Thursday, February 8,1996
Plato's Cave
by Ryan Bogart
Coutgian Staff
Plato's Cave, a local band, is
scheduled to play at Docksider's
on State Street in Erie on Friday,
Fiebniaiy 16th. With the release
of their new CD a couple of
months ago called Tree Nick
Stein,” the band has expressed
their musical diversity and
complexity. Nick Stein is a
character that gets into some
trouble with a strong beer
infatuation, which they wrote all
of the songs from. Tree Nick
Stein" becomes a playful concept
album with an amusing theme
that involves the song
"Dominicks," a restaurant in
Erie.
Randy Baumann is the heart
and sole of the band playing the
keyboards and entertaining the
audience with his light, quick.
Bad Brains and Marty Hayes'reviews
From The Bin: Record Reviews
College Press Service
GOD OF LOVE
Artist: Bad Brains
Genre: Rastapunk
Label: Maverick/Wamer (9
45882^2)
Grade: B+
Just when you'd given up hope
of ever smelling patchouli oil in
the mosh pit again, they're back
the original Bad Brains lineup is
together again, complete with
their on-again, off-again singer
HR.
The band itself never officially
disbanded, though its last
incarnation was thr from from
inspiring, and it hasn't been able
stay with a label for more than
-tw BALLOONS FOR
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and agile hands. He wrote most
of the songs on the album and
adds to the sound with vocals.
The singer, Erik Walker creates
the second half of the band,
writing the other songs. With
two lead guitarists, two
percussionsits, a bassist, and a
plethora of exotic and pleasing
sounding instruments; this band
is fully complete.
The song "Strange Voyages of
Marco Polo" shows just how
precise the drummers can be.
There are sounds in this song that
you'll listen to and wonder what
in the hell they are. "3,6,9," a
song taken from School House
Rock on Saturday mornings, is a
playful tune with a group of kids
singing backup.
"Boogie on the Mezzanine"
demonstrates the ability of most
of the band. Baumann's creative
style of keyboards along with the
one album at a time since leaving
SST some years back.
For those who weren't paying
attention in the early 80s, Bad
Brains are a quartet of dreadlocked
Rastafarians who can't decide
whether they're a hardcore punk
band or a reggae band. And it's a
good thing they can't. Their debut
album (the Ric Ocasek-produced
"Rock for Light," Caroline 1613-
2) was one of the most exciting
things ever to come out of
Washington, D.C.'s burgeoning
punk scene. Careening from
mile-a-minute shriekathons to
spacey dubwise reggae at the drop
of a beat, Bad Brains established a
territory all their own.
Neither their punk nor their
reggae was terribly original, but
the combination certainly was,
and HR's raw-throated falsetto
Entertainment
to rockthe "Dock"
great guitar jam creating a sound
that could almost be compared to
Phish. If you don't believe me,
just listen to it. The style in
which it is written can be shown
with the speed changes that they
provide; it will speed up with
quick guitar riffs, then slow down
and then build back up only to go
back into the beginning jam.
Their style of music is hard to
define because they don't have
one sound on this disk that could
describe their physical ability.
One style resembles a raggae
sound, "Freedom's Challenge,"
another a rock-n-roll style,
"Tellride," and a country fiddle
song, "One Trick Toad," shows
that their roots aren't from every
normal band. This song almost
can be described as an anthem
because it is like no other.
"Jonesin' for Marie," and "One
Trick Toad” could just be their
screech was far more frightening
than anything Minor Threat ever
produced.
Over the years the band refined
its sound, reaching a creative
peak with the spectacular "I
Against I" (SST 065) and then
declining through a series of
increasingly disoriented HR solo
projects and an uninspiring foray
into thrash funk.
"God of Love" finds the bredren
older and chubbier than they were
12 years ago, but hardly less
energetic, even if their tempos
have moderated somewhat and
HR is content to spend most of
his time singing in a normal
voice. The band still veers crazily
from funky metal raveups like
"Cool Mountaineer" and "Justice
Keepers" to bone-deep reggae
grooves like "Thank JAH." HR's
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way of expressing their abstract
ideas through everyday creatures.
"Sometimes I wish I was a trout
in a stream" is the opening line
from "Jonesin' for Marie" and it
ends up that the fish is caught;
then he says "I still ain't gonna
do nothin' today, except lay
around and think about you."
Their clean style sounding
guitar in "Meet me at the
Station" has been heard on Jet
FM 102 in Erie, which is usually
unheard of. Erie radio stations
don't play hometown bands for
reasons unknown. This local
band could just put Erie on the
map for a good band, finally.
They don't follow the ways of the
convention, their songs are
abstract ideas that are
accompanied by playful and
creative styles of music.
If your expecting serious music
with serious lyrics, you won't
•j • «vw ifuu mull 11mice any
obvious sense (sample lines:
"Tongue tee tie/Clear Rasta
charge"), but bassist Darryl
Jennifer and drummer Earl
Hudson still rumble like a two
man tectonic shift. This is not
the best Bad Brains album ever,
but it's far from bad.
UNDER THE MOON
Artist: Martin Hayes
Genre: Celtic folk
Label: Green Linnet (GLCD
1155)
Grade: A+
Martin Hayes is a fiddler from
County Clare whose sure but
gentle touch and deep musical
intelligence have combined to
produce one of the most
OW+mi
like this band. Even if you listen
to "Free Nick Stein" and in
general don't like it, there will be
a song or two that you will
appreciate. Do yourself a favor
and check this band out on Friday
the 16th at the Docksidcr!
Plato’s Cave is
going to play the
Docksider on
February 16th.
The band just
released their
latest CD, “Free
Nick Stein.”
Their song “Meet
me at the Station”
can be heard on
Jet FM 102.
satisfying
recordings
traditional music I've heard in a
long time. Accompanied in most
cases by only an understated
guitar, and on one lovely track by
his father, Hayes performs a long
set of tunes that range from the
familiar ("Rakish Paddy," "The
Cliffs of Moher") to the more
obscure f'Kilnamona Bamdance,"
"Farewell to Milltown"). But
what's special about this album
isn't so much the material Hayes
has chosen, though it's all
lovely. Instead, it's his
unflagging focus on the tunes
themselves rather than on his
own virtuosity that makes "Under
the Moon" both musically
inspiring and emotionally
rewarding.
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