Wierd War - Wierd War

  by Andrew Carver

published: 8 / 8 / 2002

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Review

Weird War is the union of twisted guitar genius Neil Michael Hagerty with bassist Michelle Mae and squealing vocalist Ian Svenonius of Oregon R&B soul insurrectionists the Make-Up. The resulting music sounds exactly like you’d expect-a combination of the two parts to one. The team-up is no surprise: Back when he was partnered with Jennifer Herrema in Royal Trux, Hagerty and Herrema produced albums as 'Adam and Eve', including 'In Mass Mind' (1998, Dischord) for the Make Up. Hagerty’s since split from Herrema and has produced a pair of solo albums. The first self-titled album was released in 2001, while the second, ' ... Plays That Good Old Rock’n’Roll', came out in 2002. Both were released on Drag City. The album — 13 tracks, little over a half-hour long — gets off to a rocky start. The music on the chorus of 'Baby It’s The Best', kicks like the best of Trux in their 'Veterans of Disorder/Pound for Pound' phase, but it’s welded to a verse that doesn’t quite hang together. It's anaemic woo-hoos and underwhelming lead riff are a trifle annoying. The second song, 'Chicago Charlemagne,' really gets things started, with Hagerty singing over flangered acoustic guitar before handing the vocal off to Svenonius,who sings over a simple bass riff. Since the track is a sort of oral history of a mythical local figure, it’s quite effective; like overhearing an interesting conversation about someone you don’t know. The rest of the album builds on the musical strengths of Hagerty’s solo work, pushing, pulling and distorting repeated squirrely, scratchy riffs in strange directions and strangely phased rhythm guitars. As for Svenonius’s vocals, his plaintive moaning and strangulated squealing is an acquired taste, and doesn’t seem as suited to Hagerty’s music as Hagerty’s own drawl, but he can at least be said to sound like no one else, no matter how obvious his influences are. There’s also an instrumental blowout, 'Ibex Club', which follows in the footsteps of of similar tracks like 'Chicken You Can Roost on the Moon' and 'Shaved C*unt' on Hagerty’s solo disks, but with a jazzy edge. The title track also stands out, thanks to the spare use of acoustic guitar, female vocals and background rain sounds, an effective break from its fuzzed out surroundings. All in all, a very welcome effort to tide over Trux and Hagerty fans until Drag City release that lost Royal Trux album, and something for Make-Up fans to investigate as well.

Track Listing:-

1 Baby it’s the Best
2 Chicaro Charlemagne
3 Who's Who
4 FN Rat
5 Grass
6 Ibex Club
7 Name Name
8 Burger and Fries
9 Live In A Dream
10 Pick Up The Phone and Ball
11 Family Cong
12 Weird War
13 Man Is Money

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