tribe

[Greg Bossert <bossert@nubis.rutgers.EDU>]

how many CDs are are at this point residing in footahland, loitering
in the halls, huddling in dark corners, holding contentious CD
congresses on every flat surface?  well, perhaps an analogy will help:
imagine that the earth is a basketball in des moines, and the sun is a
U-Haul trailer moving west on the trans-canadian highway at 100 kph
(aprox. 62 mph), okay?  and then imagine all the CDs are stacked up,
only sideways, on the narrow bottom edge, with the hinges pointing
left.  got that?  well, then, from that perspective, the number of CDs
would be... er...  um... lots.

but that isn't why i am writing :)

i *am* writing to suggest, in all humble footahness, that y'all go buy
the new Tribe album, and heck, if you don't have the old Tribe album,
get that one too ;)

some details:  Tribe is a group of about 8 years standing, from the
boston area.  they have a female lead vocalist (surprise! ;), plus
female BVs and occasional leads from the keyboard player.  guitar,
bass, and drums round out the mix.  everyone 'cept the drummer shares
in the song-writing, usually in pairs, which leads to a widely varied
musical and lyrical style.

musically, the band features fairly complex arrangements with strong
melodies and a contrapunctal feel.  Janet's vocals are rich and wide-
ranging; she can growl and screech but she spends most of her time
truly singing.  When she goes over the top (at the end of "Jakpot",
for example), i can only copmpare here to KaTe in effect (not in
sound, however, for you-er-us KaTe-purists ;) Terri's voice is closer
to the alternative standard, clear, high, and low in vibrato, but her
involvement with the music and lyrics is far deeper than others of
that style.  Eric and Greg add vocals in many of the songs -- when
they all get going the weave of voices is dizzying.  Eric's guitar is
often tough, angry, with soaring melodic lines and lots of effects and
a complete lack of grunge, metal, and alternative cliches.  Terri's
keyboards are simple, textural, and catchy -- i suspect she has
classical training, given the deftness of the parts. Greg's bass
actually has rythmic and melodic significance (all too rare in the
"alternative" genre).  and David's drumming is quirky and original
(check out "Rescue Me"!), but gets people jumping about the dance
floor.

the first two CDs have a clean, crisp sound.  on their latest album
("Sleeper") the keyboards and drums are a bit further back in a swamp
of reverb but the clever bits are still audible.

lyrically, the group has a knack for alternating unusual topics such
as the lottery and the "supercollider" particle accelerator with songs
about abusive relationships, over-possesive parents, substance abuse.
they have an eye for details that makes the songs real and compelling;
the feeling i get is "yes, i know exactly what they mean, i've been
there, why didn't i see it that way?".

early releases include a single and EP on rutabaga records -- almost
impossible to find, even on boston.  they have three CDs:

* Here at the Home, 1990, Rutabaga Records/RPM RCD-003 -- out of print
and out of distribution, because all but two of the songs were
rerecorded for the next album, but worth it for those two songs and
the original 4-track recording of "Abort".

* Abort, 1991, Slash/Warner 9 26676-2 -- rerecordings of most of their
previous stuff, plus four new and very very very good songs.  this
album is just utterly brilliant, IMf!O.

* Sleeper, 1993, Slash/Warner 9 45273-2 -- 12 all new songs.  a
denser mix, with a 4AD/my bloody valentine flavor, but few listens
reveal all the intricate melodies and rhythms of their earlier work.
i suspect that this one is brilliant too ;)

for more info, you can email the group (!) at:

        tribe@world.std.com

live, the group is every bit as wonderful and extraordinary.  bowing
to the realities of pop music, i note that they look great (Janet's
outrageous posing and Terri's shy-but-devastating cuteness caught my
eye the most, but hey, that's me -- i can certainly extrapolate an
equal interest in the other three ;)  they have a lot of fun live,
occasionally switching places so that David sings, Terri plays drums,
etc.  the bottom line is that they can really play, and their
sincerity makes songs like "Payphone" and "Vigil" simply overwhelming.
(and check out "Abort" when the whole audience is shouting along with
"what's that?/too loud?/ ah, come on!" ;)

they ought to be touring in support of the new album -- i'll post a
schedule as soon as i get it...

if you have gotten this far, sorry for all the gushing, but this group
deserves it!  so stop sittin' around reading, go buy some CDs already!

footah!
-greg

--     bossert@vizlab.rutgers.edu     -- 
== i have never been afraid to change == Happy
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