| CD REVIEW Health |
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Band : Health This 4-piece unit (members include Benjamin Jared Miller, Jake Duzsik, John Flamiglietti, and Jupiter Keys…but I have no idea whom plays which instrument, or whom sings) which calls Los Angeles, CA, their homebase (some of ‘em hailing from San Diego and Seattle) and was formed in 2005 (apparently Jake met Jupiter at college, John met Jake in a guitar store, and Jared was drawn in through the Internet). The music these guys make is best typified as Noise Rock…but with a twist! You see, the band itself says its sound is “…partially accredited to the use of the Zoothorn, which is a permutation of microphone and guitar pedal, and an occasional atonal sound without a symmetrical structure…”. Aha…whatever it is, it gives the band’s overall sound a surreal touch which makes it borderline Electronic and/or Dance! You know, when I listened to their music first, I personally got it in my mind that the band’s music itself sounded somewhat like that of the Post-New Wave (say Neo-Industrial) bands of the late ‘80s to early ‘90s…while the vocals had a remeniscence to UK’s My Bloody Valentine. Remeniscence, because with MBV the vocals were of course female, and had a higher degree of melody in spite of their ethereal nature! In other words, there’s something angular ànd complex in Health’s music which, at least to me, makes ‘em interesting…because their music takes some time to consume/ digest! (when you’ll check out the band’s MySpace page, you’ll actually find MBV as one of the cited influences, as well as Kraftwerk, PiL, Television, Talking Heads, Joy Division, Animal Collective, Swans, Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth, and other stuff like Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Black Flag, Black Sabbath, and more…so, my assessment wasn’t even that bad) They have several releases to date, including one self-titled album (released 2007 through the Lovepump United label, and recorded at their favourite LA venue The Smell, whence they also recorded a tape-only live set), split releases with good friends Crystal Castels (a 7-inch on Lovepump United), another with Art Punk act Elphaba (format unknown at present), a 2008 remix album titled Health//Disco (remixes done of Health songs, by others among which, also Crystal Castles…album from which several songs were, during 2008, coupled to their originals: Perfect Skin + remix 7-inch on Suicide Squeeze, Heaven + remixes 12-inch on Flemish Eyes, and Triceratops/ Lost Time + remixes 12-inch on Tough Love. Also during 2008, the band released the 7-inch single M (through No Pain In Pop), and joined Nine Inch Nails on part of the Lights In The Sky Tour in the Fall. They also toured (but I ain’t sure when it happened) with Crystal Castles and Of Montreal, and played a good 420 gigs to date. In April of this year, the band released the Die Slow 7-inch (on Lovepump United), the title track of which can also be found on the band’s sophomore studio album! 10 tracks of seemingly discordant tones in which you’ll have sóme trouble recognizing the guitars being played. Check out some of the band’s tunes by surfing to their website healthnoise.com (on it you’ll find links to the MySpace pages of both the band Health, the remix project, and a clothes/paraphenalia page). This album was also issued as vinyl LP and apparently readily available in Europe as well, so…here’s me running out to the record store to order me a copy!!! Before I forget, nomination into that “Best Albums Of 2009”-list of mine, of course! 98/100 Tony. |