Cole's singer, Steve Kuhn, is having the worst fucking day. His
girlfriend left him (again), his boss won't cut him any slack,
and some asshole just put a big dent in the fender of his
truck. Kuhn is so pissed off, he's about to explode... if only
he had someone to explode at. Instead he just wallows in his
misery, letting his drink and his guitar suppress all that anger.
This battle with anger is always at the center of Cole's music;
there is always an explosion or two brewing underneath.
To express this anger, Cole do their best at summoning the spirits
of Rodan, and they do it quite well. "Recidivism" starts off with
short spurts of quiet guitar melody, stuttering and stammering.
When the spoken, chanted vocals start, the "rock" switch is
flipped to on, and it's like you're listening to one of those
great June of 44 albums, before things like "Him" and "The Boom"
existed and altered the sound. Kuhn yells "Thought I could trust
you," lashing out, matching the aggressiveness of the guitars.
"Tropic of Cancer" and "$2 Better" sound quite similar, sounding
just as aggressive and again emulating Jeff Mueller's guitar work.
The former patches together several different loud, explosive
guitar melodies to match the band's revolving moodswings, and
the latter emphasizes Kuhn's raspy, Eric Bachmann-like vocals.
Cole are by no means one trick ponies, though, and their
interpretation of Rodan is by no means a carbon copy of the
original. A main twist Cole puts on the sound is the smooth,
fluid bass playing of Mike Salmon which brings to mind the
Dischord albums of Girls Against Boys. That sound is brought
to the forefront is "Reduress," which creates an aura of
subdued, sensual cool much like GVSB's music. Cole,
though, is less successful when they
take their guitar work and emphasize the melody more,
creating something closer to David Pajo than Jeff Mueller,
removing all explosive aspects, such as "The Coastal Plain"
which seems bland in comparison to their other songs.
This undercurrent of anger makes Cole's music personal
and thus more emotional than much of what Mueller and company
have done since Rusty. This album, Idea of City, (the band
also has a maxi-EP and a 7" to their name) catalogues Kuhn's
frustrations and battles, with much bile directed towards
the male/female dynamic. The album was released on CD over
a year ago but was only recently put out on vinyl.
Unfortunately, in that time, Cole has died, but look for news
on their reincarnation, The Tall
Ships, soon. If you are in to Rodan inspired music enough
to be interested in current bands like The Shipping News and
Mercury Program, you've got to check out Cole.
|
