Comet Gain
Tigertown Pictures
[Kill Rock Stars]
Rating: 4.8
Apparently, Comet Gain's new album, Tigertown Pictures, is dedicated
to "Billy in the woods, Anthony Perkins on his bed, Peter Townshend, Billy
Name in his studio, Sam the Lion Peckinpah, Ship of Fools by John
Cale, Anna Karina looking sad, Eddie Newton forever blue, and Robert
Forster's dancing in 'Headful of Steam.'" As if that weren't enough, other
portions of the liner notes manage to name-check Warhol, Godard, Richard
Brautigan, Orson Welles, Lillian Gish, Anna Karina again, John Cale again,
and Orson Welles a couple more times. Song titles include "Jack Nance
Rising" and "Jasper Johns." The cover and insert sport black and white
movie stills.
Then there's the music. Imagine Sonic Youth covering the "Doctor Who"
theme song with production by Steve King. The album's a hodge-podge of
Motown, punk, post-punk, and indie influences. Bleeps, whirs, organs,
hand-claps and hey-na-na's all stumble into each other, muttering
apologies like dancers in a darkened ballroom. Spoken word intros, spoken
word outros, Japanese spoken word intros, bridges consisting of nothing
more than sampled dialogue-- it's all here, and all in 15 minutes' time.
What does it all mean? Are those movie stills real or staged? Is the
sampled dialogue from a Godard film or the band's video tour diary?
What does Brautigan have to do with Jack Nance? What are these lyrics
saying? Did Jasper Johns really sing quietly under his breath? Was he
singing a song that sounded like the Cure's "Fire in Cairo?" Who cares?
Tigertown Pictures is the sound of a band grabbing anything they
can find and throwing it at the nearest wall to see what will stick.
Unfortunately for everybody concerned, it all just slides to the ground
to collect in an icky puddle of pop culture goop. What's worse is that
you're standing between the band members and the wall, watching as them
scoop up steaming handfuls of cinematic tripe. Is that "Alphaville"
they're brandishing? Duck!
-Zach Hooker