Sister Machine Gun

February 8 - 15, 1 9 9 6

**1/2 Sister Machine Gun

BURN

(Wax Trax!)

Sister Machine Gun's latest effort is a sonic stew of jazzy keyboard riffs, ethnic percussion samples, and fingernail-biting noise. The group manage to expand their "industrial" music palate while maintaining a reassuringly familiar sound. On "Red," bluesy vocals and a vintage B3 organ slip and slide over a heavy churning groove. "Snake" features funky horn blasts and a sexy, sweaty sax solo. If only ringleader Chris Randall's lyrics weren't so bland. On several tracks he's bothered by the proliferation of "disease" in his relationships that too often brings him "down on [his] knees" -- maybe a rhyming dictionary would help. Fortunately for Sister Machine Gun, there's more than enough meaning in the music.

-- Jonathan Follett