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THE MENACE
Elastica
(Atlantic-Warner)
Missing in action since the release of their 1995 debut, which spawned such snearing, post-punk hits as Connection and Stutter, these London rockers release their followup Tuesday.
Given various band members' departures, split-ups (frontwoman Justine Frischmann from Blur's Damon Albarn) and rumours of drug abuse, that would seem to be a miracle.
After Frischmann had basically given up on the group ever recording again, she spent a year in a basement listening to Brian Eno songs. Eventually, she got a band together, including original bassist Annie Holland who left in 1996, and recorded this often experimental, synthesizer-heavy collection in six weeks.
The album kicks off with the noisy, angry first single, Mad Dog/God Dam, that features Frischmann screaming as much as singing. The same goes for the brimming-with-attitude Generator, which only lasts 1:48 but still packs a wallop, and How He Wrote Elastica Man -- best described as a kind of B52s-meet-the-Pretenders cheerleading squad.
More interesting still are the darker, moodier and more introspective Image Change, Human and Nothing Stays The Same, the latter song a retro-sounding tune that recalls a different time in British pop music.
Then there's the intoxicating instrumental Miami Nice; the equally striking spoken-word number My Sex, which features Frischmann's sometimes distorted voice making pronouncements over synthesizers; and the nifty, album-ending cover of German band Trio's 1982 novelty single, Da Da Da.
Track Listing
1. Mad Dog
2. Generator
3. How He Wrote Elastica Man
4. Image Change
5. Your Arse My Place
6. Human
7. Nothing Stays the Same
8. Minmi Nice
9. Love Like Ours
10. KB
11. My Sex
12. The Way I Like it
13. Da Da Da