-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: Joy Zipper
ALBUM...: The Stereo And God
GENRE...: Indie
STYLE...: Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Neo-Psychedelia
YEAR....: 2003
LABEL...: 13 Amp
COUNTRY.: USA
PLACE...: New York City, NY
ENCODER.: FLAC 1.3.1 -8 -V
BITRATE.: 939 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / 2 channels
SOURCE..: CD
TRACKS..: 6
SIZE....: 142.24 MB
URL..: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stereo_and_God
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Zipper
- TRACKLIST
1 If I'm Right 3:21
2 1 2:28
3 Gun Control 3:46
4 2 Dreams I Had 3:29
5 Window 4:23
6 Check Out My New Jesus 3:40
Total Playtime: 21:07
Frustrated after failed business negotiations pushed the release of their
American Whip album back into 2004, boy-girl duo Joy Zipper entered a New
York studio with indie legend Kramer (Shimmydisc proprietor, producer of
Galaxie 500 and many others) and knocked out this 21-minute mini album in a
couple of days. Gratifyingly, their bad feelings didn't erupt into a
maelstrom of punky catharsis. Rather, they've produced a chugging, grungey
three-chord pop of rare intimacy and warmth. Of the six tracks here, two
("Gun Control" and "Check Out My New Jesus") are reworkings of old songs, the
other four being split between Vincent Cafiso and Tabitha Tindale. All of
them are marked by a brave, embattled innocence.
*
Joy Zipper's American Whip album was scuppered earlier this year by the
collapse of 13 Amp's distribution deal with Ministry of Sound. It has been
rescheduled for release next February, but until then, this six-track
mini-album makes for an intriguing stopgap. Working with US indie production
Svengali Kramer, Zipper duo Vincent Cafiso and Tabitha Tindale have devised a
kind of narcotised, summery indie-pop which blends lissom harmonies with the
methodical thrumming of guitars and understated organ tints. With Tindale's
disingenuous, deadpan-cute vocals to the fore, the effect is akin to Mazzy
Star, or Galaxie 500 fronted by Alison from Cranes - an effect most effective
on "If I'm Right", which blows in like early Bowie, with piercing lead guitar
laced over glam-rock chords. It's the first of several songs offering sly
commentaries on relationships: "If you're right, I tell you every day,"
claims Tabitha, "But if I'm right, oh well, you wouldn't listen anyway". With
deceptive, dancing harmonies spun around its lead vocal line, the hypnotic
"Window" confronts the compulsion to alter one's partner - "You came when my
life was perfect/ Changed me to somebody else/ Since then, nothing seems to
matter" - while both "1" and "2 Dreams I Had" use organic, elemental
metaphors to convey the emotional dislocation of break-up: "The sun that
warmed you then/ Now burns your empty heart." Delightful.
*
Joy Zipper, a duo from Long Island, New York, makes the musical equivalent of
candy-coated cyanide capsules. Band- and life-mates Vincent Cafiso and
Tabitha Tindale's music is a breezy mix of the Mamas & Papas and Stereolab,
full of sunny, intricate male/female harmonies but glazed with a sheen of
Teutonic cool. But their lyrics offer such pleasantly delivered sentiments as
"Our death is inevitable" and "Feel you most when I'm deep in madness."
Excelling at upbeat cynicism, Joy Zipper can rival the cheerful cruelty of
Ween. It seems appropriate that while the band's name is usually assumed to
be kinky in some way, Joy Zipper is actually Tindale's mother's name. This
band revels in mixed messages and skewered expectations.
Whether the relationship numerology of "Like 24 (6 + 1 = 3)," Joy Zipper's
opening track, actually adds up to anything is debatable, but the melody is a
gift from the god of Brian Wilson's teenage symphonies. "Transformation
Fantasy" manages to make meditating on mortality as pleasant as a walk on the
beach. "Pillow" is hallucinogenic folk music, while "Booda" lopes along on a
stoned '70s soul groove. An interest in - and skepticism toward - faith and
religion color the tuneful "Check Out My New Jesus," "God" and the trippy,
Donovan-ish "The Power of Alan Watts." Joy Zipper concludes with a jazzy,
partially Japanese ode to "Apathy," followed by a couple of minutes of creepy
instrumental music which sounds like the soundtrack to a '60s psychedelic
sci-fi film.
The Stereo & God includes the single "If I'm Right," which races along with
more urgency than Joy Zipper's usual relaxed vibe. The whole EP is less
ornate than either of the full-lengths, concentrating on more
straightforward, unadorned arrangements. Cafiso and Tindale's knack for great
harmonies and melodies remains intact, however, especially on "1" and "Gun
Control." A re-recording of "Check Out My New Jesus" is a little more
sprightly than the original. The disc also contains the video for "If I'm
Right."
American Whip kicks off with "Sunstroke," a catchy but off-key instrumental
that sounds like a music box assembled by a well-meaning gorilla. "Christmas
Song" expresses many positive thoughts, but it's very likely sung by a
lunatic, while "Baby You Should Know" is great shoegazing pop; a sunnier My
Bloody Valentine. The lilting "33x" is welcome and refreshing, even when
Tindale purrs "I'm getting tired of life." The second half of the album
dwells heavily on the topic of drugs, with the depressing "Alzheimers" as
well as "In the Never Ending Search for a Suitable Enemy," which could serve
as the duo's manifesto. Among contemporary bands, only the Delgados can match
Joy Zipper's combination of sonic bliss and evil thoughts.
On "Go Tell the World," the first track on The Heartlight Set, Joy Zipper
seems to address persistent (but pointless) comparisons to the White Stripes
by turning in a fuzzed-out stomper that does come close to intersecting the
Stripes' orbit. After that, the album returns to Joy Zipper's standard of
dizzyingly lovely pop music. Some of the magic has faded with familiarity,
but "Anything You Sent" and "Thought's a Waster of Time" are every bit as
good as anything on the first two albums, while the Lenny Bruce tribute ("For
Lenny's Own Pleasure") and others come close. "1" is reprised from The Stereo
and God.
-=- SHGZ -=-
-=-=-==-=-=-
Shoegaze
is a genre of alternative rock that
originated in the late 80s. The genre is very
difficult to define, and it is even more difficult to evaluate music
within it. Generally, the genre is characterized by its
shimmering vocals, reverberating guitars, and
textural distortion that create
a tranquil, opaque
feeling.
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