repeat listens that this album requires) it’s pretty obvious that there’s still nobody else quite like Elastica. Alas, this album fell victim to poor record company distribution and promotion, and the band broke up soon afterwards.

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