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███▓▀ 5uu's-Crisis In Clay ▄ ▐▓░
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███▓ Company ...: Recommended Records ▀▓ ▀▀▀▐█▀ ▒░
███▓ Style .....: Avantgarde ▐▓▄▄▄▄█▌ ▀▓▓▒░
███▓ Source ....: CDDA ▄▄▓▓▀▀▄▀▄▀▀█▄▄ ▀▓▒░
███▓ Date ......: 01-16-2006 ▄▓███▄▄ ▀ ▄▄█▓▄ ▀▓░
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████▌ Grabber ...: EAC ▓█▒ ▐█▌▄██▀▀█▓▄▐█▌ ▓█ ▒░
██▓██▄ Encoder ...: LAME 3.0.93 MOD ▐▓▒░▄▄▓█▌ ▐█▌▓▄ ▐█▌ ░
█▓▓▒░▀▓▄ Quality ...: VBR kbps ▐▓██▀▀ ▐█▌ ▐█▌ ▀▀███▌ ░
▄██▓▓ ▐█▌▄▄ Mode ......: Joint-Stereo ░ ███▄▄▄▄▐█▌▄▄▐█▌▄▄▄▄▄█▓
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▀▀██▓▌ Tracklist ▓▓██
▀▀▄▄ """"""""""" ▓███
▀▀▄▄ ▓███
▐█▓ ▓███
▀█▓ ▓███
█▓ 01. Comeuppance 03:48 ▓███
█▓ 02. Broadside Hits and Near Misses 02:22 ▓███
█▓ 03. The How-To's of Self-Taught 03:40 ▓███
█▓ 04. Bought the Farm 04:20 ▓███
█▓ 05. Simply Agree 01:39 ▓███
█▓ 06. Goliath in the Sights 04:19 ▓███
█▓ 07. December 02:56 ▓███
█▓ 08. Hunter-Gatherer 03:30 ▓███
█▓ 09. What Price Virtue? 03:19 ▓███
█▓ 10. Darkened Doors 04:55 ▓███
█▓ 11. The Encounter 03:26 ▓███
█▓ 12. The Willful Suspension of Disbelief 03:42 ▓███
█▓ 13. Cirrus 03:38 ▓███
█▓ 14. Weaponry 01:12 ▓███
█▓ 15. Absolutely Absolute 03:48 ▓███
█▓ 16. Ringing in the New Ear 00:42 ▓███
█▓ ▓███
█▓ ▄▓███
█▓ ▐████
█▓ ▄██▓██
░ █▓ Total Time: 51:16 min ▄▓▀░▒▓▓█
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██▓▓ ▀ ▀▓▓▄ ▐███▀▀
███▓ Notes ▐▓██▀▀
███▓ """"""" ▄▄▀▀
███▓ ▄▄▀▀
███▓ ▓█▌
███▓ ▓█▀
███▓ I used to have a recurring fantasy in which I ▓█
███▓ would encounter some obnoxious stereotypical ▓█
███▓ metalhead -- you know, the kind who thinks the ▓█
███▓ music he listens to is the toughest stuff the ▓█
███▓ world has ever known. Said pretentious jerk ▓█
███▓ would of course challenge me to come up with ▓█
███▓ something as violent and scary as his stuff. I ▓█
███▓ would play him "Comeuppance," the first track ▓█
███▓ of the 5uu's Crisis in Clay, and he would run ▓█
███▓ away whimpering. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ Yeah, it's that tough. First of all, it's ▓█
███▓ fiercely dissonant and all that fun RIO stuff. ▓█
███▓ Secondly, it's incredibly rhythmically complex ▓█
███▓ -- Dave Kerman notes on the 5uu's website that ▓█
███▓ the simplest way to notate it would be in ▓█
███▓ 53/32. And finally, it rocks really hard. Not ▓█
███▓ just heavy, but ▓█
███▓ kicking-your-ass-into-the-ground aggressive. ▓█
███▓ "Guerilla rock," says Kerman. This is, of ▓█
███▓ course, a good thing. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ That brief description of "Comeuppance" pretty ▓█
███▓ much sums up the difference between this album ▓█
███▓ and the previous effort from the ▓█
███▓ Drake/Kerman/Kumar lineup of the 5uu's, ▓█
███▓ Hunger's Teeth. Crisis is tighter, denser, ▓█
███▓ more aggressive, heavier, and more obsessed ▓█
███▓ with perverse mechanical rhythms. It even ▓█
███▓ verges on assaultive at times, as in the ▓█
███▓ high-strung vocals and harsh synth solo on "The ▓█
███▓ Willful Suspension of Disbelief," or the ▓█
███▓ buildup in "Darkened Doors" from limping ▓█
███▓ piano-based chamber rock to a minute or so of ▓█
███▓ all-out noise. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ Strangely, though, I don't like it as much as ▓█
███▓ either Hunger's Teeth or Regarding Purgatories. ▓█
███▓ Some thoughts on why: ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ OBJECTION #1: It sounds like Yes! ▓█
███▓ Response: Well, it kind of does at times, ▓█
███▓ especially Bob Drake's Anderson-ish vocals. ▓█
███▓ But, except for the annoying chord progressions ▓█
███▓ of "Absolutely Absolute," any comparison to Yes ▓█
███▓ has to be made to the more psychotic parts of ▓█
███▓ Relayer, with all that saccharine "soon, oh ▓█
███▓ soon the light" crap sliced out with surgical ▓█
███▓ precision. Oh, and the 5uu's have more of a ▓█
███▓ maniacally precise "math rock" vibe to them ▓█
███▓ than Yes ever did. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ OBJECTION #2: The lyrics! Oh god, the ▓█
███▓ lyrics! ▓█
███▓ Response: OK, yeah, Crisis does contain some ▓█
███▓ of the worst lyrics ever penned. Example: ▓█
███▓ "Even the olive leaf / From the topmost bough / ▓█
███▓ When it missed the ark / Was quickly taught / ▓█
███▓ How to sink or swim / By the pallor of doves" ▓█
███▓ (from "Broadside Hits and Near Misses"). ▓█
███▓ Another example: "Steadfast in the moonlight, ▓█
███▓ said dualists, from crenellations fight to keep ▓█
███▓ their walls, rise and fall by strengths ▓█
███▓ dramatic irony on stakes afire to hence ▓█
███▓ reaffirm valor" (from "December"). However -- ▓█
███▓ here's the catch -- you can't understand a word ▓█
███▓ Drake sings, so it doesn't matter. Just don't ▓█
███▓ look at the booklet. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ OBJECTION #3: Cheesy synths! ▓█
███▓ Response: There are a few cheesy string synths ▓█
███▓ here and there, notably in one part of "The ▓█
███▓ How-To's of Self-Taught" that always reminds me ▓█
███▓ of the soundtrack to SimCity 2000. But if you ▓█
███▓ can deal with Thinking Plague's In Extremis, ▓█
███▓ you're more than prepared for Crisis. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ OBJECTION #4: Crappy ending! ▓█
███▓ Response: This actually is a problem. ▓█
███▓ "Absolutely Absolute" isn't that bad, but it ▓█
███▓ has some really tacky Yes-ish chord ▓█
███▓ progressions in it. Even if you like that sort ▓█
███▓ of thing, it feels somewhat out of place here. ▓█
███▓ "Ringing in the New Ear" is pretty pointless, ▓█
███▓ being 42 seconds of near silence. I usually ▓█
███▓ skip these tracks. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ OBJECTION #5: Lack of variety! ▓█
███▓ Response: I must admit, this is the real ▓█
███▓ problem I have with the album. Hunger's Teeth ▓█
███▓ had a huge variety of textures and tonalities, ▓█
███▓ two different vocalists, and weird interludes ▓█
███▓ like a barbershop quartet and an electronic ▓█
███▓ piece. Here, pretty much every song is equally ▓█
███▓ thick and dense, and while almost every track ▓█
███▓ is great, I find it difficult to listen to the ▓█
███▓ whole album. Some songs do stand out, like the ▓█
███▓ frenetic rocker "Weaponry," the weirdly catchy ▓█
███▓ and slightly jazzy "Bought the Farm," and "What ▓█
███▓ Price Virtue?", with its near-techno precision ▓█
███▓ drumming and UU-ified slide guitar quotation ▓█
███▓ from Tales from Topographic Oceans. After a ▓█
███▓ while, though, the ubiquitous loud drumming and ▓█
███▓ heavy guitars cause much of the album to blur ▓█
███▓ together, so that sections like the wonderful ▓█
███▓ angular "clockwork" guitars in "The Encounter" ▓█
███▓ go by almost unnoticed. Obvious moments of ▓█
███▓ clarity, like the quiet synth and guitar ▓█
███▓ counterpoint in the opening of "Cirrus," are ▓█
███▓ far too rare. To really enjoy the album, I have ▓█
███▓ to take a break halfway through. - Alex Temple ▓█
███▓ [November 2001] ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ Click Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ Regarding Purgatories (2000)Regarding ▓█
███▓ Purgatories (2000) ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ Regarding Purgatories marks the beginning of a ▓█
███▓ new incarnation of the 5uu's. Dave Kerman took ▓█
███▓ greater control over the creative process, ▓█
███▓ changed the official name of the group to "Dave ▓█
███▓ Kerman/5uu's," and got a new vocalist, Thinking ▓█
███▓ Plague's Deborah Perry. He also started ▓█
███▓ branching out musically -- the album contains ▓█
███▓ both a greater variety of compositional ▓█
███▓ techniques and some longer, more abstract ▓█
███▓ pieces than had appeared on previous 5uu's ▓█
███▓ releases. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ "Meteora," the album's wonderful opener, is a ▓█
███▓ great example of how 00s 5uu's differs from 90s ▓█
███▓ 5uu's. Not only is it completely instrumental ▓█
███▓ except for some distorted Medieval-ish chants ▓█
███▓ that slosh around occasionally, but the first ▓█
███▓ two minutes consist entirely of ambient ▓█
███▓ synthesized foghorns and piano strings being ▓█
███▓ scraped with keys. And when the drums and bass ▓█
███▓ do come crashing in, it's simply amazing, ▓█
███▓ especially when they're joined by a ▓█
███▓ surprisingly Thinking Plague-like angular ▓█
███▓ guitar line to create one of the most ▓█
███▓ propulsive, satisfying passages the band has ▓█
███▓ ever done. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ This is not to say that all of the album is so ▓█
███▓ abstract -- Kerman has certainly not given up ▓█
███▓ his talent for catchiness, and "Drachma" could ▓█
███▓ almost be an avant-prog single, with its ▓█
███▓ infectious, convolutedly folky melody and ▓█
███▓ well-placed solo for walkie-talkie feedback. ▓█
███▓ But it's nice to set this off against pieces ▓█
███▓ like "Half-Akin to Gladsome," an intermezzo for ▓█
███▓ voice and piano that's more delicate than ▓█
███▓ almost anything on Hunger's Teeth. And it's ▓█
███▓ hard to argue with the viscous, bubbling, ▓█
███▓ brilliant organ solo in "String of Hey-Days" ▓█
███▓ (which actually reminds me of a much more ▓█
███▓ aggressive version of James Grigsby's work in U ▓█
███▓ Totem), or the unexpected vocal part of ▓█
███▓ "Pinwheel," in which Perry's voice splinters ▓█
███▓ into four different tracks and reflects off ▓█
███▓ itself, simultaneously extremely strange and ▓█
███▓ indescribably beautiful. ▓█
███▓ ▓█
███▓ I have to admit, not every piece on the album ▓█
███▓ is perfect. A few tracks, like "To Fall on ▓█
███▓ Deaf Ears part one," drag a little in places, ▓█
███▓ and Perry's attempt to sound like Dagmar Krause ▓█
███▓ at the beginning of "Stand On Ceremony" is ▓█
███▓ pretty weak. While the epic "To Fall on Deaf ▓█
███▓ Ears part two" is mostly excellent, complete ▓█
███▓ with a powerful, ponderous and extremely ▓█
███▓ grim-sounding middle section that puts Univers ▓█
███▓ Zero to shame, it ends so abruptly that it ▓█
███▓ sounds like they ran out of tape while ▓█
███▓ recording it -- a rather jarring effect whose ▓█
███▓ aesthetic purpose continues to baffle me. ▓█
███▓ Still, the amount of good on this highly ▓█
███▓ underrated disc so outweighs the bad in both ▓█
███▓ quality and quantity that I think Regarding ▓█
███▓ Purgatories may be my favorite 5uu's album. ▓█
███▓ Anyone hesitating to buy it because of the flak ▓█
███▓ it sometimes gets on r.m.p, I urge you to keep ▓█
███▓ and open mind and give it a try. - Alex Temple ▓█
███▓ [May 2002] ▓█
███▓▄ ▓█
████▌ ▓█
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▀▀███▌ ▄▓▓▀ ▀ ▓▓██
▀▀██▓▌ Group News ▓███
▀▀▄▄ """""""""""" ▓███
▀▀▄▄ ▓███
▐█▓ Six Years in the driver's seat, and we're still ▓███
▀█▓ alive and strong. We now look back upon six ▓███
█▓ consecutive years of nonstop action, as we have ▓███
█▓ given the mp3 scene access to some of the best ▓███
█▓ rock and metal bands our universe offers. ▓███
█▓ Join us in a toast, and wish us luck and stabi- ▓███
█▓ lity for the next six years of musical adven- ▓███
█▓ tures. As always, we buy the music we like and ▓███
█▓ we expect you to do the same! ▓███
█▓ ▄▓███
█▓ ▐████
█▓ -/- AMRC STAFF 2005 -/- ▄██▓██
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██▓▓ ▀ ▀▓▓▄ ▐███▀▀
███▓ Respect ▐▓██▀▀
███▓ """"""""" ▄▄▀▀
███▓ ▄▄▄█▀
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███▓ * Siteops who support our efforts and show ▐█▌ ▐█
███▓ us respect/loyalty by affiliating us. ▄█▓█▄ ■▀
███▓ * Personal/scene friends, other groups ▄██▓▒ ▀█▄
███▓ that AMRC members belong to, ▄▄████▓▒░ ▀██▄▄
███▓▄ and all quality groups from ▀██▓▓▒ ▄█▀
████▌ the mp3, tv, musicvideo, musicdvd, █▓▓▒░ ▐█ ░
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