sugarKubes seen Through the eyes of a Katian zealoT -- an IED review

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]

     There are a few good, even very good singles on
_Life's_Too_Good_. "Deus", "Birthday" and above all the powerful
(though not by coincidence musically the least ambitious) "Cold Sweat"
stand out for this listener.  Bjork, in particular, has a talent not
only for singing, but for finding unexpected corners of melody in the
minimalist chordal framework of the band's music.
     And yet the group is not innovative in any significant sense that
IED can appreciate. Their instrumental character is much like that of
a dozen other Banshees-influenced European bands -- not that that
isn't a good model to be influenced by. The production (not their own)
creates a terrific sound for them, too. Many of the lyrics are
intriguing, and despite the occasional sign of hasty construction
(hampered by spotty translation, no doubt) come off as deeply felt, at
least some of the time. (If only that Einar jerk would just shut up
and leave Bjork to do all the singing! His snidely spoken,
ill-pronounced English interruptions call to mind the embarrassing
tone of the old Japanese pop band The Plastics -- he thinks he's too
"cool" for the band's good.) Bjork herself is obviously a compelling
vocalist.
     But these qualities are what constitute the group's greatest
weakness: they can be isolated and defined with ease. When you listen
to the whole album through, it becomes all too clear that, despite the
occasional odd intrusion of brass and a cute remix or two, the
Sugarcubes are a band with one and only one sound. The rhythm section,
for example, is tuned and tempered in precisely the same way on each
track -- like virtually every rock band working today.  And for all
her personal style, Bjork tends to revert to the same handful of vocal
jumps, twists and affectations on each successive track, instead of
searching for the requirements of the song itself.
     It's as if they never even thought about the challenges which an
album poses -- and it's as if they'd never really paid serious
attention to _The_Dreaming_ or _Hounds_of_Love_! Recognize also the
undeniable mediocrity of at least half of the songs themselves, and
the extremely minimal number of musical ideas on even the best tracks
("Cold Sweat", for example, consists simply of an eight-bar verse
phrase and a four-bar chorus, repeated three or four times. The
instrumental "bridge" is nothing more than another run-through of the
verse's "chord" structure <basically one chord>.)  Take these crucial
weaknesses into account and you can see how wide and cavernous is the
gap that separates a band like the Sugarcubes from Katey.
     And yet it's pretty clear that the Sugarcubes are one of the most
imaginative bands working today. It's pathetic.

-- Andrew Marvick, already hearing whiny protests of "Whoa, dude!
   Wuddabout the Buttholes?" and "Butchew forgot AC/DC, dude!"
   in upcoming Love-Hounds, and not worried about it.