Wednesday, December 24, 2003  
WXPort
Feedback
 Clubs TonightHot TixBand GuideMP3sBest Music PollSki GuideThe Best '03 
 Clubs By Night | Club Directory | Bands in Town | Concerts: Classical - Pop | Hot Links | Review Archive |  
Home
Listings
Editors' Picks
New This Week
News and Features

Art
Astrology
Books
Dance
Food & Drink
Movies
Music
Television
Theater

Archives
Letters

Classifieds
Personals
Adult
Stuff at Night
The Providence Phoenix
The Portland Phoenix
FNX Radio Network

 
  E-Mail This Article to a Friend
 

East River Pipe
GARBAGEHEADS ON ENDLESS STUN
(Merge)
Stars graphics

This is a collection of softly burnished pop songs that sport insidious themes. With lo-fi production and home-quilted arrangements, the album sets its focus on the current rise of classism and the effect of its trickle-down economics. Be it the tongue-in-cheek campaign slogan "Millionaires of Doubt" or the stoned reflection "Where Does All the Money Go?," the band’s sweetly sung odes to the darker side of our postmodern world delve into the fractured fever dreams of the have-nots and the blights of substance abuse, teen violence, and familial dysfunction. In contrast to the sun-shiny guitar melodies, shimmering keyboards, and clap-along electronic drum beats, the lyrics lure you into a shadowy world; "I Bought a Gun in Irvington" is a rueful Columbine lullaby that’s both lovely and deadly. East River Pipe’s undercurrent of futile despair belies their upbeat pop surfaces, but seldom has bleakness sounded so pretty.

BY D. MICHAEL MCLAUGHLIN


Issue Date: October 31 - November 6, 2003
Back to the Music table of contents
  E-Mail This Article to a Friend







about the phoenix |  find the phoenix |  advertising info |  privacy policy |  the masthead |  feedback |  work for us

 © 2000 - 2003 Phoenix Media Communications Group