Cantwell, Gomez, and Jordan - s/t
(Hypnovista)
Chapel Hill is blessed to have such acts as Cantwell, Gomez and Jordan and Cold Sides to bring the area out of the alternative country coma that they have lapsed into ever since Polvo disbanded in 1998. Both bands contain the type of frantic and lively energy that had been missing from the scene. It's no dark secret that one of greatest weapons that both of these bands wield in their crusade to rid rockers of their country shackles and encourage them to break out their freak flags is the area's best drummer, Dave Cantwell. Formerly of the mighty Analogue, Cantwell melds an accurate and metronomic approach into his style that dwells in the neither regions where post-rock, prog rock and free jazz all meet. A brief time spent listening to his performances on record or live quickly clue you into his sound. He is the anchor that allows the trio's other two members to stretch as far as they want to out on bass, guitar and saxophone and explore their own brand of rock since they know that their backbeat is constant and always original. Anne Gomez, known throughout the Triad for her work with the Blue-Green Gods, provides energetic and complimentary bass as well as the occasional saxophone burst. Ex-Wifflefister David Jordan is provides the trio's guitar punch. The sounds contained within Cantwell, Gomez and Jordan's self-titled debut album very smartly start and stop while constantly managing to remain fresh.
"Sans-A-Belt" kicks it all off with thrashed and pounding drums, highly angular new wave/no wave guitar and Anne Gomez's brazenly indecipherable lyrics. This unbridled chaos swirls around for the better part of eighty seconds, or, in other words, as long as the band can pull it off before their bodies simply order them to take a breather. While all of the rest of the music falls away, a ominous and looming bass line tells the listener that this calm isn't one that's going to last. The rest of the band kicks it all back in moments later and is joined by chaotically pulsing tape manipulation squelches for what ultimately ends up being the band's version of a bridge that brings you back to the same tempo and structure that started the song off. From this moment forward you know you're going to be in for a wild ride. "Digital Sea Mass" follows and it is one of the album's strongest tracks. It provides an instrumental three minute joy ride through a couple of main riffs and remains lean and mean the entire time. For those who are into on and off tempo changes within the framework of a moderately upbeat rock track with punk vocal stylings, "Horizontal, Corazon" should fill any void. It motors ahead at breakneck speed, stops to catch its breath and then picks up steam once again over the course of a rather economical three minutes and change. "Quit Your Stupid Little Tears" pulls Jordan's guitar work front and center where he manages to tweak and pluck his leadership of the outfit down a path of skronkery that is complete with a free jazz breakdown mid song. Both "Yap(p) Snake Dispenser" and "Fancy Gap" allow the band to return to big herky-jerky rockers that feature a little less improvisation. "Circus of Despair" takes it's title to heart, with a playful melody and lyrics that only conjure forth a demented and drunk clown dancing for the entertainment of unappreciative children. An odd image, I realize, but the end product is quite energetic and rocking. Light jazz saxophone tones open "Relax, Lion Child," but that setting is only transitory. As Cantwell's drums get wilder and wilder, Gomez's sax matches him step for step until all's that left is glorious disorder. "Infant of Prague" and "These Gentle Mammals" finish the record out in fine style, further perfecting the postpunk trickery that permeates the entire record.
Cantwell, Gomez and Jordan's debut is exactly the sort of record that you would want to use as a cornerstone of scene revival and is also worthy of using a screening of the Talking Heads' classic Stop Making Sense as the prelude to their record release show/party. Their musicianship and song crafting skills are excellent, although some times they do allow the frantically barked vocals to distract the listener from all of the great things going on musically. Despite any sort of (mild) criticism, the Chapel Hill scene is lucky to have bands of this ilk gracing its many stages. This self-titled debut is surely the indicator of greater works that are still to come.
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